A.P. ENGLISH LITERATURE & COMPOSITION 2014-2015 SYLLABUS
Course Description:
The AP English Literature and Composition course is designed to engage you in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, you can deepen your understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. This course will include intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit -- from the sixteenth to the twentieth century -- but, more importantly, you must get to know a few works well. You should read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work's complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form. In addition to considering a work's literary artistry, you should consider the social and historical values it reflects and embodies. Careful attention to both textual detail and historical context should provide a foundation for interpretation, whatever critical perspectives are brought to bear on the literary works studied. Writing will be an integral part of this course and will focus on the critical analysis of literature , including expository, analytical, and argumentative essays. The goal of these writing assignments is to increase your ability to explain clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what you understand about literary works and why you interpret them as you do.
Required Resources:
3-ring binder
Spiral notebook
Loose Paper
Pen (2 colors)
Grading:
If the homework assignment is necessary for that day’s lesson and participation, you will be asked to complete an alternate assignment, and you will receive a zero for that day’s assignment. Otherwise, late work (aside from essays) is penalized by five (5) points each day it is late after the due date unless you are absent. All assignments have different point values and can be found on Clarity.
Grading scales for in-class timed essays:
1st Quarter2nd Quarter3rd Quarter4th Quarter
9=1009=1009=1009=100
8=998=998=988=98
7=977=967=957=95
6=956=926=896=89
5=895=875=845=80
4=864=824=754=70
3=823=783=703=65
2=782=702=652=60
1=751=651=501=50
Essays/Papers:
You will be required to write a one-page typed, double-spaced thought paper every month on a variety of topics/readings. Requirements for thought papers will be given in class upon the first assignment. All essays/papers must be submitted online on turnitin.com by the date assigned. All essays/papers are to be typed with your name, date, and period at the topwith correct MLA parenthetical citation and a correctly cited bibliography.. Late essays/papers will receive -10 points for each day that they are late. Thought papers will be worth 150 points and longer take-home essays will be worth 200 points. Timed essay tests are worth 200 points. Regular timed essays are worth 100 points. If asked, you will be required to revise essays to receive a final passing grade. You may receive a penalty if the first essay is not a true final copy. If you choose not to revise, your essay will automatically receive a 50%. You are always welcome to revise your paper if your final essay grade is a “B”, but you are not required to do so.
Absences
Use my Broad Run web page when you are absent to stay up-to-date on assigned work and contact me or your absentee partner for more information or instructions. You are expected to be prepared for the next class after an absence. Any homework that was due on the day you were absent is due immediately upon your return. You will have the BRHS allowed days for absentee work. If you are present on the day we do not meet, you are still held accountable for coming by the classroom and turning in material or picking up materials. If you fail to do so, late fees will most likely apply.
**I will NOT be available to help you with make-up work once the class bell rings. Please see me before or after school or make an appointment.
Snow Days:
Be prepared to keep up with your reading during snow days so make sure you take home your books. The syllabus will shift if we are out for a week. I will post a revised syllabus if that is the case.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is defined as using another person’s work or ideas without giving proper credit. Any attempt to take credit for work that is not your own will lead to an F on the assignment and disciplinary action as outlined in the student handbook. All outside sources, including the text you are analyzing, need to be cited at the end of your essay and in MLA parentheticals throughout your essay.
Classroom Etiquette:
Because this is an Advanced Placement class, you are expected to behave like college students. This means refraining from all distracting behavior, including participating in irrelevant discussions, using personal electronic devices, and
completing work for another class. If I see or hear your cell phone, I will take it from you until class ends. If I see it or hear it on a second occasion, you will be asked to surrender your phone upon entering the classroom until a new quarter begins. Tardiness is a serious distraction, and Broad Run’s tardiness policy will strictly be enforced.
Website
The syllabus, complete with the course schedule (subject to change) is posted on Broad Run’s website under my name. Important announcements pertaining to scheduling changes due to inclement weather will be posted on the website as they arise. Please check the website frequently for announcements. For any last minute changes, I will send an email blast via your turnitin.com account email.
Writing Center
Broad Run will be offering a Writing Center during both lunch periods. The Writing Center’s trained tutors can help you revise your essays. I expect your final essays to reflect your best work so you should always revise.
