AP English Language & Composition:
Modified 2010-2011
Christine Chavez X 5262
christine.chavez@wuhsd.k12.ca.us
Course Overview: AP Language and Composition is a college level course that trains students to become skilled
readers and writers in diverse genres and modes of composition. As the course progresses, students will become
aware of their own composition process through self-assessment and evaluations by peers and the instructor. These
skills will allow the student to read critically and write effectively in different modes in the college classroom and
beyond.
Objectives: The course’s objective is to emphasize expository, analytical, and argumentative writing as a basis for
academic and professional education which will “enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to
write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers.” Students will
learn to recognize and appreciate the diverse ways that authors make meaning in both oral and written texts.
Students will identify literary structures and conventions and effectively use them in their own writing. They will
learn to identify and evaluate the rhetorical elements of their writing styles and increase their revision skills.
Students will judge the validity and persuasiveness of different works by engaging in meaningful dialogue and
discussion.
Requirements for success:
 Faithful attendance, with rare, if any absences
 Intelligent participation, with assignments prepared according to schedule
 Commitment to the work of the course in class and out
Strategies
Students must be able to identify, analyze and use the following:
 Thesis or claim
 Tone or Attitude
 Purpose
 Audience and Occasion
 Evidence or Data
 Argumentation, e.g., defend, challenge, qualify
 Persuasion
 Close Reading (OTIC, SOAPSTone, Rhetorical Precis)
 Appeals: Logos, Ethos, Pathos, Deduction and Induction as well as Fallacies
 Style (diction, detail, imagery, point of view, syntax, and organization)
Assessment Strategies
 Tests and quizzes based on vocabulary and rhetorical device identification
 Reading comprehension discussions and quizzes
 Timed writings
 Processed essays
 Research paper
 Practice tests to assess AP readiness
 State standard based common assessments, i.e., literary response and analysis, non-fiction analysis,
persuasive writing, drafting and editing.
Required Materials:
 A three ring / 2 inch binder in which all assignments and classroom notes will be kept.
 A composition book (provided by teacher)
 Pens, pencils, highlighter and paper
 A daily planner
Classroom Citizenship: This is an Advanced Placement course. Just as it carries an advanced expectation for
academic commitment and achievement, so is there an advanced expectation for behavior. This minimally includes:
 Being in class daily (regardless of outside commitments)
 Being in your seat and prepared to learn when the bell stops ringing
 Being respectful to the teacher and your classmates (social contract)
 Talking at appropriate times
 Turning in every assignment when it is due
Homework Policy:
 Homework will include: writing assignments, outside reading, research, language usage assignments,
contest entries, and vocabulary.
 Homework assignments will be due at the beginning of class on the due date. In the event of an
excused absence, assignments must be emailed no later than 3:00 p.m. on the due date.
 NO LATE HOMEWORK WILL BE ACCEPTED. If you have an excused absence, you will be
allowed to make up the assignment within two days of your return to class.
Plagiarism:
Using someone else’s ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as our own,
either on purpose or through carelessness, is a serious offense known as plagiarism. Plagiarism is a kind of
cheating. What constitutes cheating?
 Letting someone copy your homework or class work and turning it in as yours
 Looking at another person’s paper while taking a quiz or test
 Copying someone’s research without giving that person credit
 Copying from the electronic library sources without acknowledging them
 Printing out material from the internet without giving credit
 Doing someone’s work for them and letting them take credit for your efforts. In the case of duplicate
homework, both students will be given zero credit.
Major Texts will be chosen from the following works:
Textbooks
Language of Literature: American Literature, McDougal Little, 1997
Language Network, McDougal Littell, 2001
Write Better Essays by Elizabeth Chesla
Cliffs English Language and Composition by Barbara Swovelin
Compact Reader , Jane Aaron ed.
Novels
The Crucible by Arthur Miller (September)
Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (September)
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (October)
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (November)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (December)
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (Winter Break)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (January)
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (February)
And Still We Rise by Miles Corwin (March)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (April)
Selections from:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (May)
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (May)
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (May)
American Literature Units (Semester 1)
Unit 1: Early American Literature (September)
Essential Question: How Puritan Are We?
Unit 2 Rationalism (October)
Essential Question: Is the Price of Progress ever too high?
Unit 3 Transcendentalism (October)
Essential Question: How do we discover truth?
Unit 4: Romanticism (November)
Essential Question: Does everyone have a dark side?
Unit 5: Realism (December)
Essential Question: Why are there “haves” and “have nots”?
Unit 6: Modernism and The Harlem Renaissance (January)
Essential Question: Can ideals survive catastrophe?
Writing by Method (Semester 2)
Description: Sensing the Natural World (February)
Narration: Recalling Childhood (February)
Example: Using Language (March)
Division or Analysis: Looking at Popular Culture (March)
Classification: Sorting Thoughts and Behaviors (April)
Process Analysis: Examining Writing Practice (April)
Comparison and Contrast: Distinguishing Ourselves from Others (May)
Argument and Persuasion: Debating Current Issues (June)
Important Due Dates
Summer Reading Due:
First, Please read one of the following fiction novels:
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Fill in the graphic organizers that will help you analyze each author’s style.

Then, write a 3-4 page style analysis essay (double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins). This essay will
analyze the – tone, diction, imagery, and author’s purpose – of the amazing novel you choose. Use the attached graphic organizers
to draft the essay. Be sure to cite several direct quotes from each of the texts and cite the page numbers using MLA format. Turn in
the graphic organizers and the typed final draft by Monday, September 6.
Next, please read one of the following nonfiction texts:
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
On Writing by Stephen King
Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins

Then complete a quote / response project. (Directions are attached to the summer packet. Please download this from my
website) Turn in the typed final draft by Friday, September 10.
Third, Please read S.C.A.M. – an SAT vocabulary novel by Kaplan

Complete reading logs using the attached format. You may either handwrite or type the logs.

Then, write a 2-3 page persuasive essay (double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins) based on the following
prompt. Use at least 4 direct quotes from the book and cite the page numbers. Turn in the reading logs and the typed final draft by
Monday, September 13.
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. (Thomas Jefferson)
Major Papers and Projects for Semester 1
How Puritan Are We
This I Believe
Contemporary Journalism Project
The PSAT, SAT, or ACT Exam
Major Papers and Projects for Semester 2
Character Sketch
Photo Essay
Research Paper
The AP Exam
Grading Scale
91-100%
90%
89%
81-88%
80%
79%
71-78%
70%
69%
61-68%
60%
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
D-
Writing Rubric:
AP English Language and Composition 9-point Rubric
9
Essays earning a score of 9 meet the criteria for 8 papers and, in addition, are especially full or apt
in their analysis or demonstrate particularly impressive control of language.
8
Essays earning a score of 8 effectively respond to the prompt. They refer to the passage explicitly
or implicitly and explain the function of specific strategies. Their prose demonstrates an ability to
control a wide range of the elements of effective writing but is not flawless.
7
Essays earning a score of 7 fit the description of 6 essays but provide a more complete analysis or
demonstrate a more mature prose style.
6
Essays earning a score of 6 adequately respond to the prompt. They refer to the passage, explicitly
or implicitly, but their discussion is more limited. The writing may contain lapses in diction or
syntax, but generally the prose is clear.
5
Essays earning a score of 5 analyze the strategies, but they may provide uneven or inconsistent
analysis. They may treat the prompt in a superficial way or demonstrate a limited understanding of
the prompt. While the writing may contain lapses in diction or syntax, it usually conveys ideas
adequately.
4
Essays earning a score of 4 respond to the prompt inadequately. They may misrepresent the
author's position, analyze the strategies inaccurately, or offer little discussion of specific strategies.
The prose generally conveys the writer's ideas but may suggest immature control of writing.
3
Essays earning a score of 3 meet the criteria of the score of 4 but are less perceptive about the
prompt or less consistent in controlling the elements of writing.
2
Essays earning a score of 2 demonstrate little success in responding to the prompt. These essays
may offer vague generalizations, substitute simpler tasks such as summarizing the passage, or
simply list techniques. The prose often demonstrates consistent weaknesses in writing.
1
Essays earning a score of 1 meet the criteria for the score of 2 but are undeveloped, especially
simplistic in discussion, or weak in their control of language.
0
Indicates an on-topic response that receives no credit such as one that merely repeats the prompt or
one that is completely off topic.