A.P. English Literature and Composition

Harshman / Senior AP English syllabus, 1 A.P. English Literature and Composition / English 1120 – Introduction to Literature UMSL (Academic Year: 2017-18)

Mr. Harshman email: [email protected]

Semester One (fall) Course Description AP English Literature will give the motivated high school student an intensive study of representative works from both British and American authors, as well as works written in several different genres (including poetry, short stories, plays and novels) from the 16th century to contemporary times. I will teach students to hone their skills in written expression; including sentence structure (syntax), paragraph construction and essay organization. The themes, styles and structures of the works will be explored, discussed and analyzed through the students’ writings and their in-depth classroom discussion and discourse. I will teach students to write an interpretative piece of literature that is based on a careful observation of textual details, considering the work’s social, cultural and/or historical values (which will be covered in detailed multi-media presentations at the beginning of each unit and revisited throughout the reading of each text). Additionally, this course teaches students to write interpretative essays on various pieces of literature that is based on a careful observation of textual details, considering such elements as the use figurative language, imagery, symbolism and tone. These essay assignments will include frequent opportunities for students to write and rewrite formal, extended analyses outside of class. Furthermore, this class requires various types of writing:  Writing to explain (the writing of expository and analytical essays) in which students will be expected to draw upon textual details to develop an extended interpretation of a literary text.  Writing to Evaluate – Analytical and argumentative essays in which students draw upon textual details to make and explain judgments about a work’s artistry, quality and make & explain judgments (conclusions they have drawn) about a work’s social, historical and/or cultural values.

I will aptly prepare students not only to take the AP exam at the school year’s end, but for their continuing career into their undergraduate studies. Preparation for the AP exam will include frequent opportunities for students to write and rewrite timed, in-class responses (detailed below).

Grading Students’ grade will be comprised of points earned on the following types of assignments:

Homework / Self-directed Notes:  I will assign students nightly reading in classroom texts. I expect students to take home the classroom texts and return with them. Students will also be required to take notes on the nightly readings. These notes will include (but are not limited to): substantial discussion notes for class the following day, two questions (minimum) that they have regarding the text’s content and a summary of what have read. These notes will be checked as the students’ Do Now at the beginning of class.

30 points (calculated at the end of each week)

Class work:  Composition Book / Class Notes: I will expect students to maintain notes on each work we read. These notes will be taken from classroom lecture and presentations; including background on author and time period, genre, style, devices utilized (such as figurative language and diction) and significant quotes.

 Vocabulary: Students will be expected to complete weekly vocabulary exercises and completed bi-weekly vocabulary quizzes.

10 points (calculated at the end of each week) Harshman / Senior AP English syllabus, 2

 Discussions Students will discuss elements of the works in a text-based, student led Socratic Circle as well as in open class (during daily debriefings and class lectures). Students will be graded on their level (and quality) of participation during these discussions.

10 points (calculated at the end of each class)

 Essays: I will require students to write essays on each work read. I will expect these essays to reflect understanding, utilizing summary, device and technique recognition, clarification and using quotes for proof of student’s argument. I expect essays to reflect college-level analysis and critique of the work. I will expect students to create outlines (and commit to pre-writing) in order to organize their ideas. Outlines will be assigned for essays and for independent projects, such as practice on the open AP question. Essays are evaluated on content, organization, mechanics (present tense, third person) and quotations for textual support. All student work for this category is subject to multiple revisions.

40 points (calculated when student’s final draft is submitted)

 Practice Exams: Students will routinely complete, reflect on and discuss the results of practice AP exams (taken directly from College Board approved study materials).

10 points (calculated upon the completion of the exam)

Total points possible = 100

Grading scale: 90-100 points = A 80-89 points = B 70-79 points = C 60 – 69 points = D Anything below 59 points will results in a failing (F) grade.

Schedule of Units and Readings:

Note: The following schedule is tentative. The timelines, obviously, are subject to change if we finish a work early or if a work takes longer than expected. Some works may be dropped from the syllabus if time runs short.

Overarching Theme: Mankind’s despicability

Unit One (early August to mid-September)  Inferno, by Dante Alighieri (Italy, 1320) – epic poem

Summative Assessment: I will have students construct an analytical essay exploring the use of allegory and symbolism in Dante’s Inferno and how both literary devices reinforce and exemplify our overarching theme.

Unit Two (Mid-September to Mid-October)  Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare (Britain, 1596-99) - play

Summative Assessment: Students will construct an argumentative analysis of the play, answering the question(s): is Merchant of Venice a play that exemplifies the rampant anti-Semitism in England at the time, or a play that condemns Harshman / Senior AP English syllabus, 3 it? As symbolized in the character of Shylock, can Shakespeare be reasonably seen as sympathizing with his Jewish antagonist, or demonizing him? Students may also choose to explore (in their literary analysis) one of the three major symbols in the play (the three caskets, the pound of flesh or Leah’s Ring).

