AP English Language and Composition
Ms. [email protected]
Course Overview
The AP Language and Composition course is designed to give students multiple
opportunities to work with the rhetorical situation, examining the authors’
purposes as well as the audiences and subjects in texts. Students write a variety of
compositions for various audiences while developing their personal writing style.
Students will also be able to analyze and articulate how the resources of language
operate in any given text. Because our modern world is so focused on visual text, we
will also be studying the rhetoric of visual media such as photographs, films,
advertisements, comic strips, and music videos. In alliance with the current AP
Language Course Description this course will also teach students to read primary
and secondary sources carefully, to synthesize material from these texts in their
own compositions and to cite sources using conventions recommended by the
Modern Language Association (MLA).
AP Language and Composition uses mostly non-fiction texts while honoring the
American Literature taught in 11th grade survey classes (The Great Gatsby, The
Crucible, The Scarlett Letter etc.). The key difference between a literature survey
course and the AP Language and Composition course is that we will be looking at
literature through a rhetorical lens.
Central Texts
The Language of Composition, Everything’s an Argument, One Hundred Great
Essays
Grading scale and policy
90-100=A
89-80=B
79-70=C
69-60=D
59-0=F
AP College board rubrics will be used to score all written work.
No Late work will be accepted.
Make-up work can be arranged.
Discipline policy
AP Language is a college level course and behavior should not be an issue. However
if behavior issues arise then students are to refer to the STUDENT DISCIPLINE
section of the JGHS student agenda.
Course Planner
First Semester
Unit 1- (September-October)
Introduction to AP Language and Composition, review of syllabus, review of
summer projects, diagnostic multiple -choice Exam, first in class timed writing on
Summer Readings.
Readings:
Summer Reading Completed, Chapters 1&2 of the textbook.
Chapter 3 Analyzing Arguments
Chapter 4 Synthesizing Sources
Assessments:
Diagnostic Multiple Choice AP Language Test
Timed writing on Summer Readings (Rhetorical Analysis#1)
Vocabulary quizzes on flashcard words from Chapters1-3 of textbook
Unit 2-(October-November)
Chapter 5-Education: To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true
education?
Readings:
Essays:
Francine Prose, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read
Ralph Waldo Emerson, From Education
Sherman Alexie, Superman and Me
James Baldwin, A Talk to Teachers
David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty one Day
Margaret Talbot, Best in Class
David Foster Wallace, This is Water
Todd Gitlin, The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut
Leon Botstein, Let Teenagers Try Adulthood
Francis Bacon, Of Studies (pg 52-100 great essays
A Model for High Schools by David S. Broder (158 old edition)
Fiction:
The History Teacher by Billy Collins
Eleven by Sandra Cisneros
What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali-Read and View poetry performance
Visual Text:
The Spirit of Education by Norman Rockwell
What I Learned by Roz Chast
Two Scoreboards by Edward Koren
Viewing:
Waiting for Superman-Documentary
The Boys of Baraka
Extra credit-View and review the following films
Dead Poets’ Society
Freedom Writers
Outside reading-Choose one of the following texts to read and write a brief paper
about
(Education)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky
There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz
Summerhill by A.S. Neill
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Children of Crisis by Robert Coles
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Color of Water by James McBride
Lives on the Boundary by Mike Rose
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Burro Genius by Victor Villasenor
Assessments
Rhetorical Analysis Composition (#2)based on essays read in class
Outside Reading paper- How does this work tie into our discussions about
education?
Unit 3-(November-December)
Chapter 6-Community: What is the relationship of the individual to the
community?
Readings:
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail
Henry David Thoreau, Where I Lived, and What I Lived for
Richard Rodriguez, Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood
Ellen Goodman, The Family That Stretches(Together)
Robert D. Putnam, Health and Happiness
Scott Brown, Facebook Friendonomics
Malcolm Gladwell, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
All Happy Clans Are Alike by Jane Howard (old edition 283)
Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College by Anna Quindlen (oe, 296)
The Singer Solution to World Poverty by Peter Singer
Visual Text:
Three Servicemen by Frederick Hart (oe 315)
Reflections by Lee Teter (oe 314)
Nissan Motor Company, The Black Experience is Everywhere
Freedom from Want by Norman Rockwell
The Last Thanksgiving by Roz Chast
Viewing:
The Crucible
Edward Scissorhands
For extra credit view and review the following films
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
The Matrix
Independence Day
The Namesake

There is no Outside Reading list for this unit instead we will be reading
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as a class.
Assessments:
Rhetorical Analysis Composition (#3)based on the essays read in class
Composition on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible(literary analysis)
Unit 4-(December-January)
Chapter 11- Popular Culture: To what extent does pop culture reflect our
society’s values?
Readings:
James McBride, Hip Hop Planet
Mark Twain, Corn-Pone Opinions
Scott McCloud, from Show and Tell
David Denby, High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies
Steven Johnson, Watching TV Makes You Smarter
Daniel Harris, Celebrity Bodies
Chuck Klosterman, My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead
Godzilla vs. the Giant Scissors: Cutting the Antiwar Heart Out of a Classic by Brent
Staples (oe 723)
Dreaming America by Danyel Smith (oe 734)
Visual Text :
TV Turnoff Week by Anthony DiVivo(oe 782)
Myths by Andy Warhol
Viewing:
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
The Breakfast Club
Clueless
For Extra Credit view and review the following films
Eight Mile
Hustle and Flow
Almost Famous
High Fidelity
Outside Reading List: Choose 1 to read and write about
Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Everything Bad is Good For You by Steven Johnson
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chobsky
Fight Club by Chuck Palahnuik
Hammer of The Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga by Steven Davis
The Heroin Diaries By Nikki Sixx
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Divergent, Insurgent, Aligent by Veronica Roth
Matched, Crossed, Reached by Ally Condie
The Fault in our Stars by John Greene
 Or any book that is being made into a movie, was a national bestseller, is/was
very mainstream
Assessments:
Open Argument Composition(#1) based on discussions in class about Pop-CultureFinal for first semester
Outside Reading Paper
Second Semester
Unit 5-(February-March)
Chapter 7-The Economy: What is the role of the economy in our everyday
lives?
Readings:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
Barbara Ehrenreich, from Serving in Florida
Lars Eighner, On Dumpster Diving
Eric Schlosser, from In the Strawberry Fields
Fareed Sakaria, How to Restore the American Dream
Booker T. Washington The Atlanta Exposition Address
Ellen Goodman In Praise of a Snail’s Pace (oe 221)
The Case for Working with Your Hands by Matthew B. Crawford
Visual text:
We Can Do It!(Rosie the Riveter) by J. Howard Miller (oe pg 232)
The Great GAPsby Society by Jeff Parker
This Moder World by Tom Tomorrow
Viewing:
The Great Gatsby, 1974 & 2012
Assessments:
Open Argument Composition #2
Composition on The Great Gatsby
Unit 6-(March-April)
Chapter 9- Sports: How do the values of sports affect the way we see
ourselves?
Readings:
Delusions of Grandeur by Henry Louis Gates
Gay Talese, The Silent Season of a Hero
Grantland Rice, The Four Horsemen
Theodore Roosevelt, The Proper Place for Sports
Rick Reilly, Why I Love My Job
Rick Reilly, The Real New York Giants (oe 471)
Malcolm Gladwell, Offensive Play: How Different Are Dogfighting and Football?
