AP Literature and Composition, Fall 2009Mr. Szott

Goals and Course Description: The course goals are: 1) to read with pleasure and understanding some of the world’s acknowledged masterpieces; 2) to think, talk, and write about these masterpieces perceptively; 3) to recognize subtleties of theme and style; 4) to explore the literary work’s particular and universal reflections on the human condition; 5) to take the skills and knowledge gained through this careful study and apply it to the various types of questions presented on the AP exam in May.

These are ambitious goals but every bit worth of our time and effort. If you find yourself not in harmony with these goals, please enroll in College Writing/British Literature. This course is for people who have a genuine love of reading and an interest in grappling with literary issues.

GreensboroDay School Honor Statement:

In order to foster an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect and to promote a positive and productive learning environment for every member of the GreensboroDay School community, I pledge that I will not lie, cheat or steal, or accept the actions of those who do.

In class, the two most frequent honor issues that arise are cheating and plagiarism. As we progress through the year, specific guidelines will be given for particular assignments regarding the honor code. In general, however, each student is expected to do his or her own work on any type of graded assignment and violations will not be tolerated. For homework, it would be inappropriate for a student to copy from another student, and it is also wrong for someone who has not read an assignment to have another student tell them the story. However, two students who have done the reading are encouraged to discuss it together in order to further their understanding. For tests, students are expected to again do their own work and not to communicate the content of tests to those who are taking it later. For essay assignments, students are expected to give credit for source material by using quotation marks and appropriate citations, which will be explained as assignments are worked on. Students should know up front that any essay can be checked for plagiarism by the turnitin.com service, and those suspected of plagiarism will be brought before the Honor Board. In short, the goal is to make students honorable scholars who can think independently and avoid the temptations of shortcuts.

Grades will be derived from a variety of assignments:

  • Tests are generally in-class essays designed to examine students’ understanding of the texts, literary concepts, and ability to structure written responses efficiently. At times, they may include short-answer questions to test factual knowledge as well.
  • Papers allow students to present clearly written compositions that reflect intellectual depth and original thinking, as well as a strong command of language.
  • Quizzes that emphasize reading comprehension are given periodically. These announced quizzes may be supplemented at any time by the dreaded pop quiz. Keep up with your reading!
  • Homework assignments may include short, informal writing as well as presentations or the leading of a discussion.

A general breakdown of grade weighting is as follows: Semester exam (20%), Quizzes and Homework (20%) and Tests/Papers (60%) The general AP scoring guidelines for written work will determine your grades on in-class essays.

Late work: For essays, the deduction is 3 points/day late. Late homework receives 50% credit. The key, as always, is to communicate with me when you foresee problems.

FORMAL PAPER FORMAT OPTIONS: You must type and email out-of-class papers. Use Times New Roman 12 point and standard margins. Computer/disc malfunctions will not excuse a late paper. My standard penalty is three points per day late. All papers must have titles, preferably interesting but not obscure.

Reading List: As we move through the year, we will study the works in the following order. I would expect that we will end the first semester somewhere around Stoppard or Pope. Note that Discovering Poetry from your freshman and sophomore years is a required text, and we will mix poetry in throughout the year.

TEXTS: The Epic of Gilgamesh

Homer, The Odyssey

Sophocles, Oedipus Rex and Antigone (in The Oedipus Cycle, trans. Fitts and Fitzgerald)

Raffel, trans., Beowulf

Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

Shakespeare, Hamlet

Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Pope, excerpt from Essay on Man (handout)

Voltaire, Candide

Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Kafka, The Metamorphoses and other Stories

Huxley, Brave New World

Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

Useful Websites for Grammar and Writing Help

The main website to learn more about the course and exams.

University’s online writing lab

Download electronic texts to use with Microsoft Reader

Online Writing Assistant: A very useful site for help with many different writing tasks.

--This site will be quite helpful with poetry.

These are just a few resources to help you get started. As we study different authors and genres throughout the year, we will be adding to your bookmark collection.