AP Language and Composition Syllabus for Classical High …
AP Language and Composition Syllabus
Course Overview:
This course is designed to reflect the overview and goals describe in the AP English Course Description published by the College Board. Following that document’s introduction, this course will:
Engage students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purpose, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.
Advanced Placement English is a rigorous and intellectually demanding class that covers content and skills that may be unfamiliar to many students. Unlike other high school English classes, this course focuses on nonfiction texts with the exception of Huckleberry Finn. It requires consistent effort and puts emphasis upon developing independence of thought and critical thinking. Active participation in Classroom discussion is necessary and allows students to develop and test their ideas. Frequent written assignments, short and long-term, formal and informal, will be an essential component and of the course. Students will spend time in and outside class preparing for the Advance Placement Language and Composition Exam in May. All students enrolled in the class are expected to take the exam.
Course Outline:
Ten Weeks: September to November: Unit 1 Rhetorical Modes and the Language of Language
Six Weeks: November to December: Unit 2: Argument, Persuasion, and Grammar
Four Weeks: January: Unit 3: Huckleberry Finn—Structure and Style
Four Weeks: January to February: Unit 4: The Synthesis Essay
Five Weeks: February to March Unit 5: Rhetorical Analysis
Five Weeks: April to May Unit 6: Research and Synthesis,
Review and AP Exam Preparation
Note: Time frames are approximate as adjacent units may overlap.
Unit 1: Rhetorical Modes and the Language of Language
Overview:
Students will learn the key terms and concepts of AP Language and Composition. They will explore various rhetorical modes and patterns of development through both reading and writing. Students will develop and hone their discussion and critical thinking skills in frequent whole class and small group discussions and activities that focus on identifying speaker, audience, tone and purpose. Students will be encouraged to consider and write about how a writer uses the resource of language to convey meaning.
Content and Skills:
Students will understand and recognize:
• Rhetoric, audience, and purpose; voice, style, and tone; syntax and diction.
• Forms of the eight rhetorical modes.
Students understand and practice:
• Peer editing skills, including editing for logical organization, use of evidence, sentence variety, mechanics, etc.
• Large and small group discussion of class readings and independent novel selections.
Assignments/ Assessments:
• Reader response notebook - a collection of personal reflections and responses to class discussion and readings, short informal writing assignments and free-writes (see appendix for criteria)
• Rhetorical modes portfolio – a collection of fully processed essays that demonstrate facility with several modes of discourse, and evidence of revision aided by teacher and peers.
• Group presentation on literature circle readings, where students identify and report on three rhetorical aspects from their chosen text.
• Objective assessment of understanding of rhetorical terms and important concepts from the quarter.
Texts
McCone –Metherell, Jo Ray. Readings for Writers. Twelfth Edition. Boston, MA: Thomson, Wadsworth, 2007.
Selected readings include:
1. Narrative: “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell
2. Description: “Hell” by James Joyce
“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty
3. Process Analysis: “In the Emergency Room” by Willa Carroll
4. Illustration/Exemplification: “Mirror, Mirror” by John Leo
5. Definition: “The Company Man” by Ellen Goodman
“In Praise of the Humble Comma” by Pico Iyer
6. Compare and Contrast: “That Lean and Hungry Look” Suzanne Jordan
“Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrast” by Bruce Catton
7. Division/Classification: “Thinking as a Hobby” by William Golding
8. Causal Analysis: “Why I Went to the Woods” by Henry David Thoreau
Students will find it helpful to have more than one example of each mode, so teachers should supplement the above texts with other selections from the textbook or outside sources.
While this unit focuses on the rhetorical modes, teachers may choose to incorporate weekly Literature Circle novels. Selections may include: Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson or Dracula by Bram Stocker or any other grade appropriate texts available to the class.
Unit 2: Argument, Persuasion and Grammar
Overview:
Students will focus on persuasive and argumentative reading and writing. They will explore ways in which writers appeal to audience, anticipate opposition and select evidence and support. Students will learn to identify logical fallacies in both written and visual texts. They will practice developing and supporting their own positions on a variety of issues. Additionally students review and broaden their understanding of grammatical terms and syntactic variety.
