AP English Literature and Composition

2014 – 2015 Syllabus

Contact Information

Instructor: Elaine Geimer

Room:139

Phone: 636-464-4429

E-mail:

Course Goals

To prepare students for the Advanced Placement exam and receive college credit

To read and analyze works of both American and British writers as well as works written in several genres from the sixteenth century to contemporary times

To understand the universal themes in literature and how it reflects and embodies social and historical values

To develop writing skills focusing on the critical analysis of literature including expository, analytical, and argumentative essays which sharpen understanding of and deepen appreciation for literary artistry

Course Description

This course is designed to comply with the curricular requirements described in the AP English Course Description. The course will provide the intellectual challenge and workload equivalent to a college-level freshman course and may earn students college credit. Be prepared for work outside of class to meet the rigorous reading and writing demands of the curriculum. Texts are at reading and content level appropriate for a college freshman, and authors are chosen from the AP English Course Description for the English Literature and Composition Exam or from those appearing on previous AP Literature and Composition Exams. Writing assignments emphasize the critical analysis of literature and the effective and appropriate use of vocabulary and structures, personal expression and style at a level typical of college composition assignments.

The course is divided into four quarters, and each quarter places emphasis on studying a specific literary genre. Each student will create a daily reading journal in which they will not only respond to the text they are reading, but also reflect upon what they are learning about themselves as readers. Journal entries will be used regularly in class discussions, and in turn, students will record their thoughts on new issues that come up in class.

Each quarter will function as a writing workshop for a particular type of composition: personal, expository, argumentative, or analytical. Students working within the workshop format will submit a proposal for each paper and several drafts to be discussed and revised before their final submission. In addition, students will write five AP timed writings per quarter – with the opportunity to revise several of these throughout the year.

Scoring and Assessment for AP English Literature and Composition

Summative Assessments (75% of Grade)

Critical Reading Journal – Self-Evaluation Presentation Conference

Throughout the year, students will keep a Critical Reading Journal in which they

respond to the text they are reading with annotation and reflection, as well

as reflecting upon what they are learning about themselves as readers.

At the end of each quarter, students will individually present their Critical

Reading Journals in ten-minute conferences with the instructor. Emphasis will

be placed upon their understanding of literature, and self-reflection about their

growth as critical readers.

Formal Writing Essays – Writing Workshops

Each quarter students will focus their writing on a particular type of composition.

Students will submit a proposal for each paper they write that demonstrates careful

pre-writing consideration and several drafts with opportunities for revision before

the final submission of their essays. Post-writing conferences will allow for

reflection upon specific areas of writing that were targeted for improvement.

AP Practice Tests

Students will write several AP timed writings per quarter – one of which may be

revised and submitted as a summative assessment.

Unit Tests

Each Unit test will be composed of either 20 AP quality multiple choice questions

or one or more AP quality essay questions. .

Formative Assessments (25% of Grade)

Summaries of Critical Analysis and Reviews

Critical Reading Journal Checks - Journal entries will be used regularly in class

discussions. It is important to stay up to date in your journal responses and to

record new issues that come up in class discussions.

Various Class Projects

Throughout the year, students will engage in several projects to enrich the

material. Points for these projects will vary.

Grading Scale:

A 90% - 100%

B 80% - 89%

C 70% - 79%

D 60% - 69%

Participation

While not all participation will be officially graded, it will be required. Class discussion and lectures will be based around student participation and to truly master the

material, total engagement will be necessary. Occasional Harkness discussion grades will be shared by the class.

The AP Exam

We will be discussing this test and practicing to take it throughout the whole year.

The test is May 6, 2015. You are not required to take it as it costs around $85.

However, I will teach the class assuming everyone is taking the test. All of our unit

tests will look like mini-AP tests and will include the same type of very challenging

questions. We will also be writing AP practice essays throughout the

year.

Format of AP Exam: The total test is 3 hours.

Section I: 60 minutes for multiple- choice questions – counts as 45% of the

total score.

Section 2: 120 minutes for 3 essay questions – counts as 55% of the total score.

Absence/Missed Work Policy

Attendance in this class is essential. Much of the material for success is provided

through lecture/discussion. Missing work can create problems. Work missed due to

an excused absence may be made up within 5 school days (per district and school

policy). IF A STUDENT IS ABSENT THE DAY OF A CRITICAL READING

CONFERENCE OR THE DEADLINE FOR A WRITING SUBMISSION, IT WILL

BE DUE THE FIRST DAY YOU RETURN.

