ENG III/AP English Language and Composition Syllabus (Tentative)
Mrs. Higgins, Room 219 Winston Salem Preparatory Academy
Email:
School Telephone: 336-703-6732
Course Overview and Description
The Advanced Placement English Language and Composition course is a college level courseoffering the opportunity for students to earn college credit. The purpose of the course is to develop the students’ critical and analytical skills in both writing and reading. From selected works of nonfiction and fiction, the AP English Language and Composition course challenges each student to develop a complex analytical understanding of various author’s works through a close reading and rhetorical examination of non-fiction prose style selections and American literature. Writing focuses on the development of analytical writing skills with emphasis on argument, exposition, analysis, reflection, and description.
This class is a college-level course so a commitment to an appropriate level of reading and writing outside of class is EXPECTED!
IMPORTANT!
In the event of inclement weather, students are expected to continue the reading assignments and the writing assignments as scheduled. Upon return to school, we will continue with the class on schedule! Check the website for assignments!!
Course Objectives
Students in this course will:
- Develop an understanding of rhetorical terms and concepts
- Understand the uses of diction, syntax, and tone
- Study forms of expository, narrative, persuasive, and personal/reflective writing
- Understand the techniques of arrangement, style, and delivery in rhetoric and writing
- Become familiar with the format of the A.P. Language exam
- Consider and construct arguments and points of view and emphasis for the audience
- Study the influence of American Literature and how writers approach the use of language in their works
- Understand how a writer’s “voice” creates a persona and how this determines the tone
- Perfect their writing skills using all stages of the writing process
- Research specific topics and use that information to present an effective argument using the MLA style of research
- Analyze selected literary works
- Analyze graphics and visual images that are both related to texts and serve as alternative forms of texts themselves
- Identify elements of argument
Types of Assignments
Writing:
- Reading Journals
- Timed Essays
- Expository Essays
- Synthesis Essays
- Collaborative Projects
- Revision Workshops
- Research Paper
Reading:
- Novels
- Essays
- Journals
- Political Writing
- Autobiographies/Biographies
- Criticism
- Scientific/Nature Writing
Speaking and Listening:
- Group Seminars/Discussions
- Debates
- Online Discussion/Blogs
Quizzes and Tests:
- Vocabulary
- Reading
- Grammar
- AP Exam styled skill application
Viewing:
- Artwork
- Photographs
- Video
- Political Cartoons
Grading System
Essays/Compositions=30% - This course stresses writing that is both critical and analytical. Students will participate in a variety of writing assignments with many being in response to the literature that we read.
Tests= 30% - Tests consist of either multiple choice questions based on rhetorical and literary concepts and their functions in the literature we read OR short answer questions where the students respond to and analyze the aforementioned concepts in the literature we read.
Quizzes=25% - Quizzes are used to assess understanding of reading assignments and vocabulary. Vocabulary quizzes are given on a weekly basis.
Daily assignments and Reading Journals=15%- Assignments that are completed on a daily basis can consists of rough drafts, outlines, vocabulary exercises, reading passage analysis, and focus writing. Each student will keep a reading response journal for the major works that we read for the class.
Overview Of the Year
First Quarter
Introduction to the AP Course, Summer Reading, Introduction to the Conventions of
Rhetoric and Argumentation
READINGS:
The Informed Argument: Chapters 1-3
The Scarlet Letter
The Crucible
Concise Anthology of American Literature Selected Readings:
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
“Native American Voices”
“The New England Primer” excerpt
“As Weary Pilgrim”
“Columbus’s Letter Describing His First Voyage”
“Of Plymouth Plantation”
“The General History of Virginia”
Ben Franklin from “The Autobiography”
Prentice Hall: The American Experience Selected Readings:
“The Crisis, Number 1”
“Speech to the Virginia Convention”
“Recalling and Using Text Details”, “Analyze Persuasive Techniques”, and “Persuasion: Persuasive Essay”
Second Quarter
Analyzing Rhetorical Modes, The Feminist Conflict of Identity
READINGS:
The Informed Argument: Chapters 4-5 and Chapter 8
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Awakening
Concise Anthology of American Literature Selected Readings:
“Common Sense”
“The Declaration of Independence”
“Civil Disobedience”
“Nature”, “The American Scholar”, and from “Self-Reliance”
“The Raven”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”
Emily Dickinson Selected Poems
“Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
“Memories of President Lincoln”
Prentice Hall: The American ExperienceSelected Readings:
“Narration: Reflective Essay”
“On Ralph Waldo Emerson”
“An Account of an Experience with Discrimination”
“To Build a Fire”
Third Quarter
Speeches, Essays, and Satire
READINGS:
The Informed Argument: Chapter 11
Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn
Concise Anthology of American Literature Selected Readings:
“The Souls of Black Folk”
“Winter Dreams”
“The Waste Land”
“Death of a Traveling Salesman”
Prentice Hall: The American Experience Selected Readings:
“A Rose for Emily”
“Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech”
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
“The American Language”
“The Development of American English: Slang as it is Slung”
“In Another Country”
“The Night the Ghost Got In
Fourth Quarter
The Literary Research Paper, Loss of the American Dream, Review for AP Exam
READINGS:
The Informed Argument: Chapter 13
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
The Great Gatsby
Concise Anthology of American Literature Selected Readings:
from “Invisible Man”
“Sonny’s Blues”
“Everyday Use”
from “The Joy Luck Club”
Prentice Hall: The American Experience Selected Readings:
“Analyzing the Impact of the Media”
“Determining the Value of Texts”
“The Development of American English: The Globalization of English”
“The Writer in the Family”