Christopher Brown
[email protected]
Syllabus for Advanced Placement English Language and Composition
2018 - 2019
Course Description:
AP English Language and Composition is a course designed to help students “write effectively and confidently in their college courses across the curriculum and in their professional and personal lives.” (The College Board, AP ® English Course Description, p. 7) Students are expected to read critically, think both critically and analytically, and communicate their ideas clearly through both writing and speech.
Prerequisites: In order for students to be adequately prepared for this class they must have completed English II and Writing with a 94% or higher cumulative grade for each class.
Major Course Objectives:
By the conclusion of the course students will:
Textbook, instructional Materials, Resources
Primary College Level Text:
Heinrichs, Jay. Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. 3rd Ed. 3rd.New York: Three Rivers Press, 2017.
Atwan, Robert and Joyce Carol Oates, Eds. The Best American Essays of the Century New York: Mariner Books, October 10, 2001.
Shea, Renee. Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. 2nd Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013.
Summer Reading: To be completed by the first day of class
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Choose one: The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey
Ancillary Sources: A broad range of ancillary sources designed to supplement the text book will be provided as in-class handouts or digitally through ebackpack.
Grading
All work for the course will belong to one of the following weighted categories:
Vocabulary – 20% of final quarter grade
Daily Classwork and Homework – 35 % of final quarter grade
Essays and Unit Assessments – 45% of final quarter grade
This breakdown is deliberately designed to both ensure feedback and accountability for core curricular skills as measured by unit assessments, and to also provide students the opportunity to boost their grade through diligent completion of daily work and vocabulary. This course has a weighted value of 1.10.
Technology
Technology will be used primarily in this classroom as students will use an online textbook via the ipad. Students will use online educational resources and visit news sites regularly throughout the course of study. Homework assignments will primarily be assigned using E-Backpack and virtual days will be completed at home by the student.
Student Expectations
Preparedness
Students should be prepared for class each day with Pencil/ pen, English text, iPad, assigned homework, and a notebook with loose leaf paper
Homework
Homework is expected on the assigned due date. Late work may be accepted at the discretion of the teacher but will be subject to a 10% penalty.
Attendance and Absence
Students are expected to attend class each day, but there inevitably circumstances which occasionally prevent attendance. Students who miss class have the number of days they missed plus one to make up missed work. It is the student’s responsibility to collect makeup work. Incomplete work will earn a zero.
Conduct
Students are expected to follow classrooms rules as well as adhere to the code of conduct stipulated in the student handbook. Above all, students should demonstrate integrity, respect, empathy and compassion in all their behavior, as these shared values are essential to a productive learning community.
Attitude
Students are also expected to maintain a positive attitude. We will try to enjoy our class time as much as we can and the extent to which we are able to do so will be partly contingent on the good attitude of the students. Be open-minded. Be curious. When the occasion calls for it, be playful. Have faith that you can accomplish everything that you’ll need to, and make up your mind that you will persevere when the work is challenging.
Overview of Assignments:
1. Major Writing Assignments: Each unit will culminate with a major writing assignment requiring the integration of skills and understandings developed throughout the unit. While some specifics of these assignments will vary to provide novel rhetorical situations throughout the year, they will all require the entire writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing. Some of the papers may start as in-class writing assignments, but they will require outside time for further analysis and investigation. For each paper, students will cycle through peer edits and revisions.
Examples include:
2. Team Debates: Throughout the year students will participate in a series of team debates. These debates will integrate our understanding of rhetoric and require the analysis, synthesis and evaluation of several texts in order for students to take a focused and coherent position on a controversial topic.
3. Weekly Journals: Journals will be completed on a weekly basis. The focus of these journals will be a reflection on the unit essential question for the week. While students should communicate their own point of view on the in responses, they must support their ideas with discussion of class work and readings, including direct quotations from texts.
4. In-class Timed Essays: Throughout the year, students will be responding to AP or AP-like prompts under time constraints. During the first two quarters, students will share their responses within small groups and receive feedback and editing to make revisions. Peer editing suggestions can be used before students submit a final draft.
5. Visual Image Analyses: Students will study a variety of visual images and analyze how they relate to the writing they are studying. Students will also study how visual images can serve as alternative forms of texts.
6. Style Analyses: Students will study the style of each author and look for specific techniques that each author uses to deliver his/her message. These will be used for class discussions and in sample multiple-choice questions and passages.
