Shutt, AP 11 1

The course corresponds with the objectives and expectations outlined in the College Board Course Description. This, notably, includes synthesizing information and analyzing images-as-text. This is a rigorous course that gives students ample opportunities to examine a writer’s purpose in accordance with the writer’s use of rhetorical devices, including tone, diction, audience, organization, appeal, style, and attitude. The course also teaches students how to read and evaluate primary and secondary sources in order to incorporate them into an original composition. All students will be required to document these sources using the guidelines set forth by MLA or APA. This course also requires students to write expository, analytical, and argumentative papers in response to a variety of prose and genres. Students will read and write (formally and informally) in the following rhetorical modes: narration, description, process analysis, example, definition, classification, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, and argument/persuasion. They will learn how to link technique and meaning into well-organized, supported, logical responses to complex texts (primarily nonfiction). All students will take the AP English Language and Composition exam in the spring.

Objectives

  • To read widely and reflect on reading through extensive discussion, writing, and rewriting
  • To write, especially in persuasive, analytical, and expository forms on a variety of subjects
  • To use close reading of parts of a text to analyze and understand the meaning of the wholetext
  • To develop clarity, complexity, self-awareness, flexibility, effectiveness, and confidence in student writing
  • To develop awareness of the composing process, especially the exploration of ideas, the consideration of writing strategies, and an understanding of the value of revision
  • To study the English Language, especially differences between oral and written discourse, formal and informal language usage, and historical variations in speech and writing
  • To develop a comprehensive overview of the major movements of American Literature
  • To prepare for the AP English Language and Composition Exam in May

Students will—

  • Present, analyze, and evaluate persuasive oral presentations with a focus on rhetoricaltechniques
  • Read and analyze major American literary and cultural types, genres, characters, and traditions as well as printed informational texts
  • Understand the variety and range of written communication forms and strategies while developing their own persuasive and expository writing skills
  • Access, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and organize information from a variety of sources into a documented paper dealing with a questions, problem or issue
  • Do extensive work with AP sample response passages and multiple choice questions and discuss strategies for decoding and encoding AP Prompts.

Texts:

Conversations in American Literature Language, Rhetoric, and Culture.Bedford,

2015.

The Language of Composition. 2nd edition. Bedford, 2013.

In Cold BloodCapote

Catcher in the RyeSalinger

Into the WildKrakauer

Into Thin Air Krakauer

Under the Banner of Heaven Krakauer or Salvation on Sand Mountain Convington

Rats Sullivan or Stiff Roach

Instructional Philosophy: All students are expected to participate, to be honest, and to do their best in a rigorous and fast-paced course.

Materials:writing utensils, paper, binder to stay organized, access to the Internet

Methods of learning:

Group work (for reading, peer editing, etc.)

Journals

Tests

AP practice multiple choice and essays

In-class and independent reading

In-class and independent writing, including timed writing

Informal and formal presentations

Seminar discussion

Contact numbers / times

  • Email: Feel free to email assignments or ask questions regarding work. Keep emails short, specific, and appropriate.
  • I am available every morning(7:20-7:45), Plus Block, and after school.
  • Please check Parent Portal periodically for attendance and grades.

Homework policy

  • Expect heavy homework, especially reading, analyses, and compositions.
  • You always have something to work on. Home is a great place to read, revise, and to seek peer feedback.

Behavioral Rules

  • No food, foolishness, or foul language.
  • Phones and electronics will be confiscated.
  • Be ready to work. Be responsible about leaving class.
  • Accept responsibility for your actions, including being present and prepared.
  • Show respect to your teachers, to your peers, to the classroom itself.
  • Let me teach. Allow others to learn.
  • Please obey the Lee High Student Handbook

Conduct Rubric

A—Responsible, Respectful

B—Occasional Lapse in Good Behavior

C—Inappropriate Classroom Behavior

D—Defiant

F—No Improvement in Defiant Behavior

Attendance

Be in class on time! It is your responsibility to see me concerning missing work if you were not here. I will not wander the school looking for you. See Lee High Attendance Policy

Plagiarism or Cheating: Anyone who deliberately cheats or plagiarizes will receive a referral and sent to the Honor Council. The grade for the dishonest assignment will be 0%. Students will have the option to complete the assignment within 48 hours for a possible substitute grade of 50%. See me or multiple sources for information on citation and plagiarism so that you will not make mistakes.

Grading:

Class Work: 40% (AP multiple choice practice questions, Grammar-Vocabulary-Content Tests, Journals)

Major Writing Assignments and Projects: 50%

Homework: 10%(minor assignments as needed, participation)

Unexcused Late Work: 5% deduction per day

Grading Scale: 10-point overall scale, using the AP essay rubric.

Weighted Credit: In order to earn Lee High weighted credit, students must take the AP exam.

Course Materials Books/Novels:

  • Required text and novel (as noted)
  • Writing utensils and paper
  • Suggested Binder with paper or Google Doc

Section 1: Journals to respond to selected quotes, art, and media

Section 2: Rhetorical Devices: definition and examples

Section 3: Grammar lessons, lessons on Writing Mechanics, Sentences

Section 4: Class and Lecture Notes

Essay Policy

  • Any formal, out-of-class assignments should be typed. A hard copy or a digital copy must be submitted on time. Final drafts must represent your best work. Please follow the individual rubrics in accordance with the AP rubric.
  • I expect all work to be original. Avoid plagiarism in your research by evaluating and citing the source (both primary and secondary) of the idea or language, whether directly quoted or paraphrased. All citations should be in MLA format, unless noted.
  • All in-class essays are hand written in ink and simulate the AP exam experience. All essays will be graded using the AP essay rubric.
  • Multiple essay assignments will require the student to follow the entire writing process, including multiple drafts and peer editing.

Reading Assignments

The most important requirement for this course is that students read every assignment. Rhetoric can be subtle and complex and always deserves a close reading. Novels in particular require planning and time management.

  • You will be required to look beyond the most obvious, surface-level structures and observations to the more subtle nuances of the works. For this we will consistently approach literature and rhetoric in search of the CIA (i.e., complexities, ironies, and ambiguities) and the rhetorical triangle.
  • There will be pre-, during, and post-reading focuses for each assignment that will help hone your literary vocabulary, help you master your command of complex syntax, and help keep you organized both conceptually and with reading comprehension.
  • Expect periodic reading quizzes, most often requiring synthesis of notes and discussion into a written response.
  • Socratic seminar will be our primary vehicle for discussion of the readings. While there will often be fine differences in the structure and format of the seminars, they will consistently be Socratic in that the students are expected to do the following:
  • Facilitate the discussion process by independently engaging an issue, actively listening to peer responses, and building upon those in their own responses
  • Come with completed work which prepares them to focus in the appropriate direction.
  • To make statements of insights, inferences and argumentation, to support your stance using direct quotations from the texts, and to offer commentary that serves to connect your points to the overall discussion and the greater significance of the reading
  • To prepare their own theses and argumentative stances by taking notes from the discussion to incorporate into their own written responses later.

Writing Assignments

  • Students will take part in and account for the writing process (i.e., brainstorming, prewriting, drafting, revising, editing).
  • Students will write a series of critical assignments based on various prose, poetry and dramatic readings. These papers will explicate discoveries from close reading works in these genres. Each paper will use specific and well-chosen evidence to articulate an argument relative to close textual analysis of rhetorical devices, structure, style and social / historical values.
  • Students will write to explain (e.g., expository and analytical essays that draw upon details), to understand (e.g., reaction papers and journals that explicate their own connections to the texts and their degree of comprehension) and to evaluate (e.g., style analysis, argumentation about artistry and its effectiveness, analysis / evaluation of social and cultural elements), to argue (e.g., persuasive essays and research), and to synthesize (e.g., synthesis essay).
  • Students will also respond to AP prompts under timed conditions, during class time only.

Unit 1: Argument for Rhetoric(August-October)

Literary Focus: selected excerpts from Conversationstext, Into the Wild, Walden

Writing Focus: occasion, context, purpose, rhetorical triangle, ethos, pathos, logos, SOAPSTone (subject, occasion, audience, purpose, speaker, and tone); metaphors; Rhetorical terminology, vocabulary in context

Writing Focus: Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Reading Assessments(subject to additions)

  • Selected passages from Conversations text: analyze for SOAPSTONE
  • Selected The Onion articles: analyze for SOAPSTONE
  • Released AP Rhetorical Analysis Essays: students will score essays and fix released essays (take the 4 to a 6)
  • Legacy of Thoreauexcerpts (Conv): analyze for SOAPSTONE
  • Selected print and media advertisements: analyze for SOAPSTONE
  • Excerpts from Walden by Thoreau
  • Into the Wild by Krakauer
  • Multiple Choice: AP multiple choice: answer selected passages; defend correct answers and the reason for the wrong answers (bi-monthly)
  • Rhetorical Analysis: Students will analyze AP prompts; score released AP essays; develop strategies for improving poor released essays
  • Writing:Into the Wild: Choose an extended passage. What is its purpose? What devices are used to show the purpose?

Into the Wild: Rhetorical Analysis Essay: What is the author’s position on Alex and his Transcendental ideals? Where is there evidence of his biasness? Support with textual evidence.

  • Writing: Choose 3 visual advertisements: Analyze rhetorical situation and appeals; determine effectiveness or ineffectiveness.
  • Writing: Thoreau Legacy: students will analyze the selected passages; students will complete synthesis essay with this in the next unit
  • Writing: Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Students will compare and contrast two speeches, focusing on purpose and rhetorical strategies in a 500-700 word essay.
  • Writing: Choose published columnist. Read 2 published columns. Complete PASTA/SOAPSTONE on both columns. After analyzing the writer’s style, mimic the style as student introduces him or herself.
  • Writing: Timed Rhetorical Analysis Essays based upon notes taken from Conversations text and selected texts.

