Teacher: L. Crowell
Contact Information:
leah-rae_crowell@wrdsb.on.ca
Course Title
Grade 12 Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
Course Code
ENG4UW
Course
Description
This course is designed to comply with the curricular requirements described in the AP
English Course Description. The purpose of the course is to consider the importance of
stories by exploring two questions: What is a story? Why do we tell them? Students will
examine stories in a variety of genres taken from a variety of eras and cultures, as they
develop answers to these questions.
The AP exams will be scheduled in the window of May 4th-15th 2015. The exact date and
time of the English exam will be posted and announced in class. When the date of the exam
is announced, we will designate class time for preparation and review.
Main Course
Texts
Main Course Texts:
Euripides, Medea, in Medea and Other Plays. Penguin 1963
Sophocles, Antigone, in The Theban Plays. Penguin 1965
Wilde, The Importance of Being Ernest, in Eight Great Comedies. New American Library
1957
Shakespeare, King Lear
Margaret Ferguson et al eds. The Norton Anthology of Poetry 4th and 5th ed.
Novel Selections:
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Joseph Heller, Catch 22
Emilie Bronte, Wuthering Heights
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Reference Readings:
M.H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms. (seventh edition)
Bullfinch's Mythology. Gramercy books, 1979.
Graham, Neil. Thinking Through The Essay
William Zinsser, On Writing Well (4th edition). Harper Perennial, 1990
Evaluation and
Assessment
The MAJOR assessments are constructed to give you the opportunity to demonstrate the overall expectations
of the course. Therefore, missing major assignments may result in a loss of credit or mark of incomplete.
Major Assessment
Weight
Approximate Timeline
Coursework
35%
On-going
10%
10%
15%
15%
15%
September
October
End of January
April
May/June
(quizzes, assignments, tests,
collaborative tasks, performances etc.)
Informal Essay
Shakespeare: Review
Exam
Comparison Essay
Year End Seminar
Overall
Expectations
Overall Expectations:
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To articulate the value of literature by exploring what makes stories important to us.
To develop new skills in several kinds of writing: literary journals, exploratory and reflective personal
journals, informal and formal essays (one of which will be comparative).
To choose and develop a research topic with the use of library research skills.
To use various kinds of writing to explore personal thoughts about course readings.
The integral importance of discussion, presentation, and questioning in their exploration of the
purpose of stories.
The characteristics of, and differences between, comedy and tragedy.
The extent to which a literary work is both coloured by, and a product of, the culture that produced
it.
Oral Communication (Discussion and Presentation):


Discussions will take several forms: group presentations, individual presentations, class discussions
and readings from student journals. Many of the topics for discussion will come from ideas
developed in the students' journals.
The students will also be engaging in dramatic presentations as a way of working out an
interpretation of literature.
Writing Expectations:
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The students will use a journal to keep an ongoing record of thoughts, reactions, and impressions as
they work their way through the literature on the course. They will produce short critiques of
poetry, prose passages, excerpts from plays, and short stories.
They will write longer analytical essays in which they present a thesis and argument.
Approximately every four weeks they will complete a timed writing assignment. Some of these are
taken from essay questions on past AP exams. Students will choose two of these to rewrite and
submit for marking--one in December, and one in April.
There will also be a reading comprehension task approximately every four weeks. Each of these is
taken from a past AP exam.
Student writing will be evaluated using a variety of rubrics, each designed for a particular writing
assignment. Students will review the rubric for each writing task as part of the instruction for that
task.
Instruction for informal and journal writing will be taken from William Zinsser, On Writing Well.
Instruction for formal writing will be taken from K.L. Stewart et. al. eds. Essay Writing for Canadian
Students.
Reading Expectations:


Students will be reading poetry, critical essays, plays, novels, and short stories.
The reading comprehension tasks are chosen to complement the study units. To prepare for each
exercise students will study terminology and unfamiliar vocabulary use in the passages and
questions. As a follow-up, students will discuss and occasionally write about comprehension
passages.
Media Studies Expectations:

Identifying and understanding some media forms, explaining how conventions and techniques create
meaning.
Course Units
UNIT 1: INFORMAL ESSAY WRITING - WHAT IS A STORY? WHY DO WE TELL THEM?
This unit outline is
subject to change
based on student
need and course
progression.
A TWO WEEK UNIT
The students will begin by working in a group trading ideas with one another. They will examine and discuss
excerpts in which Margaret Atwood, Isak Dinesen, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Leslie Silko and others describe their
thoughts about stories.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Informal Essay
The students will write an informal essay in which they describe their own theory about stories. This is
intended to be a personal and imaginative speculation. Students will use their own experience as well as what
they have read as a source of research information. The essay will be evaluated for organization, tone, use of
figurative language, and clarity of expression.
UNIT 2: KING LEAR
A FOUR WEEK UNIT
The study of this play includes the analysis of language, character development, plot structure and the
complexities of devices used in characters' speeches designed to persuade the audience to approve of and or
sympathize with the main characters in the play.
