AP English III Braswell High School
Instructor: Mrs. Sara Zimmerman
E-Mail Address:
Conference Period: Blocks 2A
Phone:
Tutorials: 8:20-8:50 a.m. Mon-Fri every day, or by appointment
College Board AP Learning Outcomes for English Language and Composition:
Learning Outcome 1: Analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author's use of rhetorical strategies and techniques.
Learning Outcome 2: Apply effective strategies and techniques in students' own writing.
Learning Outcome 3: Create and sustain arguments based on readings, research and/or personal experience.
Learning Outcome 4: Write for a variety of purposes.
Learning Outcome 5: Produce expository, analytical and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence
Learning Outcome 6: Demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in students' own writings, drawn from primary and/or secondary sources, cogent explanations and clear transitions.
Learning Outcome 7: Demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary sources.
Learning Outcome 8: Move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing and review.
Learning Outcome 9: Write thoughtfully about students' own process of composition.
Learning Outcome 10: Revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience.
Learning Outcome 11: Analyze image as text.
Learning Outcome 12: Evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers.
Course Philosophy: AP Language and Composition English III is a college-level course focusing on critical reading, interpretation, and writing. Throughout the year, students read a variety of mature works of fiction and non-fiction and develop writing skills through a series of assignments in and out of class. This course aims to prepare students for life (and college) by exposing them to the skills of academic writing and inspire them to move beyond rudimentary assumptions and expressions into higher-level insight and expression. The non-fiction passages we read are challenging. The selections we read represent a survey of American thought throughout our history. Writing is frequent and requires a student to respond to readings that we’ve worked within class as well as works that have not been analyzed or discussed in the classroom. Research, synthesis, rhetorical analysis, critical thinking, critical reading, and critical writing makeup the foundation of this course. Students must expect four or more hours of homework per week.
Resources:
Elements of Literature, Holt, Rhinehart, Winston
The Language of Composition,Bedford St. Martin’s
TheSt.Martin’s Guide to Writing, 11th ed. by Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper
They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein
Evaluation: Essays, tests, projects and research projects are major grades. You will be required to submit a finished portfolio of your (previously written) revised and peer-edited work, which will count as the final exam grade in this class- each semester. The writing portfolio of major essays also counts as your TWU grade. Minor grades include quizzes, homework assignments, and individual journal entries and are reflected in HAC but not the writing portfolio.DISD grading policy will be followed.
Rules/Procedures: All work must be turned in to me personally and you will earn the privilege of signing the Assignment Book. This protects us both- you know you turned it in, I know who did or did not turn it in- we both have documentation. If you missed a day, you must check for any paperwork/assignments you need. You can find handouts, copies, worksheets, etc. in my lesson plans Folder for this class, which are on my website.
Classroom Management: All policies in the student handbook will be followed.
Behavior Expectations:
1) No food, no drink (other than water) allowed in class
2) Please be respectful of your classmates and come to class on time, prepared to work
3) Cell phone policy will follow DISD guidelines
Cell Phone Policy From Denton ISD Student Code of Conduct:
“Grades 6-12: The school reserves the right to collect any web enabled device that is not being used appropriately or that is not being used for an approved academic purpose as determined by the principal. Confiscated paging devices, cell phones, telecommunications devices, laptops or web enabled devices may be returned to the parent after a payment of a $15.00 administrative fee is received. In the event of repeat offenses, the device will be returned at the end of the semester after payment of a $15.00 administrative fee. This handbook serves as notification that the school will dispose of any confiscated paging devices, cell phones, telecommunications devices, laptops or web enabled devices, 10 business days after the end of each semester if no claim is made and no fee is paid. The school assumes no responsibility for lost, stolen or broken electronic or telecommunications devices confiscated in accordance with school policy.”
Make-up Work (for when you are absent):
1. Copy the lesson plan for the day you missed from the lesson plan web calendar on google classroom.
2. Pay attention to the due dates for work assigned the day you missed. There is a large calendar on the wall in the classroom with due dates.
3. Work that was due the day you were absent goes in the tray for your subject in the student center table. It is due the first day you return to campus.
4. If you missed a test or quiz, on the day you return, schedule a makeup time with Mrs. Z. during tutorials.
5. Please see the district website for additional information re BHS grading policy
NOTE: Makeup tests or quizzes will cover the same material as that given to the class, but may not be the same actual quiz or test, and may be in a different format.
