Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Mrs



Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Mrs. Durfee & Ms. Elba

2019-2020 B209

Instructional Philosophy

It is both my hope and expectation that students put their very best foot forward in this class. While I have no doubt that this journey is going to be entertaining (to say the least), I also expect it to at times be difficult. This is a college-level class both in terms of content and workload. It is my job to present students with opportunities and tasks that challenge them academically. To do anything less would be a disservice to both the students and myself. Students are expected to work both independently and collaboratively both in and out of class. As in all classes, work done outside of class must be done without any academic dishonesty. To help promote growth during such tasks, I endeavor to give timely and appropriate feedback. I am available before or after school to discuss any feedback given on past assignments.

Course Overview

As mentioned, this is a college level course, so expectations for all are set high. These high expectations extend to all areas of the classroom, including all assignments (both written and verbal), and independent study. Further, demonstrating that you are able to handle a larger workload is an invaluable college skill. This course builds on the previous 12 years of English education you have completed, including AP Language and Composition. Students are expected to monitor their own learning. If you feel like you are struggling (in a non-productive way), I am always available for extra help before and after school.

Course Description

This course requires the following:

• Engagement in careful reading

o Monitoring for understanding

o Annotating (ALWAYS!) for structure and content

o Completion of reading guides when necessary

• Critical analysis of complex text

• An understanding of the way writers use language

o Do they serve to provide meaning or pleasure?

• Ability to identify the structure, style, and themes within multiple texts

• Ability to identify figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone

o Further, the ability to describe what purpose such language serves

• Intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods

o An exploration into how such work reflects the values of that time period

Course Goals/Standards

Upon completion of Advanced Placement Literature and Composition, the student will be able to:

• provide thoughtful, researched answers to critical questions posed by teacher and peers,

• participate in a way that is both engaging and worthwhile to all involved,

• conduct outside research that will contribute to their own understanding of the material,

• express themselves verbally and in writing,

• reflect on successes and areas where growth is needed,

• explore a variety of genres and literary periods and to write clearly about the literature you encounter,

• make judgments about how literatures social, historical and cultural views impact our analysis of the text and the author’s purpose.

Pre-requisite Texts

These are the texts that the majority of you have read in previous Language Arts classes. This list is not an all-inclusive inventory, but should be a resource for looking back at what you have already learned. Remember, these texts are fair-game for the AP Lit exam. Please consider revisiting these texts as the exam draws nearer.

• The Odyssey (the Hero’s Journey), Romeo and Juliet, Animal Farm

• Lord of the Flies, Julius Caesar, To Kill a Mockingbird

• The Crucible (LA 5), Emerson & Thoreau, (LA 5), Harlem Renaissance (LA 5), The Alchemist (AP Lang?), The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (LA 5), Of Mice and Men (LA 5), select non-fiction pieces (AP Lang)

Required Texts and Materials

• 1 ½” binder with five dividing tabs which includes

o Your summer work

o Printed Syllabus

o Participation Log

▪ As noted on the sheet, signatures must be obtained that day.

• Loose leaf paper, pens, pencils

• All printed and annotated plays, poems, theory, criticism from the classroom blog

• Personal Copies of the novels/plays/articles we read in this class.

• Index Cards

• How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Suggested Texts

The AP Literature exam often provides students with an opportunity to choose from multiple works. If you are a preparing for the exam, and you would like to receive reading recommendations, I can provide you with a list of works often referenced on the exam.

Student Expectations

Educational and Ethical:

• Accountability

o Monitoring your own learning is essential. Reach out if you’re having difficulty before the exam or due-date.

• Annotation—Annotating is not a suggestion in this class. It is a way for you to demonstrate your engagement with the text. As the Literary Criticism paper revealed, your annotations are the key to your success.

• Take Risks. There will never be a moment in this class where I take points away for a “wrong” interpretation. As long as you have prepared soundly and you have evidence, you belong in this conversation. I don’t care how Sparknotes, Cliffsnotes, or LitCrit interpreted the text. To be successful, you need to be engaged.

• We have had our discussion about plagiarism. It is an automatic zero, with no opportunity to make up the assignment. Also, please note a new rule in the district: any student caught cheating (including plagiarism) will NOT be eligible for the honor of being valedictorian or salutatorian.

Major Assignments and Projects

(subject to changes and amendments)

Practice tests

Presentations

Regular class discussions

Formal class discussions

Participation

Readers Theatre

Writing:

• Type 1: formative

o Drafts

▪ Will be checked in

▪ Progress is key

o Free Writes

o Bellwork

▪ It needs to be completed every day. Sitting there thinking about what to share is not the same as writing.

• Type 2: summative

o Timed essays for test preparation

o Exams (multiple choice and short answer)

o Socratic Seminar

o Essays (Research, analytical, interpretive)

Attendance/Missed Assignments Policy/Late Work

It is expected that you attend class regularly and on time. If you enter class after the bell rings, you need to sign in as tardy. If you do not sign in as tardy, you may be marked absent.

If you are absent, it is your responsibility to check in with our ‘Absent Work’ student in order to make up any missed work. Missed handouts can be found in the folders at the front of the class.

Homework is due the day following your return. You have a day to make up missed work. If you have an extended excused absence, talk to me to figure out the due dates.

It is your responsibility to schedule make-up tests and quizzes. These will be held before or after school.

There will be 10% reduction in credit for every day an assignment is late. (Example: 2 days late, 20% taken off.) Late work will not be accepted after one week.

Grading Scale

93-100=A 88-89= B+ 78-79=C+ 68-69=D+ Below 60%=E

92-90=A- 83-87=B 73-77=C 63-67=D

80-82=B- 70-72=C- 60-62=D-

Re-Write Opportunities

In the second semester, you may re-write any two qualifying essays. Re-write opportunities must meet the following requirements:

1) All teacher comments/annotations must be responded to by the student.

2) An individual meeting either before school, during my 6th hour prep, or after school must be scheduled and attended. Annotations must be completed before this meeting.

3) Re-writes must occur in school but outside of our 60-minute class period. Talk to me to schedule it.

4) The re-write must include the first draft with student annotations, class notes, meeting notes, and any required annotations and/or pre-writes.

After the Exam

Students will be provided the opportunity to select and follow through on a Service Learning Project. The project guidelines are forthcoming but must certainly benefit the students of Fordson, the young children preparing for Fordson, or the residents of Dearborn. This project will be student-driven and will serve as a culminating activity/gift as they move on to the next step in their lives. It will be due upon their exit/graduation.

Topic/Unit : Theater and the Art of the Play: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Approximate number of weeks: 3

Overview/Rationale: By considering the historical context for the rise of “The Theatre of the Absurd”, we will explore why themes related to fate, choice, identity, memory and audience became important Post-WWII. This unit will require students to build on the reading skills that they have developed so far to be able to interpret and analyze the difficult language presented in this play. An understanding of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is essential to this play.

Resources: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, Excerpts from Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Excerpts from Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Application: In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, we will discuss strategies for approaching an unfamiliar play. As this play is classified as “absurd”, we will explore for its comedic and nonsensical elements drive the aforementioned themes. Because of its lack of structure at times, whole-class discussion will be utilized to infer purpose and meaning of specific passages. This play also provides us with the opportunity to explore what the writing of this generation revealed about the concerns and values of a Post-WWII society. Modern application and connections will be encouraged throughout the unit.

Evaluation of Skills: Throughout this unit, we will practice close passage reading skills to determine aspects of characterization, passage purpose, and inference. These skills will be honed using Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, but will eventually be transferred onto a different text. We will also focus on test taking strategies and academic vocabulary in preparation for the AP Lit exam. Participation in Reader’s Theatre is a requirement in this unit. This will require outside collaboration with peers, and an intense study of your selected material. While presenting, it is expected that you consider tone/mood, pacing, stage direction, setting, and props. Further direction will be provided as we approach presentations.

Topic/Unit : In Search of Identity

Approximate number of weeks: 6

Overview/Rationale: This unit is a powerful inquiry into what happens when one loses, or has no sense, of their identity. After contextualizing both pieces using primary documents, non-fiction articles, you will begin a study in the effectiveness (and the differences) of recounting history through storytelling.

Resources: Excerpts from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Beloved by Toni Morrison, excerpts from Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, “Ain’t I a Woman” by Sojourner Truth, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, non-fictional news stories, and self-selected primary documents.

Application: We will explore the theme of storytelling (fiction) as a mode for discussing history. We will also work within the concept of “rememory.” We will create our own primary source documents to create voice and that is tailored to an intended purpose and audience. Through Beloved, several universal themes will be explored, including the psychological effects on the enslaved, the named and the nameless, time and its effect on “rememory,” motherhood and the responsibilities given or not given to American slaves through childbearing, the destruction of identity and the resurgence of a new voice, and more. As we explore those themes, we will work to determine how fiction and the elements of historical fiction can allow a lens for evaluating how social, cultural, and historical values are still being threatened in our society. Throughout the exploration of this novel, author’s craft will be studied in terms of the power of time shifts, Morrison’s control over difficult subject matter, her multidimensional characterization techniques and how that directly aligns with the multi-faceted nature of the African American post-slavery reality, how to say more with less to allow the reader to make his or her own interpretations, and her variation in sentence structure as a way of manipulating reader’s emotions.

Evaluation of Skills: While incorporating original primary sources aligned with contextual details of the real-life incident that builds the story behind Beloved along with slave narratives, students will evaluate the ways in which tone, word choice, structure, organization, images, and effective uses of imagery work to create bias in newspapers. The creation of a group-led newspaper that is aligned to either the pro-abolitionist north or the pro-slavery south will call on the ability to determine and create bias using the resources from primary sources and students’ own craft of the English language. This newspaper project will force students to address the social factors that influenced slavery’s hold on a nation, the cultural values that differed from north to south, and the historical impact slavery and reconstruction had on those who suffered. Throughout the reading, students will also work to chart the many untold or unfinished stories that, as a part of her craft, Morrison weaves in and out as a way of combining form with function, thus providing a means to determine theme. Students will be asked to write a response by which they evaluate this storytelling technique as a measure for drawing out theme, in this case, the trauma of “rememory.” A written response regarding this subject will require the students to judge the effectiveness of Morrison’s craft by exploring the many techniques she utilizes to develop her themes. A Socratic Seminar will allow students to create written responses in preparation for a verbal debate as to how, if at all, these values have been eased, remedied, and/or eradicated. Finally, a practice AP Literature open-response prompt will be assigned as an in-class writing assessment. The prompt will be chosen from one of the previously released options and will be graded according to the released AP rubric corresponding to that prompt.

Student Consent

I have read and understood the class expectations for AP Literature and Composition. I agree to be courteous to others, to be responsible for my actions and my education, to respect the civil and educational rights of all individuals, to respect my belongings and the belongings of others, and to demonstrate integrity in word and in deed.

Print Name:_____________________________________

Signature:_______________________________________

Date:________________Hour:______________________

Parent Acknowledgment

I have read the class expectations for AP Literature and Composition and have discussed the information with my child. I will monitor my child’s progress through Parent Connect.

Print Name:_____________________________________

Signature:_______________________________________

Date:________________

Contact Number:_________________________________

Contact Email:___________________________________

Please detach the form below the line

This form MUST be RETURNED to Mrs. Durfee by

Thursday, August 31, 2018

Course Breakdown by Unit

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