English Literature and Composition

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "English Literature and Composition"

Imogene Fisher
6 years ago
Views:

1 Mr. Detloff Garces Memorial High English Literature and Composition Description: An AP English Literature and Composition course engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students 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 such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. Objectives: English 12 (AP) is an advanced literature course designed to enhance all levels of literary interpretation while at the same time preparing you to take, and successfully pass, the AP test. Since the AP course in literature is offered for possible college credit, college standards will be required. You should be aware that the AP course in literature is very demanding, perhaps asking you to abandon preconceived or formulaic approaches to literary analysis, and hopefully asking you to engage the literature thoughtfully and critically. Therefore, upon completion of this course, you should be prepared for the following: To pass the AP exam To meet college expectations To write clearly and thoughtfully To read carefully and critically To appreciate the diversity inherent in literature Summer Reading: The following selections are to be read prior to the start of the year. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison PLUS two selections from the English 12 reading list. 1

2 Required Texts: Note specific editions when requested. Hamlet by William Shakespeare [New Folger Edition] Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen The Awakening by Kate Chopin Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad [Dover Thrift Edition] The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner *Classroom handouts (selected poems and short fiction) Grading Scale and Breakdown: % A % B % D % A 78-79% C % D 90-92% A % C 60-62% D % B % C % F 83-87% B NG given for serious and compelling reasons only. Calculating Grades: Grades will be determined based on total amount of points earned. However, the distribution of grades will be approximately as follows: Tests = 25% Homework = 15% Essays (in and out of class) = 25% Quizzes = 15% Summer Reading = 10% (of first quarter grade) Semester Final Exams = 20% (of the overall grade) Assignments Compositions Most of the assignments for this course are analytical, interpretive, and critical essays based upon the literature covered in class. Essentially, there are two types of essays assigned: AP free-response essays (in class) and interpretive essays (out of class). Occasionally students will be asked to complete creative assignments (student produced fiction and poetry, dialogues, and visual aids). Students will be given multiple opportunities to rewrite and give peer response to most of the written assignments; however, the end of term projects do not have a rewrite option. I, of course, will comment on your written work both before and after the assigned due date. Principally I 2

3 will be examining your essays for effective sentence structure, word choice, clarity, organization, and especially quality of commentary. To help develop these skills, we will have a writing workshop one week prior to the composition due date. During these workshops, we will focus on vocabulary and grammar instruction as they pertain to student need and as weaknesses present themselves in student work. Tests and Quizzes Tests are given at the conclusion of each unit. Usually tests are equally divided into objective/subjective components where the objective section is designed to test literal understanding of the text (AP close reading style) and the subjective section is designed to test overall synthesis and analysis of information. Sometimes the tests are exclusively essay exams, but this is not the norm. Quizzes are typically given on a daily biases, and as a result, they are primarily reading checks. Homework Students will be asked to complete daily reading assignments (totaling approximately min./class). Occasionally, students will be asked to engage the literature through various interactive assignments while they complete the daily reading requirement, these include (but are not limited to) study guide questions, dialectical reading journals, quote contextualization, and personal reflection. All written work will be submitted to Turnitin.com, and they are to be submitted prior to the class period. End of Term Projects First Semester Project This is a research paper on a Shakespearean play and one specific school of criticism that impacts the play. The specific requirements for this assignment will be distributed later, but for now, you should know that this is a 5-7 page paper utilizing numerous academic sources. Second Semester Project ( Notes Project ) This is an extensive project designed to prepare students for the open-ended question on the AP exam. This project will be assigned at the beginning of the 3 rd quarter and is due in May (the day before the AP exam). The project is the final exam for this semester, and therefore is 20% of the overall semester grade. The requirements for the project are as follows: 1. Select a novel or play from the AP reading list (distributed at the beginning of the second semester) 2. Finish reading the novel/play 3 rd quarter. 3. Consult the Literary Analysis handout. 4. Respond to the sections on the Literary Analysis handout. (There are 18 sections, and each section MUST have at least a 2 page response typed and double spaced) 3

