Advanced Placement Literature and Composition

Advanced Placement Literature and Composition

2008-2009 Syllabus and Course Expectations

Dominion High School

Mrs. Hoover

Course Overview:

Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition is designed to be a college/university level course. This course will provide you with the intellectual challenges and workload consistent with a typical undergraduate university English literature course [C1]. As a culmination to the course you will take the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition Exam given in May (required). A score of ‘4’ or ‘5’ on this exam is considered equivalent to a 3.3-4.0 for comparable courses at the college or university level. A student who earns a ‘3’ or above on the exam will be granted college credit at most colleges and universities throughout the United States.

The Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition Course overview and objectives are taken from the AP® English Course Description published by the College Board [C1]. The choice of texts is based on the representative authors list found therein [C2]. The Advance Placement English Literature and Composition course is designed to allow students the opportunity to read and carefully analyze a broad and challenging range of literature written in several genres from the sixteenth century to contemporary times [C2], which will deepen their awareness of literature and how language works. Writing tasks are designed to give students the practice necessary to make them aware, flexible writers who can compose in a variety of modes for a variety of audiences, developing their own sense of personal style and an ability to analyze and articulate how the resources of language function in any given text [C3, C4 and C5]. Frequent feedback will be given by both peer review and teacher writing conferences to ensure that all students develop good writing skills through practice and revision [C4].

The course is organized thematically with a wide variety of authors representing many literary time periods and disciplines. We work within the framework of World Literature, and we honor many of the truly great writers, as well as, more recent literary artist [C2].

Writing skills are developmental in nature. Writing will be conducted in both formal and informal contexts to challenge students to stretch beyond current levels of skill in writing to increase their ability to explain clearly, cogently, and even eloquently their

understanding of literary texts and what prompts that understanding [C4]. Students will write to understand, explain, and analyze literature [C4].

Course Objectives:

At the end of the academic year, students should be able to

· carefully read and critically analyze imaginative literature through free writing, SOAPSToneD, and keeping a dialectical journal.

· understand the way writers use language to provide meaning and pleasure.

· consider a work’s structure, style, and themes as well as such smaller scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.

· study representative works from various genres and periods…from sixteenth to the twenty-first century, understanding a few of the works extremely well.

· understand a work’s complexity, absorb richness of meaning, and analyze how meaning is embodied in literary form.

· consider the social and historical values a work reflects and embodies.

· write focusing on critical analysis of literature, including expository, analytical, and argumentative essays as well as creative writing to sharpen understanding of writer’s accomplishments and deepen appreciation of literary artistry.

· become aware through speaking, listening, reading, and chiefly writing, of the resources of language: connotation, metaphor, irony, syntax, and tone.

Course objectives meet all of the Curricular Requirements established in the AP® English Course Description [C1].

Understandings [C3]:

What will students understand as a result of this class? Students will understand that…

· Literature provides a mirror to help us understand others and ourselves.

· Writing is a form of communication across the ages.

· Literature reflects the human condition.

· Literature deals with universal themes, i.e., man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. God.

Essential Questions [C4]:

What arguable, recurring, and thought provoking questions will guide inquiry and point toward the larger ideas of this course of study?

· How does literature help us understand others and ourselves?

· How has writing become a communication tool across the ages?

· How does literature reflect the human condition?

· How does literature express universal themes?

Students will know [C2, C3]:

· Literary terms and techniques

· Literary modes and genre

· Literary Time Periods and Philosophies

· Literary themes

· Literary Critical Theory

Students will be able to [C2, C3, C4]:

· Close Read

· Determine significance and discuss findings

· Write Literary Analysis

· Construct Thesis and Supports

· Write imaginative and imitative literature

Academic Integrity:

As a community of scholars, we are bound together by the bonds of academic integrity. At its most basic level, the principle of academic integrity requires that any work you submit be your own. Your name on your paper signals that you alone completed the assignment. When an assignment requires you to consult outside sources, all such sources must be clearly credited in your work using MLA (Modern Language Association) citation format.

A separate sheet of paper will be attached to all assignments with the following statement and signed by the student:

“On my honor as a student, I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment and have clearly credited any outside sources I may have consulted."

Students guilty of academic integrity violations will receive a zero on the assignment.

District Computer/Network Usage:

Careful and ethical use of computing resources is the responsibility of every user. Strict adherence to district policy is expected of each and every student. Internet plagiarism will not be tolerated.