Missing Work and Redo’s – Students who are present in class but choose not to turn in their minor or major assessment will sign an assignment tracking log which I will keep in your folder, and the grade will be entered in HAC as “msg” which mathematically equals a “0”. This means the student acknowledges that s/he did not complete and turn in the assignment on the day it was due. Students who are absent, for any reason, the day an assignment is due must turn their missing work in in on the first day of class which they return or else sign the work tracking log as missing. Additionally, students sign the work tracking log when they turn their work in, as well, with the date assignments are turned in. Grades of “0” in the online gradebook indicate that your student was present in class and did the work, but did not score any correct points.
All graded assignments may only be redone during tutorials. Students who wish to redo assignments, per DISD grading policy, must attend tutorials and complete re-teaching coursework before they are ready to be re-assessed on the material. Two mornings in tutorials are required to redo a minor assessment and 4 mornings in tutorials are required to redo a major assessment. Additionally, students will complete re-teaching material before being allowed to redo any assessment, and the second version of an assignment will cover the same TEKs but may vary in length or structure from the initial one. Please see my web page for more specific information about make up work or late work, and check back often in case of campus changes in policy.
Workshopped essays and projects: Please note that any essay, paper or project that is taught in the workshop format, that is one with multiple steps or drafts and multiple opportunities for the student to receive feedback and to revise their work does not qualify for an assessment redo, as the student has had multiple chances to learn from errors and revise the assignment which have already been incorporated into the nature of the writing workshop activities. Therefore, a final draft of any such essay, paper, or project will be final, without further opportunities for revision, and due on the stated date.
Cheating/Plagiarism: This class will follow the Academic Integrity Policy of DISD, as laid out in the student handbook. TWU has additional policies regarding plagiarism and cheating, which will be followed, as well. These two guidelines are not mutually exclusive (think of a Venn Diagram) .A grade of zero will be given for any work on which a student has cheated. Cheating includes such acts as: copying answers during a test, sharing answers or test questions with other students, copying information on any assignment in which an individual grade is given, or plagiarizing. Plagiarizing is when you submit any work as your own that was created, written, or thought of by another. Be especially careful of “borrowing” information from the internet; the best thing is to document every source you use.
Materials: Two college-ruled spiral notebooks (one for writing and one for your reading journals), laptop/tablet/binder (whichever you can bring to school), college-ruled paper, Highlighters: yellow, blue, green and pink, Blue or black pen, and the book Thank you for Arguing written by Jay Heinrich.
Novels will be provided but you are encouraged to purchase a copy in order to annotate:
Tentative Syllabus (subject to change at my discretion)
Semester 1:Introduction to Rhetoric
Each Nine Weeks:
Grammar and composition review
Journals- where we practice short essays and particular writing skills
Non-literary analytical essay (various topics) rough and final drafts, peer editing activities
Outside Reading (book reports)
SAT vocabulary study
Tests over literature read for a particular unit or grading period
1st Quarter
Literature Strand:
Into the Wild, Jack Krakauer
Things They Carried, Tim O’Brein (may run into 2nd Quarter a bit)
American Literature:
Writing Strand:
Profile essay
Introduction to three types of essays- Analysis, Argument, and Synthesis
Rhetoric- The rhetorical triangle, Toulmin’s method, critical technological literacy
SOAPSTONE- Examine and respond to columnists’ writings
Thank you for Arguing, Jay Heinrich
2nd Quarter
Literature Strand:The Puritans, the Rationalists, and the Romantics/ Transcendentalists: Cooper, Irving, Hawthorn, Poe
The Scarlett Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne
Selected Non Fiction Readings/Essays
Writing Strand:
16th, 17th, and 18th century short literary and non-fiction selections
Media Analysis essay
Synthesis essay
Final Portfolio of Major Essays
Counts as your final Exam Grade
Semester 2: 19th and 20th century American Literature
Each Nine Weeks:
Grammar and composition review
Journals- where we practice short essays and particular writing skills
Non-literary analytical essay (various topics) rough and final drafts, peer editing activities
Outside Reading (book reports)
SAT vocabulary study
Tests over literature read for a particular unit or grading period
3rdQuarter
Literature Strand:
Fitzgerald, Hemingway
The Great Gatsby
The Modernists and The Postmodernists
American Poetry
Selected Readings:
Writing Strand:
How to write a Precis
Arguing a Position essay
Proposing a Solution essay
They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing
4th Quarter
Literature Strand: Drama
The Crucible, Arthur Miller
Varied Short Stories
Writing Strand:
How to write an annotated bibliography
Justifying an evaluation essay
Arguing for Cause and Effect essay
Research paper
I’m glad you are going to be in my class! It’s going to be a great year.
Mrs. Zimmerman
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