Advanced Placement Literature and Composition _1 Credit Full Year Website: bb9.misd.net A login and password will be provided to you. Advanced Placement Literature and Composition is a full-year class designed to deliver the rigor of a college course to high-school students interested in challenging themselves beyond the level of the usual high-school English class. Its dual intentions are to prepare students to take the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition exam and to acclimate them to the expectations and rewards of a college curriculum. In this course, students will engage in a wide variety of learning activities, including the close reading, interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of poetry, prose, and drama; the writing of formal, semiformal, and informal essays for various purposes; the discussion of texts, both in-class and via electronic bulletin board; the study and use of significant vocabulary; and the development of grammatical and stylistic skills. Students will develop an understanding of the power of language, both in the texts they read and in their own writings. It is expected that students arriving in this class have taken Honors English in the tenth grade, with its focus on British literature, and Advanced Placement Language and Composition in the eleventh grade, with its primary literary focus on American literature, and thus the twelfth grade year, though encompassing important, previously unstudied works of American and British literature, will also cover literature not originally written in English. Students who have not taken these courses are expected to select significant works of American and British literature for their required summer reading in order to supplement what they have studied in their regular literature courses. Students are expected to be conscientious and thorough in their approach to writing. They are expected to make useful, oral contributions to class, both during formal discussions of texts and during everyday learning experiences. Finally, being prepared each day means the completion of all assigned readings and writings. It is critical that every student pulls his or her own weight. Further, dedication to academic honesty is of the utmost importance; proper documentation is critical, and as the year progresses, we will spend time determining how and when to best use outside material as an aid to understanding and expression. Beyond issues of documentation, anyone caught purposely engaging in academic dishonesty plagiarism, etc. will be dealt with in accordance with the department s official stance. Finally, recall that students are held to the standards of the contract they signed when they decided to enter the course. Students summer reading notebooks must be complete, and they are expected to remain in the course for its duration, regardless of grade, except for certain extenuating circumstances which are not enumerated here. They are strongly encouraged to take the relevant A.P. exam in the spring.
Primary Assigned Text Perrine, Laurence, and Arp, R. Thomas, eds. Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense. 6 th ed. Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993. Program of Literary Study Literary study is divided by genre. The first unit is poetry, the second prose fiction, the third drama. There will also be a brief study of certain nonfiction texts, primarily excerpts from philosophers related to existentialism. Following these units there will be a review of all genres in direct preparation for the A.P. test. Unit One: Poetry Poems in this unit will be read in the context of the surrounding chapters, having been selected for their use in demonstrating the items for study and understanding (noted below). Some will be read together in class and discussed in an extemporaneous fashion; others will be assigned as homework and discussed the following day. Still others will be the subjects of periodic impromptu essays (as described in a subsequent section). This unit runs about six weeks. ITEMS FOR STUDY AND UNDERSTANDING: o Identification and understanding of the voice of speaker in contrast to voice of poet o Identification of theme o Identification of sound and other devices o Understanding of the contribution of structure to theme and purpose o Understanding of connotation and denotation o Recognition of the particular intensity of language in poetry o Understanding of poetic genre, such as sentimental, didactic, rhetorical, lyric o Identification and understanding of figurative language o Identification and interpretation of irony, tone, paradox, overstatement, understatement, allusion TEXT: o Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense REPRESENTATIVE POETS (this is not an exhaustive list): Poets and poems read are subject to change. o Tennyson o Owen o MacLeish o Sandburg o Plath o Dickinson o Shakespeare o Frost o Alighieri o Eliot o Jarrell o Ferlinghetti o Auden o Donne o Cisneros o Crane o Anonymous lyricists o Et al.
