AP English Literature and Composition® Course Syllabus LindsayF.States
THE COURSE: Welcome to AP Literature and Composition! This course follows the requirements set forth by the College Board in the AP English Literature and Composition Course Description. From the first day in this classroom, you will become acquainted with the vocabulary, skills, and literary knowledge to be successful on the AP test, and more importantly for college-level writing and reading. We will routinely practice and discuss the multiple-choice and essay components of the AP exam. All essays are modeled after, or taken from previously published AP exams, and you will have the opportunity to write both in-class essays and extended formal essays with opportunities for revision. Reading materials include texts from a variety of genres, time-periods, and perspectives.
THIS CLASS IS CONSIDERED A COLLEGE LEVEL CLASS! Here at Franklin, there are no prerequisite classes, grades, test scores or teacher recommendations necessary to take AP Literature. This means is that you are all coming to this class with different abilities, academic needs, experiences, and perspectives. Consequently, respect for others and patience are paramount, and my instruction will run the gamut from basic skills to complex concepts. To be successful in this class, you must take responsibility for your own learning, and commit yourself to self-reflection, self-improvement, and practice. This practice includes extensive reading and writing in and out of class; assignments will be intellectually demanding, dense, and occasionally frustrating. But do not fret! My job is to assist you in navigating this course and to facilitate your learning.
HOMEWORK AND PREPARATION: I expect you to come each day prepared, and to attempt to challenge yourself and others in an academically appropriate manner. With a dedication to advancing your reading, writing, and thinking, all of which are infinitely improvable, you will be successful in this course. My goal is to assess where each individual student currently rests in his or her ability to read, understand, discuss, and write about literature, and then provide the knowledge, skills, and individual feedback to assist you in improving your critical reading, writing, and thinking.
All students are expected to take the exam in May. For you who are worried that the cost of the test may be prohibitive, I will organize a Free and Reduced Lunch sign up the first weeks of school. If you qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch, not only will you be eligible for reduced AP test costs, but also lower SAT, ACT, ASB and college application fees.
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: If you are consistently absent or tardy, you will miss both class work and instruction, which will negatively affect your grade. In order to make up missed work from an excused absence (not including papers/drafts-see below), you must obtain a pink slip within 3 days from the attendance office to show me; retroactive pink slips will not be accepted. A pink slip entitles you to as many days as your excused absence to make up the work. Make up work will not be assigned during regular class activities; please see me outside of class. I will not follow up with you for the pink slip or make up work—that is your responsibility. All work is due when it is due, and if you choose to receive full credit your work must be on time. If your absence or tardy is unexcused, you cannot make up the work. Papers and drafts are due by midnight on the due date (you may turn it into me in person, send an emissary, make sure it is in my box in the Main Office before it closes, or e-mail it to me by midnight). If you miss class on the due date (even if it is an excused absence), you must submit your paper before 12:00 a.m. If you, your parents, your guardians, or your friends do not have an e-mail account, I would suggest you go to the public library and sign up for one. Papers must be submitted in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format, which I will demonstrate in class.
CURRICULAR REQUIREMENTS
- The course teaches students to write an interpretation of a piece of literature that is based on a careful observation of textual details, considering the work's:
Structure, style, and themes
The social and historical values it reflects and embodies
Such elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone
The primary focus of 1st semester is students’ acquisition of the vocabulary and skills necessary to analyze literature, and then practice literary analysis writing in the expository, analytical, and argumentative modes. Specifically, we will work on annotation, for which students will receive daily points based on nightly reading assignments. Annotation will build upon the knowledge many students already have of Talking to the Text.