Teacher Feedback: Students will receive teacher feedback before and after they revise their work. This will allow the teacher to help students with: using wide-range appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure, logical organization using specific techniques, creating a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail, and effectively using tone and voice in rhetoric.
Self-Evaluation: All essays will also include a self-evaluation component including the following:
Course Planner:
During the first few weeks of school, each student will take a diagnostic AP exam. This will serve as a baseline for progress made throughout the year. Later in the academic year, students will retake the same exam to measure their progress.
First Quarter:
Second Quarter:
Third Quarter:
Fourth Quarter:
[email protected]
Syllabus for Advanced Placement English Language and Composition
2018 - 2019
Course Description:
AP English Language and Composition is a course designed to help students “write effectively and confidently in their college courses across the curriculum and in their professional and personal lives.” (The College Board, AP ® English Course Description, p. 7) Students are expected to read critically, think both critically and analytically, and communicate their ideas clearly through both writing and speech.
Prerequisites: In order for students to be adequately prepared for this class they must have completed English II and Writing with a 94% or higher cumulative grade for each class.
Major Course Objectives:
By the conclusion of the course students will:
- Analyze and interpret samples of exceptional American Literature for: the main point, the context, the reason for writing and the tone and style.
- Apply effective rhetorical strategies and techniques in their own writing.
- Construct and sustain arguments based on readings, research and personal experience.
- Write expository, analytical, and persuasive writing for a variety of purposes with a complete central idea, appropriate evidence, and explanations.
- Show understanding and mastery of standard written English in addition to personal style in their own writings.
- Show understanding of citing primary and secondary sources Modern Language Association (MLA)
- Transition through the stages of the writing process including drafting, editing and revision.
- Reflect on their own writing to improve their purpose, audience and process.
- Understand how to read a question to ensure they know how to answer it.
- Improve vocabulary to improve the quality of their writing.
- Practice strategies to ensure their success on the AP English and Composition exam.
- Examine and analyze visual images for how they relate to text or serve as alternatives to text.
Textbook, instructional Materials, Resources
Primary College Level Text:
Heinrichs, Jay. Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. 3rd Ed. 3rd.New York: Three Rivers Press, 2017.
Atwan, Robert and Joyce Carol Oates, Eds. The Best American Essays of the Century New York: Mariner Books, October 10, 2001.
Shea, Renee. Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. 2nd Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013.
Summer Reading: To be completed by the first day of class
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Choose one: The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey
Ancillary Sources: A broad range of ancillary sources designed to supplement the text book will be provided as in-class handouts or digitally through ebackpack.
Grading
All work for the course will belong to one of the following weighted categories:
Vocabulary – 20% of final quarter grade
Daily Classwork and Homework – 35 % of final quarter grade
Essays and Unit Assessments – 45% of final quarter grade
This breakdown is deliberately designed to both ensure feedback and accountability for core curricular skills as measured by unit assessments, and to also provide students the opportunity to boost their grade through diligent completion of daily work and vocabulary. This course has a weighted value of 1.10.
Technology
Technology will be used primarily in this classroom as students will use an online textbook via the ipad. Students will use online educational resources and visit news sites regularly throughout the course of study. Homework assignments will primarily be assigned using E-Backpack and virtual days will be completed at home by the student.
Student Expectations
- Come to class prepared, organized and eager.
- Class begins when the bell rings, so when you hear it, be in your seat and prepared to start the lesson
- Follow directions and stay on task.
- Respect the attentiveness of the class. That is, don’t be a distraction, even to yourself.
- Demonstrate integrity, respect, empathy and compassion in all of your behaviors.
Preparedness
Students should be prepared for class each day with Pencil/ pen, English text, iPad, assigned homework, and a notebook with loose leaf paper
Homework
Homework is expected on the assigned due date. Late work may be accepted at the discretion of the teacher but will be subject to a 10% penalty.
Attendance and Absence
Students are expected to attend class each day, but there inevitably circumstances which occasionally prevent attendance. Students who miss class have the number of days they missed plus one to make up missed work. It is the student’s responsibility to collect makeup work. Incomplete work will earn a zero.
Conduct
Students are expected to follow classrooms rules as well as adhere to the code of conduct stipulated in the student handbook. Above all, students should demonstrate integrity, respect, empathy and compassion in all their behavior, as these shared values are essential to a productive learning community.
