Curriculum Guide/Course Description English III – Advanced Placement 2011-2012
Course Textbook
Shea, Renee H, Lawrence Scanlon and Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. Boston∙New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2008.
Course Overview
AP English Language and Composition is an advanced writing course that includes the study of rhetoric and argumentation. Each six weeks students will write timed essays in class and revised pieces outside of class, in addition to other outside reading and writing assignments. All students are required to complete a major, thesis-driven research project utilizing libraries and electronic media. Readings of selected essays and in-depth study of five to seven full-length works of American literature are also required. Students should plan for an average of about one hour of homework per night.
AP students ideally should have very good to excellent reading and writing skills. Those who struggle with the fundamentals of grammar, with developing their ideas, or with advanced-level reading will have difficulty succeeding in this course. The ability to think abstractly, interpret literature, and read beyond mere plot summary are also keys to success. Although it must be emphasized that these skills are necessary to success, any student (even the one who does not enter with these skills) who is willing to work hard and genuinely wishes to improve will find that his/her diligence pays off.
Course Objectives
The primary objective of this course is to prepare students for the types writing they will be required to do in college. One major component of this objective involves analyzing the writing of other people. Students will learn to write through the detailed reading and analysis of prose (primarily non-fiction) and drama. Experience (and research) has proven that good readers are good writers. Students will be doing a great deal of reading and will be analyzing and responding to this reading through guided writing assignments. Reading comprehension will be assessed in several ways, including (but not limited to): AP-style multiple choice questions, tests and papers on the novels and other readings, and prompts for in-class and out-of-class essays.
Another major objective of the course is to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Exam which will be given on Monday, May 14, 2012. In this course students will practice both test procedures and give in-depth attention to the study of rhetorical analysis and composition, in order to ensure preparedness for the exam. PLEASE NOTE: Students must take this exam if they are to earn AP credit for this course. The fee for taking the exam is approximately $83.00. Students will receive detailed information about the payment of the fee in the future.
The following course objectives are based on those outlined by the AP English Course Description provided by the College Board. At the end of the academic year, students should:
• Read, think, and view critically
• Astutely identify and analyze the arguments made by a variety of writers
• Develop and articulate their own arguments clearly, developing their voices to communicate understanding, discovery, and persuasion
• Identify and explain the rhetorical strategies and techniques of a variety of published authors, and each author’s purpose for using those techniques
• Create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience
• Demonstrate an enhancement of their understanding and mastery of proper written English as well as stylistic maturity in their own writings, using a variety of sentence structures and effective vocabulary
• Demonstrate understanding of the components of citations and proper documentation using the Modern Language Association’s style
• Compose in an appropriate mode for a variety of occasions
• Critique their own writing and the compositions of others constructively
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyze the language literature (primarily non- fiction) for intent, meaning, purpose, and underlying assumptions
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of American literature from the Colonial period to the present.
Course Outline and Units
First Nine Weeks: Course Introduction, Marks and Mistakes in Faith
Literary Focus: (Summer Reading) Arthur Miller The Crucible and Informational Texts about the Salem Witch Trials
Chapters in Text: 1 An Introduction to Rhetoric
2 Close Reading: The Art of Analysis
3 Synthesizing Sources
Rhetoric and Composition Focus: Narration, Description (including autobiographical and historical) Introduction to Argumentation
*Key Instructional Points (AP):
• What is Rhetoric?
• Rhetorical Triangle
• Appeals to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
• Visual Rhetoric
• Arrangement: Classical Model and Patterns of Development
• Reading to Write
• The Writing Process: Invention, Arrangement, Drafting, Editing, Revising, Publishing
• Analyze Style in Writing
• Annotation, Dialectical Journal, Graphic Organizer
• Rhetorical Analysis: Diction, Syntax, Tone
• Analyzing Visual Texts
• Writing about Close Reading
• Synthesizing Sources
• Types of Support
• The Relationship of Sources to Audience
• The Synthesis Essay
• Aspects of Conversation
• Recognizing Complexity
• Reformulating Your Position
• Incorporating Sources: Inform Rather than Overwhelm
*Standards per the Statewide End of Course Assessment:
• Correct use of punctuation marks
• Sentence components
• Commonly confused words: to/too/two, their/there/they’re, it/it’s, you/you’re, whose/who’s, which/that/who, accept/except, affect/effect, between/among, capitol/capital, principal/principle, stationary/stationery, who/whom, allusion/illusion
• Components of the 8 parts of speech
• Thesis and main points in speeches
• Summary, paraphrase, and critique
• Proofreading
• Parallelism in writing
• Writers purpose
• Evidence in research
• Inferences, conclusions, fact, opinion
• Aspects of an argument
• Stated and implied main idea
• Subjects in media
• Irony
• Author’s point of view and characterization
• Literary elements
• Setting and mood
• Historical and contextual cues
• Elements of plot
*Particular Readings, Assignments:
• Reading critically
• Analysis in Writing
• Analyzing a Visual Text - reflective questions in text concerning arrangement, authorial intent, dominant impressions, subjective v. objective view
• Application of rhetorical triangle to writing and close reading questions from text
Major Assessments:
(1) End of Quarter EOC Assessment
(2) End of Quarter AP Practice Exam
Major Writing Assignment: We have seen both through our study of The Crucible and through results of the McCarthy era that events in history were sometimes motivated by fear which resulted in hysteria. Unfortunately, these events have sometimes posed a threat to liberty and freedom in our country. Consider the following recent events in light of this truth: the USA Patriot Act (2001); the War on Terrorism (2001-present); the Iraq War (2003-present); and Terrorism (in general). Using the information you have gathered from your library research, write an essay in which you analyze the motivation of each of these events and the event’s potential threat to freedom and liberty in America or around the world. Use and document your sources to support your claims about the motivation of the event and its outcome as it relates to freedom/liberty (process essay requiring outline, rough draft, and final draft).
Second Nine Weeks: American Revolution and Romanticism
Literary Focus: A Study of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter
A Study of Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Chapters in Text: 5 Informational Texts on Work
6 Informational Texts on Community
12 Informational Texts on Nature
Rhetoric and Composition Focus: Argumentation and Comparison and Contrast
*Key Instructional Points (AP):
• Analyzing Style in Paired Passages
• Synthesis: Incorporating Sources into a Revision
• Argumentation: Supporting an Assertion
*Standards per the Statewide End of Course Assessment:
• Commonly confused words: complement/compliment, cite/site/sight, counsel/council, coarse/course, farther/further, lose/loose, fewer/less, advice/advise, precede/proceed, adapt/adopt, eminent/imminent, assure/ensure/insure, allude/elude, elicit, illicit, discreet/discrete, censor/censure/sensor, conscience/conscious)
• Vocabulary (context clues)
• Writer’s attitude and target audience
• Work related writings and information
• Persuasive devices
• Logical fallacies
• Implied and stated evidence
• Deductive and inductive reasoning
• Premises and claims
• Media inferences
• Literary elements
• Elements of poetry
• Literary allusions
*Particular Readings, assignments:
• Visual Analysis: Does this ad appeal primarily to logic, to emotions, or to both? Explain and defend your answer. List the specific points the ad makes. Which points are supported by evidence? Which points should be supported by evidence but are not? What logical fallacies are present in the ad?
• In two separate Socratic Seminars, discuss the explicit and implicit claims made by Emerson in The American Scholar and Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter. Be prepared to point to evidence from the text that supports the claims you say each author makes and to provide commentary on the claims and texts.
• Application of rhetoric triangle to writing and close reading questions from text
Major Assessments:
(1) End of Semester EOC Assessment
(2) End of Quarter AP Practice Exam
Major Writing Assignment: Write an essay in which you state a grievance you share with other members of some group, and then, using primarily logical appeals, argue for the best way to eliminate the grievance. Initial draft will be in-class timed writing; editing and revisions will be out-of-class before submission of the final paper.
Third Nine Weeks: Realizing the American Dream
Literary Focus: A Study of Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun
A Study of Wright’s Black Boy
Chapter inText: 9 Language
Chapter in Text: 13 Politics
Rhetoric and Composition Focus: Literary Analysis, Narration (Reflection), Persuasion (Counterargument)
*Key Instructional Points (AP):
• Rhetorical Analysis: Comparing Strategies in Paired Passages
• Reflection: Reflecting on Languages
• Argumentation: Counterargument
*Standards per the Statewide End of Course Assessment:
• Structure of speeches
• Rhetorical devices
• Analogous relationships
• Synthesizing informational and technical texts
• Elements of media
• Form as it relates to writing
*Particular Readings, assignments:
• Viewing analysis of A Raisin in the Sun (Modern)
• Application of rhetoric triangle to writing and close reading questions from text
Major Writing Assignment: You have read A Raisin in the Sun, a play about one man's dreams for himself and his family. You are familiar with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in which he speaks of the realities of life and his dreams for the future for all Americans. Also, you have read Black Boy in which Wright explores his life while growing up in Chicago, IL. Your assignment is to compare Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, King's "I Have a Dream" speech and Wright’s Black Boy.
Fourth Nine Weeks: The American Experience
Literary Focus: The Language of Composition: Short Stories, Informational Texts
Chapters: 11 Popular Culture
10 Science and Technology
8 Sports and Fitness
Rhetoric and Composition Focus: Literary Analysis, Narration (Reflection), Persuasion (Counterargument)
*Key Instructional Points (AP):
• Visual Rhetoric
• Argument: Responding to a Quotation
*Standards per the Statewide End of Course Assessment:
• Vocabulary
• Origin of words
• Foreign words
• Aspects of research
• Biases and stereotypes in writing
*Particular Readings, Assignments:
• Application of rhetoric triangle to writing and close reading questions from text
Major Writing Assignment: N/A
Major Assessments:
(1) End of Semester Exam
* (2) AP Assessment (May 14, 2011)
(3) End of Course Assessment