Rackstraw 1

Advanced Placement Language and Composition Course Syllabus 2015-2016

Kristina Rackstraw

Union Grove High School

678-583-8502

Tutoring: IF(Instructional Focus) OR by appointment before and/or school.

Course Overview:

AP English Language and Composition – the rhetoric course—emphasizes the elements of audience, purpose, and context in various texts. Students analyze both fiction and non-fiction from the seventeenth through the twenty-first centuries; although students learn how to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate primarily nonfiction texts: essays, biographies, autobiographies, speeches, sermons, and passages from writings in the arts, history, social science, politics, science, and other areas of study. Students learn to evaluate and construct arguments drawn from articles found within newspapers, magazines, and online. The course is interdisciplinary, immersing students in a variety of sources. The course explores visual media, including advertising and the Web. Students construct arguments drawn from their own observations, experiences, and readings; they learn to synthesize as a result of their own research opportunities; and they learn to analyze arguments both for their appeals – ethos, logos, pathos – and for the contexts in which these arguments appear.

AP Language and Composition Curricular Requirements:

C1 The course teaches and requires students to write in several forms (e.g., narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative essays) about a variety of subjects (e.g., public policies, popular culture, personal experiences).

C2 The course requires students to write essays that proceed through several stages or drafts, with revision aided by teacher and peers.

C3 The course requires students to write in informal contexts (e.g., imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing, and in-class responses) designed to help them become increasingly aware of themselves as writers and of the techniques employed by the writers they read.

C4 The course requires expository, analytical, and argumentative writing assignments that are based on readings representing a wide variety of prose styles and genres.

C5 The course requires nonfiction readings that are selected to give students opportunities to identify and explain an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques. If fiction and poetry are also assigned, their main purpose should be to help students understand how various effects are achieved by writers linguistic and rhetorical choices.

C6 The course teaches students to analyze how graphics and visual images both relate to written texts and serve as alternative forms of text themselves.

C7 The course teaches research skills, and in particular, the ability to evaluate, use, and cite primary and secondary sources. The course assigns projects such as the researched argument paper, which goes beyond the parameters of a traditional research paper by asking students to present an argument of their own that includes the analysis and synthesis of ideas from an array of sources.

C8 The course teaches students how to cite sources using a recognized editorial style (e.g., Modern Language Association, The Chicago Manual of Style, etc.).

C9 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 these skills:

a. A wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively.

b. A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination.

c. Logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis.

d. A balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail.

To Meet Curricular Requirements C1, C2, C3, C4, and C9:

  • Students will write several critical papers analyzing excerpts from various genres. Writings will be assessed using a rubric adapted from The University of Georgia’s First-year Composition courses as well as the College Board free response rubric.
  • Students will compose several synthesis essays synthesizing and citing data from various sources.
  • Students will write in-class, timed essays to show their understanding of various genres and texts.
  • Students will write in response to prompts based on previous AP exams; writings will be assessed using AP-type rubrics.
  • Students will write, edit, and rewrite, creating multiple drafts of selected papers.
  • Students will provide feedback to their peers through peer-editing as well as co-writing.
  • Students will write in response to a current event.
  • Students will read and score sample responses to AP prompt using AP rubrics and commentaries.
  • Students will study vocabulary using exercises from Sadlier Vocabulary Workshop, Level F.
  • Students will acquire content-specific vocabulary such as rhetorical terms and words that describe tone.
  • Students must be able to identify/demonstrate the following: thesis/claim, tone or attitude, purpose, audience and occasion, supporting evidence or data, appeals (logos, ethos, and pathos), assumptions and warrants, style.
  • Students will compose and present a political speech, utilizing and identifying appeals and rhetorical strategies.
  • Students will compose an annotated bibliography on various sources that present contrasting views of a societal issue.
  • Students will compose a précis for literary criticisms read to deepen their understanding of the novels read and discussed in the course.
  • Students will participate in Daily Grammar Practice, grammar mini-lessons and/or an SAT Question of the Day, paying particular attention to sentence structure, subordination, and coordination.
  • The teacher will provide instruction and feedback on students’ writing assignments in the following ways:

▹written comments on essays

▹writing conferences

▹summative comments in response to sets of essays

▹leading class discussion of writing samples

▹facilitating small-group discussion and revision of writing samples

▹providing sample texts that students may use as models and

▹developing lessons that address specific skills.

To Meet Curricular Requirements C5 and C6:

  • Students will view and analyze a variety of visual pieces to show their understanding of visuals in relationship to literature and visuals as alternative forms of literature.
  • The course includes an extensive study of representative works such as those by authors cited in the AP English Course Description, including, but not limited to, the following:

Selected but not limited to the following Essays, Speeches, Sermons and Letters

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

“Advice to Youth” – Mark Twain

“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” – Zora Neale Hurston

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”- Jonathan Edwards

“The Allegory of the Cave”—Plato

“Ain’t I Woman”—Sojourner Truth

“A Modest Proposal”—Jonathan Swift

“The Crisis” – Thomas Paine

“The Declaration of Independence” – Thomas Jefferson

“Speech in the Virginia Convention” – Patrick Henry

“Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions” – Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“Civil Disobedience” – Henry David Thoreau

Selected but not limited to the following Narratives, Autobiographies, Biographies and Visual Support

Of Plymouth Plantation – William Bradford

History of the Dividing Line – William Byrd

  • Visual – National Geographic online photo gallery: Jamestown ( jamestown/jamestown-photography)

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave--- Frederick Douglass

“Learning to Read and Write” --- Frederick Douglass

“Learning to Read” --- Malcolm X

Various political cartoons, print ads and commercials

Selected but not limited to the following Contemporary Articles

“America, Found and Lost” – Charles C. Mann, National Geographic, May 2007 “Unsettling Discoveries at Jamestown” – Karen E. Lange, National Geographic, June 2002 “Dumpster Diving”---Lars Eighner

“On Morality”---Joan Didion

“Desert Religions”---Richard Rodriguez

“Reading to Write” --- Stephen King

“What’s a Friend For”---Marion Winik

“The Ways We Lie”---Stephanie Ericsson

“Turkeys in the Kitchen”---Dave Berry

“Technology’s Power to Narrow Our View”---Samantha Power

“Retreat into the iWorld”---Andrew Sullivan

“Is Google Making Us Stupid?” ---Nicholas Carr

“Games”---Steven Johnson

“The Men We Carry in Our Minds”---Scott Russell Sanders

“Curbing Nature’s Paparazzi” --- Bill McKibben

“The So Called American Dream”---Unknown

“Where is the American Idealism?”---Unknown

“The Joy of Reading and Writing” ---Sherman Alexie

“Death of a Moth” --- Virginia Woolf

Selected but limited to the following Novels and Plays

The Awakening—Kate Chopin

Ethan Frome---Edith Wharton

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave---Frederick Douglass

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Scarlet Letter---Nathaniel Hawthorne

Of Mice and Men--- John Steinbeck

Visuals

Various political cartoons, artwork, advertisements, commercials, speeches and certain episodes of Boston Legal will be used to analyze and synthesize.

To Meet Curricular Requirements C7 and C8:

  • Students will synthesize sources relevant to colonization to support an essay of argumentation. Final drafts mustbe in MLA format with a Works cited page.
  • Students will develop an AP-style synthesis prompt; identify a minimum of six sources that could be synthesized in a response to the prompt; and develop an MLA-formatted, annotated bibliography including each of the sources.
  • Each student will develop a thesis relevant to a work of literature or a literary period and conduct research to identify sources to support his or her argument. Final drafts must be in MLA format with a Works Cited page.

Student Textbooks:

Kennedy, X.J. et al. The Bedford Reader. Ninth ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006.

Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument: with Readings. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.

Ehrenhaft, Ed.D, George. Barron’s AP Language and Composition. New York: Barron‘s

Educational Series, Inc.

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say I Say. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2010.

Selected Novels Read(It is the responsibility of the student to obtain the novels and plays).

Teacher’s Text Resources:

Applied Practice in American Speeches. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2000.

Applied Practice in World Speeches. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2014.

Applied Practice in Non-Fiction. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2000.

Applied Practice in Contemporary Non-Fiction. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2000.

Applied Practice in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slaveby Frederick Douglass. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2013.

Applied Practice in The Awakening by Kate Chopin Miller. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2000.

Applied Practice in Of Mice and Menby John Steinbeck. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2000.

Applied Practice in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2000.

Applied Practice in The Scarlet Letterby Nathaniel Hawthorne. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2000.

Applied Practice in Ethan Frome byEdith Wharton. Austin, Texas: Applied Practice, 2000.

Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011.

Kennedy, X.J. et al. The Bedford Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006

Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument: with Readings. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.

Penfield, Elizabeth. Short Takes. New York: Pearson, 2010.

Shea, Renee H. The Language of Composition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008.

Style and Rhetoric:

The first nine-twelve weeks are dedicated primarily to developing the reading and writing skills necessary for the depth of writing and analysis required to pass the AP exam in May. During the first nine-twelve weeks, students will build a “tool box” of skills they will utilize throughout the year. For each of our assigned readings, we will focus on how the author’s rhetorical or stylistic choices convey the purpose of his/her piece. For each novel read, students will write analytical essays (outside of class and in-class timed essays) on excerpts from the pieces.

  • Overview of rhetoric and style (the rhetorical triangle)
  • DIDLS (Diction, Imagery, Detail, Language, Syntax) analysis
  • Writing the analysis paragraph
  • Close reading skills
  • Rhetorical terms
  • SOAPSTone technique of analysis
  • OPTIC for visuals (cartoons, political ads, commercials, artwork and advertisements)
  • from Everything’s An Argument

Ch. 1 Purposes of Argument and Kinds of Argument

Ch. 2-4 Pathos, Ethos and Logos

  • from The Bedford Reader

Ch. 5 Description as a Mode of Discourse

Ch. 11 Cause and Effect as a Mode of Discourse

Ch. 7 Comparison and Contrast as a Mode of Discourse

Ch. 8 Process Analysis as a Mode of Discourse

Ch. 10 Classification as a Mode of Discourse

Ch. 12 Definition as a Model of Discourse

Ch.13 Argument and Persuasion as a Mode of Discourse

Argument and Synthesis:

The AP English Language and Composition course highlights research skills that will help align the AP course with first-year courses in college composition. Begun in 2007, the free-response section of the exam contains, as one of the three questions, a synthesis essay that asks students to use sources in support of an argument. This question will contain four to seven sources and a prompt that relates to these sources. At least one of these sources will be an image (e.g., photo, cartoon, bar graph etc.). Students will be asked to write essays that incorporate three to four of the sources into an argumentative or analytical response; the sources must support the student's particular argument or position. This revised emphasis of the English Language and Composition course will also be reflected in the multiple-choice section of the exam, which will contain questions about documentation or citations found in a passage. Students will also read and write on current events that correlate with various subjects discussed with the novels themselves (i.e.public policies, popular culture, personal experiences, media and gender etc.) For example, after reading, discussing and analyzing Heart of Darkness, students will read current event articles and non-fiction essays that concern with race, foreign policy and immigration. Following analysis and discussion of these events and essays, students will compose argumentative essays on these topics. The argumentative and synthesis essays will require the use of primary and secondary sources and MLA documentation as well as The Chicago Manual of Style.

Grading Policy:

80% Course Work

Major Assessments50%

Minor Assessments40%

Mid-term10%

20% Final Course AssessmentGeorgia Milestone State Assessment

***Each assignment will be identified as being in one of the above categories.

Grading Scale:

90-100= A80-89=B74-79=C70-73=DBelow 70=F

Student Responsibilities:

  1. Locating and reading all assigned texts by due date.
  2. Participate as an active speaker and listener in all discussions.
  3. Keep a well-maintained notebook.
  4. Compose a number of short, focused, analytical, argumentative and synthesis essays (out of class and in-class timed essays).
  5. Complete Sentence Collecting analysis, Major Works Data Sheet, annotation guides, annotated bibliography, précis and other projects for a number of pieces.
  6. For each semester, ONE assignment may be turned in one day late; after this, late work will NOT be accepted. If the assignment/project was given at least a week ahead of time, and you are absent on the due date, this assignment will be used as a late assignment. If the late assignment has already been used, the student will earn a zero for the assignment. This policy excludes presentations and out of class essays. They will NOT be accepted late.
  7. Adhere to Henry County Handbook make-up work policy to ensure fair treatment of each student. Students need to obtain the make-up work from instructor before class or after school.It is the student’s responsibility to obtain the work in the allotted time stated in the Henry County Handbook.