Pre-Course Assignment:

Frankenstein by Shelly

How to Read Literature Like A Professor by Foster

Essay to accompany the various readings, which was given prior to the end of the 2006-2007 school year is due by September 21, 2007

Required Texts/Materials:

In the AP course, the student should consider obtaining a personal copy of the various novels, plays, epics, poems, and short fiction used in the course. This will allow the student the opportunity to make notes (or use sticky notes) in the text to draw their attention to important elements presented within the work. You may purchase copies from your local new or used bookstore, or from an online source.

If available, you may check out books from your school’s library or local library branches. Some works may be accessible online. However, books that are borrowed CAN NOT be written in.

Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: Harper-Collins,

2003.

Gibaldi, Joseph. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Sixth Edition. New

York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003.

Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and

Drama. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2005.

Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing.

New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.

Payne, Lucile Vaughan. The Lively Art of Writing. New York: Follet, 1969.

Roberts, Edgar. Writing About Literature, Eleventh Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall, 2005.

The following novels will be supplied:

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

Dracula, Bram Stoker

The Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison

The Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Course/Teacher Supplements:

Found at the End of the syllabus.

Course Organization:

The course is organized by theme with assigned readings from novels, short stories, plays, and poetry. Readings will be followed by students writing compositions, which will further develop their understanding of the writers development of the theme being studied.

Each unit requires that students acquire and use rich vocabulary, use Standard English Grammar, and to understand the importance of diction and syntax in the author’s style [C5]. Stylistic development will be nurtured by emphasizing the following:

· a wide range of vocabulary used appropriately and effectively;

· a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination;

· logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis;

· a balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail;

· an effective use of rhetoric, including tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure [C5].

For each reading assignment students must identify the following:

Theme

Speaker

Occasion

Audience

Purpose

Subject

Tone/Attitude

Diction

Syntax

Style

Performance Tasks [C3, C4, C5]:

· Timed essays based on past AP Prompts

· Reading/Responding to novels, plays, non-fiction, and poetry

· Imaginative Writing including but not limited to: Poetry, Imitative Structures

· Literary Analysis Paper

· Graphic Organizer

· Creative Project

Daily Practice (Writing Journal) [C4]:

Utilizing Nancy Dean’s Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone students will address literary passages found in this source to identify how author’s utilize these literary elements in their writing(s) [C4].

Weekly Practices from the following [C3, C4, C5]:

Students will participate in a combination of the activities listed below for any assigned reading.

· Critical reading: Completion of SOAPSToneD and Dialectical Notebook for each reading (maintained in the Reading Journal) [C4].

· Identification of Common errors in writing: pronoun/antecedent agreement, the ambiguous “it,” subject/verb agreement, voice, etc. [C5].

· Utilization of sentence variety through imitation and practice [C5].

· Identification of the three levels of questioning: Level one (answered by facts presented in the text), Level two (requires analysis and interpretation of specific parts of the text), and Level three (more open-ended/goes beyond the text/intended to provoke discussion (both written and oral) of an abstract idea or issue). [C4]

· Reaction essays (exploratory, expository, analytical, and interpretive) in response to literature presented [C4, C5]

· Seminars and Book chats to highlight literary elements and discuss the literary merit of selected works. [C3]

· Timed multiple-choice practice focusing on literature presented in past AP test and AP test found in Cliffs AP English Literature and Composition, Second Edition.

· Timed writings focusing on literature presented in past AP test and AP test found in Cliffs AP English Literature and Composition, Second Edition.

Independent Reading:

Two novels will be assigned as independent readings during the course of this school year [C3, C4, C5]:

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

· Complete a dialectical journal, which asks relevant questions of the text, notes significance of passages, shows effectiveness of literary devices and connects a passage to your personal life/experience.

· Explicate (Give a detailed explanation) of “five-star quotations” that are aphoristic, profound, humorous, or universal or which have personal relevance. React, respond, and/or explicate (explain).

· Write an essay in which you agree, qualify, or challenge the following thesis statement: Holden Caulfield properly belongs to the contemporary American novel’s procession of sensitive, psychologically crippled, but superior, characters.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

· The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings:

"The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from the readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events - a marriage or a last-minute rescue from death - but some kind of spiritual reassessment of moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death."

In a well-written essay, identify the "spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation" evident in the ending of Jane Eyre and explain it's significance in the work as a whole.

First Semester:

Introduction to AP Literature and Composition:

Highlights of AP Literature and Composition

Challenges and Expectations

Avoiding Plagiarism and what constitutes Plagiarism

Academic Integrity Pledge (found above).

