Course Syllabus/ Student Expectations

2017-2018 Advanced Placement English IV

Course: AP Literature and Composition

Teacher: Holly Leach

Email:

Phone: 885.830.1000 ext. 1147

Blog: http://wp.comalisd.org/leach

Text: Perrine’s Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense Tenth Edition

Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson

Course Description:

Advanced Placement Literature and Composition, a college level course, provides an in depth study of several major literary works and prepares students for the Advanced Placement Examination in Literature and Composition, a means of obtaining placement in English at most colleges. The class focuses on interpretation and analysis of a variety of literature, with an emphasis on expository and persuasive writing (including timed and researched writings) based on literature. A heavy emphasis is placed on poetry.

Student Expectations:

· Attend class regularly and promptly.

· Check the blog daily for assignments and handouts. http://wp.comalisd.org/dbermea

· Refrain from using phones during class time.

· Have work completed and ready to turn in at the beginning of period.

· Uphold scholastic honesty on all assignments.

· Come to tutorials if you need help or need to make up work.

Calculation of Nine-Weeks Averages:

Advanced Placement may require an alternate grading system due to the rigor of the course and the established requirements as noted through College Board approved syllabus.

Weight of Grades:

Daily Grades=20% Quiz Grades=35% Test Grades=45%

Late Work :

1 class day=20% deduction 2 class days=40% deduction 3+ class days=0

· Chronic abuse, more than three late assignments during any one grading period may result in additional consequences.

· The late work policy may not apply to projects and papers scheduled in advanced of the due date and can be turned in prior to an absence.

Make Up Work Guidelines:

· Make up work is available to all students. Students are responsible for keeping up with missed work by checking my blog (http://wp.comalisd.org/dbermea). I will not discuss make up work or give instruction during class time. Tutorial time is set aside for this. Students shall receive credit for satisfactory work after an absence but may receive a zero for any work or test not made up in the allotted time.

· The number of class days allowed for make up work to be completed for full credit equals the number of days a class was missed.

· A student should not, on the day of returning to school, be required to take a quiz or test that was announced during his/her absence. Students may be required to take a quiz or test that was announced prior to the absence.

· Make up work, including tests, may be an altered version.

Tutorial Times:

· Before or after school on any days except duty days and Friday afternoons. I will not wait any later than 15 minutes after the bell for afternoon tutorials to begin.

Types of Assignments

· Tests

Each nine weeks students will have at least two test grades. The format for these grades may be essays, research, objective, presentations, posters, or projects. Students may not redo these assignments for a higher grade.

· Quizzes

Each nine weeks students will have at least three quiz grades. The format for these grades may be essays, research process, objective, presentations, or posters. Students may not redo these assignments for a higher grade.

· Daily Grades

Each nine weeks students will have at least six daily grades. The format for these grades may be but are not restricted to research process, vocabulary reviews, essay or project planning, group work, annotations, reading comprehension questions, multiple choice prep, or multiple practice.

· Vocabulary –every other week

Students are assigned one word, which they will present to the class who is responsible for recording. A review of all the words is assigned at the end of the week words are presented. The review comes in the form of sentence completion and the writing of original sentences using context clues. This is good reading practice and helpful for the SAT.

· Poetry Journals—every other week

Students will read, respond to and analyze one poem for the duration of the week as an opening activity. I will check their responses each day and give a cumulative quiz grade based on completion at the end of the nine weeks.

· Multiple Choice Practices

These passages and questions are typically taken from released College Board tests and practice tests. Students will not be given the passage or poem in advance. I will give students a list of words, literary devices, and allusions to define prior to completing the multiple choice practice itself. In keeping with the scoring technique used by College Board for the AP Exam, students need to get half of the questions correct for a passing grade of 70. Therefore, all scoring in this class will follow this technique. Since there are 55 questions on the test and students are given 1 hour to read all five poems/passages and answer questions, students in my class will be timed at one minute per question. All passages and questions remain in the classroom. These count as a daily grade. We will complete one of these assignments at least once per nine weeks, frequently more often.

· Timed Writing

There are three types of writing prompts in keeping with the College Board AP Exam. The first is a prompt asking the student to analyze a poem he or she has never seen before. The second is a prompt asking the student to analyze a prose passage he or she has never seen before. The third is a prompt asking the student to analyze a theme found in a work of literature he or she has read and is of his or her own choosing. On the exam, students will write all three types of essays over the course of 2 hours. Therefore, students will be timed (40 minutes) in the completion of their essays. Essays of this nature are scored holistically on a scale of 0-9. These count as a test grade and will occasionally (especially in the fall semester) require revision. We will have at least one of these types of writing assignments each nine weeks.

· Research

We will frequently research in this class, but not all research will culminate in a research paper. Students are expected to be able to use database information, parenthetical citation, and works cited according to MLA guidelines. Our first assignment will be a poster on Literary Movements in the first nine weeks. In the fourth nine weeks, we will work on a larger literary research project on poets. Students need to have access to a computer with Internet connection and printing capabilities.

· Reading

Most, if not all, reading will be completed outside of class. Below are the novels/plays the entire class will read. Students will need to secure either a hard or a digital copy of each of these. Students must be able to bring these to class. Discussion and analysis will take place in the classroom.

Summer Reading Choice (All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, or The Round House by Louise Erdrich)—fall semester

Macbeth by William Shakespeare— fall semester

Hamlet by William Shakespeare—fall semester

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley—spring semester

In addition to the previous list, students should choose and secure one from each of the following Outside Reading Choice Sets. Discussion and analysis will take place in the classroom, but students will not all be reading the same book at the same time. Please note that some works contain mature theme and content.

ORA # 1 Assigned Fall Semester

A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)—John Irving

All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)--Erich Maria Remarque

And the Mountains Echoed (2013)--Khaled Hosseini

Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994)--Edwidge Dandicat

My Antonia (1918)--Willa Cather

Song of Solomon (1977)--Toni Morrison

The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001)—Amy Tan

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007)--Junot Diaz

The Poisonwood Bible (1998)--Barbara Kingsolver

Things Fall Apart (1958)--Chinua Achebe

ORA # 2 Assigned in December for Spring Semester

A Gesture Life (1999)—Chang-rae Lee

And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him (1971)—Tomas Rivera

Beloved (1987)—Toni Morrison

Brave New World (1932)—Aldous Huxley

Invisible Man (1952)—Ralph Ellison

Love Medicine (1984)—Louise Erdrich

Northanger Abbey (1817)--Jane Austen

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)—Margaret Atwood

The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)—Thomas Hardy

Under the Feet of Jesus (1994)—Helena Maria Viramontes

ORA # 3 Assigned in Spring Semester

A Raisin in the Sun (1959)—Lorraine Hansberry

Death of a Salesman (1949)—Arthur Miller

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)—Jonathan Safran Foer

Fences (1983)—August Wilson

Room (2010)—Emma Donoghue

Snowflower and the Secret Fan (2005)—Lisa See

Sula (1973)—Toni Morrison

The Glass Menagerie (1944)—Tennessee Williams

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008)—David Wroblewski

The Women of Brewster Place (1982)—Gloria Naylor

Supplies:

· Blue or black ink pens
· 1 70-page spiral
· Textbook (issued from SV book room)
· Online Gradebook account / · Home access to dictionary, thesaurus and computer/Internet, and printer
· ElderNerds Remind account
· Post-it Notes