AP English Language and Composition

Course Overview
Students in this introductory college-level course examine the ways in which writers use language. The course requires both intensive reading of prose written in a variety of periods and extensive writing in multiple genres. Students read the works of many respected authors (predominantly, American) in numerous genresshort stories, novels, memoirs, documents, essays, newspaper and magazine articles, speechesin order to examine how writers use language to persuade, educate, enrage, and even entertain. Student writing assignments range from informal, reflective journals to formal, critical papers, with an emphasis on expository, analytical, and argumentative writing. Summer reading and writing are required.

Course Objectives
Over the course of the year, we will focus on the following goals: Critical reading, including increasing students ability to recognize and analyze figurative language, rhetorical devices and strategies, tone and theme Creating effective, well-supported audience-directed prose Creating effective argumentstaking a position that supports, qualifies, or disputes an authors point in a passage Synthesizing and citing information from a variety of sources to create effective argument or analysis Increasing students expressiveness and facility with language, both spoken and written focusing on varied sentence structures; organization and coherence based on repetition, transitions, and emphasis; balance between generalizations and specifics; and control of tone and voice Increasing awareness of the diversity of the American experience through exposure to a variety of media and texts Familiarizing students with common styles of documentation including the MLA format, the APA format, Chicago, and the use of footnotes

Grading System
Tests 30%: Tests may consist of both objective and essay questions on novels, multiple-choice questions based on rhetorical devices and their function in given passages, and final copies of essays. Writing 20%: Most essays are first written as in-class essays and graded as rough drafts. Rough drafts are self-edited and peer-edited before students type the final copies. Reading Response Journals are outside writings that are included in this category. Class work/Homework/Participation 20%: A variety of tasks may fall in this category including individual steps of the writing process, grammar reviews, vocabulary exercises, annotations of text, etc

Projects/Presentations 20%: Projects are outside, creative assignments that may take various forms in the final product, such as posters, writing, performances, presentations, art work, etc... They are extensions of reading(s) or discussion(s) that take place within the classroom. Quizzes 10%: Quizzes will cover a variety of concepts, such as reading comprehension, grammatical and mechanical concepts, and vocabulary awareness. Quizzes can be in form of short answer, multiple-choice, identify, etc

Course Planner
Weekly Reading Response Journals Each week students will be given a short reading assignment to read closely using the SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone) text analysis strategy and respond to in writing (1 to 2 pages). Because the purpose of keeping this journal is to expand students reading experiences and to encourage thoughtful responses to those experiences, this writing will be graded on effort and completion, not on grammar and mechanics. I will guide students with suggestions for improvement with personal comments and suggestions on every journal entry. Students are encouraged to experiment with their writing, to learn to develop their own voice as a writer, to practice rhetorical analysis, and to practice writing argumentatively. At the end of each quarter, students self-evaluate their writing by writing letters to themselves on ways they have improved and ways to continue to improve. Compositions (several every grading period) During the first quarter students will focus on argumentation while developing knowledge of rhetorical strategies and devices. In the second quarter students will continue to build on argumentation in addition to writing rhetorical analyses. Each grading period students will be assigned at least one synthesis essay. With each introduction of the types of essays on the AP exam, students will be given sample essays to examine and critique. This allows them to see what is expected of their writing and gives them a model to follow. Rubrics designed for each writing task are used to grade compositions. Independent Reading (2-4 novels per grading period) Students do annotated reading of these novels. They are responsible for identifying and understanding major elements of each novel: characterization, setting, plot, conflicts, climaxes, resolutions, conclusions, and themes. Students will be tested on these novels through objective and essay tests. Students will bring to class discussions and critical writings knowledge and experience gained through reading these novels. Viewing Using a variety of visuals, such as photos, political cartoons, magazine ads, graphs, charts, videos, etc, students will practice analyzing how graphics and visual images both relate to written text and serve as alternative forms of texts themselves. Students will learn to analyze them in relation to three of the five canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, and style.

Grammar Practice Grammar practice occurs daily on a whole-class basis and on an individual basis through the teacher revision and feedback of student essays and writing assignments. Using examples of writing from the students themselves, students are instructed to improve writing in ways such as, common grammatical errors, sentence structures, organization techniques, detailsgeneral and specific, and effective use of rhetoric.

First Semester
The first semester is dedicated to developing students critical reading skills, extending their rhetorical vocabulary, exploring major themes in expository and argumentative writing, and reviewing sentence structure and grammar through writing.

Quarter 1
Introductory Writing: After reading and analyzing Weldon Kees poem Aspects of Robinson, students will write Aspects of Me, following the format of the poem exactly. Reading Response Journal Reading Assignments:
If Memory Doesnt Serve by Ian Frazier (Atlantic Monthly) The Height of Inequality by Clive Crook (Atlantic Monthly) Excerpt from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (100 Great Essays) Portrait of an Ideal World by H. L. Mencken (100 Great Essays) Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass (100 Great Essays) Road Warrior by Dave Barry (100 Great Essays) Into the Electronic Millennium by Sven Birkerts (100 Great Essays) File Not Found by James Fallows (Atlantic Monthly)

Composition: Argumentation Prompt: Aristotle said in the 4th century B.C., If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. Write a carefully reasoned essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies Aristotles view of democracy. Support your argument with appropriate evidence from literature, history, or current events. Composition: Contrast and Comparison Prompt: Read three pieces on the same topicSigns of Our Times by Virginia Postrel (Atlantic Monthly), Signs by Scott Russell Sanders (The Bedford Reader), and Signs by the Five Man Electrical Band (lyrics.com)and discuss how an authors tone affects his or her writing. Write a contrast/comparison analysis essay on these pieces. Project/Presentation: A Study of Tone Students are assigned individual lists of tone vocabulary words to define. Students are required to define each assigned word and to create a visual for each word. Students may draw picture, use pictures from magazines or newspapers, or create pictures using a computer. Students then present these projects to the class. Composition: Argumentation Prompt: In Many national elections, only a fraction of eligible voters actually casts ballots. For local elections, the voter turnout is often even smaller. To prevent this state of affairs, 3

some countries, such as Australia, make voting compulsory for all adults. In a well-written essay that draws upon your reading, experience, or observations for support, take a position on the issue of compulsory voting. Composition: Synthesis Prompt: Almost from the beginning of recorded time man has faced war of some kind. In some ways man appears fascinated by the possibility of war, despite the enormous number of deaths and the sacrifice that soldiers assume. One wonders if the sacrifice is worth it, if the casualties outweigh the causes. The United States has seen more war than its share of war from Revolutionary War to War on Terror, and each war has had its proponents and its criticsand its cost. Read the accompanying sources about Americas wars, then in an essay that synthesizes at least three of the sources for support, discuss the following statement. Do not simply quote the sources; instead, choose which ones (a minimum of 3) which are most appropriate to bolster your position. Avoid simply summarizing. Following each direct and indirect quote, parenthetically identify the source as (Source A), (Source B), etc. Despite the great number of American casualties in most of our wars, with each military conflict the U. S. appears to have become progressively less constrained about sending its youth to battle. Wary citizens question which causes are worth the sacrifice of lives. Our government has become too willing to wage war regardless of the cost. Independent Reading: Anthem by Ayn Rand 1984 by George Orwell Feel Like Youre Being Watched? by Joseph Perkins Feel Like Youre Being Watched? You Are by Laura K. Donohue (CISAC News) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser Viewing: Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 directed by Francois Truffaut Super Size Me: A Film of Epic Portions by Morgan Spurlock Various political cartoons on government control and privacy issues

Quarter 2
Reading Response Journal Reading Assignments:
Graduation by Maya Angelou (100 Great Essays) Growing Up by Russell Baker (100 Great Essays) On Self-Respect by Joan Didion (100 Great Essays) The Company Man by Ellen Goodman (100 Great Essays) From Listening by Eudora Welty (100 Great Essays) Bragging Rites by Rick Bragg (Food and Wine 1999) The Ways We Lie by Stephanie Ericsson (The Bedford Reader) The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf (100 Great Essays)

Composition: Contrast and Comparison Prompt: After listening to Bill Clintons speeches, I Misled People and I Have Sinned, students write a contrast and comparison essay focusing on persona, audience, and tone. Composition: Analysis Prompt: Read the excerpt from Jennifer Prices recent essay The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History. The essay examines the popularity of the plastic pink flamingo in the 1950s. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Price crafts the text to reveal her view of United States culture. Composition: Analysis Prompt: In the first paragraph of Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau attempts to define himself in the context of the greater American government. What rhetorical strategies does Thoreau use, and how does he define both the government and the individual? You may want to consider such rhetorical devices as diction, tone, and point of view. Composition: Argumentation Prompt: In the past and even today certain books have been severely criticized and some even banned as being offensive for different reasons. Choose a book that you think could be offensive for some reason to a particular group. First identify possible objections, and then write a well developed essay in which you defend, refute, or qualify the potential censorship. Composition: Synthesis Read the accompanying sources (including any introductory information) carefully. Then, in an essay that synthesizes at least three of the sources for support, take a position that defends, challenges, or qualifies the claim that video games have little cultural value and contribute to aggressive, even violent, behavior. Project: Tell the Story of Another Generation 1. Interview three people who grew up in the same time period.
(1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, or 1970s) a. Ask each of your interviewees to describe his/her looks (hair cut, clothes, shoes, etc.), favorite games and entertainment, things they thought were amazing, news events, television and radio, what they did for fun with friends, what they did as a family, etc. (You may develop your own questions as well.) Especially ask them about economic conditions and race relations of that time period. How were they affected by both of these? b. Combining all your information and giving credit to the interviewees, write (at least) three poems. Create an entertaining account that exemplifies each persons life by imitating the style and format of the poem The Brown Bomber. 2. Collect pictures of these people, which might tell their life in that decade. a. Using copies of the pictures and/or memorabilia (you may also use pictures gathered from magazines and the internet), tell the story of each persons life through a collage. (Leave no white space!) b. The collage should be no larger than a half sheet of poster board. c. Put captions with each picture or object (strong adjectives, nouns, or verbs). Everything should relate to the decade that you chose to research.