Students will also generate discussion questions, and keep dialectical Reading Journals (some of you may be familiar with the similar format of Cornell Notes). The Reading Journal is essentially a dialogue between you and the texts you read, a conversation between the ideas found in what you are reading and YOUR ideas. For each text/reading assignment students should create an entry in their Reading Journals, the contents of which will be an invaluable resource for test preparation. Reading Journals will also facilitate students becoming accustomed to identifying the elements of literature and literary devices in the texts that we read. Please organize your Reading Journals similarly to the format below. Make sure to include the following (when applicable) for EACH reading assignment:
Date: / Text: / Pages/Chapters:What is occurring in the text…
/Your response to the text…
Plotstructure; point of view; author’s tone; mood; setting; detailed list of significant characters; allusions; evidence of author’s style; examples of irony; examples of figurative language; examples of imagery; examples of symbolism; examples of other literary devices; / Your observations; your likes; your dislikes; significant themes addressed; the social and historical values the piece reflects and embodiesREQUIRED FOR EACH ENTRY: Minimum of THREE discussion questions (can be fact or interpretive); Minimum of ONE significant quotation
To incorporate the Franklin Handbook for Scholars into the class, as it is a school-wide expectation for the Handbook to be 5% of students’ grades in all classes, our daily warm-up exercise will utilize the Handbook. There will be a definition on the screen of a mythological, literary, symbolic or historic nature that students should copy into their Handbooks. These definitions will assist students to build schema that they will be able to apply to their reading, and therefore their writing, as the definitions appear as allusions in literature. If students have an unexcused tardy or absence they cannot make up that day’s Handbook points.
- The course includes frequent opportunities for students to write and rewrite formal, extended analyses and timed, in-class responses. The course requires:
Writing to understand: Informal, exploratory writing activities that enable students to discover what they think in the process of writing about their reading (assignments will include annotation, free-writing, keeping a reading journal, Socratic Seminar preparation assignments, and response/reaction papers)
Writing to explain: Expository, analytical essays in which students draw upon textual details to develop an extended explanation/interpretation of the meanings of a literary text (assignments will include practice AP essays, personal essay for college preparation, 1st-3rdquarter outside reading essays on short stories, Death of a Salesman,and The Road).
Writing to evaluate: Analytical, argumentative essays in which students draw upon textual details to make and explain judgments about a work's artistry and quality, and its social and cultural values (assignments will include practice AP essays, tragedy essay, narrative perspective essay, poetry essay, Author Project essay)
- The AP teacher provides instruction and feedback on students' writing assignments, both before and after the students revise their work, that help the students 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 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
We will begin the year by learning how to create a “skeleton” of an effective essay, the characteristics of the different types of writing mentioned above, focusing on the importance of pre-writing and the recursive nature of the writing process. As we progress and students become more adept at writing independently, class time will be used for calibration to the 9-point scoring guide using student examples from previous years’ tests, review of student writing examples, peer review, and individual student/teacher conferences. Many essays will be evaluated without student names attached. Essay prompts will cover a variety of topics, and will all relate to the types of questions asked on the AP test, including free-response analyses of literary passages and poetry in which students will examine how elements of literature contribute to the meaning of a text or compare and contrast texts, and also open response questions in which students will be given a prompt and asked to choose a relevant work of literature to discuss the question.
I will provide instruction on writing using The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White. Each formal extended writing assignment will require multiple drafts, be required to follow MLA format, and will be peer edited at least one time before the revised draft is submitted for a grade. All writings will be assessed according to either the 9-point rubric or the Franklin High School Level II Rubric, both of which are attached. After students’ papers are returned with scores and teacher comments, papers become the touchstone for further writing improvement; we will also anonymously score students’ practice AP essays as a class, and students will be asked to occasionally score their own essays based on the 9-point rubric. If a student scores his or her paper within one point of what I have given the paper, I will give the student the higher score. Each draft of every formal essay is required to be turned in ON TIME in order to receive points. Again, as this is essentially a college course, I am holding you to college standards of timeliness. To ensure that you turn in these drafts on time, I will advise students of the due date at least a week before, and this information will be on the Source as well for parents and guardians to view.
We will discuss the following aspects of writing both discretely, and vis-à-vis the literature we read:
Pre-WritingDrafting
Editing
Revision
Research
Plagiarism
Voice / Organization
Subordination and Coordination
Fragments and Run-ons
Diction
Syntax / Thesis
Introduction
Conclusion
Transitions
Varying Sentence Structure
Parallel Structure / Choosing Details, Textual Support, or Evidence
Leading into and Explaining Textual Support
Peer-Review (how-to)
I will identify problems with grammar, mechanics, organization, diction, syntax, sentence fluency etc. in students’ writing and base classroom writing instruction on students’ needs. Students may increase formal paper grades through excellent revision. Writing is a process, and in this class students are expected to embrace all aspects of this process. Through repeated practice, the reading of excellent writing both in literature and students’ writings, and with openness to giving and receiving constructive and thoughtful feedback, students should expect to improve their writing abilities.
