AP Language and Composition

2015-2016 Syllabus

Paula Wright-Savok

352-8231 (message)

(quickest way to be in contact with me).

Room 142

Course Description: Advanced Placement Language and Composition is a course delivered as a 100 level college literature and composition course providing the intellectual challenges and workload consistent with such a course. This course allows students to explore and interact with all different types of literature in order to reflect, analyze, communicate , evaluate and synthesize. Through close readings, analysis of primary and secondary sources, analysis of visual media, in-class discussions and Socratic seminar, students will become familiar with the literary terms and concepts necessary to effectively analyze literature and evaluate the effectiveness of the rhetorical devices used to convey meaning through informal, formal and creative writing. The course will culminate with the AP Literature and Composition exam in May. Please refer to the College Board website for more information about the AP exam.

Keys to Course Success:

 An enthusiasm for discovering and exploring new concepts about literature, writing, and humanity

 Being prepared each day by completing the readings, assignments and writing assignments.

 Active and productive participation in class.

 Always producing your best work, no matter what the task.

 Open, honest, and respectful communication.

Classroom Expectations:

1. Be respectful:

  • Be an active listener
  • Raise your hand and be recognized before speaking.
  • No rude language or disrupting the learning of others.
  • Await the teacher’s dismissal, not the bell, to leave your seat and the class.
  • Keep the room neat and orderly. Due to the wood floors- take off your shoes. No food or drink (besides water) allowed in classroom.

2. Make good decisions:

  • Be on time and where you are supposed to be.
  • Bring materials to class.
  • Complete homework before class.

3. Solve problems:

  • When absent, find out missed assignments immediately study buddies.
  • Be proactive, not reactive.

4. Work During Work Times:

  • Be actively engaged in the assignment.
  • If you finish early, read a book, work on your homework, keep busy without distracting others.
  • Be actively engaged in group work, keep conversations relevant to the assignment topic.

If an infraction occurs to a classroom expectation, the following will occur:

1st Time: A non-verbal warning will be given.

2nd Time: A verbal warning will be given.

3rd Time: Student removed from class to complete an On Notice form.

4th Time: A disciplinary referral to the principal’s office will be issued.

*Severe Disruption: Student immediately removed.

*Parents will be contacted as needed.

*Electronic devices will be confiscated and turned into the office.

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

*Excellent attendance is of the utmost importance.

*Students are marked late for any arrival after the bell and must receive a pass from the office to return to class. The third late arrival to class will result in a detention. This accumulates for all classes. Every late arrival thereafter will result in detention and/or

other consequences.

ASSIGNMENTS:

*Homework is exactly that—work that is to be done at home. Assignments are due at

thebeginning of class.

*Assignments are expected to be turned in on their due date.

*At times, an optional rewrite or redo may be offered to the class. There is no

individual extra credit.

*All work must be neat and reflect an honest attempt at proofreading. Assignments

should be submitted on white, standard-sized paper and should be written on one side

of the paper only. Formal writing assignments are to be computer-generated.

Include the following MLA heading (double-spaced) in the upper left-hand corner.

Student Name

Mrs. Wright-Savok

English 3 Period 1

16 August 2015

Effective Title

HALL PASSES:

Save emergencies, no one leaves class after the bell.

MAKE-UP WORK:

In the event of an absence, YOU are responsible for finding out what you missed. Talk with your classroom study buddies first. (You should have exchanged phone numbers with at least two people.) Come in during one of the week’s advisory periods, during 1st lunch or before/after schoolto get missing work.

WHS ENGLISH DEPARTMENT LATE POLICY:

In an effort to align our philosophy that a student’s summative assignments should be assessed on their curricular merit, and not the student’s time management skills, all summative assignments will be accepted by the teacher for full credit until the “Drop Dead” dates listed below. However, all summative assignments will be assessed an additional grade that will be noted in the “Employability” category in the grade book. This employability grade will be a measure of whether the assignment was handed in on time. The “on time” grade will be worth 10% of the summative assignment’s total points and is eligible for one of two grades – 100% or 0%. Assignments are considered to be “on time” if they are handed in at the start of the period, the day the assignment is due; no exceptions.

The “Drop Dead” dates for all assignments are as follows:

10/02/2015

12/04/2015

2/26/2016

5/02/2016

Note, these dates are two weeks prior to the end of each quarter.

Late assignments will NOT be accepted after the appropriate “Drop Dead” date has passed. Any assignment left incomplete will become a zero once the date has passed.

Course Materials: The anthology used for the course is The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. The vast majority of our text selections will come from this book, but I will be providing supplementary texts. The novel selections listed below should be purchased by the students whenever possible so that the texts can be annotated during close and active reading. I will have several copies of some of the titles, or you can check out a copy from our library; however sticky notes must be used for annotations if not using a personally owned copy of the text. This novel list should be considered fluid in that a title may change if it is determined it isn’t working for the class as a whole, or time constraints prevent us from reading it or time allows for additional titles.

