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AP English Language and Composition 2015-2016 Course Syllabus
Course Overview The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to provide high school students the opportunity to engage with a typical introductory-level college English curriculum. This course focuses on the development and revision of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing and the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts. This course aligns to introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages of drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Throughout the course, students develop a personal style by making appropriate grammatical choices. Additionally, students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in non-fiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods. As stated in the AP English Language and Composition 2005-06 Professional Development Workshop Materials, Special Focus: Writing Persuasively published by the College Board, the expressed purpose of this course is to “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. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.” This course addresses the synthesis essay, which "asks students to use sources in support of an argument. This question will contain four to seven sources (one of which will be an image such as a photo, cartoon, or graph) and a prompt that relates to these sources…Students will be asked to write essays that incorporate at least three to four of these sources into argumentative or analytical responses…”
Course Content The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to help students become skilled readers and writers through engagement with the following requirements:
Composing in several forms (e.g., narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative essays) about a variety of subjects
Writing that proceeds through several stages or drafts, with revision aided by teacher and peers
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Writing formally (e.g., imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing), which helps students become aware of themselves as writers and the techniques employed by other writers
Writing expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions based on readings representing a variety of prose styles and genres
Reading nonfiction (e.g., essays, journalism, science writing, autobiographies, criticism) selected to give students opportunities to identify and explain an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques
Analyzing graphics and visual images both in relation to written texts and as alternative forms of text themselves
Developing and conducting research skills and the ability to evaluate, use, and cite primary and secondary sources
Citing sources using a recognized editorial style (e.g., Modern Language Association, The Chicago Manual of Style)
Revising their work to develop a wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively
A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination
Logical organization, enhanced by techniques such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis
A balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail
An effective use of rhetoric, including tone, voice, diction, and sentence structure
Course Grading System This is a breakdown of percentages for a six weeks grading period. Our school district requires that major assessments (essays, tests, projects, etc.) make up 70% of the final grade and daily assessments (reading quizzes, drafts of essays, vocabulary exercises, sentence revision exercises, etc.) make up 30% of the grade.
Major 70% o Essays: timed writings (first draft essays) and final copies of papers taken through the writing process o Tests: multiple choice questions based on rhetorical devices and their function in given passages o Socratic Seminars
Daily 30% o Reading and vocabulary quizzes, drafts of essays, research, sentence revision, practice paragraphs, timed writings, etc.
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1st 6 Weeks: Everything’s an Argument--Rhetorical Analysis
Framework: Students learn syllogisms and Toulmin model as well as the rhetoric of argumentation to understand characterization, conversation, and their own assertions as argument.
Readings:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Excerpts from The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
“A Plea for Mercy” by Clarence Darrow
Background on Leopold and Loeb
Various speeches, short stories, and essays including, but not limited to: JKF’s Inaugural Address, George Bush’s 9/11 Speech, FDR’s Pearl Harbor Day, and The Declaration of Independence
Major Assessments:
Timed Writings
Objective Test over In Cold Blood
Original Persuasive Speech
Daily Assessments:
Analysis of visual texts (What is the claim? How is it made?)
Application of the rhetorical triangle and rhetorical appeals
Lessons in rudimentary logic
Creating syllogisms from excerpts
Forming Toulmin and Degen thesis statements
Analysis of rhetorical argument with Degen chart
Ongoing vocabulary study
Sentence exercises
Research:
Persuasive Speeches--evidence and backing for original speech
Synthesizing different sources--cartoons, articles, essays, tables, etc.
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2nd 6 Weeks: The Rhetoric of Power and Corruption
Framework: Students learn the rhetoric that leads to power and corruption and how the rhetoric of argumentation promotes these concepts.
Readings:
William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Excerpts from Shakespeare's Richard III and Henry V
1984 by George Orwell
“Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut
Aristotle’s Poetics
Various Short Stories by Ray Bradbury, including “Here There Be Tygers”
Various speeches, short stories, and essays including, but not limited to: "My Wood" by E. M. Forster, "Carrie Buck's Daughter" by Stephen Jay Gould, "In The Toils of the Law" by Edward Hoagland, "The Penalty of Death" by H. L. Mencken, "A Word's Meaning Can Often Depend on Who Says It" by Gloria Naylor, and "The Extendable Fork" by Calvin Trillin
Major Assessments:
Timed Writings
Major Test over Hamlet
Daily Assessments:
1984 reading quizzes
Ongoing vocabulary study
Application of the rhetorical triangle and rhetorical appeals
Quick writes
Degen chart
Sentence exercises
Practice MC questions
Research:
Synthesizing different sources--cartoons, articles, essays, tables, etc.