Materials Needed for Each Student:

  • Pencils and pens (blue or black for writing, another color for editing)
  • 3” three-ring binder: suggested 5 dividers-vocabulary, argument,analysis and general
  • Loose-leaf paper
  • An agenda or daily planner
  • A flash drive
  • Novels
  • New, updated copy of Barron’s AP Language and Composition book; we will work out of this if not every Friday, definitely bi-weekly.
  • Various materials for projects
  • Highlighters and stickynotes

Conduct Policy:

Respect is the key to all appropriate conduct. During classroom discussion, each person has the right to express his or her thoughts but never at the expense of hurting another. This is a college-level class and it is expected that you will conduct yourselves as college-level students.

The Henry County Handbook highlights the expectations of student behavior. Listed below are my expectations.

Teacher Expectations:

  • Show respect for others and their property; treat others courteously; raise your hand if you wish to contribute to the discussion or to ask a question.
  • Show respect for people whose opinions may differ from your own.
  • Tidy your desk area before leaving the classroom.
  • Return all borrowed materials to the appropriate location.
  • Since this is a college course, all out of class activities/assignments need to be typed, Times New Roman, font 12, using MLA format. ALL assignments need internal citation and Works Cited (unless noted differently by the instructor).
  • I will dismiss you after the bell rings. To expedite this action, adhere to the previous statements.

Any violations of these expectations will result in the following the 4-Step Process.

Academic Expectations:

  1. It is your responsibility to see me regarding make-up work. If work is not made up according to the number of days absent (per theHenry CountyHandbook), your grade will be a zero. If you miss an in-class essay, you should plan to write it the day you come back after school or the following morning.
  1. Out of class essays must be typed. Papers are due by class time on the due date. Late essays will not be accepted. You may not email the essay to the instructor on the due date. It is your responsibility to plan ahead of time. If the essay/assignment was given at least a week ahead of time, and you are absent on the due date, this assignment will be used as a late assignment. If the late assignment has already been used, the student will earn a zero for the assignment.
  1. Essay will be assessed with the AP rubric or a rubric adapted from The University of Georgia’s First-year Composition courses (unless otherwise noted such as the GHSGWT).
  1. If there is an assignment that requires technological presentation (i.e. Power Point), you must email it me at least 2 school days before the presentation. This will make the most use of our time as I will bring up the presentation before class; plus, it also lets us know if we can open the Power Point up before the day of presentation. I will email you to inform you to let you know that I have received it. If you have not received a response from me, I have not received the presentation. It is your responsibility to insure I have the presentation.
  1. Pursue EXCELLENCE in all endeavors.
  1. A student’s homework and in-class work fulfill the instructor’s intention in a specific class:
  2. Individual assignments must be represented by individual work. If not, this will be defined as plagiarism; therefore, there is no need for “Study Groups” with individual assignments; this includes having original ideas on individual assignments.
  3. Group assignments must be represented by group work. In no case is direct copying allowed.
  1. Academic integrity is VITAL. Plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in a zeroon the assignment and parent notification. Plagiarism presents the work or ideas of another as one’s own. This includes:
  2. Direct copying of another person’s (living or dead) work.
  3. Using any amount of another person’s material or ideas without proper documentation(i.e. internal citation/parenthetical documentation and Works Cited).
  4. Paraphrasing another person’s original material without proper documentation(i.e. internal citation/parenthetical documentation and Works Cited).
  5. The giving or receiving help for any individual assignment.

If, for whatever reason, you feel tempted to plagiarize, please see me first, so we can discuss what you need in order for you to complete the assignment on your own merit. Please see me BEFORE the act is committed. Sparks Notes or any other type of “handbook” (i.e. Pink Monkey, eNotes, Wikipedia, Shmoop, Spark Notes, Lit. Charts and websites of this sort) is not to be used in this course for analysis nor for compositions; since I possess a copy of these for all of the novels we are studying, I am aware of what is covered in these. Please refrain from using these in the essays. This will also be considered as plagiarism.