Procedures

Bring the correct textbooks to class every day.

Unless otherwise instructed, turn in your assignments to the white tray provided.

Please attend to personal needs before you come to class. This includes restroom visits, locker visits, grooming, and drinks of water.

Class Rules

BE RESPECTFUL: Be courteous to your classmates and teacher.

BE READY: Be in your seat when the bell rings, ready to begin work.

BE RESPONSIBLE: Do your assignments on time and bring your supplies to class.

Quarter One – Poetry

Week 1 : Introduction to the Course

How to carefully read and critically analyze literature

Text: How to Read Literature like a Professor Chapters 1-3

Analysis of Summer Reading:

Writing Assessment Essay: Literacy Biography

Week 2: How to carefully read and critically analyze literature

Text: How to Read Literature like a Professor Chapters 5 -7

Text: Begin reading ( pp. 3 – 60) of The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Introduction to writing Critical Reading Journals/ Annotation

Overview of the AP Literature Test

Recognizing TONE

Week 3: Tone Assessment

Shifting / Contrasting Tones

Writing Analysis Paragraphs

Assignment: Analyze and explain a selected poem drawing

upon textual details to develop an extended interpretation

of the text.

Composition Skills: Using Implicit Thesis; Details, and other

Evidence; Coherence - Sentence Combining; Structure as a

device to enhance Content.

Outside Reading: The Road pp.60-120 and How to Read Literature like a

Professor Ch. 10 - 11

Week 4: Poetry

The Basics: What Poetry Means

AP Practice Questions: AP Poetry Timed Writing

POL selection for Analysis Assignment

Outside Reading: The Road pp. 120-180 and How to Read Literature like a

Professor Ch. 4, 12, and 14.

Week 5: Poetry

The Basics: Rhythm and Rhyme

Text: Poems by William Shakespeare, Anne Bradstreet,

AP Practice Questions

Assignment: Analyze and explain a selected poem drawing

upon textual details to develop an extended interpretation

of the text.

Composition Skills: Using Implicit Thesis; Details, and other

Evidence; Coherence - Sentence Combining; Structure as a

device to enhance Content.

TPCASTT and outline submitted for first quarter essay

Outside Reading: The Road pp. 180-240 and How to Read Literature like a

Professor Ch. 16, 17, 18.

Week 6: Poetry

The Basics: Figurative Language and Imagery

Text: Selected British Poets: William Blake, Robert Burns, William

Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley

Critical Essays on Poetry

AP Practice Questions: AP Poetry Timed Writing

Outside Reading Assignments: The Road pp. 240 – end and How to Read

Literature like a Professor Ch. 21, 22, & 24

Week 7: Poetry and The Road

Structures of Poetry

AP Practice Questions: AP Poetry Timed Writing

Formal Writing:Writing Workshop – Draft of Expository/Analytical Essay

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Revisions of Expository/Analytical

Essay

The Road - Group discussion and analysis of the novel

Reading and Writing Critical reviews

Week 8: Poetry

Centers: The Elements of Poetry

AP Practice Questions: AP Poetry Timed Writing

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Revisions of Expository/Analytical

Essay

Week 9 : About Reading and Writing

Text: Selection of Gothic Novel for independent analiysis

Composition Skills: Revision of selected AP Poetry Timed Writing

Formal Writing: Submission of Expository/Analytical Essay

Critical Reading Journal Self-Evaluation Conferences

Quarter Two – Drama

Week 10: INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY CRITICISM

Week 11: Elements of Drama

Text: Hamlet

AP Practice: Prose Analysis

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop - Proposal for

Analytical/Argumentative Essay

Assignment: Write an evaluative essay on a literary

work which draws upon textual details to make and

explains judgments about a work’s artistry and quality,

and its social and cultural values.

