SCOTT COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL

AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

SYLLABUS 2015-2016

JOAN NICHOLS

COURSE DESCRIPTION: AP English IV is designed to provide seniors with college level course work and credit through the College Board Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition Exam offered in May 2016. The course focuses on skills that engage students in close reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Critical analysis through composition challenges the student’s ability to understand what the writer is saying, articulate a lucid explanation of the author’s purpose, explain how that purpose is achieved and make logical and convincing arguments to support his/her opinions of the work and its underlying values.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

PAPER AND PENS

COLORED PENCILS AND HIGHLIGHTERS FOR ANNOTATION

NOTEBOOK OR BINDER TO STORE HANDOUTS NEEDED FOR CLASS

ACCESS TO A COMPUTER AND PRINTER

FLASH /JUMP DRIVE TO STORE AND TRANSFER WRITTEN WORK

EXPECTATIONS: Students should

Have read assigned passages/ novels in advance of class

Take responsibility for their own learning through active involvement in all classroom discussions

Listen to peers respectfully – remaining open to unresolved questions and a variety of approaches that are commonly explored through seminar style classes.

Complete written assignments on time and with the intention of improving over time toward college level work.

CELL PHONE/ IPOD/ KINDLE/LAPTOP/ TABLET

These devices may have educational applications in our classroom, but students must receive permission before using them. Unauthorized use may result in confiscation until the end of the class or the end of the day for repeated offenses. Further discipline will be undertaken by the principals.

Legally, in the state of Kentucky, a classroom is considered a place in which students and teachers have an expectation of privacy. No one has the right to photograph or record others without their permission.

GRADES:

Grades are based on the total number of points accumulated for that grading term. Assessment will be in the forms of quizzes, tests, homework, in-class and out of class essays, research projects, practice multiple choice, and a variety of graded discussion methods. Essays will be graded on the standard AP scale of 1-9 and students will be given a copy of this grading rubric.

ASSIGNMENTS:

All in-class written work should be turned in on straight edge paper and either typed or written clearly and neatly and carefully proofread. Assignments made in advance with determined due dates must be in before or on the due date such as poetry responses, scheduled reports etc. Daily assignments not completed in class should be turned in the next school day.

Makeup work is your responsibility. School policy allows one day for each day missed in class and I generally allow one week. I will accept no work beyond the one week deadline. Attempts to make up work to manipulate a grade at the end of the nine weeks will not be accepted. Makeup tests, essays and quizzes will not be offered during a class in which there is material to be completed. Makeup tests will be an alternative form of the original at my discretion.

EXTRA CREDIT:

There is enough work assigned to give adequate opportunity to excel,I do not offer extra credit on an individual basis. Any extra credit granted will be available to all students in AP Literature, including those in Mrs. Johnson’s classes.

HALL PASSES:

Students are expected to take care of personal needs before and after class. In case of an emergency take the hall pass. One student should be out of class at a time. It is not necessary for seniors to request bathroom permission- use your own judgment as to when it might be appropriate to leave class for a few minutes. However, extended out of class time will be considered abuse and may result in disciplinary action.

FOOD AND DRINK: Small individual snacks are allowed as well as a beverage. All trash is to be disposed of by the student.

AP ENGLISH IV- COURSE OVERVIEW- FALL SEMESTER- PRIMARY FOCUS IN PROSE- Subject to change due to weather or other unforeseen needs for the class.

AUGUST

Overview of course expectations and portfolio requirements

Major Work #1- Poisonwood Bible

Novel Test- Summer Reading

Fishbowl discussion – Poisonwood

Baseline AP style Essay- passage based- Poisonwood

Baseline AP style multiple choice- Poisonwood

Poetry responses due weekly-EVERY FRIDAY- NO EXCUSES.

ANALYSIS INTRODUCTION:

  • Close reading instruction –selected passages – modern period
  • Literary Conventions- “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”
  • Questioning texts
  • Characterization, Diction, Tone, Syntax analysis (review only)
  • Text structure.
  • Thesis development- analysis
  • Practice prompts – passage based- Question #2
  • AP multiple choice practice- prose fiction
  • Vocabulary study- Homework

SEPTEMBER: Modernism in Literature- Existential thought

  • Short fiction analysis
  • Major Work #2 The Kite Runner
  • Literary Conventions- “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”
  • How to address Question #3- thesis development
  • Text structure and authorial style.
  • Practice prompts review Novel Based Prompt
  • AP multiple choice practice- prose fiction
  • Vocabulary Study- Homework
  • Poetry Responses due every FRIDAY

OCTOBER- Modern British Literature –

  • Passage and short fiction analysis continued
  • Reading- Major Work #3 Heart of Darkness
  • Major Works objective test
  • Graded discussions :Style, Tone, Characterization, Theme analysis
  • Major works in-class essay- conferencing and revising
  • Poetry responses due each FRIDAY
  • Vocabulary study- Homework

NOVEMBER- Modern British Literature

  • Major Work #3 choice of Dystopian works
  • Literature as social commentary/ argumentation
  • In class discussion and style analysis, theme, authorial choices- lit circles
  • Major works objective tests
  • Question #2 Passage based essays compared with Question #3 Open Question essays
  • AP style prose multiple choice practice
  • Vocabulary study- Homework
  • Poetry responses due each FRIDAY

DECEMBER- Social commentary through Literature

  • Major work # 4 TBA
  • Conventions of Drama-
  • AP Multiple choice practice- fiction/ prose
  • Vocabulary study- Homework
  • Question #2 and Question #3 review
  • Poetry responses due each FRIDAY
  • SEMESTER FINAL- MULTIPLE CHOICE AND PROSE ESSAYS

COURSE OVERVIEW- SPRING SEMESTER- PRIMARY FOCUS IN POETRY

JANUARY- Pre 20th century Prose

Victorian language/ culture/ social critique

Victorian Passages

Victorian Drama- TBA

Victorian Novel- TBA/ Choice

Poetry responses due each Friday

FEBRUARY- Poetry

Introduction to Old English Culture,Language and Literature

“Beowulf” – Epic Poetry

Old English Elegiac form

Medieval Epic poetry-

Dante’s Inferno-

Graded in class assignments

Poetry responses due each Friday

MARCH- Poetic form/ analysis

Poetry analysis- variety of poetic forms and time periods

William Shakespeare: Major work –“King Lear”

Graded discussions

In class-essays

Objective quizzes

Poetry responses due each Friday

APRIL-

Poetry analysis- variety of poetic forms and time periods

Major work- Choice- The Great American Novel

Graded discussions

In class-essays

Objective quizzes

Poetry responses due each Friday

MAY

AP TEST PREP

AP EXAM- or AP Final