Teacher: A. LaFond
Room: A 4
Subject: Language and Composition
Contact:
e-mail -
phone – 334-567-5158 ext 54204
For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
-Sir Winston Churchill
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
-Joseph Addison
Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
-Cervantes
I am not bound to please thee with my answers.
-William Shakespeare
Course Description:
The AP Language and Composition course is structured to correspond with first-year college writing courses. “The overarching objective in most first-year writing courses is to enable students to write effectively and confidently in their college courses across the curriculum and in their professional and personal lives. Most composition courses emphasize the expository, analytical and argumentative writing that forms the basis of
academic and professional communication, as well as the personal and reflective writing that fosters the development of writing facility in any context.”
“Composition courses, therefore, teach students to read primary and secondary sources carefully, to synthesize material from these texts in their own compositions, and to cite sources using conventions recommended by professional organizations such as the Modern Language Association (MLA).”
“The purpose of the AP English Language and Composition course is to enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively
with mature readers. An AP English Language and Composition course should help students move beyond such programmatic responses as the five-paragraph essay.”
*** Adapted from College Board Language and Composition Course Description
Course Overview:
The AP Language and Composition has several course requirements.
1. The course teaches and requires students to write in several forms about a variety of subjects.
a. The students will complete a summer reading project in order to begin the analytical process. They will look for articles from major journals/newspapers and analyze any fallacious arguments found in those articles.
b. Students will participate in an online discussion forum. Each week they will answer a prompt begun by the instructor. In the second semester, students will be required to list their own prompts.
c. Students will complete narrative essays on current issues. The narratives will be developed into argumentative papers. Throughout these essays, students will participate in increasing amounts of inquiry/research to inform their narratives and aid in the development of their arguments.
2. The course requires students to write essays that proceed through several stages or drafts, with revision aided by teacher and peers.
a. All essays must be completed through the following process:
i. Teacher approval of thesis and/or outline.
ii. In class peer-review in which multiple students read the same paper. Students will look for different objectives with each review.
iii. Teacher preview of rough draft in which students conference individually about their writing.
iv. Final submission once suggested changes are made.
3. The course requires students to write in informal contexts designed to help them become increasingly aware of themselves as writers and of the techniques employed by the writers they read.
a. Students will practice thesis statements, paragraphs, and outlines to aid in the planning and development of unrelated writing assignments.
b. See 1.b.
c. Students will be required to complete impromptu group writing activities in which a small group of students write together on a subject.
4. The course requires expository, analytical, and argumentative writing assignments that are based on readings representing a wide variety of prose styles and genres.
a. In response to readings found in the course textbook, The Language of Composition, students will complete two of the suggestions for writing found at the end of each unit. A sample of these suggestions is attached. They include all three styles of writing.
b. In response to reading In Cold Blood students will complete a researched expository essay on the development of fiction/nonfiction in American literature. To complete this essay students must conduct a formal research paper in which they gather various primary and secondary sources to document their findings. Students will expand the essay to express their own position on the importance of the novel as a part of that transition. After completing the essay, students will participate in panel discussions to explore their thoughts on the topic.
c. See 1.a
5. The course requires nonfiction readings that are selected to give student opportunities to identify and explain an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques. If fiction and poetry are assigned, their main purpose should be to help students understand how various effects are achieved by writers’ linguistic and rhetorical choices.
a. The students will respond primarily to non-fiction pieces through the course textbook. See pg ix-x of preface.
b. Students will complete a unit on Shakespearean speeches. They will examine the speeches for their rhetorical devices as well as their significance in literature.
c. Students will learn about the synthesis essay by writing an essay on McCarthyism. After the synthesis essay, students will read The Crucible. They will write a rhetorical analysis on the devices Miller uses throughout the play.
6. The course teaches students to analyze how graphics and visual images both relate to written texts and serve as alternative forms of text themselves.
a. Each section of the course textbook includes a study of visual literature. Students will respond to these selections analytically. Additionally students will view selected films and television broadcasts. They will respond to these analytically as well.
b. Students will conduct their own visual media project in which they accumulate various visual presentations of related ideas. They will write an expository essay on the related idea, an analytical response to each piece of visual media, and create their own visual media for the portfolio. They will present the portfolio for class discussion.