To prepare for this unit, the students read:
 I.A. Richards’ essay "From Principles of Literary Criticism" in Eight Great Tragedies.
 King Lear
 Students will attend a performance of the play at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (Wednesday,
September 24th 2014).
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Journal Writing Assignment
The students will read the entire play on their own and complete a journal entry for each act. The students
will respond to a provided prompt for each journal entry. They will be expected to use quotations from the
play in each of their entries.
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Shakespeare Performance Review
The students write a review of the performance they attended. As preparation for this writing task they
examine several reviews taken from newspapers and magazines, including reviews of the performance they
watched. They study writer’s persona, style and audience in Thinking Through the Essay.
UNIT 3: MEDEA
A THREE WEEK UNIT
Students will test the applicability of Barnet’s philosophy to Medea's rhetoric and the moral vacillations of the
Corinthian chorus. We will discuss Medea's defense of her decision to kill her children, her fear of humiliation,
and her need for revenge. We will then discuss a comparison with Dickinson's fear in "I Dreaded That First
Robin, so." As we move through the unit, we will examine differences in theme, personality and goals of the
protagonists, conflict between law and moral right, justice versus revenge, and the role of women.
The students will prepare for this unit by reading the following texts:
 Medea
 Antigone
 Barnet's introduction to Eight Great Tragedies for information about the origin and history of tragedy
 Browning's "My Last Duchess" and selections of poetry
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Medea Group Presentation
Students work in groups of 3 or 4 to develop an analytical presentation on one of several topics. The group
presentation will include reference to secondary reading done during the study of Medea.
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Timed Writing Assignment
A timed essay writing exercise. Students have 40 minutes to write an analysis of Medea as a tragic hero. As
preparation for this writing task the students examine sample answers to an AP essay task and a scoring guide
for AP essay questions.
UNIT 4: A STUDY OF THE COMMEDIA DELL' ARTE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST
A FOUR WEEK UNIT
Students discuss their personal thoughts and responses to their reading of The Importance of Being Ernest as
a starting point for their study of the play. The students will:
 Examine the characters to determine each of the stock types.
 Discover what makes these characters more complex than their stock types.
 Examine the play and its usage of traditional Commedia plot lines.
The students prepare for this unit by reading the following texts:
 Passages of information about the history of the Commedia, its stock characters, examples of lazzi
and typical dialogues.

The Importance of Being Ernest
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Scripting a Commedia Performance
Students write and perform a small commedia dialogue. As preparation for this, students watch a film version
of a Commedia performance, identifying lazzi, behaviour and dialogue typical of stock characters, and the
pattern of comedy in the plot structure. They will examine the rubric to be used for evaluation of their
dialogue.
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Informal Writing Response
Informal response to reading of The Importance of Being Ernest. Students respond using one of several
suggested topics. The topics require them to incorporate knowledge of Commedia Dell' Arte and to analyse
Wilde's use of stock characters and situations in his play.
THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Timed Writing Assignment
The students will complete a timed writing assignment based on commedia dell’ arte.
UNIT 5: GRAMMAR AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE
A TWO WEEK UNIT
We will complete a grammar and sentence structure study that addresses problems that have been
appearing in students' writing during the fall term.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Personal Assignment Review
Students will keep in mind what they learn during this practice with sentence structure as they rewrite, and
submit for marking, one of their timed writing exercises.
UNIT 6: A STUDY OF POETRY FROM THE ELIZABETHAN ERA TO PRESENT
A FOUR WEEK UNIT
"The best words in the best order." Students will examine various poetic structures, learn differences in
approach and world view between one poetic era and another, particularly in English poetry, the departures
from poetic conventions in 20th Century American and British poets, as well as the very recent poetry that
appears in current journals and magazines. They will discover the importance of sound, appeal to the senses,
imagery, tone, and point of view in poetry. The students will read selections from The Norton Anthology of
Poetry, as well as the following sources of recent poetry: The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, Contemporary
Verse 2, and Queen's Quarterly.
During this unit the students will study lyric and narrative poems. Selections will include:
 sonnet
 hymn
 ode
 elegy (Lycidas)
 dramatic monologue
 ballad
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Multiple Choice Exam Practice
A multiple choice comprehension exercise (taken from a past AP exam).
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Informal Poetry Response
Students write a brief informal response to four of the poems studied. One of these responses will be
expanded into a detailed critical analysis.
THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Timed Writing Assignment
Timed Writing assignment. Students take 40 minutes to complete the comparison question from a past AP
examination.
UNIT 7: INDEPENDENT NOVEL STUDY
A FOUR WEEK UNIT
This unit actually begins in late November when the students choose their novels. They may choose from a
list of American, Canadian, British and Irish novels provided by the teacher, or an alternate work by an author
represented on the list. Alternative novel choices must by approved by the teacher.