Michael Lewis, Serfs of the Turf
Michael Wilbon, As Colleges’ Greed Grows, So Does the Hypocrisy
Bill Walton, My Priceless Opportunity
John McMurtry Kill “em, Crush “em, Eat ‘em raw! (oe 453)
Frances Willard How I learned to ride a bicycle (oe 459)
Viewing:
The Natural
Bend it Like Beckham
Coach Carter
Extra Credit view and review
Hoop Dreams
Friday Night Lights
A League of Their Own
Raging Bull
42
Outside Reading List
The Natural by Bernard Malamud
A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
I Never Had It Made by Jackie Robinson
Shades of Glory by Lawrence Hogan
A Memoir of Hope Solo by Ann Killion
Friday Night Lights by H.B. Bissinger
The Lakers by Roland Lazenby
Shooting Stars by Lebron James and Buzz Bissinger
Rebound: The Odyssey of Michael Jordan by Bob Greene
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson: When the Game Was Ours by Jackie MacMullan
End Zone by Don DeLillo
Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Assessments:
Synthesis Composition (#1), A paper that requires examining multiple texts and
presenting an argument
Outside Reading Paper
Unit 7
Chapter 8 -Gender: What is the impact of the gender roles that society creates
and enforces?
Readings:
Virginia Woolf, Professions for Women
Ben Franklin, The Speech of Miss Polly Baker
John and Abigail Adams, Letters
Judy Brady, I Want a Wife
Brent Staples, Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space
Judith Ortiz Cofer, The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Me a Girl Named Maria
Gretel Ehrlich, About Men
Paul Theroux, Being a Man
And Ain’t I A Woman by Sojourner Truth
Viewing:
She’s the Man
Extra Credit view and review
Ella Enchanted
Ever After
Too Wong Fu
Tootsie
Boy’s Don’t Cry
Million Dollar Baby
Thelma and Louise
Girlfight
Outside Reading Titles-Gender
Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus by John Gray
Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolf
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eumenides
Assessments:
Synthesis Composition (#2) based on discussions about Gender
Outside Reading Paper
Unit 8
Chapter 13-Politics: What is the relationship between the citizen and the
state?
Readings:
Jamaica Kincaid, On Seeing England for the First Time
Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address
Chris Hedges, The Destruction of Culture
Laura Blumenfeld, The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist
Marjane Satrapi, The Veil
Tim O’Brien, On the Rainy River
Oliver Goldsmith, National Prejudices(oe 932)
Wole Soyinka, Every Dictator’s Nightmare (oe 957)
George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant
Chinua Achebe, The Empire Fights Back
Viewing
The Killing Fields
Regret to Inform
Extra Credit view and review
Good Night and Good Luck
Gandhi
Platoon
Brothers
Full Metal Jacket
Apocalypse Now (esp. if reading heart of darkness for outside reading)
Born on the Fourth of July
Wag the Dog
Dr. Strangelove
The Deer Hunter
Outside Reading List-Politics/War
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
The Assault on Reason by Al Gore
If I Die in a Combat Zone by Tim O’Brien
Jarhead by Anthony Swofford
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
All Quiet on the Western Front by Rainier Maria Remarque
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Ugly American by William Lederer
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
Richard III by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Assessments:
Sample AP Essays(Practice All three genres with this Unit, Rhetorical Analysis, Open
Argument, Synthesis)
Outside Reading paper
Unit 9-(Prep for AP Test)
Chapter 12-The Environment: What is our responsibility to the natural
environment?
Readings:
Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring
Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Nature
Aldo Leopold, from The Land Ethic
Lewis Thomas, Natural Man
Joy Williams, Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp
Nicolette Hahn Niman, The Carnivore’s Dilemma
Will Allen, A Good Food Manifesto for America
Michael Specter, from Test-Tube Burgers
Viewing:
An Inconvenient Truth
The Last of the Mohicans
Extra Credit view and review
March of the Penguins
Grizzly Man
Outside Reading List:
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Into the Wild by Jonathan Krakauer
The End of Nature by Bill McKibben
The Mountains of California by John Muir
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Assessments:
Practice AP Exam-Timed Compositions and Multiple Choice
Outside Reading Paper
Unit 10- After the AP Test
Personal Experiment Project
To be explained later. . . .