7. The course teaches research skills, and in particular, the ability to evaluate, use, and cite primary and secondary sources. The course assigns projects such as the researched argument paper, which goes beyond the parameters of traditional research by asking students to present an argument of their own that includes the analysis and synthesis of ideas from an array of sources.
a. See 1.c.
b. See 4.b.
8. The course teaches students how to cite sources using a recognized editorial style.
a. Students will be required to learn appropriate use of MLA style. All assignments must be submitted in MLA with an accompanying Works Cited.
9. The AP teacher provides instruction and feedback on students’ writing (before and after the students revise their work) to help the students develop appropriate and effective vocabulary, a variety of sentence structures; logical organization; a balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail; and an effective use of rhetoric.
a. See 2.a
b. Students will participate in weekly vocabulary development activities. Vocabulary development will begin with rhetorical terms and move on to teacher selected vocabulary.
c. Students will study sentence structure through a close reading of Artflul Sentences: Syntax as Style. They will learn to recognize, analyze, and imitate various structural forms.
d. Students will study and write with different organizational patters such as the classical model, process analysis, comparison and contrast, classification and division, cause and effect, etc.
e. Students will begin the course with a brief introduction to rhetorical processes/analyses. After completing a general unit on rhetoric, students will be required to incorporate classical rhetorical strategies such as examination of audience, speaker, and purpose into their own writing as well as recognize rhetorical influence in others’ works.
Student texts, supplemental classroom resources, and teacher-developed materials:
1. Students are asked/encouraged to purchase or checkout the following titles:
a. In Cold Blood, Capote
2. Nonfiction readings are drawn primarily from these texts:
a. The Language of Composition, Shea, Scanlon, Aufses
3. Teacher resources
a. Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, Tufte
b. Everything’s an Argument,
4. Students are directed to bookmark Websites as sources for current editorial commentary and rhetorical terminology. Internet access is available through the school library.
a. American Rhetoric.com
b. Blueacle.com
c. Virtual Salt: A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices (Website)
d. Alabama Virtual Library
e. Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric
5. vocab
6. teacher website
What is the meaning and how did the author manipulate language to convey that meaning?
Assessments:
1. Reading quizzes on authors’ uses of rhetorical strategies to convey meaning.
2. Activities and quizzes based on vocabulary from various reading selections.
3. Essays as completed through the required teacher/peer review process.
4. Timed Writings
5. Practice tests modeled on AP Multiple Choice tests.
Course Pacing guide:
Please note, all tests will be constructed so that students must not only recognize skills/topics covered, but also demonstrate them with original writing.
Week / Topics covered / Assignments DueAugust 9-13 / 1. Sentence types
2. Elements of thesis statements
3. Elements of paragraphs
4. Fallacies in current journalistic writing / Friday -Test on 1-3
August 16-20 / 1. Four types of short sentences: equations with be, equations with linking verbs, intransitives, transitives
2. Rhetorical appeals and considerations
3. Arrangement: classical model / Monday- Summer Reading Project
Friday- Test on 1-3
August 23-27 / 1. The dynamics of basic patters on short sentences in context
2. Other Patterns of Development:, narration, description, process analysis, exemplification, comparison contrast, classification and division / Friday- test 1 and 2
August 30 –September 3 / 1. Noun phrases
2. Close reading/analysis methods / Friday test on 1
Friday annotated article, dialectical journal, and graphic organizer due
September 8-10 / 1. Noun phrases
2. Synthesizing Sources: Types of support, The Synthesis essay, Formulating your position
3. Research methods: locating good sources / Friday test on 1-2
September 13-17 / 1. Verb phrases
2. Reading analytically for paper topic, “To What Extent do our Schools Serve the Goals of a True Education?” Authors covered: Francine Prose, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sherman Alexie, Margaret Talbot, James Baldwin, Kyoko Mori, Billy Collins, Sandra Cisneros, Tables from National Endowment for the Arts / Monday- three different types of supporting sources due, all should be annotated, journaled, or graphically organized
Friday test on 1
Friday- Rhetorical Discussion questions based on readings due
September 20-24 / 1. Verb phrases
2. Continue reading on education topic. Authors include Horace Mann, Leon Botstein, Todd Gitlin, David S. Brodeer, Floyd Norris, and painting by Norman Rockwell / Wednesday- rough draft of essay available for peer review and teacher conferencing.
