Advanced Placement English Language and Composition
2012 – 2013
Welcome to AP Language and Composition. This college-level class is the equivalent of
an introductory college composition class. We have a mission in this class—to prepare you for
the College Board Advanced Placement Language and Composition test which you will take in
May. I can’t guarantee that you’ll earn college credit—that’s up to you—but I will promise that
you can be well-prepared for the test, further AP classes, and college classes. I also promise to
help you become a skilled reader, writer, and thinker. You will be intellectually challenged and
stimulated. I assume that you willingly accept the rigor our mission involves and will give
nothing but your best effort.
AP Language is a rhetoric class. Rhetoric is the “art of crafting effective texts for
specific audiences” (Jolliffe). In this class you will learn to:
 Read texts (usually prose, from several disciplines and time periods) critically to see how
an author produces his or her desired effect on a particular audience.
 Write texts in which you accomplish your purposes for a specific audience.
 Develop research skills that allow you to evaluate sources, both primary and secondary,
and synthesize key information from them in order to support your researched argument,
complete with citations, in MLA (Modern Language Association) format.
Every assignment and activity we do will help you practice these highly complex skills.
You will write often and reflect on your own writing so you can grow into a mature
writer who could enter any freshman or sophomore-level college writing class and succeed.
You'll learn effective reading strategies and apply them to short, mostly non-fiction selections,
mainly arising spontaneously from current issues. You will read fiction to analyze the author's
linguistic and rhetorical choices. It is an honor and privilege to teach this course, and I hope you
feel honored and privileged to be here. There are no entrance requirements for this class, but a
desire to challenge yourself and satisfy your intellectual curiosity is absolutely necessary.
Some of the texts we will read this year include:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (summer reading homework)
The Language of Composition by Scanlon, Shea, & Aufses
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The class work we'll do this year includes but is not limited to:
 Discussing what we've read in large and small groups
 Using protocols for text-based analysis
 Practicing rhetorical analysis in timed writes
 Taking multiple choice tests
 Analyzing previous AP exams
 Acquiring new vocabulary
 Learning to identify and apply rhetorical devices
 Expressing ideas in writing and speech
 Remediating problems with the conventions of grammar and spelling
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Responding in writing to non-verbal texts paired with written texts, or as texts themselves
Close-reading of texts
Documenting your own research and analyzing the documentation of the research of
published authors
Crafting argument and analyzing the rhetoric of written argument
Reading several books from the "AP Literature List of Books of Literary Merit" and
analyzing them in a variety of ways
Writing essays of several kinds: narrative, expository, analytical, synthesis,
compare/contrast, argumentative
Practicing the writing process for all major writing assignments: pre-writing, drafting,
revising, editing, and publishing.
Learning strategies of both peer and self-analysis of your own writing
Writing-to-think and writing-to-learn: journals, reader-response, free-writes, imitation of
style, collaborative writing, quick writes
Learning advanced research skills, using both primary and secondary sources
Evaluating sources, and artfully synthesizing information from sources
Using MLA format for research
Reviewing grammar (up through subordination and coordination) as necessary to analyze
syntax and write a variety of sophisticated sentences
Practicing effective use of rhetoric, especially control of tone
Reading texts written in a variety of rhetorical modes, genre, and time periods by both
canonical and minority authors
I expect the following from you:
 Thoughtful and completed reading and writing assignments
 Work that is word-processed, on time, and professionally presented
 Courtesy and attentive listening in discussions so everyone's opinion can be heard and
valued
 Supreme organization and superior study skills
 Your best effort always
 A good attitude and an open mind
 Adherence to school rules
 Generous intellectual contribution to all group work
 Honesty and integrity in all class transactions
 Signing up for and taking the AP Language Exam
Month-by-Month Classroom Activities, Major Assignments, and Assessments:
Summer 2012:
 Tracking a published columnist: reading and analyzing writing style
 Reading The Great Gatsby
Unit 1 – Writing Style
September:
 Analyzing style: various columnists
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Write a one-page analysis of your columnist’s writing style
Write a column in the style of your columnist
Introduction to writing to a prompt (released free-response questions)
Writing strong sentences: avoiding passive voice, vague references, shifts in point of
view, pronoun antecedent agreement
Voice in writing
Begin vocabulary and literary terms list
Reading Inventory
Close-reading strategies
Socratic Discussion: The Great Gatsby
Unit 2 – Topic: Education
October - November
 Understanding point of view
 Texts: “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, “Learning to Read and Write” by
Frederick Douglas, “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X
 Narrative essay – Describe an important experience in your life related to education.
Once rough drafts are completed, students will share essays with groups in class taking
notes on questions, concerns, and suggestions from their peers. Students will revise
essays before turning in a final draft. This process will occur for all major writing
assignments.
