AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION Tentative Course Syllabus

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1 AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION Tentative Course Syllabus Instructor: Laura A. Gianini Location: Room 404 Contact Information: Phone: Plan Period: 6 th hour Course Overview: AP Literature and Composition is a rigorous, year-long, college-level reading and writing course concentrating on mature literature from American, British and world writers from the sixteenth century to contemporary times. Applying critical theory while close reading these texts, students will deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider a work s structure, style, and themes, as well as smaller-scale elements, including the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. Although critical analysis makes up the bulk of student writing for the course, wellconstructed creative writing assignments may help students see from the inside how literature is written. Course Expectations: To further your understanding, you are required to complete all reading assignments, participate in classroom discussions, and develop writing through multiple revisions. For class, you are required to have a notebook just for AP Literature assignments, index cards, highlighters, and a flash drive or Google drive access for course work. You are expected to attend every class session. If you are absent from class for any circumstance, you are responsible for gathering necessary assignments and notes. Therefore, you are expected to be prepared with any work due at the next class period. You can keep track of work through SIS and via with the instructor. If you are absent for an extended amount of time, it is up to you to speak to the instructor for options regarding assignment completion. As this is a college-level class, you are expected to work diligently and further master literary interpretation and written analysis. This may include extra work time, independent research, and tutoring assistance. Course Jago, Shea, Scanlon, and Aufses, Literature and Composition: Reading, Writing, and Thinking, Bedford/St. Martin s Elements of Literature: Essentials of British and World Literature, Sixth Course, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today: A User- Friendly Guide, Second Edition Daniel Reed, Vocabulary Power Plus for the New SAT: Book Four, Prestwich House Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights Albert Camus, The Stranger Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury John Gardner, Grendel Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis Jhumpa Lahiri, The Interpreter of Maladies Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

2 Late Work Policy: As each assignment builds on the understanding of AP Literature skills, it is imperative that all work is turned in on time and complete. If you turn in an assignment one day late, you will earn 50% of the final score. If there is a computer emergency, you may always your assignment as an attachment any time before it is due. Academic Integrity: The Latin meaning of plagiarism is kidnapper and literary thief. Using someone else s ideas, words, or works without proper documentation is plagiarism and will not be tolerated within this English classroom. Any assignments found to be plagiarized will receive an automatic zero and will result in severe consequences from the school. This class holds the same standards of academic integrity as other college classes. Grading Scale: A = % (weighted at 5 points for G.P.A.) B = 80-89% (weighted at 4 points for G.P.A.) C = 70-79% (weighted at 3 points for G.P.A.) D = 60-69% (unweighted at 1 point for G.P.A.) F = 59% or below (unweighted at 0 points for G.P.A.) *Quarter and semester grades will be based on a weighted system. 60% Extensive work = considerable work and study on major essays, tests, unit assignments, and midterm and semester exams. 40% Daily work = the day to day work in and outside of class: assignments, quizzes, journals, and participation. Each assignment will be given a point value based on its worth in the class. Students should remember that some assignments are for practice and improvement purposes and, therefore, may not receive a grade. Participation points may be given during class discussion and activities. Semester 1 Fiction, Poetry, and Drama Weeks 1 2: Introduction to AP Literature and Composition UNDER CONSTRUCTION NO SUMMER READING FOR SCHOOL YEAR Texts (students will select two): Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair Complete a Multiple Choice Diagnostic to preview types of question stems and gauge ability. Complete an AP free response prompt to test close reading and analysis skills; students will use summer reading selections for texts. Plan, draft, revise, and edit a literary analysis essay on one summer reading text. Weeks 3-4: Epic Literature Burton Raffel, trans., Beowulf John Gardner, Grendel Herbert Mason, trans., Gilgamesh Homer, The Iliad

3 John Gardner, trans., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Dante Alighieri, The Inferno John Milton, Paradise Lost Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock Complete AP multiple choice passages. Identify incorrect multiple choice question types; complete chart indicating answer patterns. Engage in a classroom debate regarding the epic hero definition and its connection to course texts. Week 5: Poetry (Ballads and Sonnets) Anonymous, Lord Randall and Get Up and Bar the Door Francesco Petrarch, Sonnet 42 John Donne, Song, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, Meditation 17, Death Be Not Proud, and The Flea William Shakespeare, Sonnets 18, 29, 116, 130, and 138 Respond to a timed AP-style poetry prompt analyzing a ballad or sonnet s literary techniques and authorial purpose. Identify inadequate or misplaced diction in scored poetry prompt essay; rewrite specific paragraphs or sections for peer evaluation. Weeks 6-7: Drama (Shakespearian) William Shakespeare, Macbeth Compose a literary analysis essay applying psychoanalytic theory. Respond to a timed AP-style prose prompt centering on Macbeth or similar passages and multiple choice passages. Identify syntax usage in scored prose prompt essay; rewrite a paragraph or section adopting a variety of syntactical structures. Week 8: Poetry (Carpe Diem) Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love Sir Walter Raleigh, The Nymph s Reply to the Shepherd Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress o Write a poem as the addressee of To His Coy Mistress to the original speaker.

4 Weeks 8-9: Poetry (Modern) Sherman Alexie, The Powwow at the End of the World Margaret Atwood, Siren Song Lucille Clifton, Homage to My Hips Billy Collins, The Blues, Introduction to Poetry, and Weighing the Dog E.E. Cummings, anyone lived in a pretty how town, the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls, and somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond Stephen Dunn, Charlotte Bronte in Leeds Points T.S. Eliot, Hollow Man and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Ted Hughes, The Horses Edna St. Vincent Millay, Love is not All Gabriela Mistral, Fear Sylvia Plath, Daddy Theodore Roethke, My Papa s Waltz Wislawa Szymborska, The End and the Beginning Respond to a timed AP-style poetry prompt featuring the analysis of two poems and complete multiple choice passages. Identify areas with insufficient evidence in scored poetry prompt essay; review original text and add supporting details with appropriate citations to a selected section. Week 10: Speech/Debate/Essay Elizabeth I, Tilbury Speech Margaret Cavendish, Female Orations Daniel Defoe, The Education of Women Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women Compose a feminist criticism essay that incorporates at least 3 texts from this semester s readings. Week 11: Satire/Allegory Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal and Gulliver s Travels Voltaire, Candide Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote John Bunyan, Pilgrim s Progress Respond to a timed AP-style free response prompt and multiple choice passages. Construct an original satirical essay that will require research on the topic to provide contextual/historical importance. Week 12: Novel (Surrealistic/Existentialist)

5 Albert Camus, The Stranger Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis Respond to a timed AP-style prose prompt on one of the following: Interpret the usage of existentialist characteristics and concept of the absurd and construct a written analysis of Camus s purpose and theme in The Stranger. Interpret the usage of surrealistic characteristics and construct a written analysis of Kafka s purpose and theme in The Metamorphosis. Identify analytical and presentation weaknesses in scored prose prompt essay; reconstruct analysis and add evidence to defend a solidified position for a small group discussion. Week 13: Frame Stories Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron N.J. Dawood, trans., The Thousand and One Nights Compose a modern day Canterbury Tale with a prologue in poetic form, a story with a moral and entertainment value, and an original character point of view. Weeks 13-14: Short Stories Chinua Achebe, Marriage is a Private Affair Elizabeth Bowen, The Demon Lover Anton Chekov, The Bet F. Scott Fitzgerald, Babylon Revisited Graham Greene, The Destructors Flannery O Connor, A Good Man is Hard to Find Leo Tolstoy, How Much Land Does a Man Need? John Updike, A & P Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron Alice Walker, Everyday Use Respond to a timed AP-style prose prompt consisting of two texts and multiple choice passages. Identify the weaknesses (diction, syntax, evidence, etc.) of scored prose prompt essay; write a brief reflection of areas needing improvement. Weeks 15-18: Novels and Drama (Regional/World Literature) William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard Complete multiple choice, prose prompt, poetry prompt, and free response prompt from a released AP Literature and Composition exam. Analyze scored multiple choice and prompt essay responses for individual patterns and construct a plan for next semester s comprehension and writing goals.

