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Venice High School
AP English Language and Composition (Grade 11)
2009-10 Course Syllabus
Ms. Lockwood
e-mail: [email protected]
Class website: www.mslockwood.com
AP Language and Composition is a rigorous English course designed to challenge students to
develop their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. It 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 and audiences. Through both reading and
writing, students will become more aware of the interactions among a writer’s purpose, audience
expectations, and subjects, as well as how the conventions and the resources of language
contribute to effectiveness in writing. In concert with the College Board’s AP English Course
description, this course teaches “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 professional organizations such as the Modern Language
Association (MLA).”
According to the College Board, upon completing the AP English Language and Composition
course, students should be able to:
• analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use
of rhetorical strategies and techniques;
• apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing ;
• create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience;
• demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic
maturity in their own writings;
• write for a variety of purposes;
• produce expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions that introduce a
complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence (drawn from primary
and/or secondary source material), cogent explanations, and clear transitions;
• demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary source
material;
• move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to
inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review;
• write thoughtfully about the writing process of composition;
• revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience;
• analyze image as text; and
• evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers.
Course Reading
Eleventh grade is the year to concentrate on American literature. In this AP course, we will read
primarily works by American authors, encompassing multiple genres, time periods (Puritans to 21st
Century), and ethnic backgrounds of writers. Because the emphasis of the AP program is on
rhetoric in non-fiction, this course will not attempt to be a thorough look at American literature, but
will introduce students to the early influential thinkers and then combine classic and contemporary
essayists in a thematic approach.
We will begin the first semester with a unit on memoir, during which students will read, annotate,
discuss, and take AP-style multiple choice tests on various memoirs, and write descriptive essays
and narratives. We will study narrative and descriptive patterns, and students will read some
essays on reading and writing.
After the memoir unit, we will read mostly early American literature – documents, speeches,
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essays, poetry, memoir, and fiction – concentrating on rhetoric, argument, and literary analysis.
Later in the year, we will read read a range of genres from the 19th and 20th centuries thematically.
Our final unit will be the reading of Hamlet.
Independent reading
During the first semester, students will be expected to read one novel written prior to 1900 and
prepare a written literary analysis. By the end of the first semester, students must choose and
begin reading a contemporary non-fiction book on a topic related to their research project.
Students can expect to read 2 independent books per semester. Students will read the major
works read for the class – The Scarlet Letter, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Great Gatsby – outside of class, in preparation for inclass discussions and analysis.
Writing
Consistent with the goals of the advanced placement program, students will engage in frequent
and regular informal and formal writing, including:
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Journals to be used throughout the year as a place students will
1. comment on readings, explore opinions, and develop ideas for future essays, and
2. write in-class entries done most days as a warm-up or review, including: practice in
analyzing stylistic decisions – from Voice Lessons; answering questions that stimulate
thought about readings; answering questions that stimulate ideas for writing a memoir or
essay; pre-reading quickwrites; occasional grammar practice
•
Personal dictionaries: students select 10 words per week to add to their repertoire; weekly
quizzes emphasize word usage and grammar concepts.
•
Essays. Generally, students will write one essay (or a part of an essay) each week – either
an in-class, timed writing, such as those found on AP tests, an essay on texts we are
reading in class, or an analysis of contemporary news articles and essays.
Twice each semester students will write an essay that proceeds through formative drafts
with feedback from peers and teacher to a final draft. One of these essays will research
essay described later.
Grading
Students’ grades are based on an accumulated-point system. Each graded assignment or activity
is assigned a certain number of points based on its complexity and overall importance to the
objectives of the course.
The percentages that are figured using the accumulated-point system translate into the following
grades:
90-100%
=A
80-90% = B
70-80% = C
65-70% = D
Below 65%
=F
Some assignments will earn points for completion according to the assignment instructions –
journal entries, ungraded essays, annotated readings and reading journals, etc. Essays will be
assessed through a variety of strategies: some will be self-edited and/or peer-edited, some will
read to identify what needs a focused lesson to the class, some will be assessed for one strategy
(effective introduction, clear thesis statement, etc.), some will be scored using the 9-point AP rubric,
and some will be selected by the students for grading. Essays written through the steps of the
writing process will be graded holistically, and students will have an opportunity to improve them for
a higher grade.