Unit 2: Making Effective Arguments(October-January)

Literary Focus: selected excerpts from Conversationstext, Into Thin Air, Rats, Stiff, selected excerpts from famous speeches (Americanrhetoric.com)

Writing Focus: Rogerian, claims, fallacies, first-hand evidence, second-hand evidence, induction, deduction, Toulmin Model, claim to thesis, vocabulary in context, metaphors, continued focus with rhetorical terminology

Writing Focus: Synthesis Essay

Reading Assessments: (subject to additions)

  • Selected passages from Conversations text
  • Selected The Onion articles
  • Analyze visual texts as Arguments
  • Columbus Day Controversy (synthesis) (Conv)
  • Moon Landing (synthesis) (Conv)
  • John Brown (synthesis) (Conv)
  • Into Thin Air by Krakauer
  • Rats or Stiff (student choice)
  • Multiple Choice: AP multiple choice: answer selected passages; defend correct answers and the reason for the wrong answers (bi-monthly)
  • Synthesis Essay: Students will analyze AP prompts; score released AP essays; develop strategies for improving poor released essays
  • Writing: Argue/Analysis Essay: Analyze published movie review for its claims. What criteria does the reviewer use to justify the thumbs up or down? What fallacies if any are used?
  • Writing: Into Thin Air: Synthesis Essay: Should Everest be closed; use the work and class generated sources in a 700+ word essay.
  • Writing:RatsorStiff: Student led Socratic Seminars on the two works (use of irony and humor); Essay: Argue for your chosen book and convince the other group that they should have read your book.
  • Synthesis Essays: Moon landing, Columbus, John Brown (Conv.): students read, analyze, formulate arguments and write the synthesis essays based upon these sources
  • Synthesis Essay: Students create their own Synthesis prompt with sources; students write essay

Unit 3: The Argument for Romanticism / Dark (Jan-March)

Literary Focus: poetry and essays, Romanticism and Dark Romanticism, In Cold Blood

Writing Focus: close reading, tone, diction, style, asking questions, purpose, synthesis, thesis, annotating, MLA essentials, rhetorical terminology, metaphors, vocabulary in context

Writing Focus: Argue Essay

Reading Assessments: (subject to additions)

  • Selected poetry of Poe, Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, and Whitman
  • Selected short fiction of Poe and Hawthorne
  • Hudson River School paintings
  • In Cold Blood by Capote
  • Damned Human Race
  • Savages of North America
  • Selected readings from Conversations text
  • Multiple Choice: AP multiple choice: answer selected passages; defend correct answers and the reason for the wrong answers (bi-monthly)
  • Argue Essay: Students will analyze AP prompts; score released AP essays; develop strategies for improving poor released essays; students will generate concrete examples for poor released essays
  • Argue Essay: After reading Twain’s “The Damned Human Race”, argue for or against his proposal using current events.
  • Timed Argue Essays: using released prompts
  • Rhetorical Analysis: selected passages from In Cold Blood
  • Project: In Cold Blood: Students will hold a mock trial for the characters in the novel either blaming them or another element for the actions of the men and the murders. Students will need to use textual evidence and quotes.
  • Argue/Compare-Contrast Essay: Argue for Poe’s “The Raven” as an excellent work of Dark Romanticism in contrast to the Simpson’s spoof of the same work.
  • Writing: Timed Argue Essays based upon notes taken from Conversations text and selected texts.
  • Project: Create own satire using multimedia that mimics or is inspired by Franklin’s Savages of North America; make an argument

Unit 4: The Argument for Realism, Naturalism, and Disillusionment (March-May)

Literary Focus: Naturalism, Realism, Modernism, Catcher in Rye, Under Banner of Heaven or Salvation on Sand Mountain

Writing Focus: close reading, tone, diction, style, asking questions, purpose, synthesis research for Teenager, MLA/APA, rhetorical devices, vocabulary in context

Writing Focus: Argue, Rhetorical Analysis, Synthesis Essays

Reading Assessments: (subject to additions)

  • Under Banner of Heaven or Salvation on Sand Mountain
  • Catcher in Rye by Salinger
  • Religious Tolerance (Conv) synthesis
  • Selected poetry: Frost, Hughes, Stevens, Cummings, Eliot, Hurston
  • Selected political cartoons
  • AP Test prep: after evaluating students, focus on areas of weakness in preparation for the AP exam
  • Multiple Choice: AP multiple choice: answer selected passages; defend correct answers and the reason for the wrong answers (bi-monthly)
  • Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Banner or Salvation text:Choose an extended passage. What is its purpose? What devices are used to show the purpose?
  • Synthesis Essay: Using articles from Religious Tolerance (Conv) and the chosen Banner or Salvation text, write a 1000+ word synthesis essay
  • Research: Diagnosis Holden from Catcher in the Rye using the text and medical research; as his doctor diagnosis him and create a plan for his care based upon recent research and facts from the 1950s.
  • Timed Argue, Rhetorical Analysis, and Synthesis Essays using selections from Conversations text
  • Lincoln-Douglas Debates