ADVANCED PLACEMENT LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
ADVANCED PLACEMENT LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
COURSE SYLLABUS
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|Course Description | |
Course Description: The Advance Placement Literature and Composition course conforms to the College Board recommendations for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Examination and covers the study and practice of writing and the study of literature. The course stresses modes of discourse, assumptions, underlying rhetorical strategies, connotation, metaphor, irony, syntax and tone. In addition, the course emphasizes writing critical analyses of literature and includes essays in exposition and argument, poetry, drama, prose, fiction and expository literature.
• Recognizes analogies.
• Constructs logical sequences and understands the conclusions to which they lead.
• Recognizes that how to think is different from what to think; recognizes multiple valid interpretations; develops and defends individual interpretations.
• Reads independently and responds critically.
• Evaluates and synthesizes a variety of written materials.
• Reads critically, asks pertinent questions, recognizes assumptions and implications, and evaluates ideas within time constraints.
• Conceives and develops ideas about topics for the purpose of speaking to a group, chooses and organizes related ideas, presents, them clearly in Standard American English, and evaluates similar presentations by others.
• Presents arguments in orderly and convincing ways.
• Refines all areas of the writing process including pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, proofreading, and publishing.
• Uses a variety of writing modes, including description, narration, exposition, and persuasion, with emphasis on expository writing.
• Refines the research process. Cites sources according to a standard style sheet.
• Is precise in punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and other elements of manuscript form.
• Synthesizes an idea from a text or an abstract concept and writes a response under time constraints.
Methods: The teacher will use a variety of teaching methods, including both student-oriented and teacher-oriented strategies. Methods may include lecture, discussion, role-playing, small group work, projects, outside reading, independent reading, quizzes, tests, reviews and video and audio recordings. Methods are also planned to meet the needs of multiple intelligences, learning styles and modalities. In regards to the incorporation of technology, we will also have sessions in the computer lab both for composition and for research. Students will also have the opportunity to incorporate technology in their classroom presentations, depending on the assignment parameters.
Course Conditions:
Length: Year long; Fall and Spring Semester. Class length: Block schedule; 90 min sessions
Resources: Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama; Six major literary works, each paired with various short stories that are matched according to a shared theme; select poems that span from the early 17th Century to Post Modern time periods.
Student output:
|Timed in class essays |MLA documented out of class literary analysis essays |
|Poetry responses |Poetry criticisms/analysis |
|Literary driven analytical presentations |Reading Response Logs |
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Required Texts and Readings
In the AP Literature and Composition course, the student should consider obtaining a personal copy of the various novels, plays, epics, poems, and short fiction used in the course. You may purchase copies from a local new or used bookstore, or from an online book source. If available, you may check out books from your school’s English Department. All titles may also be found in the local library branches. Some of the works used can also be accessed online.