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Texts:
The Language of Literature, McDougal Littell (McL)
Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes, The American Experience, Prentice Hall Literature (P.H.)
Developing Critical Reading Skills, Deanne Spears, 6th & 7th ed., McGraw-Hill (DCRS)
The Essay Connection, Readings for Writers, 6th ed., Lynn Z. Bloom, Houghton Mifflin Company
(TEC)
The Bedford Reader, 10th ed., Kennedy et.al., Bedford/St. Martins (TBR)
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (TSL)
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass (NLFD)
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (TGG)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (Huck Finn)
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Course Plan
Weeks 1-2 Summer Reading and Exploring Reading
Course orientation: Course description, class rules and responsibilities, grading system, plagiarism
(defined and consequences), regular assignments – journal, personal dictionary. During the
Memoir unit, students will read several articles on reading and writing to broaden their perspectives
on how experienced readers approach reading and writing.
Select a book written prior to 1900 to read independently.
Summer reading:
Required reading: The March, E.L. Doctorow (Reading quiz & essay)
Optional summer books: A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving; Away, Amy Bloom, or
Puddn’n Head Wilson, Mark Twain (essay)
Read: “In Love with Books, Eudora Welty (TEC, 34)
Read: “Strange Tools,” Richard Rodriguez (TBR)
Write: essay on your experience with reading (using Welty’s essay as model)
Read: “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts,” Bruce Catton. (TBR)
Read: “Comparison and Contrast,” (TBR or TEC); outline 3 different C-C strategies
Student groups compare and contrast two sculptures: “The Kiss” and “Love”
Memoir - Narrative & Descriptive writing
Read: “What – and How – to Write When You Have No Time to Write,” Donald Murray (H.O.)
Read: “Polaroids,” Anne Lamott (the development of an idea) (TEC, 72)
Read: “Simplicity,” William Zinsser (essay on writing) (H.O.)
We will read several short narratives and look at rhetorical and literary devices, the beginnings
and endings, and the writers’ purposes. Students will write journal entries and do exercises to
come up with ideas to write about for their own memoir.
Read: “Handed My Lifeline,” Maya Angelou (H.O.)
Read: “What’s in a Name?” Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Use as an example of how to read
carefully and respond to an essay) (H.O.)
Read: “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White (TBR)
Read: “Description” (TBR or TEC)
Write: A description of a scene from your life
Read: “Only Daughter,” Sandra Cisneros (TBR, 96)
Read: “Shame,” Dick Gregory - in-class style analysis essay (H.O.)
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Read: “Indian Education,” Sherman Alexie (TBR)
Read: “Narration” (TBR or TEC)
Write: Students will write their own memoirs (process piece; final draft with reflection on what
you changed and why)
Read: Writing: Re-vision and Revision,” Donald M. Murray (TEC, 126)
Rhetoric in American literature
Introduction to reading rhetorically: Define rhetoric, rhetorical appeals. Look at appeals in
visual texts.
Read: “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words,” Paul Roberts (essay on tips for effective writing)
(H.O.); describe five ideas that you plan to use in your writing. Explain why you chose
those, what you plan to do in the future, how this will affect your writing.
Read and do exercises: “Introduction to Reading Essays,” Part 5 (DCRS)
The Puritan Influence on American culture and literature
Puritans - background plus paintings.
Read: “City Upon a Hill,” speech by John Winthrop. What affect has this Puritan attitude had
on the perspective of Americans?
Read: “Upon the Burning of Our House”, Anne Bradstreet (poem) (McL and H.O.)
Write: What appeals does the speaker in Bradstreet’s poem use (logos, pathos, ethos). Does
she privilege one of them? How does the tone change through the poem? Give evidence.
Read: “A Letter to Her Husband Absent Upon Public Employment,” Bradstreet (H.O.) Answer
same questions as above.
Read: Chapt. 8 & 9 of Developing Critical Reading Skills (argument & persuasion)
Read: from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards (M-L) ; SOAPSTone
and analyze appeals (logos, pathos, ethos).
