Advanced Placement (AP) Syllabus English Language and Composition
Course Overview:
This introductory college-level course, organized according to the requirements and guidelines of the current
AP English Course Description, comes with the expectations that students will read and analyze a wide variety
of non-fiction and fiction prose styles and genres. Through close reading and frequent writing, students develop
their ability to read and think critically and to communicate clearly both in writing and speech. Course readings
feature narrative, expository, analytical, argumentative texts from a variety of authors and historical contexts.
Students work with essays, letters, speeches, images, and literature.
Textbook**/Readings
Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Essential Handbook. 6th ed. New York: Pearson/Longman. 2009. Print.
Buscemi, Santi V. and Charlotte Smith, eds. 75 Readings: An Anthology, 11th ed. New York: McGraw Hill.
2010. Print.
Covino, William A. The Elements of Persuasion. New York: Pearson/Longman. 1997. Print.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance and Other Essays. Dover Thrift ed. New York: Dover. 1993. Print.
Hartzell, Ph.D., Richard. Cracking the AP* English Language & Composition Exam: 2008 Edition. New York:
Princeton Review Publ. 2008. Print.
Israel, Elaine. The Official Study Guide for all SAT Subject Tests. New York: College Board. 2006. Print.
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. 1962. New York: Penguin, 1990. Print.
Killgallon, Don. Sentence Composing for College. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook. 1998. Print.
Lanham, Richard A. The Longman Guide to Revising Prose. New York: Pearson/Longman. 2006. Print.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1987. New York: Vintage, Random House. 2004. Print.
**Shea, Renee H., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition: Reading,
Writing, Rhetoric. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2008. Print.
Class Organization
The class meets daily, alternating days of 45-minute periods and 90-minute periods.
Students are required to maintain a binder which includes dedicated sections for note-taking, vocabulary,
response journaling, in-class writing (including quickwrites), and reading graphic organizers. One 45-minute
period per week is dedicated to sampling/reviewing multiple choice selections from Cracking the AP* English
Language & Composition Exam and released exams. In addition, once a week, students are given a study list of
vocabulary words taken from Chapter Eight, “The Hit Parade-Words, Words, Words” in Cracking the AP*
English Language & Composition Exam, on which they are quizzed the following week.
Students are expected to develop the following through reading, discussion and writing assignments:
 a wide ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively;
 a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination;

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logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition,
transitions, and emphasis;
a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail; and
an effective use of rhetoric including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving
appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.
(College Board AP English Course Description, May 2009, May 2010, p. 10)
For most reading assignments students will use a graphic organizer to identify the following:
 Thesis, Claim, or Assertion
 Speaker, Subject, Audience (Rhetorical Triangle)
 Context
 Purpose
 Appeals: Ethos, Logos, Pathos
 Tone
 Evidence or Data (i.e., use of detail to develop ideas)
 Assumptions
 Rhetorical Mode/Arrangement (organizational patterns such as classical, narration, description,
process analysis, exemplification, comparison and contrast, classification and division, definition,
cause and effect)
 Style (rhetorical devices, including diction and syntax)
Grading/Assessment
Students are evaluated on the basis of major papers, homework, quality and character of class participation and
involvement, and AP-style writing prompts.
Percentages are as follows:
Daily classwork, including participation and
preparation; also including quizzes
Major papers
Unit and semester exams
In-class writing (essays)
Multiple choice
20%
55%
7%
15%
3%
Student thinking, writing, reading, listening, and speaking make up the components of class activity. Grading is
viewed in this context. The usual A-B-C-D-F system is used to grade student work. Teachers discuss grades
with students in conferences during marking periods. In addition to the usual grades, an unsatisfactory finished
piece of writing may, at the teacher’s discretion, receive a grade of R, indicating that it may be revised, then
resubmitted for a grade, without penalty.
Teachers regularly assess student performance and progress. They collect and assess written pieces, on-demand
writing, homework, multiple choice samples, tests and quizzes, response journals, and class notes. Student
writing is regularly reviewed using teacher/student reviews, peer reviews, and self-reviews; all with the goal of
enabling students to become more comfortable with self-assessment.
COURSE OUTLINE
FALL SEMESTER
Introduction: AP English Course Description, Course Orientation, Rhetorical Awareness -- Terms,
Modes, and Devices Defined
Reading:
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Einstein, Albert. “Letter to Phyllis Wright”
O’Connor, Sandra Day. “Not By Math Alone”
White House, The. “Prepared Remarks of President Obama’s Back-to-School Event
President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address
Viewing:
 Various Political Cartoons
 President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address <bedfordsmartins.com/languageofcomp>
Assessments:
Quizzes and in-class writing – For most of the readings, students are given either a quiz or they respond in
writing to focused questions to check for understanding of meanings and rhetorical strategies.
