Advanced Placement Language and Composition NOTE: This syllabus may change at the discretion of the teacher as long as it continues to meet the academic rigor and college-level experience that is the promise of AP. Overview AP English Language and Composition is a rigorous course in which students read a variety of complex texts. Although students will read some works of fiction, the emphasis will be on non-fiction including but not limited to: speeches, essays, journals, and memoirs. Focus will be on audience and purpose and rhetorical strategies. Students will synthesize material from texts and cite sources using the Modern Language Association (MLA) documentation format. Students will write effectively and confidently in a variety of modes with a focus on expository, analytical, and argumentative writing based on personal experience and observation and from the close readings of primary and secondary sources. Although some of the works are for the experienced reader and may include potentially sensitive, controversial, or mature topics, every title has been selected with careful consideration for depth and insight and complexity of language. Criteria for study may include recommendation by a library association (YALSA), or other experts in the field of literature, Pulitzer Prize winner or nominee, Nobel Prize winner or nominee, and/or use of the work on the AP exam. Also be assured that the presentation of any material will be handled in a thoughtful, professional, and tasteful manner. Upon completing the AP English Language and Composition course, students should be able to: analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques; apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing; create and sustain arguments based on readings, research and/or personal experience; write for a variety of purposes; produce expository, analytical and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary sources, cogent explanations and clear transitions; demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in their own writings; demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary sources; move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing and review; write thoughtfully about their own process of composition; revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience; analyze image as text; and evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers. Students will also engage in class discussion and will respond in both informal and formal writings with the goal of developing persuasive and analytical skills.
Timed Readings: During the first semester students will be given complex passages from previous AP English exams to read and annotate. The annotations focus on: sentence length and structure, paraphrasing, central argument, assertions, rhetorical strategies, and vocabulary. Students will have from one to three days to work with the text before answering the multiple choice questions. The timeframe for reading and annotating will be incrementally reduced until students are prepared to read the texts and answer the questions in one class period. Vocabulary: To help build and utilize vocabulary, students will keep a year-long record of vocabulary words. This list will be kept in a spiral in 2 sections. The first section is a running list of words. In the second section students will categorize the word according to part of speech, label connotation of word as positive, negative, or neutral, and indicate common usages for the word. Students will incorporate vocabulary into their own writings throughout the year. Vocabulary will come from: SAT Vocabulary lists Vocabulary from reading texts Other various sources from which we may discover new words Editing and Revising: Students will workshop their essays and some journal entries using peer evaluation sheets. The focus will begin with sentence variation and syntax and skills will be added as the year progresses. Students will also record error types on their goof cards and receive exercises tailored to their individual needs in order improve and eradicate such errors in future writing. The teacher will edit student essays, providing feedback on errors and ways to improve syntax. Sentences taken from student essays will be used as exemplars for group, class, and individual revisions and discussions. Students will work through revision process (peer evaluation, teacher evaluation) before submitting a typed, final draft for grading. Sources: English Language and Composition Course Description, Fall 2010 Lundsford, Andrea A., John J Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters. Everything s an Argument: With Readings. Boston: 3 rd ed, 2004. McCuen, Jo Ray, Anthony c. Winkler. Readings for Writers. 9 th ed., 1998. Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays. Boston: 2004. On-line Resources News articles in print and on television
Summer Reading: 1984 by George Orwell Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Unit One: Language Matters Polonius: What do you read, my lord? Hamlet: Words, words, words. Polonius: What is the matter, my lord? Hamlet: Between who? Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord. Hamlet: Slanders, sir. Hamlet, II, 2, 200-208 The summer reading will form the basis for the first unit of study. Students will complete a comprehensive packet over each of the literary works. Each author presents a completely different vision for the future, a type of warning for what may come if political, social, and scientific/ technological trends continue. Students will analyze the argument in each selection. At the end of the unit, students will write a paper in which they support the argument from one of the novels using modern-day examples to prove their thesis. The second half of this unit is devoted to the study of language and style. Literary Elements: Doublespeak Forms: euphemism jargon gobbledygook inflated language Rhetorical Strategies The Three Appeals Intro to Sentence Types Syntax Style Strategies: Vocabulary Program Graff Template Fiction Card Journal (cartoons with allusions or with political, social, or religious content) Additional Readings: Essay: Politics and the English Language by George Orwell Essay: I Know Why the Caged Bird Can t Read by Francine Prose Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak Essay: How to Say Nothing in 500 Words by Paul Roberts Aldous Huxley s Foreword to Brave New World Essay: Simplicity from Defining Rhetoric by William Zinsser Essay: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Successfully--in Ten Minutes by Stephen King Passage Analysis: Neil Postman s essay contrasting the two works
Sample Activities: Newspeak Fairy Tale: Students rewrite a beloved fairy tale using the principles of Newspeak. Doublespeak in our daily lives: Students will spend one week gleaning examples of doublespeak forms from newspapers, newscasts, commercials, advertisements, and other media. Class will analyze and categorize examples and discuss purpose and effect. Doublespeak Webquest: http://damronplanet.com/doublespeak/typesofdoublespeak.htm Students will look at various forms of doublespeak to better understand George Orwell s argument against the decadence of our language. Rhetorical Analysis of Brave New World: Chapter 3 Students will read closely and critically to identify and analyze mood and tone. They will also analyze the construction of the chapter for effect and make inferences about societal values. Literary Terms for Analysis: contrast rhetorical shift irony allusion distortion juxtaposition syntactical structures