Friday- final draft due
Friday- test on 1
September 27-
October 1 / 1. Adjectives and Adverbs
2. Reading analytically for paper topic, “How does our work shape or influence our lives?” Authors include Barbara Ehrenreich, Booker T. Washington, Richard Selzer, Claudia O’Keefe, Thomas Carlyle, Annie Dillard, Ellen Goodman, Tillie Olsen, Jean Toomer, poster by J. Howard Miller, cartoon by Jeff Parker / Friday- test on 1
Friday- Rhetorical Discussion questions based on readings due
October 4-8 / 1. Adjectives and Adverbs
2. Continue reading on work topic. Authors include Marilyn Gardner, Amelia Warren Tyagi, Claudia Walis, Christopher Mele, Kimberly Palmer, Buzz McClain, George Eliot / Wednesday- rough draft of essay available for peer review and teacher conferencing.
Friday- test on 1
Friday- final draft due
October 13-15 / 1. prepositions
2. Reading analytically for paper topic, “What is the relationship of the individual to the community?” Authors include Martin Luther King Jr., Henry David Thoreau, Jane Howard, Amitai Etzioni, Anna Quindlen, Lori Arviso Alvord, Edwidge Danticat, Aurora Levins Morales, painting by Lee Teter, sculpture by Frederick Hart / Friday- Discussion questions based on readings due
Friday -test on 1
Wednesday/Thursday Practice Multiple Choice test
October 18-22 / 1. Prepositions
2. Continue Reading on community topic. Authors include Bertrand Russell, Peter Singer, Garrett Hardin, John Betjeman, / Wednesday- rough draft of essay available for peer review and teacher conferencing.
Wednesday/Thursday Timed Writing of Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Friday – final draft due
October 25-29 / 1. Conduct research on development of American non-fiction/fiction
2. Compose rough drafts for peer/teacher review / 1. Friday Rough Drafts Due
November 1-5 / 1. Complete final drafts of research papers
2. Begin reading In Cold Blood / 1. Tuesday- final drafts due
2. Friday – dialectical journals due
November 8-12 / 1. Continue reading In Cold Blood / 1. Friday- Dialectical journals due
November 15-19 / 1. Finish reading In Cold Blood / 1. Friday –Dialectical journals due
November 29-December 3 / 1. Viewing movie In Cold Blood
2. Begin Position Papers / 1. Response to visual media
2. Friday- Rough draft for peer review
December 6- 10 / 1. Revise Papers
2. Prepare panel discussions / 1. Wednesday- Final Draft Due
2. Complete Panel Discussions
December 13-17 / 1. Presenting panel discussions
2. Mid term exams (Multiple Choice and timed writings) / 1. Panel Discussions Monday/Tuesday
**** This pacing guide covers first semester only. To provide an accurate and responsive pacing guide for second semester, teacher will provide a second semester pacing guide upon return to class in January. The following will serve as general goals.
1. In depth coverage of the Synthesis essay
2. Continuing study of Syntax as Style
3. Student lead analysis of visual media
4. Refining the Rhetorical Analysis and Argumentative essays
5. Vocabulary development
6. Practicing for the Multiple Choice
Classroom Procedures:
Beginning Class / Check the objectives on the board. / Get all materials you will need for the day. / Quietly begin working on the DGP.Submitting Work / Turn-in all work at the turn-in table. Place it in your assigned class basket. / When finished, you should read your selected novels and avoid disturbing other students.
Assignments / Follow the readings list for your class and be prepared to discuss the reading critically. / Complete Major Works Data Sheet on two student selected novels each nine weeks. / Refer to teacher website to retrieve any forms required for assignments.
Make-Up Work / To receive credit for make-up work, students must follow all board policies. / Previously unannounced assignments: make arrangements with teacher. / Previously announced assignments: turn-in or complete upon return to class.
Ending Class / Write down any assignments. / Wait for teacher dismissal.
Grading Procedures: