AP English Literature and Composition Timeline
Fall Course of Study:Spring Course of Study:
To the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Awakening by Kate ChopinHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Great Expectations by Charles DickensThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Poetry: An Introduction (7th ed.)by Michael MeyerBeloved by Toni Morrison
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
*Every other Tuesday, starting Week 6 we will do practice Multiple Choice exams
1st Semester
Weeks 1-3: Summer Reading (To the Lighthouse, The Awakening, Great Expectations)
Theme: Gender roles, Identity
History: Victorian Era
Assessment: Reader Response HW assignments, Socratic Seminar, Unit Exam
Week 4: Literary Criticism (PowerPoints and handouts)
Assessment: Literary Hat Group Project
Week 5: Introduction to Analyzing Poetry
How to read/annotate (handout), literary devices (handout)
Poetic Forms, p. 235 in textbook
Poems:“Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins p. 40
“To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl,” Billy Collins
From “An Essay on Criticism,” Alexander Pope p. 200
“Hazel Tells Laverne,” KatharynMachan p. 73
Assessment: Poetry Annotation HW assignments, AP Exam- Poetry Essay
Weeks 6-9: Hamlet
Theme: Sovereignty: Life and Crown
Literary Hat: Postmodernism, Psychoanalysis
Assessment: Gems, Socratic Seminar, Unit Exam, TPR (using Hamlet)
Weeks 10-11: Renaissance Literature, with a focus on the sonnet form
Texts: “Whoso List to Hunt,” Sir Thomas Wyatt
“Loving in Truth,” Sir Philip Sidney
“The Facebook Sonnet,” Sherman Alexie p. 244
Shakespeare Sonnets: “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day,” p. 241
“My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun,” p. 241
Assessment: Shakespeare Sonnet
Weeks 12-15: Macbeth
Theme: Corruption of Power/Ambition, Kingship vs. Tyranny
Literary Hat: Psychoanalysis, Tragic Hero
Assessment: Gems, Socratic Seminar, Unit Exam, Research Paper (applying Lit Theory to Macbeth)
Weeks 16-17: Early Seventeenth Century and Restoration
Texts: Paradise Lostexcerpts, John Milton
“Holy Sonnet 10,” “A Flea,” John Donne, p. 605
“To His Coy Mistress,” Andrew Marvell, p. 78
Week 18: Writing Portfolio/Final Exams
2nd Semester
Week 19: New Year Resolutions (writing assignment and discussion), Discuss AP Exam (exam itself)
Weeks 19-22: Pride and Prejudice
Poems: “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning p. 175
“The Second Coming,” William Butler Yeats p. 638
Theme: Gender Roles, Identity
Literary Hat: Feminism, Modernism
Assessment: Reader Response HW assignments, AP Exam- Prose Essay (using P&P)
Week 23: Romantic Poetry
Poems: “Lamb” and “Tyger,” William Blake p. 228
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” William Wordsworth p. 635
“Ode to a Nightingale, “John Keats p. 207
“Ode to a Skylark,” Percy Bysshe Shelley
Weeks 24-27: The Handmaid’s Tale
Theme: Apocalyptic/dystopian literature
Literary Hat: Feminism
Assessment: Reader Response HW assignments, TPR (using The Handmaid’s Tale)
Weeks 28-30: Heart of Darkness
Theme: Moral Impressionism
Literary Hat: Postcolonial, Heremeneutics
Assessment: Reader Response HW assignments, Research Paper (literary theory)
Weeks 31-33: Beloved
Theme: Slavery’s Destruction of Identity, Importance of Community
Literary Hat: Psychoanalysis, Realism
Assessment: Reader Response HW assignments, AP Exam-Open Question (using Beloved)
Week 34: Review for Final Exam, Final Exam
Week 35: AP Exam
Monday and Tuesday: Go over PowerPoint (exam itself), what to expect
Wednesday: Actual exam at 8am
Thursday and Friday: Discuss exam
Weeks 36-37: Writing Portfolios, My favorite poems, Inspiring TedTalks