AP English Literature and Composition
School Year 2013-2014
Welcome to AP Literature and
Composition at Meadowdale High
When I get a little money I buy books; and if
School. I’m very happy you’ve chosen
any is left I buy food and clothes.
to take this class, and admire your
Desiderius Erasmus decision to invest so much time and
energy into the development of your
thinking and writing skills. With your help, we will create a class where we delight in
the power of language and draw inspiration from great stories, poems, novels, and
plays.
I will do my best to coach and support you as you prepare for the AP Literature and
Composition Exam in May, and for college literature and humanities classes soon
after (and speaking of college: We’ll write those application essays together this fall).
Expect a vigorous reading schedule requiring your close attention and commitment.
Also expect to flex and strengthen your writing skills; we will pursue the difficult art
of balancing keen observation, specificity, and grace, even when the clock is ticking.
We will read carefully across a variety of texts. Although we will focus much time and
attention on English and American Literature, expect also to read a few works of
literature in translation. We will practice the close reason necessary to build upon
your critical thinking skills, which will lead to continued success in school and life and
help prepare you for the big AP test. We will observe structures that embody theme,
structure, and style. We will also examine works in their historical and philosophical
contexts.
We will read a variety of poetry every week, both in-class and independently (more
later regarding independent poetry journaling and analysis). This is a concentrated
genre that demands much of the reader. We will become comfortable identifying the
use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism and tone, and how they are used by
the author to create a larger aesthetic effect.
We will reflect on what we are reading and learning through three types of writing:
 Writing for Understanding - this is mostly informal writing that allows us to
process reactions, thoughts, and ideas on paper. Some examples are: Socratic
seminar preparation papers, journal assignments, reading logs, and on-line
discussions.
 Writing to Explain – You will use textual evidence to ask and answer two
questions: What is the writer saying and how does she use the tools at her
disposal to say it? Examples include: in-class timed writings, Socratic seminar
prep papers, poetry responses, reading logs and your multi-genre research
project.

Writing to Evaluate: You will use textual evidence and secondary source
material to render a critical judgment on the aesthetic success of a piece of
literature. Examples include: Formal analysis papers, Socratic seminar prep
papers, and your multi-genre research project
We will write in class every time we meet, and you will have many opportunities to
practice timed writing. After a class discussion about the prompt, students will be
required to revise their original essay responses, thus creating a typed out-of-class
essay. This “new” essay should reflect a review of my comments and the class
discussion on the prompt. We will use in-class drafts and rewrites as models to
identify excellence in syntax, organization, coherence, word choice, voice, and
sentence structure. You’ll have the opportunity to revise and edit your best (or
worst) in-class drafts. In-class timed writing will model AP Literature exam format
and will be graded using the AP scoring rubric.
You’ll also create a multi-genre literary project that combines literary analysis with
research and creative/artistic elements.
Students as Teachers
We will approach our work as
a community of learners; you
will learn and teach in this
class. First semester, you will
participate as teacher or
learner in a series of Friday
presentations
on
mythological and biblical allusions, as well as stylistic “voice lessons” based on the
work of Nancy Dean. Second semester, students will take turns presenting a Friday
poetry lesson.
If I am walking with two other men, each of them
will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good
points of the one and imitate them, and the bad
points of the other and correct them in myself.
Confucius
Vocabulary
You will be provided with lists
Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say
of literary terms as well as
"infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise
other vocabulary that all good
you'll have no word left when you want to talk
readers should know. You
about something really infinite.
need to familiarize yourself
C. S. Lewis
with these terms and to be
able to recognize them, apply
them in analysis, and use them in class discussions. My goal is for you not only to
recall the definitions of these words when pressed on an exam, but to own them, to
use naturally as part of an expanded academic vocabulary. Remember: Nowhere are
words more important than in the study of literature and the craft of writing. We will
take time to consider authors’ uses of grammatical patterns and related prepositions;
pronunciation; synonyms; etymologies; and adjectival forms; and then use them in
our own writing.
Texts:
Arp, Thomas, Greg Johnson, eds. Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry,
Eleventh Edition, Boston: Thompson, 2005
Schweibert, Jonathan E., ed. Reading and Writing from Literature, Third Edition,
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005
Supplements as provided by instructor
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Our Year In Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
The Hero’s Journey/Finding a Voice
September (3 weeks)
We will explore elements of the epic
poem and hero’s quest with Joseph
Campbell and Bill Moyers, then read
Beowulf, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by
David Wroblewski and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Supporting
works include “Beowulf” Richard Wilbur; “Breakings” Henry Taylor; “When Death
Comes” Mary Oliver; and “Top 10 Reasons Why We’ll Always Need a Good Story,” by
Scott Russell Sanders. We will also explore referent works and allusions including The
Fall; “The Graveyard,” by Katherine Anne Porter; the Story of Icarus, paintings by
Brueghel, and W.H. Auden’s poem “Musee des Beaux Arts.”
Composition/Projects
 Daily journal writing: students will keep an ongoing record of their reading,
including vocabulary.
 Literary Autobiography: students will write a “literary autobiography” in
response to the Scott Russell Sanders essay that allows them to revisit and
reflect on the works they have read previous to senior year. This will lead to
the drafting of a personal essay suitable for college applications.
 In class/timed writing: Our focus will be on introductions and outlines. We
will work on crafting complex thesis statements and setting up a viable,
organized structure for literary analysis.
 Seminar Prep: Students will write short seminar papers to prepare for
Socratic seminars on the major works.
The Personal Essay for College
Admission/Scholarship Application
September/October (2 Weeks)
The college admission process can be an
anxious time for you and your folks. We’ll
work together to analyze your particular
prompts and then write personal
essays/reminiscence essays to express an opinion, explain a viewpoint, or clarify the
significance of a person or event.
You will complete at least one personal essay for college admission, in the process
seizing the opportunity to explore ideas to determine your own topics for writing;
explore personal writing more deeply (including, but not limited to, anecdote,
dialogue, details, language, tone, syntax, and varied structures); and receive
instruction on introduction/openings, voice, use of first-person pronouns and
conventions.
Action and Epiphany: a study of the
human intellect and spirit
October/November (8 weeks)
Play: Hamlet – William Shakespeare
Novel: Crime and Punishment-Fyodor
Dostoyevsky
Poetry may include: “Prologue” Dylan Thomas, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
T.S. Eliot, “Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room” Wordsworth, “Sonnet
XXIX” Shakespeare, “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” John Keats, “After
A Great Pain” and “One Need Not Be A Chamber” Emily Dickinson, “The Afterlife”
Billy Collins, “When Death Comes” Mary Oliver, “Travelling Through the Dark”
William Stafford, “O Me O Life” Walt Whitman, “A Brief in Defense” Jack Gilbert,
Short Stories: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor, “The Wayfarer”
Robert Coover
Composition/Projects



Daily log writing: students will keep an ongoing record of their reading and
response through Hamlet.
In class/timed writing: Our focus will be on introductions and outlines. We
will work on crafting complex thesis statements and setting up a viable,
organized structure for literary analysis.
Socratic Seminar : Students will write short seminar papers to prepare for
Socratic seminars on Hamlet and Crime and Punishment.
Poetry Study and Poetry Response:
Ongoing
We will read poetry every week, and not only because 60% of the AP exam is poetry
analysis. No other form of literature demands as much of us as close readers. In
addition, we will become comfortable and capable in identifying the use of figurative
language, imagery, symbolism, and tone as they function as a part of the larger
aesthetic experience of the work.
We will maintain a poetry-reading journal, recording initial observations regarding
selected poems using the journaling processes of Danny Lawrence. I will supply
individual copies for poems we read and discuss in class. Some of these poems have
appeared in past AP Exams, others I have collected over the years. Some are classics,
some quirky, but all I hope many will speak to you about our shared human
experiences.
Students will choose selected poems from a packet I supply and write regular
interpretation/reflections based upon textual details; those who wish may present
their analysis to the rest of the class. This assignment, while primarily drawing upon
skills of interpretation, engages you in writing for understanding and writing for
analytical explanation.
Using the work of Nancy Dean, we will examine
authors’ uses of diction, detail, imagery syntax and
tone to create a desired effect. Employing short
selections from critically acclaimed literature, we will
discuss questions that direct our attention to analysis of the quotation, how the
author achieved his desired effect, and how we might use this new technique in our
own writing. We will examine traditional authors from the canon (Shakespeare,
Hazlit, Steinbeck and Eliot, for example) as well as contemporary authors Sandra
Cisneros, John Okada, and Maxine Hong Kingston, among others.
Topic/Unit: Voice Lessons
Ongoing
Sin and Sacrifice: a study of human
frailty, personal vs. public
atonement, and the role of
community in regulating moral
behavior.
December/January (7 weeks)
Novel: The Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel
Hawthorne
Novel: Student Choice (see winter break)
Short Stories including: “One Holy Night”
Sandra Cisneros, “No Name Woman”
Maxine Hong Kingston, “An Ex-Mas
Feast” Uwem Akpan, “Girl” Jamaica Kincaid.
Poems may include: “Living in Sin” Adrienne Rich, “A Valediction Forbidding
Mourning” John Donne, “Unknown Girl in a Maternity Ward” and “The Abortion”
Anne Sexton, “The Idea of Ancestry” Etheridge Knight
Winter Break Reading Choices: Students will select from the following list. My
criteria are: 1.) thematic or character similarities to The Scarlet Letter and 2.)
appearance on the AP Literature Q3 (free choice) essay list of suggested novels:
Beloved- Toni Morrison, Sula- Toni Morrison, A Prayer for Owen Meany-John Irving,
The Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver, Snow Falling on Cedars – David Guterson,
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood, The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini, Tess of
the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy, Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy, The Color Purple – Alice
Walker, The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton, Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte, The
Awakening – Kate Chopin, Atonement – Ian McEwan, The Sound of Waves – Yukio
Mishima.
If you have a different book you’d like to read, and can make a case for how it relates
to The Scarlett Letter, please let me know—I’m always looking for new additions to
the list.
Composition/Projects
 Daily journal writing: students will keep an ongoing record of their reading,
including vocabulary.
 In-class timed writing: We will continue to work on introductions and
outlines, but our focus will shift to supporting our thesis with excellent
evidence and supporting detail. We will also begin to address issues of
rhetoric: syntax, diction, tone and style.
 Seminar Prep: Students will write short seminar papers to prepare for
Socratic seminars on the major works.
 Multi-Genre Research Project on The Scarlett Letter/Reader’s Choice Novel:
students will create a project that includes historical research, biography, a
formal analysis essay, a review of criticism, and three additional creative
pieces inspired by a common theme or element in the two novels.
 “Poetry Your Way” Presentations: each student will present an appropriate
poem and teach a short lesson that reinforces poetic elements discussed in
class. By this time students will be comfortable with poetic elements such as
figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone, and will be ready to apply
them independently.
Family and Forgiveness: a study of our most
intimate community, with an emphasis on
fathers and sons.
February/March (7 weeks)
Play: Fences – August Wilson
Poems may include: “Ulysses”
Tennyson, ”My Dear
Telemachus” Joe Brodsky, “If
Poisonous Minerals” John
Donne, “Those Winter Sundays” Robert Hayden, “Do Not Go Gentle” Dylan Thomas,
“Popular Mechanics” Raymond Carver, “My Son, My Executioner” Donald Hall,
“Failing and Flying” Jack Gilbert, “The Lanyard” Billy Collins, “A Story” Li-Young Lee,
“Once More to the Lake” E.B. White,
Essay: “The Meanings of a Word” Gloria Naylor
One Act Play: “Andre’s Mother” Terrance McNally
Composition/Projects


Daily journal writing: students will keep an ongoing record of their reading,
including vocabulary.
In-class timed writing: we will continue to work on introductions and outlines,
as well as supporting our thesis with excellent evidence and supporting detail.


We will continue to address issues of rhetoric, such as syntax, diction, and
style; we will also consider voice as we conclude our preparation for the AP
exam.
Seminar Papers: Students will write short seminar papers to prepare for
Socratic seminars on the major works.
“Poetry Your Way” Presentations: ongoing
The Story of War: What can we learn from the
poet that the historian can’t tell us?
April/May (5 weeks)
Novel: The Things They Carried
Tim O’Brien, excerpts from
Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton
Trumbo.
Short Story: “For Esme, with Love and Squalor” J.D. Salinger, excerpts from “The
War Prayer” Twain, “Soldier’s Home” Hemingway, and others.
Poets including: William Shakespeare, Wilfred Owen , Seigfried Sassoon, Wislawa
Szymborska, Brian Turner, Peter Viereck, W.H. Auden and others.
Composition/Projects:





Daily journal writing: students will keep an ongoing record of their reading,
including vocabulary.
Seminar Papers: Students will write short seminar papers to prepare for
Socratic seminars on the major works.
Poetry: students will write 3-5 poems in different forms.
“Poetry Your Way” Presentations: ongoing
War Memorial Group Project: students in groups will design and present a
war memorial. Each group will prepare a written formal rationale for their
design.
Changes: Saying goodbye to high school,
greeting the world
June (3 weeks)
Essay: “Commencement Speech
at Kenyon College 2005” David Foster Wallace
Poems including: “Ithaka” C.P. Cavafy, “Freedom” William Stafford, “I Hear’d the
Learn’d Astronomer” and “A Child Went Forth” Walt Whitman, “Wild Geese” and
“The Journey” Mary Oliver, “Danse Russe” William Carlos Williams


Daily journal writing: students will keep an ongoing record of their reading,
including vocabulary
Speech: students will write and deliver a graduation speech that uses at least
two of the works read this year as direct or indirect inspiration
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Attendance
As a teacher, my first commitment is to
students who are present. If you want the
“Eighty percent of success is
best of what this class can offer you, you
showing up.” Woody Allen
must be present in class. There are many
on-line options for students who don’t
want to come to school; my course is not a distance-learning option.
Although it will certainly be possible to miss some class and still have a successful
year, you should not expect to earn an A or B, unless you attend class faithfully. You
will be asked to participate in Socratic Seminars, theatrical readings, and group
analysis projects – I cannot replicate these experiences for students who are not
present.
If you are absent, it is your responsibility to see me about your options. If you know
you will be absent in advance, I am happy to work with you. I am available for this
only during tutorial, AT, or after school, never during class.
Materials
You need a journal for this class…a full sized
spiral bound notebook with at least 80
“People who keep journals live
pages. (You may need a second one later in
twice.” Jessamyn West
the year.) You will write in it every day, so
never neglect to bring it to class. I suspect
you will find your journal from this class to be a great interest in 5, 10, 20 years. You
will also need your favorite writing utensils. You need a place to keep photocopies
safe and handy. I will require you to procure a book or two on your own, and I will
expect that you can access my website regularly for posted documents and links to
readings.
Academic Honesty
I will work hard for your success and
respect you no matter what your IQ,
“Never separate the life you live
political affiliation, taste in literature, or
from the words you speak.”
personality quirks. The surest way to lose
Paul Wellstone
my respect is to cheat. I believe that
honor and integrity are a hundred times
more important than your GPA. I believe that cheating is a form of lying, and I do not
trust or respect liars. Everyone makes mistakes, but don’t make this one.
The cost of cheating: a discipline referral, parental notification, and a non-negotiable
0 on the paper or test in question. The value of academic honesty? Priceless.
Grading
Simple points and percentages can
never give a wholly accurate or
“But there are advantages to being
meaningful picture of a student’s
elected President. The day after I was
efforts and achievements over the
elected, I had my high school grades
course of a year. However, letter
classified Top Secret.”
grades are a reality we must contend
Ronald Reagan
with and we all know they matter. I
will dedicate myself to evaluating your
work fairly and in good faith. However useful Skyward may be in monitoring your
grade, please remember that your grade is not a video game score. The point of this
year is not to rack up the numbers. The point is to grow in life wisdom, academic
knowledge, and skill. Stay focused on that; the grade will take care of itself.
The following is the grading scale for the class:
100% - 94%
90% - 93%
87% - 89%
84% - 86%
80% - 83%
A
AB+
B
B-
77% - 79%
74% - 76
70% - 73%
67% - 69%
60% - 66%
Below 60%
Your grade will break down this way:
C+
C
CD+
D
F
30% informal writing (seminar prep papers, pre-writes, journal checks)
30% formal writing (in-class essay revisions, formal analysis paper, multi-genre
research project)
10% seminar participation
30% quizzes, in-class writes, presentations, and other class activities
Your grade will reflect your efforts and accomplishments in all areas. Although I am
ultimately responsible for assessment, I will always value your input when assigning a
letter grade to your work.
Note: Reading your work and offering you meaningful feedback takes some time. I
will not always be as quick as you would like. If you are feeling anxious for my
comments, or if you just want to know what grade you got, I will always evaluate
your work for you during tutorial or after school while you wait. Come see me and
we’ll talk through the process.
Extra Credit
There will be
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment; full effort is
full victory.”
Mohandas Gandhi
opportunities
for extra
credit. Extra
credit is the
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mohandasga121239.html only way to
make up for missed participation in seminars, so I work hard to provide meaningful
extra credit opportunities. However, you cannot exceed 5% of the semester’s total
points in extra credit. The effect of this is that your final grade in the course can only
move by 1/3 of a grade on extra credit. A B+ can become an A-, but a C cannot
become a B. Extra credit is really designed to supplement and enhance our regular
coursework, not replace it.
Late Papers
I will accept major assignments late on the following
conditions: 1.) you have seven calendar days after
the due date to turn in the assignment. The penalty
for being late is 10% of the value of the assignment.
2.) After the seven day “grace” period, late work is
worth no more than 50%. In-class writing must be made up as in-class writing. You
may make up missed work after school most days. There is a seven-day window
during which you can make up an in-class timed essay. After that, 50%.
“It gets late early out
there!”
Yogi Berra