Unit Three (Mid-October to Thanksgiving Break)  Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (Britain, 1818) – novel

Summative Assessment: Students will construct an interpretive essay on the major theme contained within Frankenstein. Students will construct an essay surrounding the theme of forbidden knowledge, how Victor pursues this knowledge carelessly and the consequences therein. Students may also choose to construct an essay on the use of narrative perspective and how it is used (by telling the story from multiple character’s perspectives) to emotionally manipulate the reader into having sympathy for antagonistic characters.

Unit Four (Early to mid-December)

 The Gambler, Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia, 1867) – novella

Summative Assessment: Students will construct a literary analysis exploring the novel’s major literary devices, namely: theme (greed), motifs (obsession), allegory (wealth) and symbolism (Roulette), and how they relate to our overarching theme.

Unit Five (Mid-December to Winter Break)

 Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka (Austria-Hungry, 1915) - novella

Summative Assessment: I will have students construct an interpretive essay on the theme of work: how it is utilized throughout the text and how it ties into our overarching theme.

Semester Exam (Mid-Term Exam): Summative Assessment—Short answer questions (short, analytical essays) surrounding Merchant of Venice and Frankenstein. Two Essays from released AP EXAMS on Poetry and Prose. Students will write 5-6 paragraph essays answering the prompt. They will use 3rd person, present tense, embedded quotes and complete an organized analysis on the assigned topic.

A.P. English Literature and Composition / Harshman / Senior AP English syllabus, 4 ENGL 1950 Topics in Literature

Mr. Harshman email: [email protected]

Semester Two (spring)

Schedule of Units and Readings:

Note: The following schedule is tentative. The timelines, obviously, are subject to change if we finish a work early or if a work takes longer than expected. Some works may not be read or covered if we run out of time.

Overarching Theme: The struggles of the human experience (mankind’s endurance)

Schedule of Units and Readings

Unit One: The Modern Poem (Early January to mid-January)  Emily Dickinson, “Wild Nights — Wild Nights!” (1891), “Much Madness is divinest sense” (1862), “I heard a Fly buzz — when I died” (1862), “Because I could not stop for Death” (1863)  T.S. Eliot, “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915), “Hollow Men” (1925) & “Wasteland” (1922)  Langston Hughes, “Harlem” (1951)  Allen Ginsberg, “Howl” (1955), “A Supermarket in California” (1955) & “America” (1956)  Gregory Corso, “Bomb” (1958) & “Marriage” (1958)  Maya Angelo, “California Prodigal” (1978), “The Traveller” (1978), “Still I Rise” (1978), “On the Pulse of Morning” (1993)

Summative Assessment: I will have students construct an interpretative essay discussing how such elements as language, imagery, structure and point of view convey meaning. Students will be asked to choose one author (and the selected works read) as the focus of the above essay.

Unit Two: Short Fiction (mid-January to early March)  Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” (1927)  Truman Capote, “The Walls Are Cold” and “A Mink of One’s Own” (1943-46)  James Baldwin, “Going To Meet the Man” (1965),  Charles Bukowski, “A Shipping Clerk With A Red Nose” (1973), “The Most Beautiful Woman in Town” (1967) & “Life and Death in the Charity Ward” (1973), “The Great Poet” (1983) & “The Upward Bird” (1983)  Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried”, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” & “How To Tell A True War Story” (1990)  Richard Yates, “The Best of Everything” (1951-1961), “A Really Good Jazz Piano” (1951-1961), “Glutton For Punishment” (1951-1961).

Summative Assessment: I will have students compose a well-constructed analytical essay that explores the author’s use of such literary devices as imagery, personification, selection of detail and figurative language to explicate our over-arching theme (“the struggle of the human experience”).

Unit Three: Novel (Early March to early April)  Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway (1951) – novel Harshman / Senior AP English syllabus, 5 Summative Assessment: I will have students compose a well-constructed interpretive essay that explores the main themes (struggle, pride, defeat & death) within the Old Man and the Sea and how the symbolism (shown in the Marlin) supports this.