Societal Restrictions on Citizens
Read: The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Read: “Putting in a Good Word for Guilt,” Ellen Goodman (H.O.)
Read: “About Revenge,” by Francis Bacon (H.O.)
View: The Crucible, movie (director: Nicholas Hytner; Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder)
View: Senator Joseph McCarthy attacks Edward R. Murrow on CBS, video clip,
www.AmericanRhetoric.com
View: Brief sections of The Majestic showing the trial of Peter Appleton (Jim Carrey) (Director:
Frank Darabont)
Discuss and write: What restrictions did society place on residents of Salem? ...on people
accused of Communism in 1950s? How did Hester Prynne overcome those restrictions?
Complete Literary analysis for first independent reading book
Select non-fiction book on a topic on which you would like to do further research.
Obligations Within a Society: speeches
Introduce Toulmin Argument, Inductive and deductive reasoning, argument versus persuasion
Read & analyze: “Declaration of Independence,” Thomas Jefferson (P.H., 154)
Read & analyze: “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls Convention, 1848,"
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (H.O.) (A.P. test)
Write: Your own Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, modeled after these two
Declarations. Complete SOAPSTone for your declaration.
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Read: “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” Patrick Henry (March 1775) (P.H., 184)
View & analyze painting: Patrick Henry Before the Virginia House of Burgesses, Peter F.
Rothermel (P.H., 186)
Read: “Speech in the Convention,” by Benjamin Franklin, Sept. 17, 1787 ( P.H., 190)
Write essay: Compare the two rhetorical appeal of the two speeches. Consider the occasion,
audience, tone, claims, evidence, assumptions, and conclusions.
Read John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Inauguration Address, 1961; identify appeals (P.H., 196)
Write (informal essay): What is the individual’s duty to his government? What is the
government’s duty to the individual?
Transcendentalism and Civil Disobedience
Read: “Exemplification” (TBR)
Read: from “Self-Reliance,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (P.H., 391)
Read: “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” or “Why I Went to the Woods,” from Walden by
Henry David Thoreau (P.H., 402; Readings for Writers, 508)
“Gandhi on Civil Disobedience,” from The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi by Homer A. Jack (H.O.)
Read (HW): “Seeing” from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard, 1974 (H.O., 300)
Read: “The Snowstorm,” Emerson (poem) (M-L) Is this an argument?
Read: “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau (LofC, 939)
Read: “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. (TEC, 596)
Write: Take one idea of the transcendentalists and explain (or support/refute) the idea using
exemplification.
Write: In an essay that synthesizes and uses for support at least four of the readings from this
unit, discuss the obligations of individuals within a society. Or, what is society’s obligation to
the individual? Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations. Refer to the sources
by authors’ last names or by titles. Avoid mere paraphrase or summary. Process synthesis
piece, from idea generation through revision and final draft.
Slavery, African Americans in Society
Read: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (entire memoir) Students will analyze
audience, purpose, messages, literary devices, objective and subjective writing, content.
Read: “The Interesting Narrative of...Olaudah Equiano” (memoir; McL, 101) sensory details,
imagery in writing; audience
Read: “Frederick Douglass,” by Robert Hayden (poem) (P.H., 1183)
Read: “The Gettysburg Address,” Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1865) (H.O.)
Read: “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” Phyllis Wheatley (poem) (H.O.)
Read: “The Crossing of the Red Sea,” George Moses Horton (poem) (H.O.)
Write (journal): Contrast the two poems explaining how their metaphors work to establish the
poets’ messages.
View painting: Thoughts of Liberia: Emancipation, by Edwin D. White
Read poem: “Stanzas on Freedom,” by James Russell Lowell. Who is the audience? How
does the audience affect poetry? (McL, 458 or H.O.)
Read poem: “Free Labor,” Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. (McL, 458) Do you agree with the
poet’s philosophy that no one is free as long as there are any slaves?
Read from Coming of Age in Mississippi, Anne Moody (memoir; McL, 491)
Write: How has slavery affected the relationship between whites and blacks, even seen today?
