Shutt 1 AP English Literature and Composition 2020-2021 Syllabus
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Shutt 1 AP English Literature and Composition 2020-2021 Syllabus Instructor: Mr. Shutt Phone: 540*332*3926 (school) Email: [email protected] Googleclassroom Class Code: 2ui27wr Parents should use ParentPortal in order to stay current with attendance and grades. Call school office if you do NOT have ParentPortal. Login to your CollegeBoard account for further resources and to register for the exam. Scheduled Class Time: Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30 Office Hours: 1:30-3:30 COURSE DESCRIPTION: AP English Literature and Composition is a rigorous course designed to provide students with the intellectual challenges and workload consistent with a typical undergraduate university English literature course. The works of literature chosen and the syllabus are designed in accordance with the recommendations of the College Board. Students take this course not only because they are academically able, but also because they are motivated, self-directed learners. This course will prepare students for the AP® English Literature and Composition Exam given in May, as well as for college. All students are expected to take the AP® English Literature Exam. The reading and writing workload is extensive. You should expect daily reading homework. In order to get as much possible out of each class session, it is imperative that all reading and writing be completed before class. This course follows the curricular requirements outlined in the AP® Course Description. A general summary of this description is as follows: The AP English Literature and Composition course focuses on reading, analyzing, and writing about imaginative literature (fiction, poetry, drama) from various periods. Students engage in close reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature to deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style, and themes, as well as its use of figurative language, imagery, and symbolism. Writing assignments include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays that require students to analyze and interpret literary works. LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENTAL GOALS: Students will read and respond to a variety of adult literature of recognized literary merit with an emphasis on explication and analysis. They will demonstrate the ability to synthesize and apply information from many sources to support their own assertions in formal and informal writing. They will expand their research skills and demonstrate the ability to evaluate Internet information for qualities of scholarship and legitimacy. A variety of instructional strategies are used to insure that varied learning styles are Shutt 2 addressed. Collaborative pairing, cooperative learning groups, and independent practice are used regularly so students can practice effective resource management and interpersonal skills. Students should expect numerous small group and whole class Socratic seminars. COURSE OBJECTIVES: The big ideas serve as the foundation of the AP English Literature and Composition course and enable students to create meaningful connections among course concepts. They are threads that run throughout the course and revisiting them and applying them in a variety of contexts helps students to develop deeper conceptual understanding. Below are the big ideas of the course, along with the enduring understanding associated with each one: CHARACTER (CHR) Enduring Understanding CHR-1: Characters in literature allow readers to study and explore a range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms represented by those characters. SETTING (SET) Enduring Understanding SET-1: Setting and the details associated with it not only depict a time and place, but also convey values associated with that setting. STRUCTURE (STR) Enduring Understanding STR-1: The arrangement of the parts and sections of a text, the relationship of the parts to each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information are all structural choices made by a writer that contribute to the reader’s interpretation of a text. NARRATION (NAR) Enduring Understanding NAR-1: A narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that affect how readers experience and interpret a text. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (FIG) Enduring Understanding FIG-1: Comparisons, representations, and associations shift meaning from the literal to the figurative and invite readers to interpret a text. LITERARY ARGUMENTATION (LAN) Enduring Understanding LAN-1: Readers establish and communicate their interpretations of literature through arguments supported by textual evidence COURSE COMPONENTS AND EXPECTATIONS: Reading -- You are expected to read ALL assigned literature. You should plan extra time in your schedule to accomplish course readings. Expect reading each day as part of your regular homework. If you DO NOT read the required reading and merely rely upon on-line summaries then this will most likely result in your inability to succeed on the AP exam and to fully participate in class discussions that will not only benefit you but your peers. Please read! Reading in an AP course is both wide and deep. This reading necessarily builds upon and complements the reading done in previous English courses so that by the time students Shutt 3 complete their AP course, they will have read works from several genres and periods — from the 16th to the 21st century. For that reason, previously read works from your American Literature and British Literature course may be revisited for deeper study. On the AP exam, you may wish to recall literature read from other courses you took in preparation for AP. As you read, it is important that you read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form. In addition to considering a work’s literary artistry, students reflect on the social and historical values it reflects and embodies. Careful attention to both textual detail and historical context provides a foundation for interpretation, whatever critical perspectives are brought to bear on the literary works studied. A generic method for the approach to such close reading involves the following elements: the experience of literature, the interpretation of literature, and the evaluation of literature. All three of these aspects of reading are important for an AP English Literature and Composition course. College Board Disclaimer -- In an ongoing effort to recognize the widening cultural horizons of literary works written in English, the AP English Literature Development Committee will consider and include diverse authors in the representative reading lists. Issues that might, from a specific cultural viewpoint, be considered controversial, including references to ethnicities, nationalities, religions, races, dialects, gender or class, are often represented artistically in works of literature. The Development Committee is committed to careful review of such potentially controversial material. Still, recognizing the universal value of literary art that probes difficult and harsh life experiences and so deepens understanding, the committee emphasizes that fair representation of issues and peoples may occasionally include controversial material. Since AP students have chosen a program that directly involves them in college-level work, the AP English Literature and Composition Exam depends on a level of maturity consistent with the age of 12th-grade students who have engaged in thoughtful analysis of literary texts. The best response to a controversial detail or idea in a literary work might well be a question about the larger meaning, purpose or overall effect of the detail or idea in context. AP students should have the maturity, the skill and the will to seek the larger meaning through thoughtful research. Such thoughtfulness is both fair and owed to the art and to the author. Writing — Students can anticipate writing on a daily basis, both in and out of class, in relation to the readings. Writing is a tool for learning. It is not merely the end product of thought, but a tried and true method of thinking itself. Students will also write timed and untimed style analysis pieces for selections of prose and poetry. Many assignments will be handwritten. Shutt 4 Students will write in the various modes about the many aspects of literature, but will always concentrate on how a writer uses rhetorical strategies to achieve meaning. Students will write literary interpretations based on careful observation of textual details, with consideration of 1) structure, style, and themes; 2) the social, cultural, and historical values reflected in the work; and 3) literary elements and strategies, such as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. Such analysis will lead us to understand the writer’s work and then to evaluate it. The AP exam requires 3 essays; therefore, it is imperative that when you write your writing reflects a level of maturity not only in thought but also in mechanics reflective of that of a college student. Vocabulary — AP® English is replete with analytical language that students need to know. However, merely memorizing these terms and their definitions is insufficient; students must also be able to comfortably and accurately employ them in discourse, which develops with practice. Consequently, students will be expected to actively use appropriate literary terminology in class discussion