During the unit students do the following:
 Choose and read two novels from the list.
 Write two or three response journals for each as they read.
 Prepare a presentation for the class that explores an idea or issue that is explored in both novels.
 Arrange an interview with the teacher me to outline the structure of the oral presentation they will
prepare for the class.
 Write a formal essay comparing the two novels.
The following is a partial list of titles eligible for the independent novel study:
The Great Gatsby, Frankenstein, The Grapes of Wrath, Stone Angel, Alias Grace, Invisible Man, All The King's
Men, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, The Scarlet Letter, Middlemarch, Heart of Darkness, Snow
Falling on Cedars, A Separate Peace, Orlando, Turn of the Screw, Native Son, The Kite Runner, Ethan Frome,
The Watch That Ends the Night, Wuthering Heights, Gulliver's Travels, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Sons and
Lovers, Huckleberry Finn, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Novel Study Reading Journals
Students will complete several reading journals based on their novel selections.
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Year-End Seminar
Students will work independently or in pairs to create a formal oral presentation: Year End Seminar.
THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Comparison Essay
Students will write a comparison essay (2500-3000 words). Before they begin this writing project, they will
review techniques of comparison, essay organization, developing an argument, and detailed analysis of text.
The essays will undergo a formal peer edit before the students write their final drafts. The students follow a
peer editing guideline to do their editing.
UNIT 8: READING CIRCLE NOVEL DISCUSSION
A TWO WEEK UNIT
Students will discuss their novel reading selections from the independent novel study unit.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Group Novel Discussion
In groups, students prepare a discussion of one of the novels read in preparation for this unit.
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Timed Reading Comprehension
A timed reading comprehension exercise. Students answer the multiple-choice questions (taken from a past
AP exam).
THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Timed Writing Assignment
A timed writing exercise using a past AP exam question.
UNIT 9: SHORT FICTION - THE ALIENATED HERO
A THREE WEEK UNIT
The students study a selection of short fiction including the following:
 "A Rose for Emily"
 "Barn Burning"
 "The Yellow Wallpaper"
 "The Prisoner" and "American Dreams" from the anthology Something to Declare.
Because of its focus on the alienated hero, this unit is partly an extension of the study of Slaughterhouse Five.
The students will view the film “Smoke” as we explore the question “What is a story?” Each student chooses
one other story to explicate briefly for the class. In their explications the students will examine the use of
conflict, character contrasts, setting, alienation of the hero to develop theme.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Short Story Critique
The students will write a critique of the stories they chose to explicate for the class.
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Timed Writing Assignment (re-write)
The students choose one timed writing task from those they have written during the course to rewrite and
submit for marking. They will use teacher feedback, comments and instruction to help with the rewrite.
UNIT 10: SUMMATIVE ESSAY UNIT
A FOUR WEEK UNIT
This unit will take place after the AP exam has been written. The students will learn methods of organizing a
comparison essay, and review the rules of MLA format, in preparation for the writing of a summative essay
that discusses several works studied in the course. As the students work on this essay at home, in class there
will be a study of existentialism and absurdism along with reading and discussion of the play Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf. During this study we will revisit the ideas compiled in September about the purpose of stories.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Formal Literary Essay
The students will write a formal literary essay assignment that will examine three different works studied
throughout the course.
Department Policies
Plagiarism
At WCI, it is the expectation that students will submit their own original work for the
purpose of demonstrating their learning. In the event that cheating or plagiarism occurs,
the following consequences may be implemented, in consultation with administration,
depending on the situation:
 The student may be required to redo all or part of the assignment or assessment.
 The student may be required to complete an alternate assignment or assessment.
 The student’s work may be treated as a missed assignment.
There may be other consequences that are determined to be appropriate, including
disciplinary consequences as outlined in the Cheating/Plagiarism section of the Student
Planner.
Assignment
Due Dates
At WCI it is the expectation that students will submit all required work by the assigned due
date as evidence of their learning. Students who fail to meet a due date for an essential
course component will be subject to the completion policy found in the Student Planner.
Failure to submit this work, despite these interventions, will be recorded as incomplete and
may result in a loss of credit.
Assignment
Extensions and
Deadlines
It is your responsibility to submit assignments by the assigned due date. If you will not be
able to meet a due date it is your responsibility to make arrangements for an extension well
in advance of the due date.
You are expected to submit all assignments by the established due date. Assignments that
are submitted more than four weeks after the original due date may not be considered for a
mark.
Learning Skills
The development of learning skills and work habits is an integral part of your learning. The
achievement of these skills is officially reported on your Provincial Report Card. You will be
assessed on these learning skills: Responsibility, Organization, Independent Work,
Collaboration, Initiative, and Self-Regulation. Your learning skills will be reported using this
scale: E-Excellent, G-Good, S-Satisfactory, and N-Needs Improvement.
In this course, submitting assignments on time, keeping an organized binder, participating in
class, and communicating regularly with your teacher are examples of these learning skills.