4 Reading and Writing Schedule First Semester Week 1: Basic Terms and Application; Summer Reading Introduction to course; AP Terms (diction, imagery, tone, syntax, POV, organization) and selected short stories. AP style terms are defined and applied to various short stories, and students are introduced to careful reading and writing strategies, designed to model how to read and write like an AP student. Vandals by Alice Munro, Eleven by Sandra Cisneros, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, A Rose for Emily & Dry September by William Faulkner, The Open Boat by Stephen Crane, The Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges, The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway, and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson are all analyzed on the basis of style and the application of the stylistic terms introduced. Composition Style analysis essays are assigned during the short story unit. Students will apply the style terms to a story of their choice. Week 2 Finish short stories & AP terms; Sample AP multiple choice test (diagnostic) Composition AP free-response question (in class). Week 3-7: Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Worldview Hamlet (diction, imagery, syntax, motif, theme, symbolism, characterization). Since the first semester is dominated by identity literature (here, Hamlet, later Their Eyes Were Watching God and Brave New World) the type of identity struggles and the manner in which identity is formulated is emphasized. In addition to the multiple movie clips that illustrate the various portrayals of Hamlet, Michael Wood s In Search of Shakespeare video will be excerpted to illustrate the historical and cultural appreciation of Shakespeare. Composition Begin Shakespeare research, where students are expected to read a Shakespeare play out of class and complete a literary criticism paper. Two Hamlet papers are assigned (one on Shakespeare s style and one concerning Hamlet s character development). Week 8-9: Hamlet Connections & Critical Perspectives Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; literary allusion, POV, existentialism, and ironic comedy. Other pieces of literature might include Shakespeare in the Bush (a cultural perspective on Hamlet), The Management of Grief by Bharati Mukherjee, Tell Them Not to Kill Me! by Juan Rulfo (avenging murder in the contemporary world), Ophelia by Arthur Rimbaud, Words, words, words by 4

5 David Ives, and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot. The purpose here is to explore varying perspectives of text based on culture, gender, and historical time period. Also, a brief introduction to literary criticisms (Psychoanalytic, Formalist, Jungian, Feminist, New Historical, Deconstruction, etc.) will be defined and applied to Hamlet, thus paving the way for the first semester research paper. Alternative Assessment At the end of this unit, students will be asked to create an inventive connection to Hamlet in the form of a short story, or poem, or video, or drama, or any other appropriate form. Composition AP free-response question (in class); continue Hamlet research out of class (brief research consultations in class). Week 10-11: Seventh Century and Metaphysical Poetry (Petrarchan vs. Metaphysical Conceits) Poems by Shakespeare, Donne, Herbert, Marvell, Herrick, Marlowe, and Milton are discussed in relation to tone, diction, symbol, metaphor, verse style, and dramatic situation. Possible titles are The Flea, The Canonization, Death be not Proud, Batter my heart three-personed god, Go and catch a falling star, Mediation 17 For Whom the bell Tolls, A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, The Pulley, The Collar, Redemption, To His Coy Mistress, To the Virgins, to make much of time, Go Lovely Rose, To Althea from Prison, Shakespeare sonnets, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love, The Nymph s Reply. Other Voices The above poems are set against more modern and contemporary poets to underscore the same stylistic choices in a different voice. Such poems are Robert Frost s The silken tent, selected Emily Dickenson verse, and contemporary poets from The New Yorker are frequently selected for this purpose. Composition Workshop Shakespeare research papers. Poetry paper Students are asked to analyze a seventh century poem on the basis of stylistic choice. Such elements as tone, diction, imagery, assonance, consonance, alliteration, rhyme, meter, and other rhetorical and stylistic terms are applied to the poem and ultimately connected to thematic development. Week 12: Poetry Unit Conclusion Poetry presentations Creative oral presentation on a metaphysical poem designed to have the students illustrate the application of literary terms that have been emphasized in the course so far (pairs, 5-10 min.) and an original student created poem utilizing the concepts addressed in the poetry unit. 5

6 Week 13-17: Identity Novels Both Their Eyes Were Watching God and Brave New World advance the theme of identity from cultural and philosophical perspectives. As such, the two novels well be read in succession, thereby allowing the students to compare the novels based on thematic development, character development, symbolism, imagery (along with tone, diction, and POV). Composition AP free response question (in class); Compare/Contrast paper focusing on the identity theme in both novels. Week 18: Research Paper Due Final workshops of research paper drafts are completed in class, and preparation for final exams begin. Composition Rewrite of previous AP free response questions. Week 19 Exam week Second Semester Week 1-3: Neoclassic and Romantic Poetry The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope is studied in the context of neoclassic versification (heroic couplets, mock epic, and 18 th century didacticism) and the overall satiric structure. Stylistic terms from first semester are revisited and juxtaposed to the use of rhetorical terms (like chiasmus, caesura, anaphora, and zeugma). Afterwards, the Romantic poets serve as a contrast to the poetry of decorum and social order emphasized by the neoclassic. The Romantic poems might include Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake, Tintern Abbey, Resolution and Independence, Preface to the lyrical ballads, Ode: Intimations of Immortality, The Solitary Reaper, London, 1802, The world is too much with us, This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison, Frost at Midnight, Kubla Khan, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, She walks in beauty, Darkness, selection from Don Juan, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, On First Looking into Chapman s Homer, When I have fears that I may cease to be, Bright Star, Le Belle Dame sans Merci, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, To Autumn. Other voices Poems that extend the Romantic vision are studied during this unit as well; some possibilities are Whitman, Goethe, Baudelaire, and some contemporary poets. 6

