Juan Diego Academy
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition (English III)
Course Syllabus
2015-2016
Instructor:
Dr. Kathleen Neal Carroll
Room G- 111
Office Number- Ext. 304
kcarroll@cdobcs.org
Conference period: 4th (2:30-4:00)
Texts:
Literature and the Language Arts: The American Tradition—EMC/Paradigm Publishing
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Crucible – Arthur Miller
Thank you for Arguing- Jay Heinrich
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America – Barbara Ehrenreich
Supplemental Texts:
A World of Ideas, 7th Edition – Lee A. Jacobus
The Oxford Book of Essays, 2nd Edition – John Gross, ed.
Everyday Use- David Joliffe
Everything’s an Argument, 4th Edition – Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruskiewicz
Sentence Composing for College: A Worktext – Don Killgallon
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th Edition – Joseph Gibaldi
The Owl at Purdue website
Course Description
ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE/COMP. - #1112 The AP course in
English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose
written in a variety of rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a
variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the
interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the JDA
Course Catalog 2015-2016 8 way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute
to effectiveness in writing. They will develop a broad working vocabulary and a greater
appreciation of how language works. This course is designed to prepare students for the AP
Language and Composition exam which they are expected to take in May. Prerequisites:
Departmental recommendation and administrative approval. Credit: 1.0; Weight: 1.10; full-year
course which fulfills the junior year English requirement
Philosophy
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The class is an interactive learning community in which both student and instructor become
deeply engaged in the reading, discussion, production, and analysis of prose from a variety of
sources and time periods of American Literature. Because this is an introductory college level
course, students will read broadly from primarily nonfiction material. They will also exchange
ideas and understandings with their peers, learn the critical skill of synthesizing information from
their readings to produce a fresh perspective, and incorporate this skill in their writing—all the
while honing their own voice in what they write. Both their writing and reading should make
students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects
as well as the way “generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness
in writing.” Risk taking and questioning are encouraged.
Course Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to do the following:
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analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use
of rhetorical strategies and techniques
apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing
create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience
demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic
maturity in their own writings
use language effectively and cogently in both the personal and academic realms
write for a variety of purposes
produce expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions for varying audiences,
contexts, and goals
move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to
inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review
demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary source
material
evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers
analyze image as text
reflect and write thoughtfully about their own process of composition
Course Requirements
Attendance and participation
Students are expected to come to class on time, prepared to participate in discussion and
activities related to reading and writing assignments. Per JDA policy, students missing 6 class
meetings in a semester may not be eligible to receive credit for work done. See the JDA Student
Handbook for additional information.
Assignments
Not all assignments given in this class will be graded. Some assignments will be made that are
intended to prepare the student for successful completion of a major assignment, project, or
assessment. Students are expected to complete all reading and writing assignments thoughtfully
and on time. If you are absent on the day an assignment is due, you must submit the assignment
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to the teacher website or have someone bring the work to school for you. Per the policy of the
JDA AP classes, no late work of any kind is accepted without written approval from the principal
in extenuating circumstances.
All written work is completed according to MLA guidelines.
Grading
Numerical grades are earned per JDA policy found in the JDA Student Handbook. Grading
rubrics will be provided for essay and research-based assignments. The grade for each nine
weeks of the school year is broken down as follows:
40%
30%
20%
10%
essays
projects/research
assignments and quizzes
journal
Class Supplies
Students will be expected to bring all appropriate texts to class each day. In addition, students
will keep a journal (composition notebook), and a binder for other classes large enough to
contain everything completed or received as part of this course: assignments, class notes,
handouts, informal and formal writing, major compositions, timed writings, multiple choice
practices and quizzes, additional reading handouts. Students should always bring plenty of
loose-leaf notebook paper, pencils, pens, and highlighters.
Conduct
In general, students are expected to follow the five classroom “Be Attitudes”:
1.
Be Punctual
2.
Be Respectful
3.
Be Aware of Procedures
4.
Be Responsible
5.
Be Engaged in Learning
Students are expected to adhere to all posted and verbal procedures and classroom rules.
Typically, students will be 1) Reminded, then 2) Warned, and finally, 3) Served
Detention/Referred to the Office for making the choice not to cooperate in the learning
environment of the classroom.
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The JDA Student Handbook is the final authority in determining all other academic and
disciplinary procedures.
Course Outline
First Nine Weeks
REQUIRED READING:
Nickel and Dimed – Barbara Ehrenreich- You need a hard copy of this book- pdf files will not
be acceptable.
Thank you for Arguing- Jay Heinrich
(summer reading)
“The Iroquois Constitution” (excerpt)
“The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies” (excerpt) – Bartolomé de las Casas
“The General History of Virginia…” (excerpt) – John Smith
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” – Jonathan Edwards
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” – Anne Bradstreet
“The Autobiography of Ben Franklin” (excerpt) – Benjamin Franklin
“To S.M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works” – Phillis Wheatley
ASSESSMENTS:
- Nine (9) weekly writing journals (300 words minimum)
- Three (3) assertion short writes: brief responses to statements made by famous writers
- One (1) rhetorical analysis jigsaw discussion of three texts, with synthesis questions (topic:
colonial
America
- Rhetorical analysis exercises
- Sentence and paragraph imitation exercises (Sentence Composing for College)
- Three (2) timed writings: rhetorical analysis
- Rhetoric and style quiz
- Practice multiple choice exercises (AP exam passages)
- Blessing Bags Project
- Summer Reading Project
- International Day Project
Second Nine Weeks
REQUIRED READING:
The Crucible- Arthur Miller
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Rappaccini’s Daughter” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Pit and the Pendulum” – Edgar Allen Poe
Self Reliance (excerpt) – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Walden (excerpt) – Henry David Thoreau
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“The Village Blacksmith” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Select Poems of Emily Dickinson (Literature and the Language Arts)
Four Essays written by assigned pre-twentieth-century essayist
ASSESSMENTS:
- Nine weekly writing journals (300 words minimum)
- Rhetorical and contextual analysis exercises (visual and prose text)
- Four (4) annotated analyses of pre-twentieth-century essay
- One (1) précis of an essay (assigned pre-twentieth-century essayist)
- Two (2) timed writings: rhetorical analysis
- Practice multiple choice exercises (AP exam passages)
-Satire Project
-Tolerance Project
Selected criticisms from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Norton Critical Edition
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (excerpt) – Frederick Douglas
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Of the Education of Children” – Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
“On Education” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The Banking Concept of Education” – Paulo Friere
The Gettysburg Address – Abraham Lincoln
“O Captain! My Captain!” – Walt Whitman
“A Mystery of Heroism” – Stephen Crane
“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” “I Will Fight No More Forever” – Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé
The Art of Fiction (excerpt) – Henry James
Structuring Arguments” (chapter 6) – Everything’s an Argument
ASSESSMENTS:
- Nine weekly writing journals (300 words minimum)
- Rhetorical and contextual analysis exercises (prose text)
- One (1) rhetorical analysis jigsaw discussion of three texts, with synthesis questions (topic:
education)
- One (1) synthesis assertion essay, incorporating statements from famous writers in different
time
periods (topic: education)
- Outside Essay: Argument of evaluation (approximately 1500-1800 words) RESEARCHED
ARGUMENT
- Two (1) timed writing: rhetorical analysis
- Two (1) timed writing: argument- Synthesis essay from AP in class essay
- Practice multiple choice exercises (AP exam passages)
- Semester Exam (multiple choice, argument timed writing, annotation)
- Individual assignments for argumentative essay including, topic approval, outline, articles,
annotated
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bibliography.
Third Nine Weeks
REQUIRED READING:
“The Origin of Civil Society” – Jean-Jaques Rousseau
“Total Domination” – Hannah Arendt
“The Allegory of the Cave” – Plato
“Home Burial” – Robert Frost
“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” – Wallace Stevens
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” – T.S. Eliot
“somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond” E.E.Cummings
ASSESSMENTS:
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Nine weekly writing journals (300 words minimum)
Rhetorical and contextual analysis exercises (prose text)
One (1) ESSAY (1500-2000 words)
One (1) timed writing: rhetorical analysis
One (1) timed writing: argument
Practice multiple-choice exercises (AP exam passages)
One (1) rhetorical analysis jigsaw discussion of three texts, with synthesis questions (topic:
government)
- One (1) synthesis assertion essay, incorporating statements from famous writers in different
time
periods (topic: government)
Fourth Nine Weeks
REQUIRED READING:
“Newsreel LXVIII” from The Big Money – John Dos Passos
“The Night the Bed Fell” – James Thurber
“Letter to The Amherst Student” – Robert Frost
“I Have A Dream” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We Wear the Mask” – Paul Laurence Dunbar
“Yet Do I Marvel” – Countee Cullen
“The Tropics in New York” – Claude McKay
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” – Langston Hughes
“A Black Man Talks of Reaping” – Arna Bontemps
Selected speeches from 3 Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America’s Greatest Writers
Twenty-Five (25) selected pre-twentieth-century essays from The Oxford Book of Essays
ASSESSMENTS:
- Nine weekly writing journals (300 words minimum)
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- Rhetorical and contextual analysis exercises (prose text)
- One (1) précis of a secondary source selection from research argument
- Outside essay: Evaluative argument (research-based essay; approximately 3000 words)
- One (1) timed writing: rhetorical analysis
- One (1) timed writing: argument
- Practice multiple-choice exercises (AP exam passages)
- Literature Project-Using an Approved Selection from the List Below- Class Presentations
“Woman: Myth and Reality” – Simon de Beauvoir
“Woman’s Place in Man’s Life Cycle” – Carol Gilligan
“The Significance of Feminist Movement” – bell hooks
“Natural Selection” – Charles Darwin
“Nonmoral Nature” – Stephen Jay Gould
“The Sunless Sea” – Rachel Carson
Selected speeches from 3 Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America’s Greatest Writers
Invisible Man (excerpt) – Ralph Ellison
“To Build A Fire” – Jack London
“Trifles” – Susan Glaspell
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” – Katherine Anne Porter
“The Devil and Daniel Webster” – Stephen Vincent Benét
As educator for this course, I promise to be mindful of your rights as students and respectful of
your opinions and beliefs. I will endeavor to evaluate you with the objectivity, consistency and
fairness of a professional in the field of education. Finally, I pledge that I will do everything I
can to empower you, the student, to be successful in this course.
Kathleen Neal Carroll, Ed.D.
Dean of Instruction
_____________________________________________________________
I have read and understand this document. I agree to abide by its stated guidelines and
procedures.
Student’s Signature______________________________________________
Parent/Guardian Signature_________________________________________
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