Novel/Drama Texts:
 Non-fiction travel narrative /  Non-fiction societal issue book

Other Class Supplies: 1 Composition notebook (no spirals please); 1 binder with 4-5 dividers for handouts, graded work, resources; pens, pencils, highlighters; flash drive, loose-leaf paper, and sticky notes of various sizes.

Grading: In MSBSD, AP courses receive a weighted grade. That is, for purposes of computing grade point averages, AP courses are graded on a five-point scale rather than a four-point scale:

A=5 points; B=4 points; C=3 points; a D is not weighted (1 point); and an F earns no credit. With weights grades it is possible to have a GPA higher than 4.0. However, the grade you earn in this class will appear on your transcript and report card.

While this always seems to be the “most important” thing in a student’s mind, this class is unique in its methodology. As the culminating assessment of this class is the AP exam in May, all assignments are building toward successful completion of the aforementioned exam. Thus, if a student were to earn an ‘A’ prior to the exam, it would indicate that they have the necessary skills at that point to score a 4 or 5 on the AP exam. Accurate assessment is paramount to the students’ understanding of their skills that need improving as well as the creation of the curriculum necessary to ensure a competent score on the exam in May. If consistent growth and achievement is evident throughout the semester, a student may still receive an ‘A’ on their report card; I do not wish to hinder a possible scholarship or valedictorian, but the growth and learning must be evidenced through the evaluation of formative and summative assignments throughout the semester. The grade breakdown is best understood as such:

A= 4+ or 5 on the AP Exam, B= 4 on the AP Exam, C= 3 on the AP Exam, D = 2 on the AP Exam, F= 1 or lower on the AP Exam.

If the student only has the skills necessary to score a ‘3’ on the exam, their grade should be a ‘C’; anything other would be an unfair indicator of where their current abilities lay.

That being said the breakdown for grading categories are as follows:

Your grades for this course will be determined by your scores on assignments in the following categories: Employability, Formative Assessments, Summative Assessments, and Final Exams.

The Employability category is based on the English Department policy of 3 points earned per day for coming to class on time, being prepared with ALL materials, and active participation in class. Timeliness of meeting deadlines will also be noted here. This category will be 10% of your grade.

Formative assessments will include reading quizzes, journal writing (free writes/dialectical), annotations of close readings, graphic organizers, guided questions or other short writing assignments, and practice AP exams. This category will be 20% of your grade.

Summative assessments are assignments that check to see if you are “putting it all together” and therefore include assignments such as formal essays where multiple drafts have been written, with provided feedback used as a guide to revision. Formal essays will be expository, critical, persuasive, analytical, interpretive, or evaluative in nature. In addition there will be one extensive research paper utilizing both primary and secondary sources. This category will be 60% of your grade.

Final exams will make up the remaining 10% of your grade. The spring final will consist of the actual AP Literature exam. The fall final will consist of a practice AP exam.

Plagiarism and academic dishonesty: All work submitted for this course must be your own. All reference to texts must be properly cited. In cases where plagiarism has been clearly established, no credit will be given for the assignment. There is no excuse for using someone else’s work as your own. Any additional incident of plagiarism may lead to a Withdraw/No Credit for the class.

Course Outline

Writing: Writing is a major component of this course. Along with the readings, students are expected to do extensive writing about those readings. Our focus for writing will be on synthesis, argumentation, research and analysis. We will pay close attention to logical organization, effective use of evidence from the text(s) to build a strong argument, syntax and diction. Each writing assignment is accompanied by a rubric that will help students plan their responses and understand what is being asked of them. The timed writing prompts will use the College Board-produced rubrics used for the open response question.

Writings will be both informal and formal. Writings will vary from assignment to assignment but all will be given to emphasize critical style and technique and to make students think about what they are reading and the writer’s intent. Writings will also stress the social and historical context of the readings, as well as using textual evidence to make evaluations about a work’s artistry and quality. Writing will occur in journals, informal writing, free-writes, as well as formally typed essays in MLA format. In addition there will be one extensive quarter-long research paper that will require you to use, evaluate and cite primary and secondary sources.

Grammar and usage will be addressed in mini-lessons imbedded in the context of our readings. It will focus on usage, diction, syntax and logical organization. We will use the texts as positive, correct models to emulate. Feedback on formal essays will also address individual grammar concerns as they occur in the students’ drafts.

Students will receive extensive feedback on all formal writings. Feedback will be both instructor and peer generated. Individualized feedback will discuss the students’ style, structure, and effectiveness, as well as their interpretations, analysis, and/or argument.

Reading: We will read at least three novels and one drama piece together, and you will have several novels and/or plays to read on your own throughout the year as well. We will read several pieces of literature in literature circle fashion. All selections must come from the list of books used on the AP exam that was given to you. Dialectical journals will be kept for many of the novels and plays you read. Rubrics for those journals will be handed out at the time of the assignment. We will read non-fiction selections several times a week throughout the year as well as poetry, short stories and visual media.