7 Composition Begin Notes Project, a comprehensive analysis of an outside reading novel which is designed to be applicable to the open-ended question of the AP exam (on-going throughout the semester) and a short interruptive essay on one of the Romantic poems not discussed in class (4-5 paragraph essay) are both assigned at this time. Also, an AP free response question is assigned (in class). Week 4-7: Rapid Read Fiction & Preparation for the AP Open-ended Essay The open-ended question on the AP exam asks students to apply a general question to a specific piece of literature that the student chooses; as such, a broad exposure to numerous pieces of literature is a necessity. During this section of the course, students will read literature in rapid succession prior to class discussion, where a short reading test will be given on the first day of discussion; and then, while the class is discussing one piece of literature, the student will be reading the next piece of literature out-of-class. This continues until all three pieces of literature are completed. Students will read Pride and Prejudice, The Awakening, and Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Composition At the conclusion of the rapid read session (typically four weeks), students write a detailed essay comparing two of the pieces of literature read during this unit. Students also complete several AP open-ended free response questions (in class). Teacher sets up conferences for Notes Project. Week 8-10: T. S. Eliot and Modern Poetry Psychological theories are analyzed here in relation to the modernist poetry of T. S. Eliot, especially to the complex verse of The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Gerontion, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (if not discussed earlier), and Journey of the Magi. Other modernist poems by Yeats, Stevenson, and e. e. cummings are used to contrast and to develop other modernist ideas of identity. Briefly the modernist poets are contrasted to the Victorian poets (Browning s My Last Duchess, Tennyson s Ulysses, and Arnold s Dover Beach ), especially in regards to the development of the dramatic monologue and the psychological richness of the narrative perspective. Composition Students are assigned T. S. Eliot s Tradition and the Individual Talent and they are asked to explain Eliot s poetic theory as it is presented in this essay, and then they are to illustrate how Eliot s poetic theory manifests itself in his poetic works. Preparation for this essay is done out of class, while the actual writing of the essay is completed in class. This is the summative assignment for this unit. Week 11-13: Heart of Darkness and the Psychological Journey Heart of Darkness is analyzed here in relation to its psychological manifestations. Selections from Freud and Jung are applied to this novel in order to highlight the richness and complexity of the novel s theme. Students are asked to present key passages from the novel to the class, where the students emphasize the connections to the psychological readings previously discussed. Other, more 7

8 traditional aspects of the novel, such as symbolism, tone, imagery, and context are addressed, especially as they pertain to the psychological dimensions of human nature and identity. Composition Students write an expository essay on human nature and an AP free response question (in class). Teacher conducts conferences for the Notes Project. Week 14-16: Modernist Novel William Faulkner s The Sound and the Fury is studied here in relation to the modernist techniques established in the previous poetry unit, but also in relation to the psychological state of human development (the dominant theme for the second semester readings). Such psychological elements like identity, love, loss, abandonment, regret, family dynamic, and time perception are all discussed in relation to stylistic achievement. Composition AP free response question (in class). Creative dialogues are assigned. For this assignment students are asked to create a dialogue using three of the characters or authors studied this term. The dialogues are to be centered on each author s/character s perspective on the nature of humanity, and the dialogues must be written in the style of the character/author. Working drafts of the Notes Project are peer edited and workshopped with the instructor. Week 17: AP Review and Refresh Since the AP exam is usually given around this time, a brief review of the structure of the test and an intensive look at the close reading questions are completed here (actually samples of the AP multiple-choice questions are discussed throughout the academic year as they relate to the literature being discussed at that time). Here, the AP multiple-choice questions are discussed as they relate to literature we haven t studied. Students take another sample AP test and compare their achievement to the diagnostic test given at the beginning of the year. Composition The Notes Project is due the day prior to the AP exam. Students are allowed to rewrite any two of the previous AP free response essays. Week 18-End of Term: Contemporary Connections to literature For the remaining class sections, students will be exposed to movie clips and television shows that relate to the literature discussed throughout the course, after which students write reflection journals detailing their reactions to both the literature and the connections. 8

Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition

Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition Welcome to AP! For centuries, writers have employed imaginative literature to better understand humans perpetual search for identity. By practicing