Unit Four: Play (Early April to mid-May)  Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller (1949) – play

Summative Assessment: I will have students compose a well-constructed interpretive essay that explores the concept of the “American Dream” (its substance, reality and deceptions) within the context of the narrative. Harshman / Senior AP English syllabus, 6 Class Structure

Note: The following outline of class structure is subject to change (if we are working on a long-term assignment in class or watching a film), but for the most part each class period will proceed thusly…

At the beginning of each unit: The instructor will introduce pertinent vocabulary. I will require students to complete weekly vocabulary worksheets and students will be required to recall these words during readings and bi- weekly quizzes. Vocabulary sheets will be distributed at the beginning of each unit (for vocabulary pertaining to that particular unit) and at the beginning of each week (as I have a list of 180 AP vocabulary words that I will require students to commit to memory that will assist them on the AP exam). Furthermore, students will be required to memorize & utilize a packet of AP literary terms. Students will be required to use this packet when reading, taking notes on, analyzing, discussing and writing about each work we read.

Fridays (typically C days) will be reserved for vocabulary quizzes (in a variety of formats) and practice AP exams (including timed essays (which will be re-written and revised in class) on cold reading passages). Each week we will rotate so that (on Fridays, C-Days) students will either have a vocabulary quiz or a practice AP English exam.

During each unit: Each unit will begin with an interactive and multi-media presentation covering the pertinent background (social, historical context) of the work we will be reading. In some cases, the instructor will lecture as students take notes. These introductory presentations will encompass a wide variety of disciplines: media (video and sound bytes), Quick Write (writing prompts) and prompts for introductory and initial analytical discussion.

After introductions are complete (which will generally take one whole class period), students will be given the assigned text and I will assign nightly readings.

Homework: Students will be expected to complete nightly readings and take notes (as outlined above in the “Grading” section) and actively contribute to class discussion.

I will expect you to complete informal and exploratory writing activities that enable you to discover what you are thinking in the process of your writing about the assigned readings. These writing activities will include annotating, free writing, keeping a reading journal, reaction/response papers and/or dialectical notebooks.

Various writing assignments and analytical exercises will commence throughout the unit in order to hone students’ analytical & critical thinking and written expression skills.

You must read complete the assigned readings or you will have a small chance of passing this course and you will be lost in class discussion.

Essays / Summative Assessments: Finally, at the end of each unit (and major work read) I will require students to complete a Summative Assessment (a large project worth a test grade) in the form of an analytical essay. Typically, I will provide strict guidelines for these assignments in the prompt (again, in an effort to prepare students for the AP exam at the end of the year). However, intermittently, I will require students to guide their own analysis and chose which aspect of the class text they will focus on in their essays.

I will provide instruction and feedback on students’ writing assignments, both before and after students have revised their work, in an effort to help students develop:

 A wide-ranging vocabulary used properly (which will also be supported via the weekly vocabulary exercises). Harshman / Senior AP English syllabus, 7  A variety of sentence structures and a balance of generalizations and specific, illustrative detail.

 An effective use of rhetoric including controlling tone and voice appropriate to the writer’s audience.

 Logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence. Some methods I may use are: rhetorical structures, graphic organizers and work on repetition, transitions and emphasis. Essays should contain impacted quotes (support from the text which reinforces and ultimately proves their arguments and assertions) and must be formatted properly. Essays not formatted properly will be returned unread. Each student essay will be revised and rewritten until the essay is in its finalized form. This will assist students in recognizing what goes into the formation of a finalized essay and will impart to students the ability to produce, a perfect literary analysis. Thus, when students are made to construct timed responses, analyzing a cold read passage, they will be able to construct a concise, cohesive and informed analysis without the benefit of revision.

No essay revisions will be accepted after the Friday before mid-term/final exams begin.

No essay will be considered a final draft until I have given the student specific (written or verbal) approval that their essay is indeed at its final draft.

Students will revise essays as many times as necessary to ensure the essay’s perfection (both in content and in form).

I do not set due dates for revision, as this is an AP class and expect students to commit to a higher level of ownership for their education and success. Therefore, students must be disciplined and work continuously to hone and perfect their papers until they are marked as final drafts.

Papers will be written (drafted) at home and can be typed at school (using my laptops) during various times (my plan period, during Socratic Circles, possibly during after school programs, etc.).

Students may seek assistance (guidance and input) on their papers, again, during various times (same as those listed above) and will receive continuous and in-depth feedback to assist with their revisions.

In short, all of the above work (class notes, contribution to class discussions, notes on readings, essays, small writing assignments, Socratic Circles, Vocabulary sheets and practice AP exams) must be completed for students to succeed (and receive a passing grade) in this class and for students to glean the maximum benefit from this class.

Please remember, you were chosen for this class by either one of my colleagues or myself because you are at the top of your English class. You are a brilliant, exemplary student. Show me that this statement is true through your work.

Student Expectations: Students will demonstrate self-reliance, collaboration, critical thinking and responsibility for their learning and progress. Harshman / Senior AP English syllabus, 8 Students will complete all work assigned, seek assistance when needed and will accept all responsibility (and consequences) for any and all work not completed or revised.

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