Independent Reading: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Second Semester
The second semester is dedicated to preparing students for the upcoming AP exam testing format. In-class, timed writings are assigned more frequently and students are given several sample AP Language and Composition multiple-choice tests for extra practice

Quarter 3
Reading Response Journal Reading Assignments:
I Want a Wife by Judy Brady (100 Great Essays) Femininity by Susan Brown Miller (100 Great Essays) Marrying Absurd by Joan Didion (100 Great Essays) About Men by Gretel Ehrlich (100 Great Essays) Between the Sexes, A Great Divide Anna Quindlen (100 Great Essays) Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out by Dave Barry (The Bedford Reader) Professions for Women by Virginia Woolf (100 Great Essays) Our Barbies, Ourselves by Emily Prager (The Bedford Reader)

Composition: Analysis Prompt: Read the excerpt from On Want of Money, an essay written by 19th century author William Hazlitt. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies Hazlitt uses to develop his position about money. Composition: Argumentation Prompt: From talk radio to television shows, from popular magazines to Web blogs, ordinary citizens, political figures, and entertainers express their opinions on a wide range of topics. Are these opinions worthwhile? Does the expression of such opinions foster democratic values? Write an essay in which you take a position on the value of such public statements of opinion, supporting you view with appropriate evidence. Composition: Synthesis Prompt: The role of women in society has evolved throughout history from being considered merely property to becoming fully equal to men in the business world today. Or has their role really changed? Is there still a gender gap in todays society? Read the accompanying sources about womens changing role, and then, in an essay that synthesizes at least three of the sources for support, take a position concerning the following statement: Women have attained equality with men in the world today, holding executive jobs and drawing executive salaries while balancing children and home life so well that many exemplify a super woman. They have proven that they can do it all quite well. As a result, women have a greater sense of fulfillment and independence than ever before. Project: Research PaperThe Documented Essay

Task and Prompt: Choose a current event that reflects one of the themes or ideas that we have studied this semester. Research the topic through different types of sources (newspapers, magazines, news stories, interviews, online sources, radio broadcasts, visuals, etc). Take careful notes, making sure that you cite your sources accurately using MLA format. Develop an argument about this topic. Establish a claim. Then integrate a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay. Use the sources to support your position; avoid mere paraphrase or summary. Your argument should be central. Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations, using MLA format. (Give credit where credit is due!) Create a Works Cited page using MLA format. Plagiarism will result in a zero. Independent Reading: The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Viewing: Global Warming: What You Need to Know with Tom Brokaw An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning by Al Gore

Quarter 4
Reading Response Journal Reading Assignments: TV Addiction by Marie Winn (The Bedford Reader) Arm Wrestling with My Father by Brad Manning (The Bedford Reader) Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner (The Bedford Reader) Only One Life by Tom Wolfe (100 Great Essays)
Ever Et Raw Meat? by Stephen King Natural Selection by Charles Darwin (100 Great Essays)

Composition: Argumentation Prompt: Read and think carefully about the quotation taken from Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill. Then write an essay in which you refute, support, or qualify the authors claim. Make sure to use appropriate evidence from literary, historical, or personal sources to develop your argument. Composition: Synthesis Prompt: Relying heavily on the sources that follow, would you have voted for or against womens suffrage, had you been given the opportunity to vote in the late 1880s? Include citations from at least four of the sources in you explanation. Project/Presentation: Monologue Interpretation and Presentation Students choose a monologue to analyze and present to the class.

Independent Reading:
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong

Textbooks
Diyanni, Robert. 100 Best Essays. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Longam, 2005. Jolliffe, David A. and Hephzibah Roskelly. Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing. AP edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.

Additional Texts
Aaron, Jane E., Dorothy M. Kennedy, and X.J. Kennedy. The Bedford Reader. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2003. Diyanni, Robert and Pat C. Hoy II. Frames of Mind: A Rhetorical Reader With Occasions for Writing. Canada: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005. Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. 4th edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004. Hartzell, Richard, Ph.D. Cracking the AP* English Language & Composition Exam. 2006-2007 Edition. New York: Random House, Inc., 2006. Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everythings an Argument: With Readings. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004. Pivarnik-Nova, Denise. AP* English Language & Composition. 2007 Edition. New York: Kaplan, 2007.

Novels used in AP Language and Composition

Second 9 weeks:

Third 9 weeks:

Fourth 9 weeks:

On the Road
When I Was Puerto Rican Caramelo The Woman Warrior My Life and Hard Times

Jack Kerouac
Esmeralda Santiago Sandra Cisneros Maxine Hong James Thurber

Bread Givers Spoon River Anthology The Metamorphosis Dust Tracks on a Road The Bluest Eye Black Boy A Room of Ones Own An American Childhood

Anzia Yezierska Edgar Lee Masters Frank Kafka Zora Neal Hurston Toni Morrison Richard Wright Virginia Woolf Anne Dillard

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