Advanced Placement English will engage you in the careful reading of and critical thinking about literary works. As AP English students you will develop critical standards for independent appreciation and sensitivity to literature as shared experience. Through investigative study,you will sharpen your awareness of language and understanding of the writer's craft. You will also study and practice writing on a daily basis, refine your ability to communicate in various modes of discourse, and use language precisely and respectfully. Through reading, speaking, listening, and chiefly through the experience of your own writing, you will work daily toward a greater command of the vast resources of language and human experience available to you through the study of literature.

Of particular importance are the major goals of Advanced Placement English writing instruction:

  • to help you develop facility in the honest and effective use of language;
  • to help you discover a commanding, individual authorial voice;
  • to promote your ability to organize and articulate ideas in a clear, coherent, and persuasive way.

Classroom Norms:

1)You will maintain a writing folder to be kept in the classroom and organized using a table of contents listing the date, topic and assessment/score of each writing. Periodically, youmay select process position papers and in-class timed writings for conferencing and revision and resubmission for a new grade. You are encouraged to initiate conferences with me to answer your questions and explain my comments.

2)You will write daily in a composition book that you will be expected to have with youat all times. These informal writings are pivotal to your development as writers and critical thinkers. They will lead the way for class discussions, and may eventually form the basis for graded formal pieces. Please plan to write in dark blue or black ink, rather than in pencil for these daily writings.Aside from the fact that college writing seldom allows for writing in pencil, pen is easier for me to read. Cross-outs and arrows are far more easily decoded than smeared or light pencil!

3)All assignments done outside of the classroom must be typed.

4)The key class structure will be a seminarin which everyone is expected to participate actively in discussion.My primary role in the seminar discussion is to provide organization, sequence, and guidance as you prepare to exchange ideas about what you have read, written, or thought. I will, therefore, equip you with instruction that you may use to inform your understanding of a work of literature or a nuance of writing and communication. Essentially, however, class discussion will be yours to direct and maintain. Ideally, during any discussion of ideas, I should be able to take notes as a member of the seminar circle, just as I expect you to do. By the way, since I will use a laptop or iPad for note-taking, I encourage you do bring your own technology to class for the same purpose. Please do not, however, plan to use cell phones in class.

5)You will always have homework in Advanced Placement English. Since your class meets every other day, you will always have something to prepare for the next class. In addition, when possible, I will also give longer-term assignments for which you will have to plan and organize your time and effort. Please keep assignments in your AK agenda and be diligent about checking my webpage after 5 pm every evening, as I will maintain on that wiki an up-to-date calendar of assignment dates, and class agenda, as well as handouts to print for the next class, and other important information. Checking my webpage every evening so that you are prepared for the next class is an assignment, not an option.

6)Apropos of your class responsibilities as Advanced Placement English IV students::

  1. Avoid absences when at all possible. Earn your college credit. The College Board expects Advanced Placement English IV to be a college-level course. (FYI: College courses typically make few allowances for absences, and penalize students who exceed that restriction by a lowered grade or loss of credit for the course).
  1. I will follow department policy and district rules regarding timelines for submitting make-up work due to absences.
  1. Arrangements to complete missed work are your responsibility! Students who miss a quiz or a test will be given a grade of zero on the day of the absence until the quiz or test is completed in timely accordance with CMS policies
  1. All seminars are graded—generally as informal class workand occasionally, as formalassignments and quizzes. Seminar discussions revolve around the sharing of thoughts about the author’s writing techniques, as well as information concerning the overall theme and essence of selected works. This process involves the give and take of other students’ points of view and will aid you greatly in diversifying your perspective and deepening your understanding. You will miss these shared insights if you are not in class.

Of course, you will want to earn credit for any missed class. If you are absent for a seminar I will expect you to download from my website a makeup assignment to be prepared and presented to the class upon your return. The make-up assignment will replicate the amount of input you would have been expected to contribute in the missed discussion. Timeliness of sharing your understandings with the class before it moves on to another matter will, of course, be key.

  1. Some students are quite comfortable sharing their ideas verbally; others may find the prospect of talking in front of their peers daunting. I get that. Still, in an Advanced Placement English class, communication of all types is a skill that must be developed. Please resolve to step out of your comfort zone and contribute verbally; I will help you with this, if you wish. You have only to ask.

7)I am available for individual conferences every school day from 2:30 until 3:00, and can often stay longer. Please make an appointment to see me ahead of time. Exceptions: 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month are reserved for faculty meetings.

8)In addition to following all policies set in place at AKHS, Advanced Placement English classes will follow the standard for professionalism expected in a college classroom. The following have no place in an advanced level English classroom: gum, food, drinks (other than plain water in a clear bottle).

THE FOUR CODES

The course is organized primarily upon Sally and Thomas Humble’s excellent Advanced Placement English and Duke University Talent Identification Program handbook, English Literature and Composition: The British Heritage. Course literature is studied as it reflects one of four dialectical codes: Heroic, Romantic, Moral, and Aesthetic. Since you concentrated on American literature in your junior year, the senior year focuses on British Literature as well as on other works suggested in the current College Board publication AP English Course Description.