Textbooks:
You are expected to look over the novels and plays for the year and purchase or download them all by the assigned due date. If you need financial aid, please see me privately.
First Quarter Syllabus (“A” Day)
Week DateDescription
One
Sept 2Getting to know each other
Introduction to AP Literature & expectations
Discuss reading list/syllabus
Assignments: Book money/order Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde—due 9/8
Buy/choose reading list books by 10/1
Buy a spiral by 9/8 (Monday)/sign up for turnitin.com
Sept 4Continue to get to know each other
First timed essay-discuss format-diagnostic
Handout: “Your Brain on Fiction”-discuss
Assignment: Sign up to turnitin.com
Two
Sept8Journal:tell me about yourself; why AP not DE; expectations of AP
Topic: Critical Reading
Why is Critical Reading important?
Handouts: “How to Critically Read”; “Close Reading of a Literary Passage”
Assignment:Read College Admissions/Essay handouts: “Don’t Be Bland”;
“Your Brain on Melville”; “Inside the Admissions Process at GWU”
Sept 10Journal:Response to HW
Annotating Prose--notes
Topic: Annotating text
Read and annotate “Tell Tale Heart”-Poe
Assignment: Finish annotating “Tell Tale Heart”
Sept 12Journal:Circles of Meaning—notes
Collect “Tell Tale Heart” annotating sections
Topic: Analytical Tools for Reading Better
Finding “meaning” in literature.
Circles of Meaning & 10 Patterns of Meaning
Creating clever theses: iceberg; Handout: “Sample Student Analytical Thesis Statements”
Assignment: Type up 5 different thesis statements analyzing a book or a movie utilizing
the generalized meanings to help you form a more specific fabulous argument.
Three
Sept 16Journal: Pixar thesis
Share homework—underline meaning--turn in theses—revised for meaning if none
Topic: Analytical tools for reading more critically (Literary Criticism)
Learn Mythological Criticism: symbolism, archetypes, and motifs; the journey circle Assignment: Read “Godfather Death” online and take Mythological notes
Week DateDescription
Sept 18Journal: Create a thesis analyzing “Godfather Death”—zero credit if no notes
Topic: Mythological Criticism
Watch and take notes on the documentary on Star Wars through Mythological lens.
Assignment:Choose a heroic journey movie, watch it again, and analyze it through
Mythological lens asthe documentary of Star Wars did but utilizing the
Hero’s Journey and additional symbolism unique to that movie. 2 pages
typed, double-spaced. Turnitin.com by 9/28.
Four
Sept 22Journal: “Exercise 8” (13, Understanding Style)
Topic: Writing in AP: “Outside-of-Class Essays” Handout
Topic: Introduction to Psychological Criticism
Assignment: Print out and bring in Narrative Terms
Sept 24Journal: Narrative Terms ½
Topic: Pyschological Criticism continued
Topic: Gender Criticism
Readings: “Two Complementary Critical Readings” of “The Birthmark”—
Gender & Psychological
Assignment: Read “Rapunzel” and write two different thesis statements, one
analyzingit through a Psychological perspective and the other from a
Gender perspective. Typed.
Sept 26Journal: Narrataive Terms ½
Discuss homework & turn it in
Topic: Sociological Criticism/Marxist Criticism
Handout: “Why So Many Exams? A Marxist Response” (The Informed Argument, 514)
Read “The Three Apprentices” and analyze. Thesis in spiral.
Turn in spiral for grading.
Assignment: Thought Paper Instructions & Handout on Response to Stories
Thought Paper #1 due 10/5 on turnitin.com
Bring Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde to class on Monday.
Five
Sept 30Journal: Define “horror”
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Lecture: “Why is this era so important to our literature?
“What is horror?” according to the Victorians
Introduction to Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Assign annotating chapters.
Assignment: Read & annotate Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by 10/8
Oct 2Journal: Writing work
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Topic: “Open Essay Rubric” How to write open essays: revise first essay and turn in.
Assignment: Read & annotate Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by 10/8
Week DateDescription
Six
Oct 6Journal:: “Developing a Tone Vocabulary”: Tone story
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Topic: “The Grotesque” Prose Essays—careful reading: Quoyle excerpt with sample essays
Assignment: Finish reading Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Oct 8Journal:Small Group Discussion “Rules” & Expectations
Lecture on Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Begin small group discussion onDr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Assignment: Timed Essay TEST on 10/15
Oct 10Journal:Notes: how to study for a timed book essay test. How to take notes on your notes.