Unit Two: Prose Fiction This unit is divided into short fiction and long fiction. Short stories (taken largely from the Perrine text) in this unit will be read in the context of the surrounding chapters, having been selected for their use in demonstrating the items for study and understanding (noted below). Some will be read together in class and discussed in an extemporaneous fashion; others will be assigned as homework and discussed the following day. Still others will be the subjects of periodic impromptu essays (as described in a subsequent section). Novels are assigned to be read independently, with twice-weekly discussions while the work is being read. Novels assigned vary from year to year based upon perceived student interest and availability of books. Novels are the subjects of both polished papers and periodic impromptus. This unit runs about twelve weeks, with time lost for midterms in the middle. ITEMS FOR STUDY AND UNDERSTANDING: o Identification and understanding of voice of character in contrast to voice of author o Identification of theme(s) o Understanding of artistic unity in contrast to plot manipulation o Identification and understanding of social commentary and satire o Understanding the contribution of structure to theme and purpose o Understanding the significance of narrative structure, both traditional and experimental o Understanding of various methods of characterization and character type o Identification and understanding of irony, tone, allusion, symbol, and other devices TEXTS (for short fiction): o Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense o The Penal Colony by Franz Kafka (story collection) o The Crazy Iris by Kenzaburo Oe, ed. (story collection) TEXTS (novels): Not all novels will be read every year and titles are subject to change. o Candide, Voltaire o One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn o The Stranger, Albert Camus o Nectar in a Sieve, Kamala Markandaya o Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo REPRESENTATIVE SHORT STORIES: Stories read are subject to change. o The Destructors, Greene o Say Yes, Wolff o The Lottery, Jackson o Rape Fantasies, Atwood o In the Penal Colony, The Vulture, Poseidon, A Little Fable, Kafka o They re Made out of Meat, Bisson o A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, Hemingway
o The Law of Life, London o The Colorless Paintings, Sata o The Man I Killed, Ambush, How to Tell A True War Story, O Brien Unit Two-and-a-half: Philosophy and argument Though not strictly part of the prose fiction unit, this miniature unit is a useful lead-in to The Stranger, as well as an interesting introduction to certain popular philosophical tenets. The primary purpose is to provide students with a vocabulary for understanding basic concepts of existentialism so that it may be applied to Camus s novel. Additionally, students are introduced (or re-introduced) to important aspects of argumentation, such as standards for evaluating arguments and the importance of persuasive rhetoric. Material in this unit is delivered by means of lecture and readings of excerpts, some of which are read at home, some together in class and discussed in an extemporaneous fashion. This unit lasts about two weeks. ITEMS FOR STUDY AND UNDERSTANDING: o Basic vocabulary: subject, object, will, idea, ontology, phenomenology, essence o Sartrean concept of existence before essence o Camusian concept of the absurd o Nietzschean concepts of the ubermensch, slave and master morality, will to power TEXTS (all excerpted): o The Nietzsche Reader o The Age of Ideology, ed. Aiken o The Age of Analysis, ed. White o The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus o Suicide: An Absurd Reasoning, Camus o Existentialism and Human Emotions, Sartre Unit Three: Drama This unit consists of a study of the structure of drama Freytag s Pyramid, Open vs. Closed, Aristotelian unities as well as a review of important dramatic concepts like tragedy, comedy, soliloquy, and aside. As with the other genres, discussions of theme, symbol, allusion, and other significant aspects of literary understanding are integrated. The plays are selected to represent various dramatic approaches and also for their connection to previously studied material. This unit lasts about twelve weeks. ITEMS FOR STUDY AND UNDERSTANDING: o Understanding of the classical principles of tragedy o Identification and analysis of important dramatic vocabulary o Identification of theme(s) o Understanding of artistic unity in contrast to plot manipulation o Identification and understanding of social commentary and satire o Understanding the contribution of structure to theme and purpose o Understanding the significance of narrative structure, both traditional and experimental o Understanding of various methods of characterization and character type