Unit I: foundations (ongoing throughout the year)

Summer Independent Reading, Literary Criticism, AP Test Preparation, Reading and Writing about Literature, Grammar, Vocabulary, and Writing Conventions Mini-workshops, and the Senior Exit Project Presentation Speech, Product, and Portfolio.

Major Assignments/Assessments

Summer Independent Reading: You will write and submit on the fifth day of class guided narrative responsesto the summer readings.

Annotated Texts or Reader's Journal: You will also submit for examination your annotated summer reading books ora Reader's Journal for each of the summer readings. (Journal entries should be dated and written after each reading session and will reflect your questions, observations, reactions, and critical comments on a given text). You must annotate or keep a reader’s journal for all readings done throughout the year. You will use these specific notations as a resource forclass discussion as well as for essay ideas).

AP English Literature and Composition Preparation. You will:

  • perform in-class timed writings based on selected poetry and prose;
  • review and analyze past AP Exam essay prompts and rubrics;
  • take practice tests using published College Board multiple choice exam questions, writing prompts, and evaluation rubrics.
  • explicate poems several times weekly using the Formalistic [close reading]approach—an examination of specific elements of the author’s style as they help to construct meaning. This is the same method used on the Advanced Placement Exam.

Reading and Writing about Literature. You will:

  • use the article“How to Explicate a Poem,” as well as other poetry analysis frames to analyze poems discussed and/or written about in class;
  • utilize as a resource for close reading, critical thinking and writingHow to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Linesby Thomas C. Foster.
  • write aninterpretation of Katherine Mansfield’s short storyThe Garden Party, drawing upon Foster’s techniques for conducting an informed reading of literature.

Grammar, Vocabulary, and Writing Conventions Mini-workshops: You will practice specific skills in one of these three areas weekly. Instruction will focus upon areas in which most students need improvement, reinforcement, or enrichment.

The Senior Exit Project Presentation Speech, Product, and Portfolio.

You will receive guidance in the form of mini-workshops, structured due dates, and individual after-school conferences and practices. All Advanced Placement English students take their Senior Boards in the first semester.

Unit II: the heroic code (1st quarter)

The Heroic Warrior; The Irony of Heroism; The Revenge-Seeker; The Anti-Hero

Representative works and key topics

The Heroic Warrior

  • Anglo-Saxon Period Historical Perspective; Beowulf (trans. Seamus Heaney), Anglo-Saxon Poetry (“The Seafarer” and “The Wanderer”), and scholarly articles
  • Literary History of Anglo-Saxon Britain and the development of the English language.

The Irony of Heroism: The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot; Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The Revenge-Seeker: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Anti-Hero: Primer of Existentialism (College English, 1961), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard; Jean-Paul Sartre's The Wall; Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean Well-Lighted Room; The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

Assignments and/or Assessments : Substitutions/additions/subtractions may be made at my discretion based upon time constraints. Films may be viewed in their entirety or in selections depending upon available class time.

You will:

  • read and analyze the epic poem Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon lyric poems, and as well as historical/critical materials related to the Anglo-Saxon period.
  • read, annotate, and apply to the works in this and other units: A Primer of Existentialism by Gordon Bigelow.
  • read and analyze the poems The Hollow Men and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
  • read and analyze the novel Heart of Darkness
  • read and analyze Hamlet and view the Kenneth Branagh production.
  • read and analyze the short story The Wall; read the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and view the film version;
  • read scholarly articles that uncover the origins of the Hamlet legend and the nature of the Revenge Tragedy. Students will also note the changing assumptions of readers/viewers about character since the play’s creation.
  • Hamlet Essay: write critical interpretation of an issue in Hamlet. Topics will be student- selected from a teacher/student -generated list of topics
  • Write an essay explaining the location and expression of Bigelow’s identified tenets of existentialism in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
  • take periodic reading checks and quizzes on assigned readings and/or information presented in class;
  • conduct graded, student-led seminar and fishbowl discussions of all of the works assigned for this unit. All students are expected to work collaboratively to defend and develop individual perspectives relating to the works. Students will be expected to apply their annotations, journal entries, independent academic research, and readings of informational materials and texts to prepare for and contribute to discussions in seminar/ fishbowl format. Assessment of individual contribution to discussion is based on the quality of questions and/or responses posed, and logic, and specific use of textual evidence to support or refute opinions.

Independent Reading: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Unit III: the ROMANTIC code (2ND quarter)

The Chivalric Romance; Romance and Satire

Representative works and key topics

The Chivalric Romance

  • Medieval Period Historical/Social/Literary Perspective; Le Morte d’Arthur, selections from Idylls of the King; Book I of The Faerie Queene by Spenserand scholarly articles
  • development of the English language from Anglo-Saxon to Middle English

The English Romantic Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Keats

The Romantic Novel: Frankenstein, A Tale of Two Cities, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights

Assignments and/or Assessments : Substitutions/additions/subtractions may be made at my discretion based upon time constraints.

Chivalric Romance: You will:

  • read and analyze excerpt from Boethius’ “The Consolation of Philosophy,” “Medieval Attitudes toward Life on Earth,” and “The Goddess Fortune.”
  • read and analyze selections from Morte d’Arthur; Idylls of the King, and The Faerie Queene.
  • read and analyze “The General Prologue” to Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales in Modern English translation;
  • read and analyze “The General Prologue” to Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales in Modern English translation;
  • read, analyze and report in groups on “The Knight's Tale,” “The Miller's Tale,” “The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale” and “The Pardoner's Tale,” in both Middle English and a modern English translation;
  • read and analyze two articles, “The Knight’s Tale: The Dialogue of Romance, Epic, and Philosophy” by John Finlayson and “Surface and Secret in The Knight’s Tale” by Brooke Bergan;
  • conduct graded, student-led seminar and fishbowl discussions of all of the works assigned for this unit. All students are expected to work collaboratively to defend and develop individual perspectives relating to the works. Students will be expected to apply their annotations, journal entries, independent academic research, and readings of informational materials and texts to prepare for and contribute to discussions in seminar/ fishbowl format. Assessment of individual contribution to discussion is based on the quality of questions and/or responses posed, and logic, and specific use of textual evidence to support or refute opinions.
  • write an in-class timed writing in response to The Faerie Queene, Book 1 analyzing Spenser’s use of a symbol or motif to carry religious and/or political themes in Book I
  • write a three-page literary analysis based upon one of the following prompts, using the text, study guide, reader’s journal, and class notes as resources:

1) Compare/contrast the two views of women presented in “The Knight's Tale” and “The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale”;

2) Compare “The Knight's Tale” and “The Miller's Tale” in terms of romance, satire, and structure;

3) Explain Chaucer's view of the Pardoner's moral/religious failings in comparison to those of the Friar, the Monk, and the Summoner;

  • write a timed analysis (modeled on the AP Exam) of poems of the Romantic Period, demonstrating in the process both knowledge of poetic form and understanding of how the poets use literary devices for effect. Textual evidence in support of your analysis is required.

Independent reading:

Over winter break you will

  • select and read independently one of the following romantic and/or satiric novels: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Persuasion, Moll Flanders, or Return of the Native to be completed by the end of the 2nd quarter. After referring to reviews in the New York Times Book Review, you will write an ungraded “book review” for a contemporary audience as if the book they have chosen has just been published. You will then share your review with the class.

Unit III: the Moral code (3rd quarter)

The Tragedy of Family; Society and Satire, The Morality of Nature

Representative works and key topics

  • Renaissance Period Historical/Social/Literary Perspective; King Lear by William Shakespeare—The Tragedy of Family;
  • Aristotle’s definitions of satire, tragedy and the tragic hero; identifying the unreliable narrator; identifying satiric tone;
  • The Tragedy of Family—Renaissance Period Historical/Social/Literary Perspective; King Lear by William Shakespeare—;
  • Aristotle’s definitions of satire, tragedy and the tragic hero; identifying the unreliable narrator; identifying satiric tone;
  • Society and Satire: “A Modest Proposal” (Swift), “In Westminster Abbey” (Betjeman), “My Last Duchess” (Browning), "Essay on Man” (Pope), Time's Arrow (Martin Amis); Pride and Prejudice (Austen); The Tragedy of Family
  • Romanticism contrasted with Neo-Classicism;

Major Assignments and/or Assessments

You will:

  • read and annotate Aristotle’s theories regarding tragedy.
  • Read, analyze and view a video production of King Lear;
  • read and analyze Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, Betjeman’s In Westminster Abbey, and Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess
  • conduct graded, student-led discussionsfocusing on family dynamics in King Learand tone in A Modest Proposal, In Westminster Abbey, and My Last Duchess. All students are expected to work collaboratively to defend and develop individual perspectives relating to the works. Students will be expected to apply their annotations, journal entries, independent academic research, and readings of informational materials and texts to prepare for and contribute to discussions in seminar/ fishbowl format. Assessment of individual contribution to discussion is based on the quality of questions and/or responses posed, and logic, and specific use of textual evidence to support or refute opinions.
  • write a 3-to-five page source-based paper defending a student-developed thesis focusing on the “Tragedy of Family” in King Lear.
  • read article “Creating Unreliable Narrators” by William Browning Spencer;
  • use brief, impromptu written responses to stimulate discussion of the way students’perspectives may change as theychallenge the reliability of the narrator;
  • read articles on the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment, and neoclassicism; use the information learned to initiate informal discussions of Swift, Pope, and Austen as representative of their time;
  • read Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Man: Epistle I”; examine it from the standpoint of neoclassicism, addressing political, social, and religious movements in the 18th Century; examine also satire as a dominant form of literary expression;
  • read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and discuss in terms of neoclassic and romantic traditions;
  • engage in panel discussion and/or loosely structured debate defending or refuting the position that Austen was more grounded in 18th century thought and style than in Romanticism.

Independent Reading for Enrichment