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Humor, Sarcasm and Satire in Literature
Read: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain. We will study this novel for style and
content, for it’s depiction of slavery and American life, and for the social criticism and satire it
provides. Students will be attuned to how Twain broke ground by writing in dialect and
portraying regionalism in literature.
Read: “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift (TBR) (plus take A.P. style M.C. test from Applied
Practice)
Read: “Judge Noah Sweat of Mississippi Shows How to Straddle a Fence with Satiric Flair,”
speech by Noah S. Sweat (1948) (H.O.)
Read: various AP test passages and articles using satire
Write: Your “Modest Proposal” using satire to point out a situation that needs to be changed or
corrected.
American Identity/ American Dream
Read: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. We will study this novel for style and content,
for it’s depiction of the American Dream, and for the emerging theme of modernism. Students
will take note of Fitzgerald’s diction, syntax, use of color and symbolism throughout the novel.
Students will also study the episodic format and its effect on the reader.
Read: “What is an American,” Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur (P. H., 208)
View painting: Independence by Frank Blackwell Mayer, 1858 (P.H., 208)
Read poems: “I hear America Singing,” Walt Whitman; “I,too, sing America,” Langston Hughes;
“Richard Cory,” Edwin Arlington Robinson
View: View “Cliff Dwellers,” by George Bellows (painting; McL, 314)
View: “The Great GAPsby Society” cartoon, Jeff Parker
Read: “None of this is Fair,” Richard Rodriguez (Prentice Hall, 539)
Read: “The New Community,” Amitai Etzioni (LofC, 289)
Write: What is an American today? What responsibilities does he have to this country?
(Synthesis)
Rhetoric: Analyzing Advertisements
View: Students will analyze advertisements in current publications to assess their rhetorical
appeals. Look at the core concepts of media literacy, review vocabulary for analyzing visual
texts (camera placement, subject arrangement, framing, lighting, color, logo, headline,
slogans, and body copy. Students will be encouraged to bring in favorite or “bad” ads for
analysis.
Write: Compare two ads for the same (or similar) product. Imagine that you are the director of
a small ad agency. One of these ads is from your client’s current ad campaign; the other is the
approach you are recommending. Write a memo to your client arguing why your choice of ad
and approach will be more effective than the other. Look at aesthetics, appeals, and overall
effectiveness.
Gender Issues
Read: “Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness,” the treatment of women
and mental illness in the late 1800s. (M-L, 619)
Read: “Ain’t I A Woman,” Sojourner Truth (handout)
Read: “Women’s Brains,” Stephen Jay Gould (LofC, 349)
Read: “Letters” from Abigail Adams to John Adams (“be more generous and favourable to [the
Ladies] than your ancestors.” (Lof C, 363)
Read: “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin (M-L, 623; Prentice Hall, 632)
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Read: “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria,” Judith Ortiz Cofer
(Prentice Hall, 246)
Read poems: “Recipe,” Janice Mirikitani (Prentice Hall, 334); “Mirror,” Sylvia Plath; “A Work of
Artifice,” Marge Piercy, “A Song in Front Yard,” Gwendolyn Brooks (handout)
Read: “I Want a Wife,” Judy Syfers (satire; Patterns, 524; Essay Con. 506)
Read: “Being a Man,” Paul Theroux (LofC, 378)
Write Essay: Examine a popular movie in terms of gender roles, and write about it. In what
ways do the characters reflect conventional roles, and in what ways do they step out of those
roles? Or
In his book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, John gray writes, “A man’s sense of
self is defined through his ability to achieve results.... A woman’s sense of self is defined
through her feelings and the quality of her relationships.” Write an essay supporting,
challenging, or modifying these statements. Use examples from your own experience and
selections from this unit.
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
After the AP exam, students will read this play and we will watch portions of different movie
versions. We will analyze the audience, purpose, and message of the soliloquies, analyze the
relative effectiveness of three actors who played the role of Hamlet, and look at the play as a
revenge play – comparing it to The Scarlet Letter.
Students will work in small groups, becoming experts on one of several key scenes. Then they
will apply their knowledge of rhetoric to a pivotal scene, and present their findings to the class.
Research Paper: The Documented Essay
Choose a current topic or idea that reflects one of the themes that we studied this semester.