TEXTS: o Identification and understanding of irony, tone, allusion, symbol, and other devices o Understanding and analysis of the traits of Theater of the Absurd Not all texts will be covered every year and titles are subject to change. o Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense: o Krapp s Last Tape, Samuel Beckett o Tartuffe, Moliere o Waiting for Godot, Beckett o King Lear, William Shakespeare o Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe o Bloodrites, Baraka o Here We Are, Parker o from Poetics, Aristotle o Tragedy and the Common Man, Miller Review Unit: Preparation for the A.P. exam Following completion of the drama unit, we will revisit each of the units briefly in order to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition exam. Previously read material will be reviewed, but new works will also be covered for the purpose of reviewing important concepts or skills. In addition to literature studied and reviewed, this unit will focus heavily on examination of sample test items from released exams and a review of strategies for organizing effective writing in a short time. There will also be much discussion of ideas and works considered significant to the writing of the Senior Thesis, as described in a subsequent section. Polished Papers Seven polished papers will be assigned through the course of the year, at a rate of two per quarter for the first three quarters and one in the fourth quarter. Polished papers are defined as those that students work on outside of class, that are brought through a thorough writing process, and that undergo some form of revision during their construction. Polished papers are not eligible to be rewritten after they have been submitted, but students are encouraged to seek feedback from the instructor, either in person or via electronic bulletin board, while writing them. Teacher comments focus mainly on issues of organization, logic, and content, rather than surface errors, which students are deemed fully capable of handling on their own. Polished papers may also go through a supervised peer-editing process during class time. Although basic descriptions of typical paper topics appear below, full descriptions, requirements, and rubrics may always be found at the course website. With every paper there is the understanding that students will exhibit the ability to prove general statements by means of carefully selected details. Students are also encouraged to develop a personal voice in their writing, though this is not to overshadow qualities that are understood to be aspects of academic writing: appropriate choice of tone and level of formality, balanced use of examples and explanations, and the basic foundations of argumentation.
Do not expect there to be exceedingly rapid turnaround on these papers; they will be thoroughly marked with both statements about the paper at hand and suggestions for future improvement. No paper will ever be returned to you with only a grade on it. Polished papers will account for 40% of each marking period grade. REPRESENTATIVE POLISHED PAPER TOPICS: Not all topics are assigned every year. Topics are subject to change. Associated with Unit One: Poetry o Discuss Ten Definitions of Poetry by Carl Sandburg and Ars Poetica by Archibald MacLeish in terms of their relative effectiveness in providing a useful definition or description of poetry. o Explain how Cantos VI and VIII of Dante s Inferno fulfill a didactic purpose without sacrificing their narrative or poetic excellence. o Discuss the similar ways in which David Marlatt s Trout and William Shakespeare s Sonnet 130 flout common poetic expectations and achieve their purposes the more powerfully for having done so. Associated with Unit Two: Prose Fiction o Explain the significance of fiction in a factual world, discussing the value placed on, and the distinctions drawn between, the untruths we call fiction and the untruths we call lies. o Discuss how the Kafka microstories read in class Poseidon, A Little Fable, and The Vulture may be seen as poetic. o Explain how Bisson s They re Made out of Meat, Hemingway s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, and London s The Law of Life may be seen as works of philosophy, rather than (or in addition to) traditional narratives. o Discuss possible application (not allegory, ref. Tolkien fragment) of Kafka s In the Penal Colony to a modern social situation, general or specific. o Read and critique two of the three provided analyses of Camus s The Stranger, supporting your critique with references both to the critiques in question and the novel. Associated with Unit Three: Drama o Following the idea that, if everything is inherently meaningless (i.e., absurd), everything may have equal meaning imposed upon it, choose a page at random (you will have to explain how you achieved true randomness) from Waiting for Godot and explain its significance to the theme, purpose, and effect of the play as a whole. o Discuss the significance of structure (both syntax and dramatic structure) to the meaning of Waiting for Godot. Assigned during the Review Unit o The Senior Thesis. Incorporating what you have learned this year and in previous years, both in school and out, develop a paper about literature and the human condition. It will be necessary to make extensive reference to specific works of literature that represent,
challenge, ponder, and perhaps even alter the human condition. In addition to discussing the literature, a thoughtful inquiry into what is meant by the human condition is also expected. Semiformal essays ( Impromptus ) Semiformal essays always take the form of timed, in-class writings. These essays are assigned every two weeks and the topics are evenly distributed among responses to provided poems and prose passages and novels completed for class. They are graded based upon rubrics that closely resemble those made available through released A.P. Literature and Composition exams. Students are allowed to rewrite one essay per quarter the one that they feel they can improve the most. Semiformal essays will account for 30% of each marking period grade. REPRESENTATIVE EXAMPLES: o Read the given passage from Sandra Cisneros s The House on Mango Street and discuss the techniques Cisneros uses to effectively characterize her 11-year-old protagonist, Esperanza. o Read W.H. Auden s The Unknown Citizen. Write an essay in which you discuss the techniques he employs to characterize the society from which the poem proceeds. o Structure, content, and theme are intimately related. Write an essay in which you explain how the structure of Waiting for Godot works with the content to establish the meaning of the work. o Read the provided poem and write an organized essay in which you identify literary techniques employed by the poet figurative language, symbol, tone, mood, or imagery, for example and explain how these techniques are used to communicate meaning. Informal essays ( Dialectic contributions ) Dialectic contributions are written for credit, but not graded on a point scale. Though they are not graded based upon specific rubrics, these essays are expected to be organized and thoughtful in order to receive credit. Six essays of roughly three-hundred words are to be written per quarter, and these are to be kept by students in their notebooks (or in a computer file) until they are collected, twice per marking period. Topics are occasionally specifically assigned, but students are otherwise responsible for choosing and developing topics of their own, based upon current readings or subjects discussed in class. These are written to stimulate discussion and practice the skills used in more polished pieces. Informal essays and other homework will account for 10% of each marking period grade. REPRESENTATIVE EXAMPLES: o Read the provided excerpt from The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Paying attention to diction, structure, and detail, discuss the way that McCarthy subtly establishes setting and generates mood. o The Stranger is well characterized as a philosophical novel. How might a novel concerned largely with philosophy be structured? How might it deal with plot? Character? How is it likely to differ from a novel not characterized as philosophical?
o Find an example of a prose passage that you consider to be good writing. It may be from an assigned work, or from a piece you located on your own. Paying attention to various qualities of the writing, explain why you find it to be good. o Interpret Bloodrites as best you can, incorporating what you understand of symbolism and the social struggles of African-Americans, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. Additional Learning Activities Several learning activities will persist across unit lines, not being tied to the study of any of the genres in particular. These include the following. VOCABULARY STUDY In order to familiarize (or re-familiarize) students with useful vocabulary, every week students will be responsible for memorizing the definitions and parts of speech of five new words, as well as five words selected from those groups of words previously studied. Knowledge of these words will be assessed each Friday with a quiz that requires students to correctly and fluidly use these words in context. The words are selected from multiple choice questions on released exams. Vocabulary and other quizzes will account for 10% of each marking period grade. A.P. TEST PRACTICE USING ITEMS FROM RELEASED EXAMS In order to familiarize students with the form of the exam and the types of questions that it contains, we will periodically practice multiple-choice sections from previous tests. We will also review and evaluate released student essays, then measure our evaluations against the actual scores, in order to obtain a realistic idea of readers expectations. DISCUSSION In order to clarify what is being studied literature, writing samples and models, social issues, topics of Dialectic Contributions we will periodically hold discussions in which students are expected to participate. In some cases discussions will also be held via online discussion board. Discussions are not lectures, which are entirely separate, rarer entities. Participation in discussion will account for 10% of each marking period grade. GRAMMAR AND WRITING STUDY Though it is expected that students will have a functional grasp of grammar by the time they reach this class, it is also understood that problems will arise. These will be addressed on an incidental basis, through context and demonstration. Stylistic improvement, particularly in relation to sentence structure and organization of arguments, is always a significant portion of this study. These issues are often addressed by means of the informal essays.