AP English IV: Literature and Composition

Mrs. Jolanda Sandy

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This semester will be focused primarily on academic writing, reading, and discussion. We will be using College Board’s Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition course as a way to prepare both for the AP test and college.

Because this is a college level course, you will be treated like college students and expected to conduct yourselves as such.

ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS:

  1. Participation and respect in class, each and every day
  2. Typed essays (literary analyses/short reflections) analyzing prose and poetry
  3. AP practice tests
  4. Extra reading done outside of class
  5. Pop quizzes on readings to be done at teacher’s discretion

*Tests and quizzes should be made up within 3-5 days after the original test/quiz date.

GRADING:

1. Independent Reading 15%

2. Essays/Tests40%

3. Class work/Participation15%

4. Multiple Choice 5%

5. Quizzes 25%

Class Edmodo Page:

It is your responsibility to keep up with the many deadlines and assignments for the class. For your convenience, I upload assignments, vocabulary lists, and reading guides to be printed off (from your class folder). Please frequently check the class page.

ESSAYS (any and all typed papers):

Papers will be submitted electronically via Edmodo. I will not accept any hard copies of papers (unless arranged with me prior to the deadline). Each paper is due at midnight on the day it is due.

Please use the following code in order to sign up on edmodo and join my class. Use all proper names, information, etc. on Edmodo. Do not abuse this privilege.

MAKE-UP WORK:

When you return from being absent, please check the board (for our daily agenda). It is your responsibility to make up work as soon as possible after your return to school (including tests).If you miss an in-class essay, you should plan to write it the day you come back.

LITERARY/POETRY ANALYSIS PAPERS:

A literary analysis is a two-three page paper that focuses on your ongoing reading for class. This is a crucial part of your learning, for it engages you with the texts critically and thoughtfully and allows your instructor to monitor your progress. Many times, I will give you a piece of poetry or prose to analyze. Sometimes, you will choose a subject for yourself (based off of the novel we are reading at the time).

Good analyses look beneath the surface of the text; they explore its ideas, patterns, and implications; they demonstrate a mind actively engaged in the reading. They might not have all of the answers, but they are asking good questions and use textual evidence as support.

Bad responses are often unacceptably brief, show little to no real thought, tend to summarize the plot, are general and shallow, sometimes quite sloppy, and show little active engagement with the text. Your analyses may do any of the following: focus on answering a question, address an issue, stanza, or line.

You will more than likely have to write an analysis per week. They will be graded by the class, by myself, or given a participation grade. I strongly encourage you to do your best for each and every essay.

*Each analysis must contain a thesis statement, be typed in MLA format, and have a clear title and date. They will be graded on a nine-point scale. See your AP grading rubric for reference.

LATE WORK:

  1. Students who turn in a paper to their teacher after the designated due date will receive a grade no higher than a B, with ten additional points taken off for each successive day the paper is late.
  2. Students who are absent the entire day a paper is due must turn in the paper the day they return to school.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

  1. Participation is important, especially in an AP class. If you do not feel comfortable asking questions or sharing your ideas in class, please stay and talk to me after class. You could also email me. Communication is essential.
  1. I will be available for extra help after school, available upon request.

ACADEMIC HONESTY:

Students are neither to give nor receive help on written work. Students may use ideas shared in classroom discussions or writing conferences with the teacher, but otherwise, all ideas presented in the student’s paper should be his or her own or documented appropriately. I expect you to show integrity and pride in developing your own ideas. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged borrowing of another’s words or ideas. It will not be tolerated in this class. Plagiarism includes the undocumented use of Internet sources for research of “just ideas.” You must document any outside sources that you use. The minimum penalty for plagiarism on a paper is a zero on the assignment, and a loss of trust in you by teachers, parents, and friends.