English 11

Advanced Placement

Language and Composition

2016-2017

11 AP Language and Composition Objectives

Course Description

Students in this introductory college-level course read and analyze a challenging range of prose with a concentration on nonfiction. Students are expected to read analytically, creating an awareness of rhetoric and argument. "Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interaction among a writer's purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of languages contribute to effectiveness in writing" (The College Board. AP English Course Description. May 2007-2008:6).

At high school AP Language and Composition is paired with AP United States History. Students will meet with each teacher on alternating days (A/B schedule).

Students must complete a full year of alternating days to receive one credit for each course. In order to help ensure timely graduation, students who are failing at the end of the first semester will be dropped from both AP courses and scheduled for regular English 11 and regular U.S. History for the second semester. INITIAL HERE ______.

According to The College Board, upon completion of the AP English and Composition course, students will be able to:

  • analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author's use of rhetorical strategies and techniques particularly in nonfiction readings;
  • apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writings;
  • create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience;
  • write for a variety of purposes, in a variety of forms, both formal and informal, about a variety of subjects (e.g. public policies, popular culture, and personal experiences);
  • produce expository, analytical, narrative, and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and that develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary sources, cogent explanations, and clear transitions;
  • demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in their own writings;
  • evaluate, analyze, and synthesize reference documents into researched papers demonstrating an understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary sources using MLA documentation style;
  • move effectively through the stages of the writing process with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review;
  • write thoughtfully about their own process of composition;
  • revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience; and
  • analyze graphics and visual images as texts.

Furthermore, student writing, before and after revision, should demonstrate:

  • 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.

Homework

As this is a college-level course, performance expectation is appropriately high, and the workload is challenging. Students are expected to commit to a minimum of five hours of course work per week outside of class. Students must bring to the course sufficient command of mechanical conventions and an advanced ability to read and discuss prose. Homework assignments often involve long-term reading, supported reactions, and copious writing; self-discipline and effective time management are important.

Costs

Students are responsible for purchasing: (Note that I have a class set of the text, but you may not write in these.)

Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Patterns for College Writing. 10th ed., New

York: Bedford, 2007. ISBN # 0-312-44586-5 (soft cover)

Materials needed for AP Language and Composition:

  • A planner
  • Notebook and paper
  • Pens (blue, black, purple, and red)
  • Pencils #2
  • yellow highlighters
  • A working computer and printer with ink
  • A flashdrive
  • A ream of paper

Finally, students are expected to take the AP Language and Composition exam in May ($92). Money will be due in March to Ms. Blackaby.

Grades

Student grades are based on a weighted points system that aligns with Hamilton County educational standards and weights assignments based on complexity and importance.

Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is using another person's thoughts and accomplishments without proper acknowledgement or documentation. It is an unconscionable offense and a serious breach of the honor code. In keeping with the policy, students will receive a zero for the plagiarized work.

Summer Reading Requirements

Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White (Anniversary Edition)

All students will complete a dialectic journal for the first three selections. The Strunk and White text should be highlighted and annotated.

**Additional assessment of these selections may be objective, short answer, performance based, or essay in nature.

Texts and Resources

Core Texts:

Elements of Literature, Fifth Course, 1993 Edition [Anderson, Robert, et.al. Austin:

Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2000.]

Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R Mandell. Patterns for College Writing. 10th ed., New

York: Bedford, 2007.

Teaching Strategies

Response Logs SOAPSTONE:

For each reading assignment, students must identify the following:

Subject

Occasion (include genre)

Audience

Purpose (aim, intention)

Speaker (persona)

Tone (writer's or speaker's attitude)

Overall summary

Name Rhetorical Techniques (include what, where, and why)

Evaluate the selection (reaction)

OPTIC

Overview-Parts-Title-Interrelationships-Conclusion (OPTIC)

Overview--write down a few notes on what the visual appears to be about

Parts--zero in on the parts of the visual. Write down any elements that seem imp.

Title--highlight the words of the title if one is available

Interrelationships--use the title as the theory and the parts of the visual as clues to

detect and specify the interrelationships in the graphic.

Conclusion--draw a conclusion about the visual as a whole. What does the visual

mean? Summarize the message of the visual in one or two sentences.

The Units:

Part I. Introduction to rhetoric and depth in writing, summer reading assessment, syllabus, dialectic journals, and getting acquainted. Classroom expectations and course expectations.

Literary terms--exigence, audience, diction, tone, persona, logos, ethos, pathos, syntax, imagery, figurative language

Part II. Introduction to the AP Language and Composition Exam

  • Students will register with AP Central and prepare and explore the resources on the site.
  • Read "English Language and Composition The Course" from The College Board. AP English Course Description. May 2007-2008 pages 6-9. Discuss.
  • Read "What Do Students Need to Know About Rhetoric" (Roskelly)
  • Rhetorical Vocabulary continued
  • The Basics of the exam
  • Mixed Media Stand and Deliver
  • Students will review and archive handouts pertaining to the following:
  • Close reading of a passage
  • Rubrics for Essays
  • Improving Thesis Statements
  • Transitions
  • Inserting Quotations flawlessly
  • Tone Words
  • Advice from the Chief Reader (AP Central)

Exam format for essays: synthesis, analysis, and free response strategies. Emphasis will be on syntax and structure strategies.

Part III: Informative Writing

  • Read "Comparison and Contrast" pp 387-406 (Patterns)
  • Painting/Photo comparison and contrast: Grant Wood's American Gothic

(1930) and Ben Shahn's -- p228 (Bedford)

  • Visual Text Rodin's The Kiss and Robert Indiana's Love (Sculpture)
  • Journal entries and class discussions:

1. "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts" by Bruce Catton

  • p.409 Patterns

2. "Division and Classification" pp. 451-463 (Patterns)

3. "Deconstructing Lunch" p. 334 Roz Chast, (Bedford)

4. "What's in a Name" Henry Louis Gates p. 5 (Patterns)

Part IV: Narration

  • "Once More to the Lake" by E.B. White, p. 186 (Patterns)
  • "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, p.125 ( Patterns)
  • "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police" by

Martin Gansberg, p.120 (Patterns)

  • Lord Chesterfield letter ( from 2004 AP Exam)
  • Lady Montague letter (from 1996 AP Exam)
  • Photo " Girls in Front of 9/11 Mural" p.160 (Patterns)

1. "Spider-Man" p. 94 (Patterns)

2. "Class Acts" Jeff Zenick, New York Times 2009

3. "Vacuum Cleaner For Sale" Craig's List Ad

Emphasis will be on diction and denotation and connotation.

Part V: Writing the Timed Free Response

  • Practice on released exams and responses from student papers. Use to revise current essays.
  • Emphasize tone, diction, and grammatical strategies.

Essay will be due. Written on a Free Response based topic. This paper will be assessed by the student and then by the teacher based upon a standardized rubric.

PartVI:Argument Analysis

Understanding Logical Fallacies pp. 567-570 (Patterns)

Logical Fallacies Handout and Guide (Archive)

Logical Fallacies Hunt

Logical Fallacies Test

Inductive Argument "True or False: Schools Fail Immigrants" Rothstein, Richard. True or False : Schools Fail Immigrants." The New York Times. 4 July 2001: NA.)

Deductive "The Threat of National ID" by William Safire p. 614 (Patterns)

Defend, challenge or qualify Emerson's assertion that man "is a god in ruins."

Begin the Practice Book, Test 1

Part VII: Synthesis

Inserting quotations, citation methods, plagiarism, use graphs, maps, etc. as sources.

A formal research paper will be required with six sources and follows the established rubric.