Extra Credit for those who do.
Finish small group discussion on Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Assignment: Timed Essay Test bring in Lady Audley’s Secret or The Picture of Dorian
Gray
Seven
October 13: Columbus Holiday
Oct 15Timed Essay TEST: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Turn in spiral.
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Introduction to Lady Audley’sSecret and A Portrait of Dorian Gray
Assign annotation sections
Assignment: Read and annotate either book by 11/6
Oct 17Journal:Elements of mystery
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Readings: “The Parwat Ruby”-Delia Sherman-discuss (“Mystery”)
Assignment: Read and annotate either book by 11/6
Eight
Oct 21Journal:Intro to Sherlock Holmes--notes
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Read, discuss, and analyze: “The Man with the Twisted Lip”-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
(Sherlock Holmes)
Read, discuss, and analyze: “The Devil of the Marsh”-H.B. Marriott-Watson
Assignment: Read and annotate either book by 11/6
Oct 23Journal:Writing work
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
“Alone at Last”-Russell Stockton & “A Jury of Her Peers”-Susan Glaspell (“Mystery”)-Discuss
Assignment: Read and annotate either book by 11/6
Week DateDescription
Nine
Oct 27Journal:Intro to Browning--notes
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Readings: Readings: From “My Last Duchess” & “The Laboratory”-Robert Browning
Assignment: Read & annotateLady Audley’s Secret or the Portrait of Dorian Gray 11/6
Thought Paper #2 due 11/5 on turnitin.com
Oct 29Journal: Writing work
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
“A Bottomless Grave”—Ambrose Bierce
“Harlequin Valentine”-Neil Gaiman (“Mystery”)-discuss
Assignment: Read & annotate Lady Audley’s Secret or the Portrait of Dorian Gray 11/6
Thought Paper #2 due 11/5 on turnitin.com
Oct 31Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Lecture on “Faces in the Victorian Age” & “Hysteria”
Excerpts from both books.
Timed Prose Essay
Turn in spiral.
Assignment: Read & annotate Lady Audley’s Secret or the Portrait of Dorian Gray 11/6
Thought Paper #2 due 11/5 on turnitin.com
END OF QUARTER: Work Days, Monday-Tuesday, November 4-5
Second Quarter Syllabus (“A” Day)
Week DateDescription
One
Nov 6Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
[LIBRARY]: Begin small group discussions--Check annotation sections
Two
Nov 10Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
[LIBRARY}: Small Group Discussions on either book.
Assignment: Timed Essay TEST & Bring either Wuthering Heights or Dracula
Nov 12Timed Essay TEST
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Introduction to the Gothic and Wuthering Heights/Dracula
Assign annotating sections
Assignment: Read & annotate either Wuthering Heights or Dracula by 12/15
Nov 14Journal: “The Secret of the Ouija Board,” The WeekFebruary 14, 2014
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Wuthering Heights/Dracula
Readings: “The Mirror”-Haruki Murakami (“Mystery”)-discuss
Penny Dreadfuls in the Victorian Age (extra credit)
Assignment: Read & annotate either Wuthering Heights or Dracula by 12/15
Thought Paper #3 due by 11/24
Three
Nov 18Journal: Writing Work
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Readings: Love Poems: Derrick Brown, “A Finger, Two Dots, Then Me”
“The Rememberer”-Aimee Bender (“Relationships”)-discuss
Assignment: Read & annotate either Wuthering Heights or Dracula by 12/15
Thought Paper #3 due by 11/24
Nov 20Journal: Writing Work
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Reading: e.e. Cummings Packet (“Love” poetry)
Assignment: Read & annotate either Wuthering Heights or Dracula by 12/15
Four
Nov 24Journal: Writing work
Unit 1:Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Timed Prose Essay
Turn in spiral.