Diagnostic Test

AP Multiple Choice

AP Essay

Literary Terms

Review of AP Scoring for Essays

Elements of Literature, Chapter 1: “The Process of Reading, Responding to, and Writing About Literature in the Writing About Literature text

MLA (Modern Language Association) Format in formatting all papers for this class

Personal Essay for College Admission/Resume

1st 9-Weeks:

Theme: Monstrosities

Who are our monsters, and why? This unit will examine the idea of the monstrous in literature and culture, from the Romantic era to the present day. Areas of concentration will include: how the monstrous has been defined as both completely other and completely human (sometimes at the same time); what happens when a monstrous figure takes control of the narrative as a speaking subject; how different versions of the monstrosity intersect with race, class, and gender; how, and why, portrayals of particular monstrous figures have shifted over time; and what makes these monstrous figures the objects of both fascination and repulsion. Taking the complex relationships between the “freakish” and the “normal,” and the “grotesque” and the “beautiful,” the “monstrous” and the “good’ as our basis, Students will examine how monstrous bodies and minds disrupt societies attempts to read them and complicate the act of interpretation. Students will develop reading and writing skills in a variety of genres. Students will utilize all stages of the writing process, from prewriting to revision (both peer and teacher assisted) and ultimately, the final product. Students will also work on the development of diction, syntax, grammar, identification of literary elements used by authors to achieve their purpose, and style. Students will complete two major essays and a number of short essays (in-class writings) taking into consideration structure, style, and theme, as well as, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone [C2, C3, C4, C5].

· Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Sub-Themes: Themes: Alienation and Loneliness

· Dracula by Bram Stoker

Sub-Themes: Salvation and Damnation

· The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge

Themes: Consequence of a Single Unthinking Act

Sub-Themes: Christianity/Supernatural

· The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson

Themes: Supernatural and Moral Responsibility

· “A New Life” by Ramsey Campbell (Handout)

· “The Golem” by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Handout)

· “…That Thou Art Mindful of Him” by Isaac Asimov (Handout)

· “Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams” by Sylvia Plath (Handout)

· “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

· “Richard Cory” (poem) by Edwin A. Robinson (Handout)

· “Markheim” by Robert Louis Stevenson (Handout)

· “William Wilson” by Edgar Allen Poe (Handout)

2nd 9-Weeks:

Theme: Coming of Age

This unit will focus on the “coming of age” of not only individuals, but also of a race of people. What does man discover about himself as he journeys through life? How does it change him? What affect do these changes have on others? In the journey of the African-American, what has been the role of poetry and music? [C2, C3, C4, C5]

· The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

· “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin (Text pages 53-76)

· Poetry of Langston Hughes

“The Weary Blues” (Text page 1119)

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (Text page 1117)

“Mother to Son” (Text page 1117)

“Jazzonia” (Handout)

“Po’ Boy Blues” (Handout)

“Hard Daddy” (Handout)

“Ballad of the Landlord” (Text page 1121)

“Juke Box Love Song” (Handout)

“Dream Boogie” (Text page 904)

“Harlem” (Text page 1124)

· “Strange Fruit” (Handout)

· Video “The Jazz: The Life of Billy Holiday”

· Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

· “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot (Handout)

· “Vessel of Last Resort” by Jeffrey Tayler (Handout)

· “Miriam” by Truman Capote (Handout)

· “The Street” by Octavio Paz (Handout)

3rd 9-Weeks:

Theme: The Individual

This unit will focus on the individual and how they relate to their fellow man and nature. What part of ourselves must we sacrifice for others? How do our decisions affect others or nature? What are the consequences of the choice? [C2, C3, C4, C5]

· Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Theme: Search for Self

· Extensive Multiple Choice AP Test practice for Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

· “A&P” by John Updike (Text page 15)

Theme: Choices and Consequence

· Writing Focus: “What’s the plot?”

· Why I Live at the P.O.” by Eudora Welty (Text page 77)

Theme: Sacrifice vs. Self

· Writing Focus: “How point of view shapes a story”

· “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver (Text page 109)

Theme: Alienation and Loneliness

· Writing Focus: “How character creates action?”

· “To Build a Fire” by Jack London (Text page 132)

Theme: Individual vs. Nature

· Writing Focus: “How does time and place set the story?”

· “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner (Text page 178)

Theme: Family vs. Morality

· Writing Focus: “What is the style or tone used by the author?”

· “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane (Text page 215)

Theme: Individual vs. Nature

· Writing Focus: “What theme or themes does the author present to the reader?”

· Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Themes: Honor, Revenge, Deception, and Supernatural

4th 9-Weeks:

Theme: Life, Love, War, and Nature

This unit will focus on life, love, war, and nature. We will concentrate on how man lives his/her life and how we relate to each other and nature. What is it that we truly want from this life? What part of ourselves must we sacrifice for others? How do our decisions affect others or nature? What are the consequences of the choice? [C2, C3, C4, C5]

· The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Theme: War and Love/ The Individual and the Collective

· Selected Poetry to include:

“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost (Text page 1176)

Theme: Dynamics of friendships and Enmities

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickenson (Text Page 1103)

Theme: Death as a Natural Occurrence

“Sound and Sense” by Alexander Pope (Handout)

Theme: Sound

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning (Handout)

Theme: Love and Loss

“Curiosity” by Alistair Reid (Handout)

Theme: Living Life and Taking Risk

“Out, Out –“ by Robert Frost (Handout)

Theme: Life and Death

“Formal Application” by Donald W. Baker (Handout)

Theme: Humanity vs. Inhumanity

“Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant (Handout)

Theme: Death

“Ode On a Grecian Urn” by John Keats (Text page 1197)

Theme: Desire vs. Fulfillment in Human Life

“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath (Handout)

Theme: Truth, Illusion, and self-Examination

“My Mistress’ Eyes” by William Shakespeare (Text page 1238)

Theme: Love and Betrayal

“Miniver Cheevy” by Edwin Arlington Robinson (Text page 1232)

Theme: Man’s Inability to Face Reality

“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman (Handout)

Theme: Romanticism and the Scientific Process

“I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman (Text page 1259)

Theme: Ideal Democracy

“The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden (Handout)

Theme: Every Man vs. No Man

“Departmental” by Robert Frost (Handout)

Theme: Animal and Vegetable Natures in Man

“The World is Too Much With Us” by William Wordsworth (Handout)

Theme: Life’s Meaning and the Purpose of Life

“God’s Grandeur” by Gerald Manley Hopkins (Handout)

Theme: Nature and Man’s Intolerable Treatment of Nature

· Extensive Multiple Choice AP Test practice for both the Novel and Poetry

· The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Assessment:

Assessment for any reading, which is assigned, will include any of the following:

· M/C Questions in AP Exam Format

· Essay in AP Exam Format

· Identification of Literary elements and the writer’s use of these elements.

· Formal (Well-developed essays with evidence of invention and peer/teacher reviews) and Informal (Short in class writings in response to poetry) Poetry Explication.

· Reader Response

· Reading Checks

· Seminars

· Quiz/Test

Assessment for student composition in the various modes:

· Invention

Each essay must exhibit tangible evidence of invention/pre-writing. If the invention involves visual images and/or graphics, the student will include that information when they turn in their essay.

· Draft

Teacher and/or peer commentary will be made on all drafts submitted.

· Final Copy

The Final Copy receives a holistic score based on the 9-point AP essay-scoring rubric. The AP Rubric Score is then transposed to the following 100-point scale for grade calculation:

9=97-100

2= 57-62

8= 93-96

1= 50-56

7= 87-92

0= 0-49

6= 83-86

5= 75-82

6= 70-74

4= 67-69

3= 63-66

Grading:

Student grades are based on a point system. Each graded assignment will result in a grade dependent on its complexity. Point value will be announced when the assignment is given.

Grades are mostly earned through Essays written out-of class, AP-Style Timed Writings, AP-Style Multiple Choice Test, Quizzes, Class work, Presentations, Projects, Seminars, SOAPSToneD, Dialectic Journal Writings, and Position Papers.

All grades adhere to the following Loudoun County Grading Policy:

A+

98-100

A

93-97

B+

90-92

B

85-89

C+

82-84

C

77-81

D+

74-76

D

70-73

F

69 and below

Late work: Late work will not be accepted.

Absences: Students will have 7 calendar days from the date of their absence to make up work. Seminar discussions and presentations cannot be made up, so students will write a lengthy journal response in lieu of these types of activities. In-class essays and quizzes must be made up during Titan Time, before school, or after school.

Course Supplements

College Board. AP English Course Description, May 2007, May 2008. New York: The

College Board, 2006.

College Board. The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English, Second Edition. New York: The College Board, 2002.

Dean, Nancy, ed. Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery,

Syntax, and Tone. Gainesville, Florida: Maupin House, 2000.

Levin, Gerald, ed. Prose Models, Eleventh Edition. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2001.

McKeague, Pat, ed. Writing About Literature: Step by Step, Seventh Edition. Dubuque,

Iowa: Kendall Hunt, 2002.

Strunk, Jr., William and E. B. White, ed. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New

York: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.

Swovelin, Barbara V., ed. Cliff AP: English Literature and Composition, Second Edition.

New York: Wiley, 2001.

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