AP English III Syllabus – 2016-2017
Instructor: Liz White AP3 Webpage: http://bit.do/Lemon_AP3
Email: Tutoring: M 4-4:45 in rm. 2617 or by appt.
TEXTBOOKS/NOVELS – Please purchase the following:
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
“The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
COURSE DESCRIPTION/GRADING SYSTEM
AP English III – Language and Composition – is designed to replicate the college freshman English class in a high school setting. American literature will be used, although not all reading assignments will necessarily be American literature. Many reading assignments will be nonfiction. Assignments are divided into tests, quizzes, and daily grades. Test grades are worth 70% of a student’s score, while quiz grades and daily grades make up the other 30%. Quiz grades are double daily grades. While many of the assignments are difficult and must follow the same stringency as College Board, other assignments are set to balance the scales.
AP DROP PROCEDURES
If students are having difficulty in an AP course, they should set up a time to conference with their counselor and teacher about their progress in the course. Students should access all support available to them in the class including tutorials and online resources. The windows for requesting to drop an AP course will only be considered during the first week of school, at the end of the first six weeks, and at the end of the first semester. No AP drop considerations will be given outside of those windows. Requests to drop an AP course will only be allowed if there is space available in the substitute course.
LATE AND MAKE-UP WORK GRADING per RISD Policy
Daily Grades:
• No retake or redo option.
• Late Assignments will be accepted within 24 hours. The grade will be averaged with the zero.
Quiz Grades:
• One quiz (double-daily grade) may be retaken per six weeks. The retake request must be within three-day window, per RISD policy.
• The new grade will be averaged with the original score up to a 70.
• Retest may be newly formatted.
• Late Assignments will be accepted within 24 hours. The grade will be averaged with the zero.
Test Grades & Projects:
• Students must request a retake (or optional assignment) within three days of receipt of the grade.
• The new grade will be averaged with the original score up to a 70.
• Retest may be newly formatted.
• Late Assignments will be accepted within 24 hours. The grade will be averaged with the zero.
CELL PHONE POLICY
Students are encouraged to take notes, research information, check Skyward for grades, and take pictures of notes (to write down later) during class. Students are not allowed to take pictures of tests or quizzes, and please no gaming, tweeting, tumbling, vining, pinning, snapchatting, redditting, buzzfeeding, facebooking (or any others I have missed) during class unless part of a class activity.
ROCKWALL READY DAYS
New this year, Rockwall Ready days will be a 70-minute change in our daily schedule on the following dates every six weeks. This will allow students and teachers to focus on mastery of concepts with intentional and targeted instruction.
• September 19, 20 • February 13, 14
• October 24, 25 • March 6, 7
• November 28, 29 • April 3, 4
• January 17, 18 • April 24, 25
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY/PLAGIARISM
Academic dishonesty or plagiarism includes cheating or copying work from another person or source. This year, papers submitted outside of class will utilize www.turnitin.com to ensure that a student’s work is his own. In addition, students talking, passing notes, or using an electronic device to communicate in any way during testing will be regarded as cheating and disciplined according to school policy. Leaving the room with a test or writing prompt will also be considered cheating. Mastery of the learning objectives cannot be determined when dishonesty or plagiarism takes place; therefore, students found to have engaged in academic dishonesty or plagiarism will receive:
• A zero for the assignment
• An opportunity for an alternative assignment. The grade on the alternative assignment does not replace the zero, but will be entered into Skyward as part of grade calculation. Opportunity for alternative assignment is not applicable to academic dishonesty regarding exams.
• Disciplinary action.
EXPECTATIONS
1. Be respectful – to me, to you, to your housemates, to the class of 2018, to your school
2. Be responsible – bring texts, readings, notes, paper, black pens, brain
3. Be on time – tardies = subtraction of house points
4. Read – if I’m assigning it, I expect you to READ it – not Sparknote, Google, Wikipedia, Schmoop, Pink Monkey, or Enote it. If you don’t read, you are breaking expectations 1 and 2.
SUPPLIES
• Text and/or assigned novel • Flash drive
• An organizational system to hold papers and notes • Black pens for personal use
• College-rule notebook paper (NO spirals) for personal use • Pencils for personal use
4th period – package of black pens for class use
5th period – package of black pens for class use
6th period – package of college-rule paper for class use
7th period – box of tissues for class use
AP COURSE FOCUS
• RHETORICAL ANALYSIS – the tools and methods writers use to get a message across with a focus on the “WHY”. Some of these methods include: syntax, diction, tone, audience, appeals, and rhetorical devices.
• ARGUMENT – agreeing or disagreeing with a text keeping in mind the direct and indirect audience, the message, and the strategies used.
• SYNTHESIS – creating a new idea from provided documents, and using three of those documents as support.
• MULTIPLE CHOICE – a 60-minute quiz with approximately 55 questions requiring students to read and analyze four to five texts.
The AP Language and Composition exam is Wednesday, May 10 @ 8 am
– students are EXPECTED to take the exam –