May 2020 Dear Student, You are enrolled in Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition for the coming school year. Bowling Green High School has offered this course since 1983. I thought that I would tell you a little bit about the course and what will be expected of you. Please share this letter with your parents or guardians. A.P. Literature and Composition is a year-long class that is taught on a college freshman level. This means that we will read college level texts—often from college anthologies—and we will deal with other materials generally taught in college. You should be advised that some of these texts are sophisticated and contain mature themes and/or advanced levels of difficulty. In this class we will concentrate on refining reading, writing, and critical analysis skills, as well as personal reactions to literature. A.P. Literature is not a survey course or a history of literature course so instead of studying English and world literature chronologically, we will be studying a mix of classic and contemporary pieces of fiction from all eras and from diverse cultures. This gives us an opportunity to develop more than a superficial understanding of literary works and their ideas. Writing is at the heart of this A.P. course, so you will write often in journals, in both personal and researched essays, and in creative responses. You will need to revise your writing. I have found that even good students—like you—need to refine, mature, and improve their writing skills. You will have to work diligently at revising major essays. This process is challenging but necessary work for even professional writers. The A.P. exam is a national, standardized test and will be given in May. It is a three-hour exam, which consists of one hour of objective questions that call for critical interpretation, and two hours of essay writing, which ask for clear responses to three questions. (You can see why good writing is an essential focus of the course.) The College Board scores the tests and provides online score reporting for students in July. Individual colleges and universities determine the number of credits awarded if students score well. High school grades and credits are determined by class work and achievement each nine weeks. The score for the national test has no bearing on your high school grade. Our students generally do very well on the AP Literature exam. This year’s results will not available until July, but records from past years are available from the College Board. In addition, students have the opportunity to earn college credit from exceptional portfolios. For example, Miami University is one school that evaluates incoming freshman portfolios. The AP test costs $94. While expensive, the cost is more than justified in terms of money and college time saved if the students score well. You do not need to pay for the exam until next May. 1 Our class size for A.P. Literature is supposed to remain at no more than fifteen to be a seminar course. Usually, though, we accommodate a few more students per class. As a department, we do not like to dissuade students from taking the class; however, we do like to make sure that we have those who are interested in reading, in lively discussion, and in writing. We also like to ensure that those students taking the class are motivated and disciplined enough to handle the active participation and workload. Students’ past course evaluations have indicated that the workload for A.P. Literature was heavier than most of their other senior courses, even their honors courses. Count on spending one hour on A.P. Literature homework each night; sometimes there will be a little less, and when large essays or projects are due, there will be more. I want parents and students to understand that this kind of course demands firm commitment and hard work. Please consider carefully if you can make this kind of commitment. If so, welcome! Students enrolled in A.P. Literature need to do some summer reading. I have attached this year’s summer reading requirements. All of the choices are books of literary merit. These are books—classic or contemporary books—that critics and book lovers have deemed to be more than just entertainment. I want you to challenge yourself for this assignment. Also, do not choose novels that you have studied for another class. Also avoid short story collections since you cannot use it for the AP exam in May. Please see the attached guidelines to help you know how to take notes for your summer reading books. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me at home (419-378-1722) or email me ([email protected]). Sincerely, Mrs. Sarah Caserta 2 Summer Reading Choices 1. Read How To Read Literature Like a Professor (HTRLLAP ) by Thomas C. Foster and glean from it what you can. Most of the literature that he discusses will be unfamiliar to you; that’s fine. If you want to read some of the stories, poems, novels referenced to in the book- go for it. If not, no problem. However, I want you to take notes for each chapter. A few lines or a bulleted list of interesting ideas will suffice. If you have questions, write those into your notes to prepare you for future discussions. Bring these notes with you on the first day of school to be collected for your first grade. 2. As you read The Things They Carried (TTTC) by Tim O’Brien have your HTRLLAP notes handy. I am asking you to take notes on TTTC that will directly address the ideas that Dr. Foster introduces in HTRLLAP. To prevent these notes from evolving into your first novel, I ask that you apply 3 of the chapters concepts and ideas from HTRLLAP noted below to TTTC. SELECT 3 OF THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS TO APPLY HTRLLAP CONCEPTS: Introduction: How’d He Do That? Chapter 1—Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) Chapter 11—More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence Chapter 12—Is That a Symbol? Chapter 15—Flights of Fancy Chapter 19—Geography Matters… Chapter 26—Is He Serious? And Other Ironies So, for example, you will see symbols in O’ Brien’s novel TTTC. This may lead you to choose to look through chapter 12 of Foster’s book, refresh your memory about how to examine symbols, and then take notes about the various symbols in TTTC. You then will choose two more topics from HTRLLAP noted above and repeat the process. Please also bring the notes for both HTRLLAP and TTTC with you on the first day of school to be graded. 3. Finally, select an award winning novel from the award list. Choose one novel—a challenging, interesting one that you believe you will enjoy—from the literary award winners’ lists. Note: You will be writing several short and long essays about this award winning novel so make sure you choose carefully for both your interest and deep content. Choose only fiction and avoid short story collections since you may use this novel for the AP test in May! 3 Summer reading is not simply a means to inspire mental alertness during the summer months; it is rather the foundation of our course and should be approached as such. The bulk of our study during the first semester will address the texts that you will read this summer, and because all great literature demands multiple readings, you will be expected to at least skim the texts again after school begins. You will be writing about these texts extensively during the first quarter. NOTE: If you do not plan to complete the summer reading, you must drop this course and replace it with another English class to fulfill your 4 credit requirement for graduation. For each book, you are to take notes that you will be using throughout the course, especially in the first quarter. Take notes for HTRLLAP and TTTC following directions noted earlier. DIRECTIONS FOR TAKING AWARD WINNER NOTES: Divide the award winner into 10 almost equal sections. For each tenth of your award winner novel, be sure to stop and take notes about significant passages, list and explicate important quotes, and ask critical questions. Label each 10th with the pages covered (1ST 10th pgs. 3-34) and note 5-8 key quotes and ideas per 10th. Never put a quote down without adding your significant and insightful commentary. Bring the notes with you the first day of class. As you read, consider the nature and significance of each of the following elements of the novel: Setting Plot Characterization Symbolism Imagery Irony Tone Theme Allusions Framing Diction Pt. of View Juxtaposition Style Repetition Conflicts Motifs Flashbacks Intertextual connections Author Purposes Foreshadowing Allow these questions to guide your reading and note taking for your award winning self selected novel: . What are the central purposes or themes of the texts? How are the specific circumstances of the characters related to the author's perceptions of the human condition? What philosophical stances does the author take upon the human condition? What is the writer's motivation to compose this work? . What principles of literature guide and inform the craft of the writer? . What is the central conflict in the work? Is the conflict internal or external? How is the conflict developed? How does the conflict drive the plot of the work? How do the characters' traits influence the conflict? How is the conflict resolved? .