Attitude
Students are also expected to maintain a positive attitude. We will try to enjoy our class time as much as we can and the extent to which we are able to do so will be partly contingent on the good attitude of the students. Be open-minded. Be curious. When the occasion calls for it, be playful. Have faith that you can accomplish everything that you’ll need to, and make up your mind that you will persevere when the work is challenging.
Overview of Assignments:
1. Major Writing Assignments: Each unit will culminate with a major writing assignment requiring the integration of skills and understandings developed throughout the unit. While some specifics of these assignments will vary to provide novel rhetorical situations throughout the year, they will all require the entire writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing. Some of the papers may start as in-class writing assignments, but they will require outside time for further analysis and investigation. For each paper, students will cycle through peer edits and revisions.
Examples include:
- Textual Analysis: At the conclusion of each American Literature novel, students will complete a formal analysis. These analyses will be completed in various media and specific instructions will be given at the time of readings.
- Nonfiction Presentation: Students will choose an American author and research his/her rhetorical devices, mode of discourse, and style. Students will create an interactive presentation, such as a Prezi, PowerPoint or Smart Board file, and a speech about the author. As part of the presentation, students will evaluate, use and cite both primary and secondary sources using MLA formatting.
- Career Research Paper and Presentation: As a requirement of the class, junior class students will complete a career shadow day as well as a 5-7 page typed research paper and presentation on the chosen career. The research paper is a focused research on the specific career with academic post high school information. The paper is not a recap of the shadow day. For the presentation, students will bring in two visual aids to help in their presentation of the career. During this unit students will evaluate, use and cite both primary and secondary sources using MLA formatting.
- Researched Argument Paper: Students will choose a topic in which they will present an argument about the topic. Students will research the topic and present their own arguments that synthesize the various sources they used during the research into a well-written paper. During this unit students will evaluate, use and cite both primary and secondary sources using MLA formatting.
2. Team Debates: Throughout the year students will participate in a series of team debates. These debates will integrate our understanding of rhetoric and require the analysis, synthesis and evaluation of several texts in order for students to take a focused and coherent position on a controversial topic.
3. Weekly Journals: Journals will be completed on a weekly basis. The focus of these journals will be a reflection on the unit essential question for the week. While students should communicate their own point of view on the in responses, they must support their ideas with discussion of class work and readings, including direct quotations from texts.
4. In-class Timed Essays: Throughout the year, students will be responding to AP or AP-like prompts under time constraints. During the first two quarters, students will share their responses within small groups and receive feedback and editing to make revisions. Peer editing suggestions can be used before students submit a final draft.
5. Visual Image Analyses: Students will study a variety of visual images and analyze how they relate to the writing they are studying. Students will also study how visual images can serve as alternative forms of texts.
6. Style Analyses: Students will study the style of each author and look for specific techniques that each author uses to deliver his/her message. These will be used for class discussions and in sample multiple-choice questions and passages.
Teacher Feedback: Students will receive teacher feedback before and after they revise their work. This will allow the teacher to help students with: using wide-range appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure, logical organization using specific techniques, creating a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail, and effectively using tone and voice in rhetoric.
Self-Evaluation: All essays will also include a self-evaluation component including the following:
- What part of your essay are you the most proud?
- What issues or roadblock did you come across as you wrote your essay?
- What are some improvements you made to your essay and why?
- What is something that you learned while writing that will help you in the future?
Course Planner:
During the first few weeks of school, each student will take a diagnostic AP exam. This will serve as a baseline for progress made throughout the year. Later in the academic year, students will retake the same exam to measure their progress.
First Quarter:
- Thank Your For Arguing Chapter 1 – 10
- Readings from The Language of Composition: Chapter 1 An Introduction to Rhetoric; student selected thematic chapters
- Related thematic nonfiction essays
- The Crucible, Arthur Miller
Second Quarter:
- Thank Your For Arguing Chapter 2 – 20
- Readings from The Language of Composition: Chapter 3 Analyzing: Arguments, Chapter 4 Synthesizing Sources; student selected thematic chapters
- From The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson
- From The Crisis, Thomas Paine
- Related thematic nonfiction essays
Third Quarter:
- Thank Your For Arguing Chapter 3 – 30
- Readings from The Language of Composition: Chapter 2 Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Analysis, student selected thematic chapters
- The Narrative of the Life of An American Slave, Frederick Douglass
- Travelogue ancillary texts and composition
Fourth Quarter:
- The Language of Composition: Chapter 13 Politics
- Researched Formal Argument Essay
- Choice novel by a major American author with contextual presentation
- Intensive AP Test review