Content and Skills:
Students will understand and recognize:
• Rhetorical techniques: appeals to logic, ethics, emotions
• Logical fallacies
• Appeals to hostile readers
Students will understand, recognize and effectively manipulate grammatical structures, including:
• Complements
• Verbals
• Phrases
• Independent and subordinate clauses
Students will understand and practice:
• Peer editing skills, including editing for logical organization, effective and accurate use of evidence, appropriate integration of direct quotations, sentence variety, mechanics, etc.
• Large and small group discussion of class readings and independent novel selections.
Assignments/Assessments:
• Reader response notebook - a collection of personal reflections and responses to class discussion and readings, short informal writing assignments and free-writes.
• Analysis of argumentative passage based on an AP essay prompt.
• Revision of analysis of argumentative passage based on an AP essay.
• Persuasive essays based on student choice of a variety of controversial topics.
• Analysis of political campaign material, including visual component.
• Grammar test.
Texts:
McCuen –Metherell, Jo Ray. Readings for Writers. Twelfth Edition. Boston, MA: Thomson,Wadsworth, 2007.
Lunsford, Andrea A., Ruszkiewicz, John J, and Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.
Martin’s. 2010.
Selected readings include:
“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift
“Defense of Gender” by Cyra McFadden
“I Want a Wife” by Judy Syfers-Brady
“Second Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln
“The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln
“The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson and others
“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.
The teacher can include any current speeches or persuasive articles that support the topics and skills addressed in this unit.
Unit 3: Huckleberry Finn
Overview:
Students will read novel and study background information on Mark Twain and the cultural context from which he wrote, including him main literary influences. In considering Twain’s style, students will practice some of the same techniques and perspectives they used during previous units. Students will also read, consider and discuss several critical essays on Twain’s work.
Content and Skills:
Students will understands and recognizes aspects of Twain’s style, including
• Parallel structure
• Varied and complex syntax
• Advanced vocabulary
• Narrative pace
• Allusion
• Voice
• Thematic development through character, plot, and setting
• Revisions made to the current editions
Students will consider, discuss and write about
• Rejection and alienation
• Changing Language
• Ethical Appeal Narrator, Persona, Point of View: Reliability, Civilization v. Nature
Assignments/Assessments:
• Reader response notebook - a collection of personal reflections and responses to class discussion and readings, short informal writing assignments and free-writes.
• Quizzes and Tests - check for reading and vocabulary comprehension, understanding of key themes, concepts, and rhetorical terms.
• Presentations – students identify and make a claim about a theme in the novel. .
• Rhetorical Analysis of Mark Twain’s Huckelberry Finn- timed essay which demonstrates students’ ability to analyze author’s use of language especially such elements as diction, tone, syntax, and narrative pace.
Texts
Teachers should find pieces of Literary Criticism that analyze and support the core text.
Unit 4: The Synthesis Essay
Students will learn about the AP Synthesis question essay by studying sample questions and model essays. They will hone the variety of skills needed for success on this exam question. Students will also consider the value of these skills in other contexts.
Content and Skills:
Students will understand and practice
• Close reading and analysis of sources.
• Paraphrasing and quoting sources effectively and appropriately.
• Identifying belief, assumption and bias implicit in sources.
• Evaluating the legitimacy and appropriateness of sources for their purposes.
• Recognizing visual rhetoric in non-text sources.
• Peer editing skills, including editing for logical organization, effective and accurate use of evidence, appropriate integration of direct quotations, sentence variety, mechanics, etc.
• Large and small group discussion of class readings.
Assignments/Assessments:
• Evaluating and scoring model and peer synthesis essays
• Timed synthesis essay
• Synthesis essay, peer edited and revised
• Small group presentation on visual rhetoric in non-verbal texts
• Short essay analyzing the visual rhetoric of an advertisement or photograph.
Texts:
Lunsford, Andrea A., Ruszkiewicz, John J, and Keith Walters. “Section Three.” Everything’s an Argument. Boston,
MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2010.
“Synthesis Essay Material.” College Board AP Central, 2010.
Unit 5: Rhetorical Analysis: Social Change
Overview:
Using varied texts around a teacher chosen theme, students will explore the impact of rhetorical devices on informational and literary texts. Students will also consider the grey area between fiction and non-fiction, and the advantages of various genres and styles for specific purposes.