Unit Two: Voices of Freedom: History and Politics The focus of this unit is on persuasion and the speech. Students will read speeches from the American Revolution to the present analyzing purpose, audience, appeals, and stylistic devices. Although most of my students learned SOAPS in PreAP classes, I do spend some time reacquainting them with this strategy; it is an excellent first activity for analysis, and we do have students who enter the AP program without PreAP experience, so I feel the time is well-spent. I also use the Graff Template and the Toulmin Model. We end this unit with The Crucible since it is filled with logical fallacies. We also discuss the McCarthy era. Strategies for Persuasive argumentation: Logos Pathos Ethos Effective Tools of Persuasion: Concession Counterargument o Acknowledging o Accommodating o Refuting Syntax Techniques: Parallelism Rhetorical Question Tri-colon Reversal Repetition o Polysyndetion o Anaphora o Anadiplosis o Epanalepsis o Epistrophe Readings: Speech in the Virginia Convention Declaration of Independence Speeches from Thomas Jefferson Patrick Henry Abraham Lincoln Elizabeth Cady Stanton Martin Luther King, Jr. John F. Kennedy other political figures
Sample Activities: Figurative Language and Argument: Students read Chapter 6 of Everything s an Argument prior to analyzing one of the speeches for figurative language. If the speech is particularly long, students are placed in groups to work with a portion of the piece. As a follow-up activity, students choose a short one to three paragraphs piece of non-fiction that is particularly rich with figurative language to rewrite, taking out all of the tropes. They read the original and revised versions aloud in class. Rhetorical Analysis: Read the Gettysburg Address carefully and, in a well-organized essay, analyze the rhetorical strategies that Lincoln uses to achieve his purpose. Imitation Exercise: After careful stylistic analysis, students will choose a passage from one of the speeches to emulate, focusing on vocabulary and syntax. Famous Trials: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm After reading The Crucible, students research a famous trial and present their findings to the class. Students draw parallels and discuss outcomes.
Unit Three, Part A: Developing the Argument This writing-intensive unit focuses on crafting the argument. Students utilize the Toulmin argument in their own writing. They distinguish the difference between argument and persuasion, and they analyze the fallacies of argument. Major Literary Elements: Argument Persuasion Enthymemes Claims Warrants Reasons Qualifiers Evidence Types of Argument: Definition Causal Evaluative Proposals Sample Activity: Students read Chapter 9 of Everything s an Argument. Using the GUIDE to writing an argument of definition (pp. 160-164), students find and research a topic, formulate a claim, and provide evidence for the claim prior to writing an argument of definition. Unit Three, Part B: Synthesizing the Material: The Final Piece In actuality, students have been preparing for the synthesis essay all along; now it is time for them to demonstrate their ability to form an opinion, develop a thesis, and support their central argument using and documenting their sources. Most of the synthesis material can be categorized broadly under such headings as Education, Politics, Gender, and Multiculturalism: however, due to the everchanging world we live in, I maintain flexibility in allowing students to incorporate issues of interest to them. I do steer my students away from some of the more polarizing topics such as abortion, the death penalty, and some religious questions. I am all for healthy discussion, but I feel the first two topics have been debated to death pardon the pun and the last triggers a firestorm of emotion, but little rational reasoning.
Unit Four: Humor in Literature: Now That s Funny! Overview: The ability to recognize humor in literature requires more sophisticated comprehension skills than any other type of literature. After all, the foundation of satire is irony, and the foundation of irony is the concealment of truth: what you expect doesn t happen, what you say is not what you mean; what you know, others do not. Using cartoons, newspaper columns, and classic and contemporary essays, students identify and analyze for effect rhetorical strategies used by the humorist. We also analyze the visual argument. Finally, students produce their own humorous literature: cartoons, parodies, essays, and personal narratives. Major Literary Elements: Types of Satire Horation Juvenalian Literary Techniques: Allusion Anecdote Bathos Burlesque Euphemism Hyperbole Irony Juxtaposition Malapropism Parody Satire Understatement Wit Readings for Analysis: assorted newspaper columns by Dave Barry from Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris Why We Crave Horror Movies by Stephen King Corn-Pone Opinions by Mark Twain A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
Sample Activities: #1. Students begin their exploration of humor by analyzing cartoons which use literary allusions to achieve a humorous effect. The humor relies upon the reader s ability to analyze the elements in the drawing, to make connections between the drawing and the caption, and to reach understanding based on subtle clues and prior knowledge. 1. Describe the content of the drawing in as much detail as possible. 2. What is the irony of the cartoon? 3. What does a reader have to know to understand the humor/irony of the cartoon? 4. What comment about life is the cartoonist making? 5. If he is satirizing, who or what is he satirizing? #2. Students read the newspaper column carefully, making notes, highlighting, and labeling the satiric (humor) techniques as they read. They then write an essay discussing the techniques and how they contribute to the tone of the column. Since all satire is a mockery of some kind, they must explain what is being mocked and the type(s) of satire being used. #3. Students investigate a current issue, determine their position, and design a bumper sticker supporting their argument. Focus will be on the visual as well as on the use of language. #4. Students spend three days seeking humorous t-shirts. They analyze the visual elements and present them to the class. #5. After several days of close reading and annotating A Modest Proposal, students answer questions on rhetoric and style and answer simulated AP exam questions over the piece. Unit Five: Reading Non-fiction: Biography, Autobiography, Memoir While students are diligently preparing for the AP Language exam through extensive in-class reading and writing assignments from previous AP exams, they will read out of class a non-fiction work of their choosing and complete a comprehensive analysis packet. This culminating activity brings us back where we began with the long piece of literature. Sample Reading Choices: On Writing by Stephen King The Things They Carried by Tim O Brien Angela s Ashes by Frank McCourt Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert Black Boy by Richard Wright Mark Twain s Autobiography (posthumous) Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez