AP English Language and Composition s6

AP English/Dual Enrollment James E. Kimbrough, III [email protected] 2017-2018

Course Goals: The primary goal of the AP English/Dual Enrollment course is to make the student a better thinker and thus a better writer and communicator. By close analysis of literature students will gain a clearer understanding of what they read whatever the format of the writing. Students will familiarize themselves with various literary periods and the prominent writers of these periods, gaining a better perspective on what led these authors to write the way they did.

Course Objectives:  To model student writing on writings covered in class  To analyze various fictional writings (poems, short stories, novels) for author’s linguistic choices  To synthesize outside readings, drawing form various sources to support an argumentative research paper  To properly cite sources in an MLA formatted paper  To analyze visual media (comic strips, editorials, photographs, film) for artist’s purpose, decipher visual messages, and determine meaning and relation to print information  To pass the AP Literature/Language and Composition Exam

Grading Policy All work must be turned in on time. No late work will be accepted. This is a college level course and it is the student’s responsibility to keep up with the work.

The primary grades in the class will be based on student writing.

Final essays (includes major papers and essay tests)…………………………%60 Daily work (includes drafts and revisions, reading journal, writing journal, quizzes, timed in-class essays, practice AP multiple choice tests) Participation (group work, peer-editing, and discussion) ………………………...%40

Academic Honesty No cheating will be tolerated. This will be ground for dismissal from the AP class. Cheating includes plagiarism and academic recycling (using papers you have already used for another class). If you use outside information on a paper, remember to always give credit to the original source by citing the source in MLA format.

Required Texts Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking ed. by Carol Jago et. Al Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide ed. by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell Beowulf anonymous The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Macbeth and Hamlet by William Shakespeare Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Dracula by Bram Stoker Candide by Voltaire The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 1984 by George Orwell

1 Students will also select two additional novels of literary merit.

The novels will be read both in class and at home. It is imperative that you keep up with the readings so that you will be able to discuss the works in class. You will also need to keep up with the reading to be able to keep up with the writing based on the works listed. You will have approximately two weeks to read each novel. Pace yourself. It is recommended that you spend approximately five hours per week working on reading and writing homework for the AP class. Depending on the speed at which you read, you may spend more or less time.

In addition to these texts, we will read stories and/or poems by John Donne, Andrew Marvell, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Virginia Woolf, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Robert Frost, W.H. Auden and many more.

Reading Journals Reading journals will be crucial to your overall improvement in the class. They are means to helping your reading comprehension as well as your critical thinking ability. They are a way for you to have a dialogue with the texts covered in class. Through these journals you will develop a keen eye for the rhetorical choices of the author.

In the reading journal, the student should write down interesting uses of language. Next to these quotes the student will make a statement or ask a question about the writer’s choice. One way to do this would be to write down a line the student finds especially interesting either for the beauty of the language or the effect the language creates. After the quote the student will explain why this quote was chosen or will relate a question he/she has about the author’s use of language.

There will be a set amount of quotes for the student to pick out of the reader’s journal and use to write an essay analyzing the author’s choices for each book from the reading list. The amount of quotes used for each paper will vary. Therefore, the student should not limit himself by seeking to collect an arbitrary number of quotes, rather the student should write down all quotes that are appealing.

Writing Assignments

Process Students will utilize all steps of the writing process starting with prewriting in the form of various graphic organizers such as Venn diagrams for compare/contrast essays as well as clustering and brainstorming techniques to generate topics. Students will use various sentence structures in their writing as well as write in several different poetic forms and from different points of view. Students will revise and edit to hone their individual writing style and further develop their unique voice.

Creative Students will write various poems as well as a short story during the course. Students will model their writing on the poems, stories, and novels we have covered during the course of the semester.

Critical The main focus of the AP/Dual Enrollment class is the improvement of student analytical literary skills. Students will be required to write essays on several different themes and topics from our reading. Essays will comprise the majority of the grades in the class.

2 Quizzes Quizzes will be based on our reading and will occur during the first five minutes of class. Quizzes will be straightforward and simple for those who keep up with the reading. Closer to the AP exam, quizzes will be modeled on the AP Literature and Composition Exam. They will be comprised of multiple choice questions released from past exams or questions that are representative of the type to be asked on the exam. There will also be timed in-class essays based on the timed writing section of the AP exam. Student who miss quizzes due to unexcused tardies or absences will not be able to make up quizzes.

Tests Tests will be based on the books we are reading outside of class. Tests will be made up of short answer questions on themes and symbols within the works and short answer questions on quotes where the student will be asked to identify the speaker of the quote and the quotes overall significance to the book. Finally, the tests will contain two or three essay questions that the student should answer with an approximately two page response.