- The course includes an intensive study of representative works such as those by authors cited in the AP English Course Description, including literature from both British and American writers, as well as works written in several genres from the sixteenth century to contemporary times. The works selected for the course should require careful, deliberative reading that yields multiple meanings.
This course, in addition to requiring extensive opportunities to write, is, at its heart, about reading great literature. The AP English Course Description says that in AP Literature, students, “…read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form. In addition to considering a work’s literary artistry, students reflect on the social and historical values it reflects and embodies. Careful attention to both textual detail and historical context provides a foundation for interpretation.” The Description goes on to outline three foundational elements to such reading: “the experience of literature, the interpretation of literature, and the evaluation of literature. By experience, we mean the subjective dimension of reading and responding to literary works, including pre-critical impressions and emotional responses. By interpretation, we mean the analysis of literary works through close reading to arrive at an understanding of their multiple meanings. By evaluation, we mean both an assessment of the quality and artistic achievement of literary works and a consideration of their social and cultural values. All three of these aspects of reading are important for an AP English Literature and Composition course.”
ANNUAL COURSE SCHEDULE & LITERATURE OVERVIEW
UNIT 1—WELCOME TO AP English Literature and Composition® (approximately 1.5 WEEKS)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: In this Unit, I will review the course syllabus, and begin to create a classroom culture of excellence and risk through icebreaker activities. Students will be exposed to the Major Works Data Sheet format (attached). Students will write an in-class, practice Open Response AP essay as a diagnostic. Students will also choose one novel or play of literary merit from the Reading List to expand their exposure to literature and to begin their reading for the Author Project. Finally, students will complete the vocabulary pre-assessment, which will form the basis for the Mid-term exam, from which I will gauge what students already know and what I will need to teach them.
I will also introduce the format of the AP test by giving a practice multiple-choice section and both a practice prose and poetry essay question serving as pre-assessments of students’ writing levels and critical reading abilities. After these tests, we will debrief, I will introduce the 9-Point Scoring Guide and we will practice evaluating these essays. Finally, I will introduce the reading skill of annotation, and the course requirement of the Reading Journal and further explain the Major Works Data Sheet. Finally, eligible students will sign up for Free and Reduced Lunch.For 2011, the fee for each AP Exam is $87. Student eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch should expect to pay between $0-$57 per exam.
ASSIGNMENTS: vocabulary pre-assessment (AP Monster Vocabulary List), practice multiple-choice sections, practice essay (open ended), diagnostic prose and poetry essay questions, Major Works Data Sheets for a literary work student has read before.
1ST QUARTER OUTSIDE OF CLASS READING
LEARNING OBJECTIVES/ASSIGNMENTS: Students will read four self-selected short stories from eitherBreaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African American Fiction or Aiiieeeee!: An Anthology of Asian American Writers on their own. Books will be handed out by SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 and the stories must be read, and Reading Journals entries completed by NOVEMBER 1, 2010. Students are expected to complete a Reading Journal entry for each story.
UNIT 1.5—INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTHOR PROJECT—SENIOR PAPER (1 week in October)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: In this Unit, students will choose an author from AP English Course Description on whom to conduct research. Authors must be approved by me. Students will then read at least three novels/plays written by that author (1 book 1st Quarter, 1 book 2nd Quarter, and 1 book 3rd Quarter). Students will have to obtain these novels/plays on their own or from the library. The
I expect students to complete the reading of their three novels/plays and Major Works Data Sheets by the AP test (1 per Quarter). After the test, students will continue their research of critical sources (see Unit 7) and complete the Senior Paper.
Author Project Assignment: The FIRST Major Works Data Sheet for the first novel/play must be completed by NOVEMBER 1, 2010.
UNIT 2—INTRODUCTION TO READING AND WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE WITH SHORT STORIES (approximately 6 WEEKS)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: In this Unit, we will use short stories to introduce different elements of literature. In addition to the vocabulary accompanying the short stories, I will introduce additional vocabulary and Literary Devices (as found on the pre-assessment), the Journey Motif, traditional and modern Archetypes, the writing skills of developing a thesis, the differences between Expository, Analytical, and Argumentative Writing.