LW English - District Curriculum: Reading Literature Strand
Department: English
Understanding by Design
Course: AP Lang & Comp
Standard(s): Common Core Standards ELA
LA.11-12.RL.11-12.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
LA.11-12.RL.11-12.2 – Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over
the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an
objective summary of the text.
LA.11-12.RL.11-12.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with
multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other
authors.)
LA.11-12.RL.11-12.6 – Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a
text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
LA.11-12.RL.11-12.7 – Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of
a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by
Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
LA.11-12.RL.11-12.9 – Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational
works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
LA.11-12.RL.11-12.10 – By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and
poems, in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Stage 1: Desired Results
Understandings
College Board/AP Standards
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The course requires expository, analytical, and argumentative writing assignments that are based on readings
representing a wide variety of prose styles and genres.
The course requires nonfiction readings (e.g., essays, journalism, political writing, science writing, nature writing,
autobiographies/biographies, diaries, history, criticism) that are selected to give students opportunities to identify and
explain an author's use of rhetorical strategies and techniques. If fiction and poetry are also assigned, their main
purpose should be to help students understand how various effects are achieved by writers' linguistic and rhetorical
choices. (Note: The College Board does not mandate any particular authors or reading list, but
representative authors are cited in the AP English Course Description.)
The course teaches research skills, and in particular, the ability to evaluate, use, and cite primary and secondary
sources. The course assigns projects such as the researched argument paper, which goes beyond the parameters of a
traditional research paper by asking students to present an argument of their own that includes the analysis and
synthesis of ideas from an array of sources.
The AP teacher provides instruction and feedback on students' writing assignments, both before and after the
students revise their work, that help the students develop these skills:
- A wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively
- A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination
- Logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and
emphasis
- A balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail
- An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving
appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.
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Essential Questions
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How does the reading of American literature enhance
Knowledge & Skill
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one’s personal development?
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How does a study of classic novels support preparation
for AP testing?
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What is the American Dream and how can we trace its
evolution to today?
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Students will identify, recognize, and apply:
- annotation
- traits and contrasts of/from literary eras
- author’s purpose
- significant rhetorical devices
- summary techniques
- concrete textual evidence
Rhetorical/Literary Devices:
Intro to Rhetoric: rhetorical triangle, rhetorical choices,
How does the literature produced by American authors
reflect the various culture changes?
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rhetorical analysis, rhetorical web, audience, speaker/writer,
subject, personae, diction, Exigence (context, intention,
audience), Appeals (logos, ethos, pathos, inductive, deductive,
personae, inferences, voice, tone, attitude, diction, style),
Arrangement (genre, functional parts, delivery, prediction), Style
[sentences (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex,
loose, periodic, parallelism), jargon, dialect, slang, denotation,
connotation, schemes, tropes], Reading Strategies (prediction,
efferent reading, aesthetic reading), Journalist’s Questions,
Burke’s Pentad (act, scene, agent, agency, purpose, ratios,
casuistries), the Basic Topics (possible/impossible, past fact,
future fact, greater/less), the Common Topics (definition,
division, compare/contrast, relationships, circumstances,
testimony)
Huck Finn: characterization, inference, tone (sarcastic,
humorous, ironic, pejorative, melancholy), tone (religious,
hypocritical, compassionate), narration, colloquial diction, irony,
hyperbole, superstition, hearsay, rationalizations, order of events,
understatement, implication, non sequitur, similes, rhetorical
questions, chiasmus, colloquialism, exclamations, tone, symbol,
metaphor, contrast, comparison, generalization, parallel
structure, exclamations, exaggeration, rationalization,
explanation, interpretation, allusion, euphemism, litotes,
narration, synecdoche, humor, pathos, metonymy, apostrophe,
ironic, sardonic, patronizing, objective, humorous, logos, ethos,
impudence, gullibility, attitude, paradoxical, conventional,
personification, point of view, sarcasm, mockery, affection.
The Great Gatsby: qualify, generalize, reiterate, refute,
emphasize; oxymoron, analogy, paradox, hyperbole, euphemism;
imagery, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia; metonymy,
synecdoche; paradoxical, judgmental, conspiratorial,
disinterested, pivotal; congruous; ironic, incredulous; figurative
language, concrete details, colloquial expressions; parallel
structure, chiasmus, hyperbole, metonymy, paradox; anomalous,
superfluous, enigmatic; simile, synesthesia, allusion, apostrophe,
metaphor; bitter, wistful, despondent, objective, sanguine; mood;
direct narrative comment; allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole,
pathos, understatement, paradox, synesthesia, personification,
euphemism, ellipses, metonymy, non sequitur.
Grapes of Wrath: possessives, infinitives, participles,
paradox, hyperbole, euphemism, oxymoron, metaphor,
connotation, metaphorical allusions, convoluted syntax, extended
analogies, concrete detail, deliberate ambivalence; parallel
structure, personification, analogy, symbolism, informal,
conversational, emotional, didactic, sympathetic, allusion,
narration(1st, 2nd, 3rd), sarcastic, humorous, ironic, hyperbolic,
indignant, colloquialism, simile; transition, departure, movement,
indication, shift, emotional appeal, implied reasons, euphemism,
exclamations, sarcastic, ominous, ironic, mocking, triumphant,
understatement, ellipsis, antithesis; metonymy, verbs, nouns,
adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, motif, symbol, allusion, simile,
sentence fragments, colloquialism, anaphora; personification,
syllepsis, chiasmus, empathic, conditionals, verbals, repetition,
point of view, allegory; synecdoche, transitions, direct authorial
commentary, parallel structure; depression, rebirth, oppression,
fecundity, burden; onomatopoeia, paradox; chronological
arrangement, contradict, parallel, present a shift, digression,
implied conversation; clarify, contradict, elaborate, qualify,
generalize, resigned, pedantic, dispassionate, bitter, informative,
conditionals, adverbs, inverted syntax
Stage 2: Assessment Evidence
Performance Task Summary
Timed writings, essay tests, and formal essays as
defined in the Writing & Research strand.
Class discussion/speeches as defined in the Speaking
& Listening Strand.
AP Passage Analysis - multiple choice questions
identifying: author’s purpose, vocabulary-in-context,
identification of literary devices, inferential meaning,
author style
Class notes (Cornell, double-column, outline)
Text Annotation (use of text on timed quizzes/passage
analysis)
Student Most Important Passage
Assignments/Discussions
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Self-Assessments
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Essay revisions and rewrites
Writing Center conference reports
Turnitin.com reflections/self-edits
Student interaction with group mates
Student participation with peers in class discussions
Rubric Titles
College Board AP Rubrics (specific to each released
question from past AP exams)
Other Evidence, Summarized
Semester Exam
AP English Language & Composition Exam
Stage 3: Learning Activities
Example Activities (will vary by teacher and class/student needs):
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Informal discussion
Formal Presentations
Peer Work, Small Group Work
Teacher Lecture
Class Notes, Shorthand
Text Annotation (varied requirements by book read)
Student Most Important Passage Assignments/Discussions
Peer editing, Self editing
Rating/grading of peer essays and released examples from the College Board
Revision activities – specific skills or entire essay
Writing Center conferences
Teacher/student writing conferences
Activities as shared in other curricular strands:
Writing and Research
Language
Speaking and Listening