Advanced Placement Language and Composition s7

Course Syllabus Advanced Placement Language and Composition Course Description: This course trains students to become skilled readers and writers in diverse genres and modes of composition. As stated in the Advanced Placement Course Description for English exams, the AP Language and Composition course’s purpose is “to enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers.” As the course progresses, students will become aware of their own composition process through self-assessment and evaluations by peers and the instructor. These skills will allow the student to read critically and write effectively in different modes in the college classroom and beyond.

Course Objectives: Through the process of reading, writing, and discussing texts, students will become skilled in composing for different audiences and purposes. Students will learn to understand and appreciate the diverse ways that authors make meaning in oral and written texts and in graphics and visual images. Students will identify literary structures and conventions and effectively use them in their own writing. They will learn to identify and evaluate choices that they and their peers have made in the composition process and increase their revision skills. By placing texts on a particular topic into conversation with one another, students will judge the validity and persuasiveness of different works.

Literature Texts: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Lord of the Flies, William Golding Brave New World, Aldous Huxley Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

Language and Composition Texts: Levin, Gerald. Prose Models. 11th ed. Orlando: Hartcourt Brace & Company, 1996. Fifer, Norma and Flowers, Nancy. Vocabulary from Classical Roots Level D. Cambridge: Educators Publishing Services, 2003. Baker. Sheridan. The Practical Stylist 8th ed. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 1998. Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays. Bedford, St. Martin’s, 2005.

Key Concepts Covered Throughout Each Thematic Unit: Diction: Students need to become word savvy. They need to recognize the power of diction – individual words as well as patterns. Syntax: Length of sentences, sentence types, and an author’s tone as it relates to the use of declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences are all syntactical elements students learn to recognize as well as employ in their own writing. Structure and Figurative Language: Students become familiar with structural elements such as juxtaposition, repetition, parallelism, rhetorical questions, tone, and transitions and figurative elements such as alliteration, allusion, antithesis, apostrophe, simile, metaphor, personification, punctuation, hyperbole, direct address, paradox, irony, and sarcasm. (All of these elements MUST BECOME a part of their analytical vocabulary and writing strategies.) Rhetoric: Students become adept at recognizing appeals to pathos, logos, and ethos, and at recognizing logical fallacies. They practice identifying and discussing the rhetorical effect of devices such as definition; claims of fact, value, and policy; authoritative, substantive, and motivational warrants; induction and deduction; syllogism; and slanting. A word about the AP Exam: Students in an AP English Language and Composition course will spend their time reading and writing, engaging in discourse about their reading and writing. And unlike the microcosmic AP Exam in which students are given relatively short passages to read and analyze, and on which they are to write considered, though comparatively brief, responses, their class work will involve many lengthy reading assignments which invite and require revisiting, and writing assignments which reflect the process of planning, prewriting, drafting, peer response, revision, teacher conference, and more revision. How, then, do the two disparate approaches of course process and exam product complement each other? It is the repetition of the assignments of careful reading with time for questions, and careful writing with opportunities for a variety of compositional approaches, that inculcate the analytical and creative skills necessary for success on the exam. In other words, this class is not a test preparatory class for the AP Exam. It will, however, help you to attain the skills necessary for being successful on the exam.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR EACH UNIT OF STUDY:  During each unit, we will read, study (e.g. analysis of rhetoric and style), and take tests (both multiple choice and timed writings) on non-fiction essays.  During each unit, students are required to analyze how thematically relevant graphics and visual images pulled from newsday.com, comics.com, newspapers, magazines, etc. both relate to written texts and serve as alternative forms of texts themselves. They consider the following questions: o What does the arguer want me to do or believe? o Has the visual image been accompanied by sufficient text to answer questions I may have about the claim? o Are the visual elements more prominent than the text? If so, why? o Is the visual image representative of a large group, or is it an exception that cannot support the claim? o Does the arrangement of elements in the message tell me what the arguer considers most important? If so, what is the significance of this choice? o Can the validity of this chart or graph be verified?  During each unit, students will generate a process paper (e.g. they will pre-write, draft, revise, conference with peers and teacher, and edit) that satisfies the following criteria: o Students are expected to use proper research strategies to evaluate, employ, and properly cite primary and secondary sources using MLA style documentation and formatting. o MLA style, 5-7 pages typed, double-spaced, works cited, parenthetical citations . REQUIRED TYPES OF DETAIL/EVIDENCE:  narration/description of a personal encounter with nature  references to readings from the unit  observations/eye-witness accounts  relevant research outside of class readings  relevant graphic(s) or image(s)  Students keep a Writer’s Journal (e.g. note taking, imitative writing, sentence combination exercises, reader responses, ideas for papers, reflections on class discussions, experimenting with new forms or voices, thinking on paper about experiences, detailed observations, etc.). This is a very significant part of the class as writing in it helps students make sense of what they read and helps them connect classroom activities to what they already know. In addition, research shows that writing in unstructured and relatively unpressured ways increases facility and confidence. Skills acquired in writing in a journal can transfer to the more structured, more public, writing that they produce in a composition class. A SAMPLING OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUES:  Writer’s Workshop—focused on recursive process of pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing (We work on writer’s process—strategies to help students choose, explore, or organize a topic; qualities of good writing—deepening students’ understandings of rhetorical techniques, influence of point of view, strong language, leads and endings, logical organization, etc.; and editing skills—activities to develop students’ understanding how to use conventions correctly and effectively.)  Interrupted Reading  SOAPS (a strategy to help students unlock the meaning of text)  The Toulmin Model (a strategy to help students analyze an argument)  The Graff Template (a strategy to help students use the elements of an argument to guide their reading and writing processes) Units of Study/Fall Semester

UNIT I: ETHICS Non-fiction “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell  Timed Writing Prompt (argument): “Shooting an Elephant” concludes: “And afterwards I was very glad that the coolie had been killed; it put me legally in the right and it gave me a sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant. I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.” Orwell implies that such petty and selfish reasons, if we are honest enough to admit it, often drive our actions. Write an essay in which you argue for or against Orwell’s position concerning human motives. Support your essay with evidence from your reading, observation, and experience. “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift “On Compassion,” Barbara Lazear Ascher “Why Don’t We Complain?” William F. Buckley Jr. “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs  Timed Writing Prompt (analysis): In this passage, Nancy Mairs, who has multiple sclerosis, calls herself a “cripple.” Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Mairs presents herself in this passage. In addition to discussing the significance of Mairs’ choice of the word “cripple” to name herself, you should consider each rhetorical features as tone, word choice, and rhetorical structure. “The Ways We Lie,” Stephanie Ericsson

Thematically Relevant Graphics/Visuals

Fiction Brave New World, Alduous Huxley

Drafted Writing Assignment I—Synthesis Write and essay in which you explore the argument which the author of what you read is making. For example, what argument about technology is Margaret Atwood making in The Handmaid’s Tale? What argument is Arthur Miller making about the McCarthy era in his play The Crucible? Agree, disagree, or qualify the author’s argument and support your position with examples from your experience, observations, and reading from this unit. (See Criteria delineated above in the General Unit Requirements)

Drafted Writing Assignment II—Description/Narration Illustrate the last sentence of George Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant,” (“I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.”) from your own experience. Build the essay to the moment when you acted to avoid looking like a fool. Make your reader see and feel what you saw and felt. UNIT II: NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT Non-fiction “The Way to Rainy Mountain,” M. Scott Momaday  Timed Writing (argument): Read paragraph 5 of “The Way to Rainy Mountain.” Then, in a well- organized essay, support, refute, or qualify the speaker’s suggestion that “the mind’s eye” sees more perfectly than physical vision. “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” Henry David Thoreau  Timed Writing Prompt (analysis): Read paragraphs 7 and 8 of “Where I Lived and What I Lived For” carefully and write and essay in which you explain how Thoreau uses rhetorical strategies to convey his attitude toward life. “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White “Living Like Weasels,” Annie Dillard

Fiction Lord of the Flies, William Golding The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

Drafted Writing Assignment I—Synthesis As you read everything throughout this unit (what we read as a class and what you read outside of class) be thinking about an essay topic—a thesis—centered on something about nature and the environment. What conclusions do you draw about how man relates to or is affected by his environment as you read more and more about what non-fiction writers have to say about nature and the environment? How does mankind’s attitude toward nature and the environment manifest in fiction (i.e. Hawthorne’s A Scarlet Letter)? How does the way that mankind’s state of mind sometimes reflects his environment or is affected by his environment manifest in fiction (i.e. Golding’s Lord of the Flies)? (See criteria delineated above in the General Unit Requirements.)

Drafted Writing Assignment II—Description/Narration “Now that I can have her only in memory, I see my grandmother in the several postures that were peculiar to her,” Momaday writes. Working from a few photographs (incorporate them into your essay), describe a relative or friend in various postures that you associate with him or her. Then describe one of these postures in more detail, as Momaday does in describing his grandmother at prayer.

UNIT III: FAMILY Non-fiction: Lost in the Kitchen, Dave Barry Two Ways to Belong to America, Bharati Mukherjee  Timed Writing (argument): Mukherjee, who was born in India, contrasts her experience as an immigrant who became an American citizen with that of her sister, who chose to live in the United States for over thirty years without becoming a citizen. Mukherjee wrote: “The price that the immigrant willingly pays and that the exile avoids, is the trauma of self-transformation” (paragraph 15). Write an essay in which you defend, challenge, or qualify this statement. Support your viewpoint from your experience, observation, or reading. Television: The Plug-in Drug, Mary Winn  Timed Writing (analysis): Read the first eight paragraphs of “Television: The Plug-In Drug.” Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies Winn uses to establish her position that “television emerges as the important influence in children’s lives today.” Boyhood in a Sacramento Barrio,” Ernesto Galarza Learning to See, Eudora Welty

Fiction: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen “Separating,” John Updike “Still of Some Use,” John Updike

Drafted Writing Assignment I--Synthesis You can use any of the works listed above to write a documented essay in response to the Tolstoy quote below. Or you can explore just what “family” means today in the context of the same-sex marriage debate, a 50-percent divorce rate, working parents, and increased mobility. Just what does it mean to be part of a “happy” family? Your essay might not have the answer, but you can certainly address a range of obstacles to “happiness” and propose a range of possible definitions.

All happy families are happy alike; all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. --Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

(See criteria delineated above in the General Unit Requirements.)

Units of Study/Spring Semester

UNIT I: HISTORY AND POLITICS Focus of Inquiry: Is the American Dream alive in contemporary literature?

Non-fiction from “America and Americans,” John Steinbeck from Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography, Booker T. Washington from The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Engels from Liberalism and Social Action, John Dewey The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson  Timed Writing (analysis): Read paragraphs 1 and 2 of “The Declaration of Independence” and write an essay in which you explain how the author uses rhetorical strategies to develop his or her argument. A Declaration of Sentiments, Elizabeth Cady Stanton “Give me liberty or give me death” speech, Patrick Henry “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr.  Timed Writing (argument): Martin Luther King made the following observation in “Letter from Birmingham Jail”: “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating that absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection” (paragraph 23). Write and essay explaing why you agree or disagree with King’s statement. Use specific evidence from your own experience, observation, or reading to develop your position.

Fiction The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Writing Assignment I—Expository How does the historical backdrop of The Great Gatsby manifest within its characters, the plot, and/or the setting? Students choose a 1920’s historical focus (e.g. Prohibition, Harlem Renaissance, Marcus Garvey’s “back to Africa” movement, Lindbergh’s solo transatlantic flight), generate an annotated bibliography, an abstract and an MLA style paper that bears the burden of illustrating how what they researched manifests in the setting, the characters, and/or the plot of The Great Gatsby.

Writing Assignment II--Synthesis The obvious question is “Is the American Dream alive and well today?” What do you think? Consider the threats you see to the so-called American Dream in contemporary America. What forces are at work to keep the “Dream” alive, and what forces are undermining it? (See criteria delineated above in the General Unit Requirements.)

UNIT II: WAR Non-fiction The Warfare in the Forest is not Wanton, Brooks Atkinson Reflections on War, H.L. Mencken The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln  Timed Writing (analysis) Read the 1852 quotation by Theodore Parker, an American transcendentalist writer, whose writing influenced Lincoln:

Our national ideal out-travel our experience, and all experience. We began our national career by setting all history at defiance—for that said, “A republic on a large scale cannot exist.” Our progress since has shown that we were right in refusing to be limited by the past. The political ideas of the nation are not transcendent, not empirical. Human history could not justify the Declaration of Independence and its large statements of the new idea: the nation went behind human history and appealed to human nature.

With Parker’s statement in mind, write an essay in which you argue whether in the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln “went behind human history and appealed to human nature.” As support, use evidence from Lincoln’s speech and from your own knowledge of history.

Unbecoming in a Woman? Antonia Fraser Women and Combat, David H. Hackworth Freedom and Security, Sydney J. Harris

Fiction A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway

Drafted Writing Assignment I—Narrative In “Freedom and Security,” Harris suggests that we sometimes think of freedom and security as opposites —the more we have of one, the less we have of the other. Write about a situation in which you found yourself thinking in this way. Discuss both the situation and its outcome.

Drafted Writing Assignment II—Expository Read President George W. Bush’s speech commemorating the end of “major combat operations in Iraq,” delivered aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the speeches and evaluate their effectiveness. Refer to rhetorical strategies used by Lincoln and Bush, and to other features you consider important.

UNIT III: RACE AND CULTURE Non-fiction from The American Invasion of Macun,” Esmerelda Santiago from How to Tame a Wild Tongue, Gloria Anzaldua Notes of a Native Speaker, Eric Liu Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Richard Rodriguez How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Zora Neale Hurston  Timed Writing (analysis): After reading paragraphs 1 through 5 of the autobiographical essay “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” by African American writer Zora Neale Hurston, write an essay analyzing how she establishes her attitude toward race and her audience. Cite examples from Hurston’s essay to support your conclusions.

Fiction Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

Drafted Writing Assignment I--Argument •Challenge or refute the quotation below using evidence from your experience, your observations, and your reading (as in your outside reading and anything else we read for this unit) to support your position. Carefully evaluate and properly cite primary and secondary sources, using MLA documentation. (See criteria delineated above in the General Unit Requirements.)

After the Egyptian and Indian, Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is sort of the seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,--a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,--an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. --W.E.B. DuBois, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” from The Souls of Black Folks