Advanced Placement: English: Literature and Composition
Brief Description of Course
AP Literature and Composition is a college course taught in a high school setting in which
we will read and analyze writing of literary merit from a variety of genres and time periods.
We will write frequently about the author's use of language to provide meaning and
pleasure. Our analyses will consider a work's structure, style, and themes as well as such
smaller scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.
Other types of writing will include creative, individual response, and persuasive pieces.
Unit Information
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 1:Unit 1: Genres
Content and/or Skills Taught:
In this unit students will learn the characteristics of various types of literature and begin to
explore how the structure of each helps create meaning. Students will begin to construct an
understanding of how authors craft a work of literary merit and how an author's voice
makes a work unique. Students will practice using the techniques we observe to craft our
own writing as we respond to and analyze these works. We will begin an on-going study of
contextually based vocabulary.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Annotated Glossary Cards - complete a set of 30 (to be completed over the course of the
semester) in which students will define, provide an example of, and analyze the use of
specific literary terms.
*Read and analyze both structure and meaning of the following: Novel (Heart of Darkness),
Non-fiction ("On Compassion"), Short Story ("A Jury of Her Peers"), Drama (Trifles), and
Poetry (selections from Paradise Lost and "Ode on a Grecian Urn").
*Learn to evaluate on demand writing using a scoring guide and anchor papers.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 1: Unit 2: Personal Essay for College Admission/Scholarship Application
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will compare and contrast expository writing with the fiction we have read to
identify qualities to use in our own writing. We will practice techniques such as anecdote,
dialogue, imagery, and use of varied sentence structure and word choice to create a
personal essay. Students will learn and use revision techniques that include both teacher
and peer feedback to hone a final draft to use for college and scholarship applications.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Students will complete at least one personal essay for college admission.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 1: Unit 3: Tragedy
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will learn Aristotle's criteria for the classification of tragedy. Students will continue
to explore how structure helps create meaning, in this case how tragedy follows a particular
pattern. We will begin to identify how cultural paradigm influences our definitions but also
how universal themes can transcend time and place. We will continue our on-going study of
contextually based vocabulary.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Read and analyze Oedipus Tyrannus, Medea, and Death of a Salesman.
*Students will write a formal, literary analysis paper for each of the above works in a timed
format.
*Students will choose one of the above papers to take through the entire writing process to
produce a polished final draft.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 1: Unit 4: Short Fiction
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will continue to hone their skills in literary analysis by focusing on several pieces
of short fiction and different aspects of the form. Students will continue to practice
strategies for successful writing in a timed format. Students will identify learning strategies
that help them succeed individually, such as specific types of graphic organizers,
partnering, written or verbal reminders, review strategies, etc.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Read and analyze various pieces of short fiction by primarily American authors (such as:
Alice Walker, Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O'Connor, James Thurber, Nathaniel Hawthorne,
and Herman Melville) with emphasis on characterization, point of view, theme, and tone.
*Complete one analysis paper that focusses on one of the above aspects in a timed format.
*Complete one comparision/contrast (of two pieces of short fiction) paper taken through
the entire writing process to produce a polished final draft.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 1: Unit 5: Universal Themes: Man and the Universe
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will practice analysis skills by reading two major works, several poems, and short
selections to identify larger ideas. Students will identify and emulate elements of the
writer's craft, focusing particularly on diction and syntax and their contribution toward the
creation of tone and mood. We will also place the works into the social and historical
context of their times as well as determining their applicability to the modern world. We will
continue our on-going study of contextually based vocabulary.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Read and analyze Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Shakespeare's Othello OR A
Midsummer Night’s Dream
*May complete a Word Analysis that traces the impact of a word or phrase on the larger
ideas explored within a major work.
*May complete a Tone analysis for a longer speech demonstrating understanding and
expression through performance
*Complete one timed write for each of the works.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 1: Ongoing Assignments
Content and/or Skills Taught:
*Cooperative study skills will be practiced while analyzing a modern novel with a small
group. Findings will be presented in a structured, oral format.
*Specific test taking skills and strategies will be taught and practiced as students take at
least two practice multiple choice tests at different points in this semester.
