Download AP English Language and Composition

AP English Language and Composition
Syllabus
2012 - 2013
Sandy Charlson
Room: 206, CPHS
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
School Phone: 918.246.1470
Home Phone: 918.865.4893
Planning Period: 4th Hour
Web site (lesson plans, class links, etc.):
teacherweb.com/OK/CharlesPageHighSchool/SandyCharlson
The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to be equivalent to the
introductory year of a college composition course. You will become skilled readers of prose
written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and you will become skilled
writers who compose for a variety of purposes, aware of the interactions among a writer’s
purposes, audience expectations, and subjects. An integral part of this course is the development
of research skills that will enable you to evaluate, use, synthesize, and cite various source
materials including oral and written discourse and graphics and visual images.
Course Philosophy
1. The course content focuses on the philosophical underpinnings of primarily American
writing and thought, but we will also delve into the writings of Plato, Swift, Machiavelli,
and a great many others.
2. The course uses both fiction and non-fiction; the primary focus will be your learning to
analyze, synthesize, and evaluate nonfiction texts: essays, biographies and
autobiographies, speeches, sermons, and passages from writings in the arts, history, social
science, politics, science, and other areas of study. Works will be drawn from articles in
newspapers, magazines, and online sources. You will also learn to evaluate visual media,
including advertising and the Web. The works of fiction which are included in this
course will be analyzed and evaluated for their rhetorical purpose/argument. and
subsequently used as gateways to explore and synthesize nonfiction texts
3. My job is to facilitate and guide you. This classroom is a “community of learners” where
both your and my opinion is valued. The majority of activities are student-centered.
4. As this class has been sanctioned by College Board as a college-level class, performance
expectations are high, and the workload is challenging. You are expected to commit to a
minimum of five hours of course work per week outside of class.
Yes, we are working toward your doing well on the AP English Language and Composition
exam on Friday, May 10, 2013, but, more importantly, we are working toward your future
success as a reader, a writer, and a citizen.
What a splendid year to be alive and thinking.
Welcome to the conversation.
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Student Evaluation
You will be evaluated on the basis of major papers and projects, homework, quality and
character of class participation and involvement, and AP-style writing prompts. Major papers
count a great deal toward each quarter’s grade, but other elements are also significant. You will
earn both numbered scores and grades on AP prompts you take during the year. The grade
associated with a particular AP essay score varies according to the time of year; that is, a very
good essay written in November earns a higher grade than a similar essay written in April.
That’s because you are at work building the skills needed to succeed as the year proceeds.
Final grades will be based on a point system with the following approximate values:
Regular class work including quizzes: 30 percent
Major papers and projects: 45 percent
In-class writing: 15 percent
Semester exams: 5 percent
Participation: 5 percent
Grading Policy:
90 – 100
80 – 89
70 – 79
A
B
C
60 – 69
59 & below
D
F
Late Work and Absences
By accepting the challenge of such a rigorous curriculum, you must also accept the responsibility
of the expectations for the class: Be in class on time, prepared with the assignment, and ready to
work. Late papers will receive no more than 70% the first day; after the first day, late
papers will receive no more than 50%. Part of being successful is meeting deadlines.
Likewise, if you are absent, you will need to check Wen-gage to find the lesson that you missed.
I encourage you to make up your work as soon as possible.
If you need to talk to me, I am usually in my room before school. I have 4th hour planning
period, and I am also in my room most days after school. You can talk to me any time you need.
In addition, if you are lost while working on an assignment at home, please feel free to call me at
865-4893.
Supplies: AP Eng. Lang. & Comp. Folder/Notebook, Highlighters, Notebook paper,
Pencils and pens (black or blue)
Class Rules
Honesty is your greatest asset in this class. There is a difference between discussing ideas and
copying ideas, and we all know the difference. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing is at
last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” I try to live by this rule, and I expect you to do
the same.
ACT with RESPECT.
Do YOUR Best.
BE TRUE.
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AP English Language and Composition
Course Outline
2012 – 2013
Course Texts
Allen, Janet, et al., eds. American Literature. Evanston, IL: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Print.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1999. Print.