•
Research the topic through different types of sources (newspapers, magazines, news stories,
radio broadcasts, online sources, interviews, visuals, cartoons, etc.).
•
Take careful notes, making sure that you cite your sources accurately using MLA format.
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Develop an argument about this topic, and establish your claim.
•
Integrate a variety of sources as evidence to support your position and to address the counter
arguments. Your argument should be central.
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Write a coherent, well-written essay; avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
•
Attribute both direct and indirect citations using MLA format.
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Create a Works Cited page using MLA format. Refer to Patterns, pg 753-784. Or:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/
http://www.easybib.com/
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Plagiarism will resort in a zero.
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Reading Assignments
To encourage students to read critically and understand the rhetorical strategies used by the
author, students will use a variety of strategies when reading essays or short works of fiction.
•
S.O.A.P.S.Tone: Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone
•
S.O.A.P + Thesis or claim, evidence, appeals, assumptions or warrants, style, organizational
pattern or mode (cause/effect, compare/contrast, definition, process, etc.), and style (rhetorical
devices: imagery, diction, syntax, details)
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S.M.E.L.L. (for argument & persuasion): Sender/receiver relationship (speaker/audience/tone),
Message, Evidence, Logic (types of appeals, quality of reasoning), language (stylistic &
rhetorical devices)
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Identify major premise, minor premise(s), conclusion; inductive or deductive reasoning?
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Write a summary of the ideas, analyze the ideas, conclude with your own informed opinion.
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Write an essay on (Pren Hall, 8-10)
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Write an outline of the essay (thesis statement, topic sentences, evidence)
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Explain why the introduction is/is not effective. How does it... lead you into the topic? ...catch
your attention?
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Write questions – level 1, 2, 3 – for discussion
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Use checklist for active reading (page 2, Patterns for College Writing)
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T.A.P.S.T. (for literature): Topic, Audience, Purpose, Speaker, Tone (diction, imagery, theme,
style)
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Write a passage that imitates the style of the writer
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TPCASTT (for poetry): Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude, Shifts, Theme, reexamination
of Title.
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Identify a key passage. Explain why you chose it, how it connects to the whole or to the other
parts of the work, the theme/thesis. (Literature)
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Draw illustrations of what you are reading (i.e. visualize the text); literature)
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Look at the work through a critical lens – Marxist, feminist, historical/biographical,
psychological, etc.) Who has the power? How is it manifested in this piece? What do they do
with that power?
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Write AP multiple choice test questions or essay prompt for the piece
•
Answer AP multiple choice test questions or write an AP-style essay about the piece
Checklist: Reading Actively
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What is the writer’s general subject?
•
What is the writer’s main point?
•
Does the writer seem to have a particular purpose in mind?
•
What kind of audience is the writer addressing?
•
What are the writer’s assumptions about the audience? About the subject?
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Are the writer’s ideas consistent with your own?
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Does the writer reveal any biases?
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Do you have any knowledge that could challenge the writer’s ideas?
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Is any information missing?
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Are any sequential or logical links missing?
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Can you identify themes or ideas that also appear in other works you have read?
•
Can you identify parallels with your own experience?
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell Patterns for College Writing, A Rhetorical Reader and
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Guide. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.
Reference Texts
Bloom, Lynn Z.. The Essay Connection, Readings for Writers. 6th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,
2001.
Flachmann, Kim and Michael Flachmann. The Prose Reader, Essays for Thinking, Reading, and Writing, 4th
ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1987.
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Patterns for College Writing. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2007.
Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything’s An Argument. 4th ed. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.
McCuen, Jo Ray and Anthony C. Winkler. Readings for Writers. 10th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College
Publishers, 2001.
Muller, Gilbert H. The McGraw-Hill Reader, 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Miller, George, Darlene Stock Stotler, and Heather Winterbottom. The Prentice Hall Reader. 9th ed. Upper
Saddle River: Prentice Hall,2010.
Shea, Renée H., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s,2008.
Spears, Deanne. Developing Critical Reading Skills. 6th and 7th editions. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
Various Applied Practice workbooks for The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, Speeches.
Austin, Texas.
Articles/information from AP Central on teaching rhetoric in AP language courses.