*Students will practice revision and self evaluation skills by choosing one written piece
completed over the course of the semester and revising it with both teacher and peer
feedback. Students will use and identify specific strategies in the revision and reflect on
which work best for them and why.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Oral presentation of group analysis of a student selected modern novel. Students will
choose from a list which may include the following: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy,
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, The
Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Jasmine by Baharati
Mukhergee, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Obasan by Joy Kogawa, The Poisonwood Bible by
Barbara Kingsolver, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, Shipping News by Annie Proulx,
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston,
The Tiger’s Wife by Tèa Obreht, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, The Bonesetter’s
Daughter by Amy Tan, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
*Two sample multiple choice tests.
*Objective tests over literary terms.
*One revision of a student selected writing with reflection.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 2: Unit 6: Poetry
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will practice analysis skills by focusing specifically on analyzing poetry. We will
review how the structure of this particular form helps create meaning and how sound
devices amplify mood. We will continue our on-going study of contextually based
vocabulary.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Read, respond to, and analyze various poems, primarily from our text.
*Analyze student models/anchors of timed writes on Seamus Heaney's "Blackberry Picking".
*Write two timed writings on two different poems. One of these analyses will involve
comparing two poems.
*Oral presentation of research and analysis of genre, author, and work
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 2: Unit 7: Hamlet
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will revisit the concept of tragedy and Shakespeare's language. We will also place
the play into the social and historical context of its times as well as determining its
applicability to the modern world. We will continue our on-going study of contextually based
vocabulary.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Read and analyze Shakespeare's Hamlet.
*Students will analyze a character in small groups and orally present findings.
*Students will complete a formal literary analysis paper in the persuasive mode.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 2: Unit 8: Universal Themes: Society and Gender
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will practice analysis skills by reading two major works, several poems, short
selections, and pieces of visual art to identify larger ideas. Students will identify and
emulate elements of the writer's craft, focusing particularly on setting and character
development and their contribution toward social commentary. We will also place the works
into the social and historical context of their times as well as determining their applicability
to the modern world. We will continue our on-going study of contextually based vocabulary.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Students will read and analyze Williams' The Glass Menagerie and Austen's Pride and
Prejudice.
*Students will compare and contrast authors' descriptions of various settings and their
effects on the reader.
*Students will complete one timed writing on each of the major works and various short
personal reactions to different parts of each work as well as the poetry and art.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 2: Unit 9: 20th Century Novels: The Nature of Man
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will practice analysis skills by reading two major works, several poems, short
selections, and pieces of visual art to identify larger ideas. Students will identify and
emulate elements of the writer's craft. We will also place the works into the social and
historical context of their times as well as determining their applicability today. We will
continue our on-going study of contextually based vocabulary.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Students will read Golding's Lord of the Flies and/or Huxley's Brave New World.
*Students will compare and contrast characters and determine the validity of the authors'
interpretations and intent.
*Students will complete one timed writing on each of the major works.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Semester 2: Ongoing Assignments
Content and/or Skills Taught:
*Cooperative study skills will be practiced while analyzing a modern novel with a small
group. Findings will be presented in a structured, oral format.
*Specific test taking skills and strategies will be taught and practiced as students take at
least two practice multiple choice tests at different points in this semester.
*Students will practice revision and self evaluation skills by choosing one written piece
completed over the course of the semester and revising it with both teacher and peer
feedback. Students will use and identify specific strategies in the revision and reflect on
which work best for them and why.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
*Oral presentation of group analysis of a student selected modern novel. Students will
choose from a list which may include the following: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy,
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, The
Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Jasmine by Baharati
Mukhergee, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Obasan by Joy Kogawa, The Poisonwood Bible by
Barbara Kingsolver, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, Shipping News by Annie Proulx,
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston,
The Tiger’s Wife by Tèa Obreht, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, The Bonesetter’s
Daughter by Amy Tan, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
*Two sample multiple choice tests.
*Objective test over literary terms.
*One revision of a student selected writing with reflection.
Alternate Approaches
It is expected that as juniors students will take EITHER American Literature, AP Language
and Composition, OR College Prep English: Perspectives in Literature during which they will
read works of literary merit by primarily American authors such as The Crucible, Their Eyes
Were Watching God, The Poisonwood Bible, etc.
Textbooks
Author: Perrine, Laurence
Second Author: Thomas, Arp
Title: Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense
Publisher: Harcourt Brace College Publishers
Published Date:1993
Description: Sixth Edition
Other Course Materials
Material Type: Other
Description:
*Released items from previous AP Literature tests
*Supplemental film clips, artworks, websites, poems, and articles