Hacker, Diana, and Nancy Sommers. A Pocket Style Manual. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2012. Print
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.
Kilgallon, Don. Sentence Composing for College: A Worktext on Sentence Variety and Maturity.
Portsmouth, N.H.: Boynton/Cook, 1998. Print.
Lunsford, Andrea A., and John Ruszkiewicz J. Everything’s an Argument. Boston, MA:
Bedford/ST. Martin’s, 2010. Print.
Shea, Renée H., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses, eds. The Language of
Composition. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2008. Print.
Ongoing Activities:
AP Timed Writings
PSAT/ACT/AP Test Prep.
Writing Workshops
1 Nonfiction Book Project each semester
Dialectical Journals
Grammar in context
Classroom Debates
Writing, Writing, Writing
Rhetorical Analyses of print and visual media
Analysis of American and World Literature across genres, across time
Unit A: Introduction to Essays and Rhetorical Analysis
Everything’s an Argument Chapters 1, 2, and 3
Rhetorical précis
John Donne’s Meditation XVII: No Man Is an Island
Introduction to History of Essays: Seneca, Plutarch, Montaigne, etc.
Aristotelian Triangle; RhetoricalTerms
Summer editorials: Rhetorical Précis
Independent Reading: Nonfiction Book
MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech
Analysis of Summer Novel
Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Va. Convention”
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Parallel Structure; MLA Documentation; Semicolon Practice
PSAT Reading Practice and Vocabulary
Analysis of College Board Scoring Rubrics and Essay Prompts
Inaugural Addresses of Lincoln, Reagan, Kennedy, and Obama
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Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative
The Declaration of Independence
Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments”
Group Work: Create a PSA
Major Paper #1: Summary Essay
#2: Essays based on AP Essay Prompts
Unit B: Satire, Irony, Humor, and Rhetorical Fallacies
Machiavelli’s The Prince
Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”
Infobank Assignment over controversial topic
ACT Practice
Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
Twain’s “The Damned Human Race”
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”
Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”
Satirical songs, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report
AP prompt The Onion
Group Work: Create your own political or social satire presentation over a current topic
Major Paper #3: AP prompt rhetorical analysis of satirical writing
#4: Write an Argument/Persuasive Essay in which you Agree, Disagree, or
Qualify a Claim made by the author of your Independent Reading,
Nonfiction Book
Unit C: College Prep
Excerpts from memoirs and personal essays; rhetorical précis
Exploration of chosen career paths and colleges
Self-analyses papers
ACT Practice
Infobank Assignment over controversial topic
Major Paper #5: Infobank Final Persuasive Essay
Unit D: The Scarlet Letter /
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July Speech”
Major Paper #6: Literary Criticism Essay/Argument Analysis Essay
ACT Practice
Unit E: Memoir
Independent Reading Book: Memoir
Murray’s “The Stranger in the Photo Is Me”
Student Personal Photos
Emerson’s Essays
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Thoreau’s Walden, “Battle of the Ants,” “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”
Thoreau’s “On Civil Disobedience”
Orwell’s Essays
MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Kincaid’s “On Seeing England for the First Time”
ACT Practice
Major Paper #6: Personal Memoir
Unit F: The Great Gatsby
1920’s Research Project with Annotated Bibliography
Subject/Verb Agreement
ACT Practice
AP Argument Essay Analysis
Major Paper #7: Argument essay
Unit G: Synthesis of Print and Visual Media
Advertisement Analysis
Dangling Participles/Misplaced Modifiers
Excerpts, essays, poems, etc. on education
Major Paper #8: Synthesis essay
Group Work: Create an AP style synthesis question
Documentary Project
AP Test Practice
Selected writings from The Language of Composition
Unit H: Fiction or Nonfiction: The Blurring of the Lines of Rhetoric
Selected writings over various topics from The Language of Composition and other sources
Top Ten Book List
Course Outline and Syllabus subject to revision as necessary.
Note: In order to accommodate the release of the new movie version of The Great Gatsby in
December 2012, we will be reading the book and doing the accompanying 1920’s research paper
in the fall. Additionally, depending on the availability of books, we may change to a more
current novel/non-fiction book to read as a group in the spring.
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