 Texts: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read” by Francine Prose, Education by
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “A Talk to Teachers” by James Baldwin, “Let Teenagers Try
Adulthood” by Leon Botstein, “A Model for High Schools” by David S. Broder, “What’s
Wrong with American High Schools” by Bill Gates, “Failing the Wrong Grades” by
Diane Ravitch, data tables from Reading at Risk, a report of the National Endowment for
the Arts on trends in literary reading
 Writing skills: sentence, paragraph structure, appositives
 peer revision/self-analysis of writing
 Understanding tone
 Argument essay (Scanlon) – Think carefully about the nature of the arguments you have
read and analyzed. Is American education in trouble? Is high school to blame? Are there
other causes? Do the pieces we read offer reasoned arguments and reasonable solutions?
Consider these questions as you plan and write an essay in which you develop your point
of view on this issue and write an argument in response. Support your position with
reasoning and examples taken from your reading, observation, and experience.
Once rough drafts are completed, I will conference with students about their essay,
making sure their argument is clear and that appropriate support is included. Students
will revise their essays before turning in a final draft.
 Independent Reading Book Report 1 due: writing style
 Practicing timed writes (released free-response questions)
 Continuing writing skills: embedding quotations
Unit 3 – Topic: Community
December - January
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Texts: “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., “Where I lived, and
What I Lived for” by Henry David Thoreau, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” by
Peter Singer, “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor” by Garrett Hardin,
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Reflections (painting) by Lee Teter, Three
Servicemen (sculpture) by Frederick Hart
The Five Canons of Rhetoric
Writing a research report (synthesis of information)
The rhetorical triangle
Researching a variety of sources
Organization of a formal paper
Learning proper forms of citation
Plagiarism
Synthesis Essay (researched argument) (Scanlon) – In his essay “Letter from
Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. writes, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere.” Consider carefully the meanings of this statement as it relates to the
readings we have done for this class, and develop a thesis in response to the statement. In
an essay that synthesizes at least four sources for support, take a position that defends,
challenges, or qualifies King’s statement. One of the sources must be visual. Cite sources
in the paper using MLA Format and include a Works Cited Page.
Writing compare and contrast
Writing skills: parallel structures
Independent Reading Book Report # 2 due -compare/contrast
Practice with AP multiple choice items
Semester Exam: Timed Write prompt: synthesis, 2 multiple choice sections
Unit 4 – Topic: Language
February
 Texts: “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez, “Politics and the
English Language” by George Orwell, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, Decolonizing the
Mind by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, “Studying Islam, Strengthening the Nation” by Peter
Berkowitz, “Bilingualism in America: English Should Be the Official Language” by S.I.
Hayakawa, “How Much Wallop Can a Simple Word Pack?” by Geoffrey Nunberg,
Rumors, Lies, Innuendo (cartoon) by Mike Twohy, “Census Data on Language use in the
United States” (table) by James Crawford.
 Writing Skill: Concise Diction
 Expository Essay: (from The Language of Composition) Most professions – plumbers,
lawyers, teachers, accountants, physicians – have their jargon, a language that
practitioners use among themselves. In many ways, that language defines the user as a
member of the community and sets them apart from others who do not “belong.” Choose
one profession or group, describe key elements of that group’s language, and analyze
how the language defines the group as a community.
Unit 5 – Topic: Politics
March - April
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Texts: “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, “On Seeing England for the First Time”
by Jamaica Kincaid, “The Destruction of Culture” by Chris Hedges, “On the Duty of
Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau, “Every Dictator’s Nightmare” by Wolf
Soyinka, “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, “The Empire Fights Back” by
Chinua Achebe, An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina, clips from Hotel Rwanda, “I
Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr., political cartoons
Understanding and creating satire
Argument Essay: Write a satirical essay on a current local or national issue
Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical Appeals
Visual Literacy
Writing Skill: Subordination in the complex sentence
Analysis Essay: Rhetorical Analysis of “I Have a Dream”
Multiple Choice practice/analysis
Independent Reading Book Report #3 due – Mock AP Exam Multiple Choice Questions
AP practice exam
Continued synthesis, argument, analysis study
Test strategies
Unit 6 – Topic: Popular Culture
May - June
 Texts: “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies” by David Denby, “Corn-Pone
Opinions” by Mark Twain, “We Talk, You Listen” by Vine Deloria Jr., “Show and Tell”
by Scott McCloud, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
 Compare/Contract Essay: From The Language of Composition. After reading and
discussing Mark Twain’s “Corn-Pone Opinions” find examples of prose that are ornate
and diffuse and examples that are compact and simple. Write an essay in which you
compare and contrast the effects of the two-types of language.
 Writing Skill: Modifiers
 AP Exam
 Independent Reading Book Report # 4 due – Oral Presentation
 Narrative Essay: Writing the college essay
Vocabulary words will be given weekly. Vocabulary will be assessed through weekly quizzes
including the 10 most recent words and 10 random words from previous weeks. Students will
need to spell each word correctly, provide a synonym, and demonstrate the correct use of the
vocabulary word by creating original sentences.