6 Semester 2 British Literature from 1790 The Romantic Era Weeks 1-3: Romantic Poetry William Blake, The Tyger, The Lamb, The Chimney Sweeper (Innocence), The Chimney Sweeper (Experience), A Poison Tree, and London William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey, Westminster Abbey, The World Is Too Much With Us, Ode: Intimations on Immortality, We Are Seven, and London 1802 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Kahn and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Lord Byron, She Walks in Beauty and Child Harold s Pilgrimage Percy Shelley, Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, and Song: To the Men of England John Keats, When I Have Fears, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, and On The Sonnet Respond to a timed AP-style poetry prompt on Bright Star by John Keats. Identify weak areas of interpretation, evidence, or style in scored poetry prompt; rewrite one paragraph focusing on the improvement in one of these areas. Compose a literary analysis essay on the Romantic poets and their usage of a specific literary element. Weeks 4-5: Romantic Novel Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Respond to a timed AP-style prose prompt on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Respond to a timed AP-style free response requiring the usage of Romantic texts. Compare and contrast scored prose and free response prompt essays for organization, evidence, diction, syntax, and overall style; write a reflection regarding patterns of composition and a proposed action plan to improve future writings. The Victorian Era Weeks 6-8: Romanic/Victorian Novel Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights Respond to a timed AP-style prose prompt on Tess of the D Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Plan, draft, revise, and edit a critical theory analysis research essay on Wuthering Heights.

7 Weeks 9-10: Victorian Poetry Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott and Ulysses Robert Browning, My Last Duchess and Porphyria s Lover Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43, To George Sand: A Desire, and To George Sand: A Recognition Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market A.E. Houseman, To an Athlete Dying Young Thomas Hardy, Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave, The Darkling Thrush, and Drummer Hodge Respond to a timed AP-style poetry prompt on Promises like Pie-Crust by Christina Rossetti. Rewrite one paragraph from the scored poetry prompt essay; then, indicate the reason and the goal of the revision. Weeks 11-12: Victorian Drama Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest Respond to a timed AP-style free response prompt utilizing texts from the Victorian era. Compare and contrast the past two scored free response prompt essays: Romantic and Victorian. Then, write a brief reflection on accomplished improvements and needed adjustments. The Modern Era Week 13: Modern Poetry William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium, The Wild Swans at Coole, A Prayer for My Daughter, and The Second Coming Dylan Thomas, Fern Hill and Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night Respond to a timed AP-style poetry prompt and multiple choice passages. Select one area for revision (organization, analysis, evidence, diction, syntax, etc.) of scored poetry prompt essay and revise essay for this component. Weeks 14-15: Modern Short Stories Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare s Sister and Mrs. Dalloway James Joyce, Araby and The Dead D. H. Lawrence, The Rocking Horse Winner and Piano

8 Katherine Mansfield, The Doll s House, Miss Brill, and Bliss George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant Doris Lessing, No Witchcraft for Sale Compose an argumentative essay emphasizing an author s techniques in two of his/her texts. Week 16-18: Modern Novel Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Respond to a timed AP-style prose prompt on the following: Interpret the breakdown of a utopian society into a dystopian one and construct a written analysis of Huxley s purpose and theme in Brave New World. Identify analytical and presentation weaknesses in scored prose prompt essay; reconstruct analysis and add evidence to defend a solidified position for a small group discussion. Respond to a timed AP-style free response prompt utilizing Modern texts. Respond to a complete AP Literature multiple choice exam.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS: ESSAYS: Course Syllabus A.P. Literature & Composition Brian Jennings

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS: ESSAYS: Course Syllabus A.P. Literature & Composition Brian Jennings Course Syllabus A.P. Literature & Composition Brian Jennings This course is designed to challenge and train the literary analytic, evaluative and writing skills of seniors who have followed a rigorous