Quizzes -- Vocabulary from Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam, Chapter 8 "The Hit
Parade—Words, Words, Words” and readings
Quiz -- Grammar (from warm-up exercises, syntax discussions, and/or reading annotations)
Multiple Choice Samples
Test -- Definitions of Rhetorical Modes and Devices
Composition -- Analytical
Prompt: For this essay, your thesis statement will answer the question: How rhetorically effective is
President Obama’s back to school speech? Explain your answer in terms of the rhetorical triangle;
context and purpose; and appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos.
Visual -- Analyze a Political Cartoon
Prompt: Select a political cartoon from the internet or a newspaper, and analyze it in terms of the
rhetorical triangle and its appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos. As part of your analysis of audience, note
if possible where the cartoon first appeared, and describe that source’s political leanings. Finally,
examine the interaction of written text and visual images.
UNIT 1: Education: To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true education?
Work: How does our work shape or influence our lives?
Readings:
 James Baldwin, “A Talk to Teachers”
 Billy Collins, “The History Teacher”
 Sandra Cisneros, “Eleven”
 Leon Botstein, “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood”
 David S. Broder, “A Model for High Schools”
 Malcolm X, “Coming to an Awareness of Language”
 Barbara Ehrenreich, From Serving in Florida
 Marilyn Gardner, “More Working Parents Play Beat the Clock”
 Amelia Warren Tyagi, “Why Women Have to Work”
 Claudia Wallis, “The Case for Staying at Home”
 Christopher Mele, “Sick Parents Go to Work, Stay Home When Kids Are Ill”
 Kimberly Palmer, “My Mother, Myself, Her Career, My Questions”
 Buzz McClain, “Don’t Call Me Mr. Mom”
 Theme-related articles, photos, and/or cartoons from current periodicals will be discussed as they
become available.
Assessments:
Quizzes and in-class writing – For most of the readings, students are given either a quiz or they respond in
writing to focused questions, which checks for understanding of meanings and rhetorical strategies.
Quizzes – Vocabulary from Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam, Chapter 8 "The Hit
Parade—Words, Words, Words” and from readings
Quiz – Grammar (from warm-up exercises, syntax discussions, and/or reading annotations)
Multiple Choice samples
Fishbowl Activity – Group discussion of seven focused questions related to five of the education-themed
readings
Socratic Seminar – Group discussion of twelve focused questions related to Barbara Ehrenreich’s excerpt from
Serving in Florida
Composition --Narration
Prompt: Using Ehrenreich as a model, describe a negative work experience (for example, you may have
found a boss arrogant or you may have encountered prejudice or bias). You can narrate – and comment
– but also use dialogue, as Ehrenreich does, to make the situation come alive for your readers. Note:
Students complete this assignment in class and than edit each other’s work for correct use of dialogue
and inclusion of trope and scheme.
Composition- Argumentative Essay
Prompt: Suppose that you are a parent of two preschool children and are in your early thirties, just
getting established in your career. Write an essay explaining why you would or would not choose to
stay at home with your children. Support your argument with references to at least three of the six
essays from “Conversation: Focus on Working Parents.” Remember to attribute both direct and indirect
citations. Refer to the sources by authors’ last names or by titles. Avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
OR
Using your own experience growing up, as well as at least three of the sources in “Conversation: Focus
on Working Parents,” explain what you consider the two most important issues a person faces trying to
balance family and work. Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations. Refer to the sources
by authors’ last names or by titles. Avoid mere paraphrase or summary
Composition – Journal Entry
Prompt: Which of the following quotations most accurately captures your attitude toward work or the
professional life you hope to have? Write in your journal about why the quotation speaks to you.

“Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and Play consists of whatever a body is not
obliged to do.”
--Mark Twain
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“There is dignity in work only when it is work freely accepted.”
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Never Work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night.”
--Marian Wright Edelman
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“Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.”
--Vaclav Havel
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“In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit
for it: They must not do too much of it: And they must have a sense of success in it.”
--John Ruskin
--Albert Camus
UNIT 2: Gender: What is the impact of the gender roles that society creates and enforces?
Reading:
 Virginia Woolf, “Professions for Women”
 Susan Sontag, “Women’s Beauty: Put Down or Power?”
 Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”
 Paul Theroux, “Being a Man”
 Zora Neale Hurston, “Sweat”
 Jo Goodwin Parker, “What is Poverty?”
 Marge Piercy, “Barbie Doll”
 Theme-related articles, photos, and/or cartoons from current periodicals will be discussed as they
become available.
Viewing:
 Cathy Guisewite, “Cathy” (cartoon)
Assessments:
Quizzes and in-class writing – For most of the readings, students are given either a quiz or they respond in
writing to focused questions, which checks for understanding of meanings and rhetorical strategies.
Quizzes – Vocabulary from Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam, Chapter 8 "The Hit
Parade—Words, Words, