Course Syllabus for Advanced Placement English Language
For this college-level critical reading and writing class, the following are
course objectives for each student:
 To develop, practice and refine the reading skills necessary to
understand challenging prose texts and passages from the
sixteenth through the twenty-first centuries.
 To evaluate a variety of writing techniques used by writers of
substance and their effects on the reader (diction, syntax,
rhetorical mode, allusion, tone, voice, literary conventions of the
day, etc.
 To recognize and write in several rhetorical modes (definition,
narration, comparison/contrast, classification/division, cause and
effect, and argument/persuasion).
 To practice the writing process including invention/drafting,
revising, proofing, and final drafting.
 To continue to define and refine vocabulary using context clues; to
differentiate among varied usages, exploring their effects on a
reader; and to evaluate the effects of connotation on the reader.
 To continue to develop mastery of Standard English usage and
conventions.
 To study the use and effects of varied sentence patterns and or
parts thereof to achieve a specific purpose; to produce prose
which achieves a specific purpose organically or through mimicry.
 To learn and effectively use the jargon needed to discuss written
discourse.
 To learn to analyze the relationship among writer, writer’s purpose,
subject and specific audience.
 To improve the skills needed to read and write on deadline.
 To produce a research paper in MLA format on a controversial
contemporary topic.
 To produce a body of writings showing development of the student
as a writer.
 To learn and employ a variety of test-taking strategies to
successfully complete both the new SAT and the AP Language
exam.
 To further develop social, speaking and listening skills through
thoughtful, engaged participation in classroom discussion.
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The Readings/Writing Cycle
Six six-week marking periods provide the framework for this year-long
course for juniors. During the summer between the sophomore and junior years,
students read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Narrative of the Life of
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Frederick Douglass. During the first ten days of school, students take objective
reading quizzes on the two texts and submit two assignments: for Twain, a brief
(500 word) essay discussing how one or more of the thematic concepts
(truth/lies, superstition, clothing/the lack of, religion, etc.) introduced in Chapter 1
develops throughout the novel; and for Douglass, a bank of ten quotations, each
framed in context and discussed with reference to the work as a whole.
The “toolbox” notebook is a beginning-of-the-year (and ongoing) project.
Students are provided with a vocabulary of literary jargon list complete with
definitions and examples from anaphora to zeugma—over 100 words), a
SOAPSTone chart, a list of “power” verbs, and a “Tips for Reading Archaic
Prose” as starter sheets. During the year, the notebook fills: my “Notes on
Writing” comments handout following every major assignment (sometimes
subtitled “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”, these provide easily accessed
models of students’ fine sentences, an exemplary well-woven quotation bit of
quotation support or two, and “non-models”, things never to do again; lists of
ways to approach timed writing, various mnemonic devices, advice in several
formats from AP readers, etc. Use of the notebook is encouraged at all times
except during vocabulary quizzes. To increase familiarity with literary jargon—
and to prepare for five quizzes on them given during the first two marking
periods—students prepare suitable-for-hanging-from-the-ceiling posters, each
defining a word in student language and providing a contemporary (from the
mass media or out-of-class reading) or original example of that term. The
quizzes call for both recall and application knowledge. To familiarize students
with the SOAPSTone mnemonic/close reading tool, students read and work,
individually and in small groups, with a trio of eulogies for the late Princess
Diana, one by her brother, one by Queen Elizabeth and one by Elton John.
The focus of the third and fourth weeks of the first marking period is an
essay titled “One Page Epiphany”—writing this paper begins the students’ study
of the metacognitive process involved in writing. After the assignment is made, I
read from “Graduation” by Maya Angelou to provide an opportunity for discussion
of epiphany. As we share these first papers, the issues of feelings, privacy,
editing, mimicry, proofreading, plagiarism, self esteem and “real” communication
in this college-level course taken by high school students are aired, discussed,
argued and settled, so that we can proceed in a writing workshop environment.
The goal—each student matures as a writer. During these two weeks students
read and discuss both Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” and Joan
Didion’s “On Keeping A Notebook, ” the first as another example of epiphany and
the second as an introduction to the concept of a writer’s ideabook.
At the end of the fourth week, students choose a word or phrase denoting
a topic of great interest, interest that can endure until May. That word becomes
the general topic of a series of seven papers written primarily in the following
rhetorical modes: definition, narration/description, comparison/contrast, process
analysis, classification/division, cause and effect and argument or persuasion.
Readings (including cartoons, snippets from other teachers and AP workshops,
poetry and a Starbucks newspaper ad inviting readers to “Draw Salty” in various
artistic modes) in each mode provide the backdrop of professional examples for
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discussion, opportunities for mimicry at the sentence and paragraph level and
engagement with the mode under study. Modes and their key associated texts
are listed:
 Narration/Description
“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell
“The Village Watchman” by Terry Tempest Williams (optional)
“Salvation” by Langston Hughes
“Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris
 Definition
“Burdens” by J.K. Galbraith, “The Company Man” by Ellen Goodman, “I
Want A Wife” by X Brady, “The Wife Beater” by X Smith and
“Tortillas” by X Burciaga (lesson on the vocabulary of definition and
essay copies shared at an AP workshop)
“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker (optional)
“On Being A Cripple” by Nancy Mairs
“Growing Up in Los Angeles” by Richard Rodriguez
 Comparison/Contrast
“Lost in the Kitchen” by Dave Barry
“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” by Henry David Thoreau
“Two Views of the River” by Mark Twain
“Of Weirdos and Eccentrics” by Pico Iyer
 Process Analysis
“On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner
“Dolphin Courtship: Brutal, Cunning, and Complex” by Natalie Angier
 Classification/Division
“The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson
“Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective” by Leslie
Marmon Silko
“The Extendable Fork” by Calvin Trillin
Sunday sections of Comics from the St. Petersburg Times
“X Ways to Kill a Man” by
 Cause and Effect
“Peak Performance” by Daniel Goleman
“Television: the Plug-In Drug” by Marie Winn
“Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson
“What Makes a Serial Killer?” by La Donna Beaty
 Argument/Persuasion
“Pink Think” by Lynn Peril
“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift
“What Are Homosexuals For?” by Andrew Sullivan
“Women’s Brains” by Stephen Jay Gould (optional)
“I Surf, Therefore I Am” by Judith Levine
“What the Great Books Do” by David Denby
“the Limits of the Great Books” by Mike Rose
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The readings, then writing process begins, then, in the fourth week of school and
continues through till mid-May. During the year as they write this series of
papers, students are continually involved in the peer review process, at the
outset with lots of concrete direction; my involvement can be characterized in a
number of ways: I moderate class discussions when students are in the
discovery stage before they begin to write, I assist with brainstorming. I ask lots
of questions of the class, small groups and individuals. I play devil’s advocate
and encourage capable students to do so as well. I encourage exploration of
ideas, techniques and strategies. The lists above provide a wealth of models
and I continue to add to my “Best Papers” collection of student writing (all with
permission to use as I wish).
Other Topics
Second marking period, we also study The Scarlet Letter for its archaic
language, structure and discussion of themes. Practice AP timed writings begin
this marking period; I choose several to work with written in the 17th-19th
centuries, making use of the growing determination to master Twain, Douglass,
and Hawthorne. Only one of these is “graded”; some we work on in groups to
“figure out” the passage, some to practice comprehending the prompt, some to
practice and polish openings, etc. Sermons, narrative excerpts, and political
documents from the Elements text also figure into this unit.
Selection of a controversial contemporary topic, generating guiding
questions, collecting books articles, cartoons and other elements of mass media
for the purpose of writing a 2,000-2,500 word MLA-format research paper
dominates the third marking period. At eight checkpoints, students’ work is
assessed, guided, redirected, affirmed, etc.: topic, first twenty-five notecards,
rough thesis, second twenty-five notecards, rough outline, final thesis, rough draft
and final draft.
The fourth marking period (second semester), we move to the twentieth
century; students read Catch 22. After a reading quiz, study of this novel focuses
on its structure, black humor, satire, and themes. Practice with AP timed writes
continues with complementary prompts.
Students choose a novel to read during the fifth marking period and write
their first “open-ended” timed writing on the occasion of finishing the book. It’s a
tightly controlled timed writing—the “use evidence from your observation,
experience or reading to develop your position” part of the prompt reduces to
“use the novel you just read,” but it’s a useful opportunity for multitasking.
The last marking period’s focus is Chapter 26 of Everything’s An
Argument, “Who Owns What?” Selection of details from a variety of media,
perfecting the skills and vocabulary of argument, reading fine arguments,
reviewing famous “arguments” from earlier in the year—from Dave Barry, Dr.
Martin Luther King, Junior and Thomas Jefferson, for example)--debating what
constitutes poor, good, better and best evidence, and more. Much of class time
as the semester winds down toward the AP exam is spent in group
“competitions” focused on creating the best: best supported oral argument, best
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written argument, best use of rhetorical jargon, best nearly quotable sentence,
best developed personal experience contributing to an argument, best idea for an
editorial cartoon, ad infinitum—all practice for the synthesis essay..
Ongoing Activities
Single sentences and very brief passages from Voice Lessons, single
passages and associated questions, sometime single questions from released
tests, an editorial cartoon, graph or drawing, even a brief editorial are the regular
class openers—a brief opportunity to talk about voice, diction, syntax, audience,
effectiveness, or tone. They’re an opportunity to discuss how language works-what the course is all about.
Bibliography
Student Texts:
Cohen, Samuel (Editor). 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Boston, New York:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.
Daniel, Kathleen (Project Director) et al. Elements of Literature: Fifth Course.
Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Harcourt Brace and Company, 1997.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York:
Dover Publications, 1995 (1845).
Lunsford, Andrea et al. Everything’s an Argument/With Readings: Third Edition.
Boston, New York, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003
(1850).
Heller, Joseph. Catch 22. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 1989
(1955).
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Signet Classic
Penguin Group,1979 (1884).
Support Texts:
Dean, Nancy. Voice Lessons. Gainesville, Florida; Maupin House, 2000.
Trimmer, Joseph and Maxine Hairston. The Riverside Reader: Sixth Edition.
Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999.
New and old publications of the College Board for the AP Language course,
practice exams, released exams, etc.
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