Note to Parents The AP/Dual Enrollment class is a college level course designed to challenge the student to become a better reader, writer, and thinker. It requires a certain amount of discipline on the student’s part to be successful in the class and pass the AP exam. Students should spend about an hour a night on homework for the AP class. Homework usually consists of reading a section of text and/or a writing assignment. Please sign the syllabus below and include an email address and telephone number where I can contact you if necessary to update you on your child’s progress. I have included my email address at the beginning of this syllabus if you need to contact me. Also, there is a fifteen dollar fee for this class. The money collected from this fee will be used to purchase specific supplies for this class. Thank you.

Course Schedule and Topic Outline for first quarter 2016-2017 (Please note that this schedule is for planning purposes and will be adjusted as needed.)

Week 1

Writing: Writing Sample/Autobiographical, oral reading Literature: Introduction to British Literature, Anglo-Saxon Literature, characteristics of an Epic, begin reading Beowulf, Complete Summer Reading Assignment Assignment: Begin first student choice reading. Write an essay explaining why the work has literary merit. You may focus on theme, social/cultural influence, style, characterization, or you may write about your personal relationship with the work. Why was the work important to you?

Week 2 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Continue Beowulf Writing: Compare/Contrast essay on Epic Hero Assignment: Write a modern heroic epic using Beowulf as a model. Use figurative language such as kenning and symbolism to develop your tale.

Week 3 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Writing: Submit Compare/Contrast essay Literature: Begin Literature of the Middle Ages, selected poetry from the period, begin reading Canterbury Tales.

Week 4 More Essential Vocabulary

3 Literature: Write an essay comparing the comedy of Chaucer and Shakespeare. Continue Middle Ages, begin Renaissance Literature, begin second student choice novel. Write an essay describing the conflict the main character faces and how the character grows or shrinks in the face of the conflict. Writing: Begin Framework Assignment

Week 5 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary, test on literary period More Essential Vocabulary

Writing: Submit Framework Assignment Literature: Renaissance poetry

Week 6 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Begin reading Macbeth Writing: Critical Analysis, choose and analyze a Shakespearean sonnet.

Week 7 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Finish reading Macbeth, begin reading Frankenstein. Writing: Submit Critical Analysis.

Week 8 Literature: Begin reading Hamlet. Continue reading Frankenstein. Write an essay comparing tragic heroes from Frankenstein and Macbeth. Writing: Write for College and/or Employment, Resume, Cover Letter, College Application Essay.

Week 9 EQT Review/Test Literature: Finish reading Hamlet. Begin reading Dracula. Write an essay comparing Hamlet to other Shakespearian protagonists, or perhaps to other protagonists covered in this class. An essay contrasting Hamlet with Beowulf would be interesting.

Week 10 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Writing: Begin Research Assignment Literature: Read Candide; begin reading literature from the Restoration Period and the Eighteenth Century. Assignment: Write an essay comparing and contrasting the satirical styles of a Restoration period writer with a writer from another period who writes in a similar tone such as Chaucer from the Middle Ages or Mark Twain from the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. What is the goal of these authors’ satire?

Week 11 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Writing: Submit Research Assignment Oral Communication/Technology: Prepare Persuasive Speech and Power Point (Based on Research Paper) Literature: Begin reading from Romantic Period. Begin second student choice novel.

4 Week 12 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Continue reading from Romantic Period, selected Romantic Poetry, conclude student choice. Assignment: Write an essay that discusses the prominence of Romanticism as an artistic movement in the face of industrialization. How does the novel Frankenstein portray the dangers of man’s control of nature? Oral Communication/Technology: Present persuasive speeches with Power Point

Week 13 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Continue reading from Romantic Period, selected Romantic Poetry, begin reading The Metamorphosis. Assignment: Why does Kafka have his protagonist changed into a giant vermin? Write an essay that attempts to explain this unusual metaphor. How is Kafka’s writing similar/different from the Romantics who wrote over a century earlier? Writing: Write a poem imitating the lyric form of a romantic poet

Week 14 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Continue reading from Romantic Period, selected Romantic Poetry, begin third student choice novel. Create your own essay topic. Writing: Critical Analysis of a Romantic Poem

Week 15 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Begin reading from the Victorian Period, selected poetry from the period, begin reading The Mayor of Casterbridge Writing: Begin critical analysis of a Victorian or Modern World short story. Writing/Assessment: Responsive Writing “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”

Week 16 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Modern World—1900 to Present, selected poetry from period Writing: Continue critical analysis of a Victorian or Modern World short story

Week 17 Assessment: Essential Vocabulary More Essential Vocabulary Literature: Continue Modern World—1900 to Present, selected short stories from period, read final student choice novel.

Week 18 EST Review/Test

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