Content and Skills:
Students will understand and recognize
• Common elements of and connections between various examples of text
• .Elements of texts that advocate for social change.
• The interplay between truth and fabrication in works of fiction and non-fiction.
• Literary elements and rhetorical elements.
Students will consider, discuss and write about
• Author’s craft and tools.
• The purpose and importance of different literary and rhetorical devices. .
• How reality and memory change as they are represented in art and literature.
Assignment/Assessments:
• Reader response notebook - a collection of personal reflections and responses to class discussion and readings, short informal writing assignments and free-writes.m
• Quizzes and Tests - check for reading and vocabulary comprehension, understanding of key themes, terms, and concepts.
• Style Analysis Essay
• Presentations - Students will identify and report on the use of one rhetorical device in student chosen text.
Texts:
Sinclair, Upton. “The Jungle.” Bantam. 2010. OR Wright, Richard. “Native Son.” Penguin Books. 1999. OR
Baldwin, James. “If Beale Street Could Talk.”Penguin Books, 2005. OR Any other modern grade level text available that advocates for social change.
Student’schoice of independent reading texts may include Black Boy by Richard Wright, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, Half the Sky by Kristoff and Wudunn, or any other text that fits the theme of the unit.
Unit 6: Researched Argument and AP Exam Preparation
Overview:
This unit is purposely sparse to allow flexibility in the calendar for revisiting ideas and skill that need more attention. The Unit is centered on a researched persuasive essay which will students will take though a careful editing process, continuing to develop skills used in earlier units. Additionally, students will read, discuss and write about several exemplary essays to review concepts from earlier units in preparation for the Advanced Placement and Final Exams.
Content and Skills:
Student will deepen understanding and practice recognizing
• Rhetoric, audience, and purpose; voice, style, and tone; syntax and diction.
• Forms of the eight rhetorical modes.
Students will continue to practice skills learned in previous units, especially Unit 4 (the synthesis essay)
Assignment/Assessment:
• Reader response notebook - a collection of personal reflections and responses to class discussion and readings, short informal writing assignments and free-writes.
• Quizzes and Tests - check for reading and vocabulary comprehension, understanding of key themes and concepts.
• Short researched persuasive essay peer-edited and revised (see appendix for assignment guidelines).
• Departmental Final Exam
Texts:
McCuen –Metherell, Jo Ray. Readings for Writers. Twelfth Edition. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.
Peterson, Linda H., ed. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction Prose. Tenth Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.
Selected readings to include:
“How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston
“On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner
“Beauty: When the Dancer is the Other Self” by Alice Walker
“The Politics of the English Language” by George Orwell
“Good Readers and Good Writers” by Vladimir Nabokov
“Letter to His Son” by Lord Chesterfield
Appendix:
Response Journal/Notebook guidelines
AP English Language and Composition
Your notebook should be the place in which you collect and document your thinking about both the reading and the writing you do this year in class. It may take many forms and may change and evolve over time. It has many purposes and benefits which will sometimes seem unclear to you but at the very least it should be both an assessment tool for me and a learning tool for you. Students in the past have both loved and hated this assignment. Here are the basics (see “Homework and Class Participation Rubric for grading”):
• Your notebook should take the form of a one subject spiral notebook that is only used for this class. Please do not do calculus problems in your response journal.
• Notebooks will be collected two to three times each quarter. They will be returned to you promptly.
• You must fill the equivalent of one notebook page for every day we have class—exactly when you write, is up to you. It is likely that you will get more out of this assignment if you do not complete it all the night before it is due.
• You must date and title each entry.
• When referring to a text, provide reference information.
• For a passing grade, you need to show evidence of insightful, original thought about the subject matter of the class—this includes assigned reading, independent reading, class discussion, your own writing and the writing of your peers.
• Your response journal may contain a combination of any of the following:
o Notes on class discussion
o Informal in-class writing
o Responses to assigned reading
o Responses to significant words, sentences or passages from the reading or other sources
o Answers to discussion questions found after reading in text.
o Questions about the reading
o Comments on or responses to current issues related to class discussion or content
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