Assignment: Read & annotate either Wuthering Heights or Dracula by 12/15
Thought Paper #3 due by midnight
Nov 26-28Thanksgiving Break
Week DateDescription
Five
Dec 1Journal: Writing Work
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age Topic: Timed Poetry Essay Introductions
Assignment: Annotations due 12/15
Dec 3Journal: Writing Work
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age Topic: Timed Poetry Essays
Assignment: Annotations due on 12/15
Dec 5Journal: Writing Work
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age Topic: Timed Poetry Essays
Assignment: Annotations due on 12/15
Six
Dec 9[LIBRARY]
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age Lecture on Wuthering Heights
Dracula watch video.
Assignment: Finish annotating book
Take Home Essay #1 due 1/11
Dec 11[LIBRARY}
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age Turn in spiral.
Wuthering Heightsvideo
Dracula lecture/finish video.
Assignment: Finish annotating book
Take Home Essay #1 due 1/11
Seven
Dec 15[LIBRARY]
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
FinishWuthering Heights video: Begin small group discussion
Dracula: Begin small group discussion
Assignment: & Take Home Essay #1 due 1/11
Dec 17[LIBRARY]
Unit 1: Crime & Horror in the Victorian Age
Small group discussions
Assignment: & Take Home Essay #1 due 1/11 Timed Essay TEST 12/19
Dec 19Timed ESSAY TEST
Assignment: Bring War Book choice after break
Winter Break: December 22-January 2
Week DateDescription
Eight
Jan 6Journal: “The Tiananmen Square Protest”-The New York Times
“The Khmer Rouge & Cambodia”-The Cold War Museum
“Battle of Thermopylae”—Kennedy Hickman
Unit 2: Modern Literature: War
Introduction to Banyan & Sons of Heaven
Assign annotating sections
Assignment: Read & annotate either In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree, Gates of Fire,
orSons of Heaven by 2/6
Jan 8Journal: War Poetry: “You Make Holy War”-Aja Monet
Unit 2: Modern Literature: War
Reading: “Foster, You’re Dead”-Philip K. Dick (“War”)-discuss
Assignment: Read & annotate either In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree, Gates of Fire
orSons of Heaven by 2/6
Nine
Jan 12Journal:Intro to Seamus Heaney (notes)
Unit 2: Modern Literature: War
Readings: Seamus Heaney Unit, “From Stepping Stones” (“War”-DE)
Assignment: Read & annotate either In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree, Gates of Fire
orSons of Heaven by 2/6
Midterm Exam: Two Timed Essays
Jan 14Journal:Writing work
Unit 2: Modern Literature: War
Readings: “Bread & Bombs”-M. Rickert
“The Emerald City.”The Opposite of Lonliness. Marina Keegan
Assignment: Read & annotate either In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree, Gates of Fire or
Sons of Heaven by 2/6
Thought Paper #4 Due by 1/28
Jan 16Midterm Review/or, carry over day
Midterm Week: January 19-23
Third Quarter Syllabus (“A” Day)
Week DateDescription
One
Jan 27Journal:2nd Semester Expectations--notes
Unit 2: Modern Literature: War
Midterm Review: Students read a short story: “Dulce et Decorum Est” Packet & “Episode of
War” & “What You Left in the Ditch”
Assignment: Read & annotate either In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree, Gates of Fire,
orSons of Heaven by 2/6
Jan 29Journal: Intro to Comedic Terms (notes)
Unit 3: Satire & Comedy (1700’s-2000’s)
Difference between satire & comedy—notes
Practice finding them in excerpt from Saturday Night Live skit
“The World is a Beautiful Place”-Lawrence Ferlinghetti (poem)-discuss satire
Assignment: Read & annotate either In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree, Gates of Fire,
orSons of Heaven by 2/6
Two
Feb 2Journal: “Safe”-Ted Kooser (poem)
Unit 3: Satire & Comedy (1700’s-2000’s)
Readings: “Poet for Our Times” and “Making Money” (93-95)-Carol Ann Duffy—discuss (25)
Midterm Review: Watch excerpt from Jon Stewart and American Dad and take notes.
Assignment: Read & annotate either In the Shadow of the Banyan Tree, Gates of Fire,
orSons of Heaven by 2/6
Feb 4Journal: “How to Write About Satire”: (112-114)
Unit 2: Satire & Comedy (1700’s-2000’s)
Readings: “A Meditation upon a Broomstick”-Jonathan Swift (49-50)
“The Latest Decalogue”—Arthur Clough (76-78)