Advanced Placement English 12

Advanced Placement English 12

Literature and Composition

Syllabus 2013-2014

Course Overview

This full-year, honors-level course is designed to be a college-level course that will prepare students to take the advanced placement examination for exemption from freshman college English. The material included in the AP test will be addressed in class. Many challenging novels, plays and poems will be studied in depth, utilizing a variety of critical approaches to literature. Reading outside of class is extensive. Evaluation will focus on critical essays, researched essays, creative efforts and objective tests. Grammar, vocabulary and standard usage will be reviewed in class. Assessments will be administered regularly. Writing is assessed using the five domains of the Pennsylvania Writing Assessment Domain Scoring Guide.

Required Texts: (Including, but not limited to)

Song of Solomon-Toni Morrison (Summer Reading Assignment)

The Odyssey - Homer

Beowulf - Unknown

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight –Unknown

Excerpts from L'Morte D'Arthur – Thomas Malory

Hamlet – William Shakespeare

The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner

“The Waste Land” – T.S. Elliot

The Stranger - Albert Camus

No Exit –Jean Paul Sartre

Macbeth-William Shakespeare

*Poetry selections will be studied as related to major literary works. These

selections represent comprehensive chronological periods (including Anglo-

Saxon, Medieval, Renaissance, Seventeenth Century, modern) as well as

varied genres.

Assessment / Writing:

Students will be evaluated through a combination of objective quizzes and tests as well as more open-ended methods. AP style objective assessments will be used in conjunction with free response writing assessments.

Additional writing assessments will include a variety of writing assignments both in and out of class as well as both timed and untimed assignments. In-class, written unit assessments will be used approximately once per marking period. Shorter written assignments will also be completed each marking period, while continuous independent work will be emphasized during the first and second marking period for the purpose of completing a more lengthy literary criticism piece during the third marking period.

Major writing assignments must be processed in multiple draft format, with peer collaboration expected for each draft. Late papers will be reduced by one letter grade for each class day that it is overdue.

Student writing will be stored in classroom writing portfolios in order to help facilitate self-reflection and growth of the writer’s skills.

Essential Concepts and Recurring Themes

Students are expected to enter the course eager to read and discuss the texts on a daily basis. Supplementary material may be assigned in order to enhance the understanding of the more abstract components of the original texts. Analysis of essential concepts as well as recurring themes is essential to the development of creative thinkers who will be able to process sophisticated concepts independently.

Some of the concepts emphasized in class include the following:

Effect of confronting the audience with violence

Sustained literary allusions

Conflict of passion versus responsibility

Analysis of Character as it enhances the meaning of the text

Manipulation of time / chronology for effect

Parent / Child conflict and its effect on meaning of the text

Literary realism versus distortion

Literature as social or political commentary

Internal awakenings and their impact on plot structure

Symbolism of seemingly commonplace objects

Author’s significant use of setting

Sympathetic treatment of the immoral character

Societal and economic factors which contribute to literature of their era

Vocabulary

Independently, students will complete vocabulary assignments based on teacher-generated lists. Terms on these lists are those which are considered essential for effective communication with regard to literature. Objective assessments will be ongoing.

Grammar

Direct instruction and Focus Correction Areas will be selected utilizing the PSSA Writing Rubric, with emphasis on skills needed for particular writing and reading assignments. Group and individual instruction will be ongoing.

Film Enrichment:

Titles selected for viewing will be used as a vehicle for classroom discussion and written analysis.

1st Marking Period

One novel is assigned at the end of the previous school year as summer reading. In addition, complementary written assignments such as reader reflection journals will be evaluated upon the beginning of the current school year.

Literature

·  Song of Solomon (summer reading)

·  The Odyssey

·  Beowulf

Writing

·  Summer Reading Journal / Song of Solomon (MLA format required,

including in-text citations)

·  College Essay (s)

·  In-class timed essay (blue book)

·  Film Review / Comparison Paper

·  Review of MLA format

Film

·  O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Vocabulary – Literary Terms and Devices

·  Independent work will be ongoing, generally in two week intervals, with objective quizzes, in AP Exam format, given at the end of each unit.

Grammar

·  Instruction and Focus Correction Areas according to PSSA Writing Rubric with emphasis on skills needed for particular writing and reading assignments

2nd Marking Period

Literature

·  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

·  Selections from L'Morte D'Arthur

·  Selected readings from The Canterbury Tales

·  Self-selected fiction title (for research paper 3rd marking period)

·  Hamlet (begin)

Writing

·  Poetry Explication

·  Literary Analysis with In-text citations and Works Cited page (MLA format)

·  In-class timed essay (blue book)

·  Children’s Literature analysis with In-text citations and Works Cited page (MLA format)

Vocabulary

·  Independent work will be ongoing, generally in two week intervals.

Grammar

·  Instruction and Focus Correction Areas according to PSSA Writing Rubric with emphasis on skills needed for particular writing and reading assignments

3rd Marking Period

Literature

·  Hamlet (continued)

·  The Sound and the Fury

·  “The Waste Land”

·  Self-selected non-fiction title (for research paper 3rd marking period)

Writing

·  Poetry Explication

·  The Literary Research Paper – Thematic Synthesis (In-text citations and Works Cited page (MLA format)

·  AP Exam Practice Writing

·  In-class timed essay (blue book)

Film

·  Selected scenes from Kenneth Branagh’s and Franco Zeffirelli’s Hamlet

Vocabulary

·  Independent work will be ongoing, generally in two week intervals.

Grammar

·  Instruction and Focus Correction Areas according to PSSA Writing Rubric with emphasis on skills needed for both particular writing and reading assignments

4th Marking Period

Literature

·  Heart of Darkness

·  The Stranger

·  No Exit

·  Macbeth

Writing

·  In-class timed essay (blue book)

·  AP Exam practice writing

·  Final essay

Film

·  What Dreams May Come

·  Scotland, PA (R)*

R rating: Parent permission slips will be sent home well in advance of viewing. Students who do not wish to view this film or whose parents do not wish for their children to view it will be given an alternative assignment in the library during those viewing days.

Vocabulary

·  Independent work will be ongoing, generally in two week intervals.

Grammar

·  Instruction and Focus Correction Areas according to PSSA Writing Rubric with emphasis on skills needed for both writing assignments and genres read

Council Rock School District strongly encourages parents to survey the outstanding collection of challenging literature contained within our program. Much of the content presents important and complex ideas that encourage critical thinking. Any connection discussed in class is made that much stronger by the conversation and connections that are made at home. We invite you to discuss any of the elements of our courses with your child’s teacher.