AP English III

English Language and Composition

Ms. Carpenter

2011-2012

“Carpy” Diem!

The Course:

The purpose of the AP English Language and Composition Course is to enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers. This course encourages students to become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of rhetorical contexts, in becoming skilled writers, and place their emphasis on content, purpose, and audience. The experience of this course should help make students more self-aware and flexible writers.

Writing:

AP English III is a college-level course and the writing required will treat it as such with emphasis on the following:

Writing as a process, including invention, arrangement, drafting, and revision

The four aims of writing – reflective, informative, persuasive, and literary

The rhetorical modes of narration, description, exposition, and argumentation

Various informal writing

The research process in preparation for the Graduation Project

Errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics will be addressed. However, most importantly, students will be expected to develop a more mature and sophisticated style of writing through an effective use of diction, syntax, tone, and audience.

Reading:

The reading of non-fiction selections (biography, auto-biography, essays, articles, letters, diaries, speeches, and historical documents) will give students an opportunity to:

Improve comprehension, interpretation, and evaluation

Improve vocabulary

Explore ideas for discussion and models for types of papers required

Improve critical thinking through an analysis of how language with all its complexities is used in a wide variety of prose styles from many disciplines and historical periods

Upon completion of the AP English Language and Composition course, students should then be able to:

  1. Analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques.
  2. Apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing.
  3. Create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience
  4. Write for a variety of purposes.
  5. Produce expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and secondary sources.
  6. Demonstrate stylistic maturity in their writing.
  7. Move effectively through the writing process.
  8. Analyze image as text.

Grading/Grading Policy:

The grading system is the same as East Meck’s school policy:

A 93-100

B92-85

C84-77

D76-70

F69 and below

All writing assignments will be scored based on the following:

The A paper is a superior paper, noted by the following:

-outstanding word choice

-outstanding organization

-outstanding syntax with a wide variety of sentence patterns

-maturity of though and language

-clear purpose with detailed development, supported by examples, elaboration, and details

-no major errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation

-no more than one or two minor errors, depending on length

The B paper is an excellent paper, noted by the following:

-good word choice, sentence structure, organization

- good maturity of thought and logic

- a stated purpose with less development, examples, and details, lacking the more mature style of the superior paper

-no major errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation

-no more than several minor errors, depending on length

The C paper is an average paper, noted by the following:

-average word choice, often simple, immature, inappropriate

-adequate organization

-good sentence structure but often simple without variety

-fair logic, clear enough to convey the paper’s purpose

-average maturity of thought but lacks adequate development

-only one major error in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and/or several minor errors

The D paper is a below average paper, marked by the following:

-poor diction, misuse of words, non-standard expressions

-some attempt at organization

-fragmented or unclear sentence patterns

-little thought, resulting in poorly conceived, expressed, and developed ideas

-serious errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, mechanics

-no more than two major errors or multiple minor errors

The F paper is a failure, marked by the following:

-poor and immature word choice

-lack of organization

-disconnected or garbled syntax

-long, uncontrolled, infantile, short, or choppy sentence patterns

-lack of logic which fails to conceive, state, or develop an idea

-three or more major errors and/or multiple minor errors

**Major Errors Are:

  1. comma splices
  2. lack of subject-verb agreement
  3. lack of pronoun-antecedent agreement
  4. fragment, run-on, or fused sentences
  5. five misspelled words
  6. and three misuses of ; , ’

**All final papers are to be computer generated using MLA format.

Make-up Work:

Following an absence it is your responsibility to get all missed assignments. You will have the mandated 5 days to turn in such work. Note, other than an absence, late work will not be accepted. If it is not in my hand when I collect it, the work is considered late.

Final grades are determined as follows:

Major Papers50%

Quizzes, Short Papers, Timed Drills25%

Daily Preparation/Homework25%

Texts and Assignments:

You will need the following:

Aaron, Jane E., Dorothy M. Kennedy, X.J. Kennedy. The Bedford Reader, 10th Ed.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011.

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood.

O’Brian, Tim. The Things They Carried.

Unit One: The Writing Process

Subject, Audience, Purpose, p. 32-33

Ideas, p. 34-36

Focusing on the thesis…, p. 37

Drafting, Revising, Editing, p. 38

Collaborating and An Essay-In-Progress, p. 40

Paper Due:

Unit Two: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Unit Three: Men and Women - Narration

Narration: p. 82-91

James Joyce, “Araby,” p. 175

Journal Writing

Language: personification, imagery, tone

Fatema Mernissi, “Size 6: The Western Women’s Harem,” p. 252

Journal Writing

Language: purpose, transitions, connotation, metaphor

Judy Brady, “I Want a Wife,” p. 340 and Armin A. Brott, “Not All Men Are Sly Foxes,”

p. 345

Language: diction, audience, tone

Paper Due:

Unit Four: Ethics – Description

Description: p. 137

Laila Ayad, “The Capricious Camera,” p. 358

Questions on Writing Strategy, p. 365

Language: purpose, audience

George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant,” p. 634

Questions on Meaning and on Language, p. 641

Suggestions for Writing, #2, p. 641

Language: purpose, irony, diction

Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal,” p.670

Journal Writing, p. 678

Questions on Meaning, p. 678

Suggestions for Writing, #5, p. 679

Language: pathos, purpose, irony

Paper Due: #4 Connections, p. 366

Unit Five:The Natural World – Argument

Argument and Persuasion: p. 518

Writing Argumentation, p. 533

Emily Dickinson, “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” p. 510

Questions on meaning, p. 511

Language: metaphor, description, audience

Linnea Saukko, “How to Poison the Earth,” p. 290

Questions on Meaning, p. 292 and Questions on Writing Strategy, p. 293

Language: purpose, audience, satire

E.B. White, “Once More to the Lake,” p. 682

Questions on Writing Strategy, Questions on Language, p. 688

Language: purpose, tone, narration

Research Paper Due:

Unit Six: Psychology and Behavior – Comparison and Contrast

Suzanne Britt, “Neat People vs. Sloppy People,” p. 233

Suggestions for Writing, #3, p. 236

Language: tone, connotation

Charles Colson, “Gay ‘Marriage:’ Societal Suicide,” p. 554

Language: tone, effect, syllogism

Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream,” p. 614

Suggestions for Writing, #4, p. 619

Language: ethos, parallelism, metaphor, abstract, concrete, purpose

Barbara Ehrenreich, “The Roots of War,” p. 598

Questions on Writing Strategy, 1-5, p. 601

Language: connotation, tone, shift

Stephanie Ericsson, “The Ways We Lie,” p. 408

Suggestions for Writing, #2 and #4, p. 417

Paper Due: