Brooklyn Technical High School
Randy J. Asher, Principal
29 Fort Greene Place ∙ Brooklyn, New York ∙ 11217 ∙ Telephone: (718) 804-6400 ∙ Fax: (718) 260 – 9245 ∙ www.bths.edu
AP English Literature and Composition is designed to be the equivalent of a college level college Introduction to
Literature course. AP Lit “engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature.
Through close readings of selective texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to
provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers.” As students read they will consider a work’s style, structure,
theme, imagery, diction, rhetorical strategies, figurative language, symbolism, syntax as well as historical and literary
context. All reading must be completed on time. Students will write a variety of essays about literature including
expository, analytical, and argumentative (position) essays. Students will master literary terms as well as critical
approaches to literature. Students will also be required to try writing in various literary genres. Students will meet with
the teacher for one on one conferencing during tutorial period.
Course Goals:
 T o carefully read and critically analyze literature
 To think like a writer: to understand the way writers use language
 To read and write for purpose, occasion, audience and tone
 To study representative works from various time periods and genres
 To develop our own voices as writers of poetry, fiction and memoir
 To develop a critical vocabulary
 To become familiar with various critical approaches to the study of literature
 To develop a portfolio showing growth as a writer
 To consider the cultural, social and historical values that a writer expresses
 To hone writing skills in responding to literature
 To work both independently and in a group setting to understand a work’s complexity
 To appreciate the majesty and depth of our language
 To utilize the writing process of draft, peer review, revision, final product
 To excel on the AP exam in May
Writing Tasks:
 Personal Essay (2)
 Timed Essays Based on AP Prompts
 Double-Entry Journals
 Essay Questions
 Literary Analysis (close reading focusing on author’s style)
 Critical Analysis (responding to critical articles)
 Creative Assignments (poetry, short fiction, memoir)
"All students taking an Advanced Placement class are required to register and pay for the Advanced Placement examination by
the appropriate deadlines. They will also be required to take the exam at the designated times.
AND
Failure to follow the above requirements will lead to imposition of the following academic penalties: the class grade given to a
student passing the class AND NOT TAKING THE EXAMINATION will be reduced to "65" and the AP designation will be
removed from the course description."
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT:
50% Essays, Speeches, Tests, Projects, Presentations
25% Homework, Quizzes
25% Class Preparation, Accountable Talk, In-Class Assignments
Brooklyn Technical High School
Randy J. Asher, Principal
29 Fort Greene Place ∙ Brooklyn, New York ∙ 11217 ∙ Telephone: (718) 804-6400 ∙ Fax: (718) 260 – 9245 ∙ www.bths.edu
Primary Text:
Bedford Introduction to Literature
Secondary Texts:
Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Sophocles, Oedipus Rex/ Antigone
Shelley, Frankenstein
Ellison, Invisible Man
Shakespeare, Hamlet/ The Taming of the Shrew
Voltaire, Candide
Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Huxley, Brave New World
**Required to be bought or borrowed by Thanksgiving Break: any of the following: Princeton Review
Guide to AP Lit, 5 Steps to a 5. I’ll talk about the differences during the year
Fall 2012
Drama:
Greek Tragedy
Summer Reading Assessment
Personal/ College Essay -- Discuss tone, audience, voice. Hand out samples from 50 Harvard Essays. Look
over past student college essays. Students will work in groups of 4 analyzing successful college essays and
peer editing their own. Meet one on one with students to go over college essays
Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Antigone
Critical Approaches: Psychoanalytical (Freudian), Feminist
Essential Questions: How do we define tragedy? What are the characteristics of Greek drama? Is fate
inevitable? What does Freud think? Why is Antigone a tragic hero?
Literary Terms: tragedy, archetype, paradox, deus ex machina, tone
Focus on: Academic Vocabulary students will get list (c. Jim Burke) and keep an academic/ personal
vocabulary notebook which will be checked in November, February and April
Pre-Writing: Discussion/review of rhetorical strategies: explication, narration, description, argumentation,
compare/contrast. Students will choose partners for peer editing
Writing: Critical analysis – Aristotelian perspective on tragedy, Freud on Oedipus, Feminist perspective of
Antigone
Timed Essay
Poetry:
Shakespeare and Donne
Shakespearian Sonnets
selected poetry by John Donne including:
Batter My Heart, Death Be Not Proud, The Flea,
Song, and Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
Essential Questions: What is the importance of syntax? What is the form of a sonnet? What is
Brooklyn Technical High School
Randy J. Asher, Principal
29 Fort Greene Place ∙ Brooklyn, New York ∙ 11217 ∙ Telephone: (718) 804-6400 ∙ Fax: (718) 260 – 9245 ∙ www.bths.edu
metaphysical poetry? How do form and content both give meaning to a poem?
Literary terms: meter, iambic pentameter, sonnet, metaphysical, conceit, apostrophe
critical approach: New Criticism
Pre-Writing: Bedford “Writing an Introduction and Conclusion, Using Quotations” (2076-2078). Class
discussion: close reading and annotating text., close look at diction, syntax, structure. Peer Editing
Writing: Analysis of 3 poems by Shakespeare or Donne
Post Writing: Hand out rubric and go over it.
Students will write a sonnet
British Romantic Poets
Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats
Essential Questions: What are the characteristics of Romanticism? What was the historical and political
context of Romanticism? How did the Industrial Revolution influence the poets?
Literary terms: symbolism, imagery, metaphor, apostrophe, ode, meter, alliteration, anaphora, assonance,
onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme, negative capability, pathetic fallacy
Critical Approaches: New Criticism, Historical, Biographical
Pre Writing: Discuss organization, the use of graphic organizers, and use of transitions.
Introduction of double-entry (dialectic) journal.
Bedford “Revising and Editing” (2079-2080)
Post Writing: Hand out and go over AP rubric (1-9 scale). Class poetry reading.
Writing: Analysis of poem by Romantic Poet (close reading)
Timed Essay
Original poem for Random House contest
American Originals
Dickinson, Frost, Plath
Essential Questions: What is the role of irony in these poets’ works? How can we characterize the style of
each poet? What is the role of ambiguity in the poems? How do the poets view death? nature? gender
roles?
Literary Terms: point of view, imagery, slant rhyme, syntax, diction, metaphor, allusion, sonnet, iambic
pentameter
Critical Approaches: Formalist, Feminist, Reader Response
Pre-Writing: Developing a thesis statement, use of supporting evidence, use of illustrative detail. Bedford
“Arguing About Literature” (2071-2074). Develop class created rubric
Peer editing -- groups of four. Revision.
Writing: Analysis of one of the poet’s style using 4 or 5 poems
Post Writing: Use class created rubric, find examples of illustrative detail. Revision
Modernism
Yeats, Eliot, Williams, Cummings, Stevens
Essential Questions: What is the historical context? How did these poets break with past literary traditions
in terms of form, imagery and content? What do the poets have to say about the “modern world” in the
style and form of their poems?
Literary Terms: stream of consciousness, free verse, allusion, synecdoche, metonymy, connotation,
denotation
Brooklyn Technical High School
Randy J. Asher, Principal
29 Fort Greene Place ∙ Brooklyn, New York ∙ 11217 ∙ Telephone: (718) 804-6400 ∙ Fax: (718) 260 – 9245 ∙ www.bths.edu
Critical Approaches: New Criticism, Historical
Pre-Writing: Incorporating Academic Vocabulary (modeling). Use words from students’ notebooks.
Varying sentence structure (use purple grammar book). If possible, use a student essay on overhead
projector. Peer editing in groups of four. Revision.
Writing: Analysis of poem(s) using a specific literary approach
Students will write an original poem based on an allusion or extended metaphor
Timed Essay
Academic Vocabulary notebook check/ Vocabulary share
Fiction:
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Essential Questions: Are humans inherently good? Do we have the right to create life? What is the role of
the female characters? What would Freud have to say? What is the role of nature? What is the role of
science in our lives?
Literary Terms: Gothic, Romanticism, foil, pathetic fallacy, point of view, irony
Critical Approaches: New Criticism, Biographical, Feminist, Psychoanalytical, Reader Response
Pre-Writing: Continue focus on varying sentence structure. Look at sentence structure and syntax in
Frankenstein. Bedford “Combining Elements of Fiction” (362-371)
Writing: Essay analyzing one of the motifs or themes that can be found in Frankenstein:
science, nature, creation, women, psychology
Timed Essay: short excerpt from Frankenstein
Post Writing: Use rubrics to have students self grade timed writing
The Short Story: Alienation in Action – Kafka – “The Hunger Artist,” Melville – “Bartleby the
Scrivener,” Marquez – “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
selections from Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington
Essential Questions: What is the role of race in America? Is the nameless narrator an existential hero?
How is the search for identity a universal phenomenon? How does Ellison’s style reinforce the content (and
vice versa)?
Critical Approaches: Reader Response, Cultural Criticism, Deconstructionism
Literary Terms: bildungsroman, existentialism, foreshadowing, point of view
Pre-Writing: Class discussion: What events are important in our lives? Discuss narrative voice, tone and
audience
Writing: Responding to a critical article on Invisible Man
Timed Essay: excerpt from Invisible Man
Students will write a single chapter from their Memoir
Post Writing: Read Memoir chapters in groups of four. Each group chooses one to be read to the entire
class. Student/teacher conferences on Memoir
January 2013 Final Exam
Random House World of Expression Writing Competition Entries Due
Regents week reading: Candide by Voltaire
Brooklyn Technical High School
Randy J. Asher, Principal
29 Fort Greene Place ∙ Brooklyn, New York ∙ 11217 ∙ Telephone: (718) 804-6400 ∙ Fax: (718) 260 – 9245 ∙ www.bths.edu
Spring 2013
Satire:
Candide – Voltaire
“A Modest Proposal” – Swift
selections from Gulliver’s Travels – Swift
Essential Questions: What social conditions beg to be satirized? What aspects of human nature are easy to
make fun of? How does sentence structure, form and tone contribute to satirical writing?
Critical Approaches: historical, new historicist
Literary Terms: satire, parody, understatement, hyperbole, irony, wit
Academic Vocabulary Notebook check - mid February
Pre-Writing: Read Vonnegut’s story “Harrison Bergeron.” Discuss various types of satire as well as
topics that beg to be satirized. Peer editing with partners, focus on voice, audience and interplay between
generalization and detail. Students will create a rubric which includes tone, word choice, sentence
structure, detail, maintaining focus, humor.
Writing: Students will write their own satirical essay about a current social issue
some of which will be submitted to The Radish (school’s satirical magazine)
Timed Essay: something from the 17th or 18th Century (Samuel Johnson perhaps)
Drama:
Shakespeare: Hamlet and The Taming of the Shrew
Essential Questions: Why is Hamlet considered one of the greatest plays ever written? To be or not to be?
How does Hamlet lend itself to various critical approaches? In what ways is Hamlet a very complex
character? What are some common elements found in Shakespearean drama? What aspects of humanity are
comedic? What is Shakespeare’s take on the battle of the sexes? How is language used to make us laugh?
Critical Approaches: New Criticism, Psychoanalytical, Feminist, Reader Response, Cultural
Literary Terms: exposition, denouement, tragedy, comedy, ambiguity
Bedford “Elements of Drama” (1263-1266)
Pre-Writing: Poems about Hamlet (Akhmatova, Schwartz, Herbert, etc) Discuss point of view, tone and
diction. Peer editing with partner
Writing: Critical analysis (response to 2 critical articles)
Explication of Hamlet poem
Post Writing: poetry or short story read aloud
Fiction: The Modern Short Story
James Joyce – The Dubliners (selections)
Faulkner – A Rose for Emily
Lawrence – The Rocking Horse Winner
O’Connor – A Good Man is Hard to Find
The Life You Save may Be Your Own
Baldwin – Sonny’s Blues
Updike – A&P
Boyle – Carnal Knowkedge
Divakaruni – Clothes
Chai – Saving Sourdi
Jen – Who’s Irish
Brooklyn Technical High School
Randy J. Asher, Principal
29 Fort Greene Place ∙ Brooklyn, New York ∙ 11217 ∙ Telephone: (718) 804-6400 ∙ Fax: (718) 260 – 9245 ∙ www.bths.edu
Literary Terms: plot, characterization, point of view, setting, tone, symbolism, style, irony, Magical
Realism, Existentialism, metafiction
Essential Questions: How do authors create a unified effect by employing various techniques? How can
we analyze narrative technique?
Writing: Students will contrast and compare two short stories in terms of style.
A.P. exam timed essay
Students will write their own short story with focus on narrative voice.
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (3 weeks)
Literary terms: utopia, , point of view, allusion, stream of consciousness
Critical Approaches: Feminist, Reader Response, Historical, New Criticism
Essential Questions: How is the future portrayed? What is the relationship between dystopia and utopia?
How are female characters portrayed? What aspects of modern society are being critiqued in these novels?
How does the structure of the novel effect the message?
Writing: How does the author create an overall effect by using various narrative techniques
How does the author use detail to create a dystopian society?
***Focused AP Exam Review April 2?- May ?
Short answer practice daily
a timed essay written April 29, May 2, May 3 (revised the following night)
Advanced Placement Literature Test: May ?, 2013
Post AP Exam (project based)
Essay and oral interpretation on a select author from the following list.
The paper must use at least 3 critical sources.
Modern Poetry Unit: New Voices, New Ways of Seeing
The Beats, Nuyorican Poets, The New York School, Plath, Sexton,
Lorde, Ginsberg, Corso, Baraka, Angelou, Collins, Pietri, Collins
Modern Fiction: Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, Junot Diaz, Charles Bukowski, Amy Tan, Zadie Smith,
Kurt Vonnegut, Toni Morrison, Sherman Alexie, Angela Carter, Stephen King, William Gibson, Jhumpa
Lahiri,
Modern Drama: Words Into Action
Tony Kushner, Peter Shaffer, August Wilson David Henry Hwang, Tracy Letts, Wendy Wasserstein,Neil
Simon, etc.
Papers due Friday June 2013
Oral Presentations – June 2013
Brooklyn Technical High School
Randy J. Asher, Principal
29 Fort Greene Place ∙ Brooklyn, New York ∙ 11217 ∙ Telephone: (718) 804-6400 ∙ Fax: (718) 260 – 9245 ∙ www.bths.edu
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