Composition Skills: Understanding Criteria of

Evaluation; Understanding and using Arguments;

Formulating criteria for Evaluation; Making claims in

evaluation; Presenting evidence in evaluation; Considering

design and visuals in evaluation

Week 12: Drama

Text: Hamlet

Critical Analysis

AP Practice: Prose analysis and open-ended questions

Outside Reading: Gothic Novel

Week 13: Drama

Text: Hamlet

AP Practice: Prose analysis and open ended questions

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Draft of Evaluation Argument Essay

Outside Reading: Alias Grace

Week 14: Drama

Text: Hamlet

Critical Analysis

AP Practice: Prose analysis and open-ended questions

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Revisions of Evaluative Essay

Outside Reading: Alias Grace

Week 15 Drama

Text: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Critical Analysis

AP Practice: Prose analysis and open-ended questions

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Revisions of Evaluative Essay

Outside Reading: Alias Grace

Week 16: Text: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Critical Analysis

Group discussion and analysis of works

Reading and Writing Critical reviews

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Submission of Evaluation Argument

Essay

Week 17: Drama

Text: Alias Grace

Critical Reading Journal Self-Evaluation Conferences

Composition Skills – Revision of selected AP Prose analysis Writing

Quarter Three – Fiction

Week 1: Fiction

The Basics (Theme, Structure, Setting, Character, Plot, Dialogue,

Point of View)

Text: Selected Works of Edgar Alan Poe

Discussion and Analysis of Gothic Literature

Outside Reading: Selected Gothic Novels

Week 2: The Short Story

Text: Selected Short Stories

AP Practice: AP Timed Writing

SYNTAX

Outside Reading: Selected Gothic Novels

Week 3: The Short Story

Text: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

AP Practice: AP Timed Writing

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Proposal for Analytical Essay

Composition Skills: Identifying and examining the

relationship of a part of a novel to the whole of the novel;

Understanding the relationship of a part to a whole in literary

Analysis; Choosing appropriate evidence for the intended

audience, task and writer’s knowledge; Methods of

development and organization.

Outside Reading: Selected Gothic Novels

Week 4 : The Novel

Text: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

AP Practice: AP Timed Writing

Week 5: The Novel

Text: Wuthering Heights

AP Practice: AP Timed Writing

Week 6: The Novel

Text: Wuthering Heights

AP Practice: AP Timed Writing

Formal Writing : Writing Workshop – Draft of Analytical Essay

Week 7: The Novel

Text: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Critical Analysis

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Revisions of Analytical Essay

Week 8: The Novel

Text: Great Expectations

Critical Analysis

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Revisions of Analytical Essay

Week 9: The Novel

Text: Great Expectations

Critical Analysis

Formal Writing: Submission of Analytical Essay

Week 10: The Novel

Text: Great Expectations

Critical Analysis

Group discussion and Analysis of Work

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Post Writing Conference

Composition Skills – Revision of selected AP Practice Writing

Critical Reading Journal Self-Evaluation Conferences

Quarter Four – Poetry / Drama / Novels

Week 11: Poetry Review

Text: Selected Poems: American poets including Henry

Wadsworth Longfellow, James Greenleaf Whittier,

Oliver Wendall Holmes, and James Russell Lowell

Critical Analysis on Poetry

Week 12: Poetry Review

Text: Selected Poems: American poets including Langston

Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen,

Claude McKay, Arna Bontemps, Paul Laurence

Critical Analysis on Poetry

AP Practice Questions: AP Poetry Timed Writing

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Proposal for Personal Essay –

Composition Skills: Using elements of Figurative

Language; Imagery; Symbolism; and Tone in a narrative.

Week 13: Drama Review

Text: The Crucible

Critical Analysis on Drama

AP Practice: Prose analysis and open-ended questions

Week 14: Drama Review

Text: The Crucible

Critical Analysis on Drama

AP Practice: Prose analysis and open-ended questions

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Draft of Personal Essay

Week 15: Fiction Review

Text: TBA

Critical Analysis of the Novel

AP Practice: Essay questions

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Revisions of Personal Essay

Week 16: Fiction Review

Text: TBA

Critical Analysis of the Novel

AP Practice: Essay questions

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Revisions of Personal Essay

Week 17: Fiction Review

Text: TBA

Group discussion and analysis of works

Reading and Writing Critical reviews

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Submission of Personal Essay

Week 18: Evaluations

Formal Writing: Writing Workshop – Post Writing Conference

Critical Reading Journal – Self-Evaluation Conferences

Course Evaluations

Resources

Write for College - A Student Handbook. Wilmington, MA: Houghton

Mifflin Company, 2007.

The Language of Literature - American Literature. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littel, 2002.

Polonsky, Marc. Poetry Reader's Toolkit. Chicago, IL: NTC Publishing Group, 1998.