Visual Media: Visual media is an alternate form of text or a visual representation of text and can be used to enhance meaning, provoke thought and discussion or provide for analysis opportunities. Students will be thoroughly instructed in the use of the OPTIC acronym to assist in analyzing visual media. We will analyze graphs, charts, political cartoons, pictures and advertisements and discuss and write about how they can be every bit as effective (in some cases more effective) than written descriptions and arguments.

It is imperative that students keep up with the reading assignments for this course. Please set aside at least an hour or two every day, to include weekends, to read the assigned texts. Reading will be the vast majority of the work that will be done outside of class. In class, we do the heavy lifting of AP Language and Composition analysis and evaluation of the readings.

AP Test Practice: Throughout the course, the students will practice both the multiple choice and essay portions of the past AP exams. These will most often be timed in order to simulate the actual exam as much as possible. These practice tests will serve to familiarize the students with the AP exam as well as to be used as excellent indicators of the student’s current ability and progress. These practice exams will fall under the Summative Assessment category.

Vocabulary: a reference list of terms used on the AP exam will be given to students. All words will be studied in context as they occur in our literature studies and writing assignments. Additional words will be chosen so as to allow students to improve their level of discourse when discussing and writing about literature.

Semester One

You can expect a timed writing prompt approximately every two weeks. These will be holistically scored using the 9 point AP rubric and they will be modeled after actual AP prompts. You will have at least 4 formal written essays, with revisions over the course of each semester. Again, you will have rubrics for each assignment and receive ample feedback on these assignments.

We will also have several opportunities to practice the multiple choice sections of past AP exams. These will also be timed so as to approximate the time allowed for this section on the actual exam.

Weeks 1-2: Course Introduction/ Addressing Summer Reading

 How do we read responsively? We will look close reading of fiction and non-fiction to notice diction, syntax, imagery and tone and the effect those rhetorical elements have on meaning. We will look how an author’s life influences their writing (art imitates life), and how our experiences and beliefs influence the meaning we derive from a text. We will immerse ourselves in this thinking as we discuss A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini), our summer reading requirement

Chapters 1 and 2 of The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric .

  • Rhetorical Triangle and Ethos, Pathos, Logos.
  • Key terms

Weeks 3-4: Patterns of Development and Synthesizing Sources

For the remainder of the semester we will continue to work on synthesizing sources and recognizing and applying the patterns of development:

  • Chapters 2 and 3 of The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric . (LOC).
  • Various essays will be handed out to practice synthesizing sources and patterns of development.
  • In addition, 2 aspects of visual media will be provided and analyzed (a cartoon and a graph) and expected to be used as one of the synthesized sources.

Weeks 5-12: Themes: Education and Work

For the remainder of the quarter and into second quarter we will focus on the themes of Education and Work. We will look at defining these themes, looking at elements that compose the themes and how different writers incorporate the theme into their writing.

 Novel Selection: Non-Fiction Societal Issue Novel (free choice). Book talk to be completed Week 9.

  • Dialectical Journals will be completed for novel.

Synthesis Essays

  • At least 2 timed synthesis essays will be completed. Feedback will be given and rewrites will be required. Essays will be graded on the AP 9 point scale.

Chapters 4 and 5 of The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric . (LOC)

  • “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read” (Prose)- pg. 89LOC
  • “”Education” (Emerson)- pg. 102 LOC
  • “Superman and Me” (Alexie)- pg. 110 LOC
  • “Best in Class” (Talbot) -pg. 113LOC
  • “A Talk to Teachers” (Baldwin)- pg. 123 LOC
  • “ School” (Mori)- pg. 130 LOC
  • “The History Teacher” (Collins)- pg. 143 LOC
  • “Eleven” (Cisneros)- pg. 144 LOC
  • “Conversation: Focus on the American High School” pg. 150 LOC
  • From Serving in Florida (Ehrenreich)- pg. 179 LOC
  • “The Atlanta Exposition Address” (Washington)- pg. 191 LOC
  • “The Surgeon as Priest” (Selzer)- pg. 197 LOC
  • “The Traveling Bra Salesman” (O’Keefe)- pg. 205 LOC
  • “From: Labour” (Carlyle) –pg. 209 LOC
  • From The Writing Life (Dillard)- pg. 212 LOC
  • “In Praise of a Snail’s Pace” (Goodman)- pg. 221 LOC
  • “I Stand Here Ironing” (Olsen)- pg. 224 LOC
  • “Harvest Song” (Toomer)- pg. 230 LOC
  • “We Can Do It!” (Miller)- pg. 232 LOC (VISUAL MEDIA)
  • “The Great GAPsby Society (Parker)- pg. 233 LOC (VISUAL MEDIA)
  • “Conversation: Focus on Working Parents”- pg. 235 LOC

Various other essays and handouts will be used throughout the semester.

 We will continue to analyze the effects of rhetorical devices and patterns of development used in poetry, fiction and primarily non-fiction and visual media.