AP English
Mrs. Schuman
Course Syllabus – 2010-2011
Texts:
Pride and Prejudice (summer reading), Sound and Sense, Granta Book of the
American Short Story, The Dubliners, Goblin Market, photocopies
AP English is a college level English course, offered as an elective that focuses on
intensive work in close reading. Other than the summer reading, the reading for this class
consists of short works of fiction (short stories, novellas, excerpts) and poetry. We will
also learn about some of the popular methods of literary criticism, such as feminist,
archetypal, historical and Marxist. Students will work independently on an in-depth
study of one writer.
Units:
Tone – We will focus on the many techniques that writers use to convey
an author’s attitude towards his/her subject. Starting with Pride and
Prejudice, we will look closely at the ways that diction, irony, contrast,
and sentence structure can create attitudes towards character and themes
in prose. Early love poems by Herrick, Marvell, and Donne will give us
the opportunity to continue these techniques in poetry. Our study of
Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” will be the basis of a
continued look at irony and diction as well as an introduction to
figurative language.
Figurative Language and Imagery – This unit will examine how
writers use comparisons, symbols, and imagery to enrich and create
meaning. We will consider how description can most effectively create
meaning in both poetry and prose. While poetry is the obvious habitat
for this kind of writing, we will also study such “poetic” prose writers as
Baldwin, Morrison, and Joyce. Our study of poetry will begin with
Keats and move to more contemporary poets.
Voice and the Dramatic Monologue – This short unit will help students
distinguish between voice and tone. We will focus on the dramatic
monologue to decipher the ways writers can use this form to create irony
and meaning. This will give us the opportunity to build on earlier units.
We will be reading both poetry and prose, including such writers as
Browning and Oates.
What is the work for this class?
Papers:
You will be responsible for short papers on major works. Some of these
will be due before class discussion to give you practice in independent
analysis. Though most of the writing will be analytic, there will be some
opportunity for creative writing. Papers are usually short, but there will
be a few longer studies during the year. You always have the
opportunity to run ideas by me or to meet to go over your writing.
Obviously, how you write is as important as what you say.
Group work:
Much of the close reading we do will be done in small groups or with
partners. You will have to answer questions and present your findings to
the class. At times, you will need to turn in written answers to questions.
Class participation:
This is both encouraged and expected. You will occasionally be given
different tasks to prepare ahead of time. We will be helping each other
to discover meaning and techniques.
Impromptus:
Part of the work of this class is to prepare for the AP Lit exam, and while
impromptus are an important part of the exam, the skills you will
develop in close reading and writing concise essays will be helpful to
you for other course work as well. Most of the time, our impromptus
will come from actual exams, and we will always go over the impromptu
together. We will also do some just for practice. These will be graded,
but will be a minor part of your average.
Independent project: By mid-November, you will have to choose an author whose work you
admire or are interested in learning more about. You will read some of
the major work of that author as well as some supplementary material.
It’s fine if you have already read one or two of these works, but you
would probably need to reread these along with the new material. The
author must be a major writer who has written more than just one major
work. You may choose a novelist, playwright, short story writer, or poet,
but the writer must be someone who writes in English. You will have a
few short assignments on your writer, and the final paper will be due at
the end of the second trimester.
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