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3rd 6 Weeks: The Rhetoric of Femininity
Framework: Students learn about the social norms associated with women and how rhetoric contributes to these widely accepted ideas.
Readings:
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Crucible by Arthur Miller (supplemental)
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (supplemental)
Emma by Jane Austen (supplemental)
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Excerpts from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Various speeches, short stories, and essays including, but not limited to: "Shakespeare's Sister" by Virginia Woolf, "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, "My Name is Margaret" by Maya Angelou, "Stone Soup" by Barbara Kingsolver, "Women and the Future of Fatherhood" by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, and "Beauty" by Susan Sontag
Major Assessments:
Rhetorical Analysis Timed Writing
Major Test over The Scarlet Letter
1st semester exam AP-style MC questions
Daily Assessments:
Degen charts--visual and rhetorical analysis
Theme statements based upon Degen method
Ongoing vocabulary study
Sentence crafting
Practice MC questions
Rhetorical analysis quick writes
Research:
Synthesizing different sources--cartoons, articles, essays, tables, etc.
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4th 6 Weeks: The Rhetoric of Satire
Framework: Students learn how satire and conversation contribute to and develop an argument.
Readings:
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (supplemental)
"War Prayer" by Mark Twain
"MagnaSoles" from The Onion
Excerpt from "Letters from Earth" by Mark Twain
"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift
Newt Gringrich's proposal that economically disadvantaged children be made janitors
"The Company Man" by Goodman
Various speeches, short stories, and essays including, but not limited to: "Under the Spell" by Joan Acocella, "Rapport-Talk and Report-Talk" by Deborah Tannen, "Campus Racism 101" by Nikki Giovanni, and "Two Views of the River" by Mark Twain
Major Assessments:
AP Timed Writing--Synthesis Question from AP
Major Test over Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Socratic Seminar
Daily Assessments:
Satire presentations
Reading quizzes over Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Visual analysis of historical poster art and photography
Mini synthesis exercises
Practice MC questions
Internal Documentation quiz
Research:
Synthesizing different sources--cartoons, articles, essays, tables, etc.
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5th 6 Weeks: The Rhetoric of Transcendentalism
Framework: Students learn the rhetoric of transcendentalism and the arguments involved with this movement.
Readings:
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Robert Edwin Lee and Jerome Lawrence
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
"American Scholar" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Excerpt from "The Fixed" from Heaven and Earth in Jest by Annie Dillard
Excerpts from “The Death of a Moth” and Dead Poets Society
Various speeches, short stories, and essays including, but not limited to: "Resistance to Civil Government" by Henry David Thoreau, "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty, "The Obligation to Endure" by Rachel Carson, "How Flowers Changed the World" by Loren Eiseley, "My Wood" by E. M. Forster, "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau
Major Assessments:
Timed Writing--Transcendentalism Rhetorical Analysis
Major Test over Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism Socratic Seminar
Daily Assessments:
Transcendentalism Chart
Analysis Questions over "American Scholar"
Read and annotate purpose and rhetorical strategies in excerpts
Ongoing vocabulary study
Practice MC questions
Research:
The Tenets of Transcendentalism
Synthesizing different sources--cartoons, articles, essays, tables, etc.
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6th 6 Weeks: The Rhetoric of Self-Image
Framework: Students learn how rhetoric and respectful argumentation can promote self-image.
Readings:
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"Graduation" by Maya Angelou
"How to Tame a Wild Tongue" by Gloria Anzaldua
"On Compassion" by Barbara Lazear Ascher
Various speeches, short stories, and essays including, but not limited to: "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, "The Movie That Changed My Life" by Terry McMillan, "Growing Up Old in Los Angeles" by Richard Rodriguez, "Once More to the Lake" by E. B. White, and "The Village Watchman" by Terry Tempest Williams
Major Assessments:
Timed Writings
Major Test over The Bell Jar
2nd semester exam AP-style MC questions
Daily Assessments:
Ongoing vocabulary study
Reading quizzes
Quick writes
Sentence exercises
Research:
Synthesizing different sources--cartoons, articles, essays, tables, etc.