Major Works and Paired Short Stories. (Paired by Theme)
|Major Work/ Type |Themes |Short Stories |
|Piano Lesson |Family, culture, tradition, legacy, ghosts, |“Everyday Use” Alice Walker |
| |call to the dead, arts and culture, slavery, |“Sonny’s Blues” James Baldwin |
|Drama |supernatural, rules and order, spirituality, |“The Parable of the Prodigal Son” Luke 15:11-32|
| |women & femininity |“Sweat” Zora Neale Hurston |
|Fences |Family, “larger than Life Characters” , race,|“Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean?” Glory Naylor |
| |men and masculinity, mortality, dreams, |“The Rich Brother” by Tobias Wolff |
|Drama |hopes, plans, betrayal, duty, |“Barn Burning” William Faulkner |
| |dissatisfaction, memory of past |“Girl” Jamaica Kincaid |
|Invisible Man |Identity, Race, lies & deceit, ideology, |“Battle Royale” Ralph Ellison |
| |memories of past, power, admiration, |“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” Gabriel |
| |ambition, love, women and femininity |Garcia Marquez |
| | |“Beauty” Jane Martin |
| | |“Mirrors” Sylvia Plath |
|Native Son |Fate and free will, fear, race, power, shame,|“Happy Endings” Margaret Atwood |
| |criminality, religion, family |“A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor |
| | |“Revelation” |
| | |“A Very Short Story Begins on a Farm” MacLeod |
|Macbeth |Fate and free will, ambition, power, versions|“The Five-Forty-Eight” John Cheever |
| |of reality, gender, supernatural, violence, |“Things they Carried” |
|Drama |and time |“Good Country People” |
| | |“A July of her Peers” |
|Wuthering Heights | |“The Storm” Kate Chopin |
| | |“Miss Brill” |
| | |“A Rose for Emily” |
Course Projected Skill Set:
Reading
|How to mark a passage |Context clues |Ways to increase speed & accuracy |
|Making annotations |Identify valuable “data” | |
Writing
|Generating commentary |Reduction of wordiness |Basic use of literary terms in written responses |
|Incorporate data/proof |Style –say and support it |Formulate analysis |
Testing
|Timed Writings |Tuned MC Questions |Break down the prompt to identify what is being|
| | |asked |
| |+/- system to narrow down multiple choice |Reading questions & marking the text |
| |questions | |
Fall Semester
August 16-September 3
Piano Lesson August Wilson
|Family, culture, tradition, legacy, ghosts, call to the dead, |“Everyday Use” Alice Walker |
|arts and culture, slavery, supernatural, rules and order, |“Sonny’s Blues” James Baldwin |
|spirituality, women & femininity |“The Parable of the Prodigal Son” Luke 15:11-32 |
| |“Sweat” Zora Neale Hurston |
September 13-October 3
Native Son Richard Wright
|Fate and free will, fear, race, power, shame, criminality, |“Happy Endings” Margaret Atwood |
|religion, family |“A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor |
| |“Revelation” |
| |“A Very Short Story Begins on a Farm” MacLeod |
October 18- November 24
Macbeth William Shakespeare
|Fate and free will, ambition, power, versions of reality, gender, |“The Five-Forty-Eight” John Cheever |
|supernatural, violence, and time |“Things they Carried” |
| |“Good Country People” |
| |“A July of her Peers” |
January 5-February 4
Wuthering Heights Charlotte Bronte
| |“The Storm” Kate Chopin |
| |“Miss Brill” |
| |“A Rose for Emily” |
February 14- March 25
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
|Identity, Race, lies & deceit, ideology, memories of past, power, |“Battle Royale” Ralph Ellison |
|admiration, ambition, love, women and femininity |“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” Gabriel Garcia Marquez |
| |“Beauty” Jane Martin |
| |“Mirrors” Sylvia Plath |
April 11- April 29
Fences August Wilson
|Family, “larger than Life Characters” , race, men and masculinity, |“Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean?” Glory Naylor |
|mortality, dreams, hopes, plans, betrayal, duty, dissatisfaction, |“The Rich Brother” by Tobias Wolff |
|memory of past |“Barn Burning” William Faulkner |
| |“Girl” Jamaica Kincaid |
*some dates have been omitted
Reading and Writing Assignments
*Each major work unit will include specific reading and writing assignments, journals, response logs and essays. In class time will be spent honing test taking skills as well as well as growing the strength in analysis writing of the students.
Reading Assignments
The most important requirement for this course is that students read every assignment—read it with care and on time. Students unused to literature courses will need to plan time in their schedule for more reading than most courses require. Poetry, though usually not long, is dense and complicated and should always be read at least twice. Novels in particular require planning.
Writing Assignments
Writing Expectations
As this is a literature and composition course, you will be expected to use every assignment that involves writing to practice your best composition skills. Composition assignments will include: statements, paragraphs, timed writes (essay tests), and formal essays (personal, expository and argumentative). No matter the kind of writing assigned, your best composition skills should be practiced. We will work with various composition constructions, Standard Written English, sentence variety, and word choice.
|1. |The first, second, or last sentence contains the main idea and key |
| |words from the question or assigned topic. |
| |(The first sentence is usually preferable.) |
|2. |Paragraph contains one to three explanatory sentences. |
|3. |Paragraph contains two to four sentences about specific details. |
|4. |Details are colorful, interesting, and appropriate. |
|5. |Paragraph ends with a good closing sentence that refers to the |
| |main idea without repeating it. |
|6. |Paragraph contains no run-ons or sentence fragments. |
|7. |Paragraph is free of errors in agreement. |
| |A. Subject/verb—singular or plural |
| |B. Pronoun selection correct—singular or plural |
| |C. Pronoun selection correct—subject or object |
|8. |Free of punctuation errors. |
|9. |Free of spelling errors. |
|10. |Handwriting is easy to read. |
Grammar and usage: As a senior in an AP English Literature and
Composition course, you should have a good command of Standard
Written English. There will be minilessons throughout the course dealing
with complex grammar and usage issues, sentence constructions, and
diction. Occasionally you may need some additional help with this.
In-class Writing, Quizzes and Exams
We will on occasion have an essay examination that asks you to synthesize your understanding of our work. These exams are to help students respond to literary questions in a way much less restrictive than the AP-based “exams” that form the in-class writings on literature. Students will be asked to free-write their responses to the reading on a regular basis.
In-class writings will primarily be AP-based examinations, though there will also be quick-response, in-class writings as a basis for discussion. Quizzes will not generally be announced head of time, and we will have a number of them, both straightforward reading ones and ones that ask you to engage an idea by generating a claim that is supported by data.
Reading quizzes will be given in the first half of class; if you come in late, you may not take the quiz.
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|Understandings: |Essential Questions: |
|What will students understand (about what big ideas) as a result |What arguable, recurring, and thought-provoking questions |
|of the unit? Students will understand that: |will guide inquiry and point toward the big ideas of the |
| |unit? |
|•Literature provides a mirror to help us understand ourselves and|•How does literature help us understand ourselves and others?|
|others. | |
|• Writing is a form of communication across the ages. |•How has writing become a communication tool across the ages?|
|•Literature reflects the human | |
|condition. |•How does literature reflect the |
|•Literature deals with universal |human condition? |
|themes, i.e., man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. |•How does literature express universal themes? |
|God. | |
|• Literature reflects its social, cultural, and historical | |
|values. | |
| |
|Grading Scale |
|Course Work |Percent of Final Grade |
|In-class writings, discussion, and activities |30% |
|Out-of-class writings and other assignments |40% |
|Completion of other class requirements (ex., reading |30% |
|the material; attendance; commitment) | |
| |
|Numerical Average |Letter Grade |
|90-100 |A |
|80-89 |B |
|70-79 |C |
|60-69 |D |
|Below 60 |F |
|No work submitted |O |
| |
|Stand-Alone Paragraph Evaluation Criteria |
|Use these criteria to evaluate paragraphs that are not part of a longer |
|piece of writing. |
|1. |The first, second, or last sentence contains the main idea and key |
| |words from the question or assigned topic. |
| |(The first sentence is usually preferable.) |
|2. |Paragraph contains one to three explanatory sentences. |
|3. |Paragraph contains two to four sentences about specific details. |
|4. |Details are colorful, interesting, and appropriate. |
|5. |Paragraph ends with a good closing sentence that refers to the |
| |main idea without repeating it. |
|6. |Paragraph contains no run-ons or sentence fragments. |
|7. |Paragraph is free of errors in agreement. |
| |A. Subject/verb—singular or plural |
| |B. Pronoun selection correct—singular or plural |
| |C. Pronoun selection correct—subject or object |
|8. |Free of punctuation errors. |
| |9. Free of spelling errors. |
| |10. Handwriting is easy to read. |
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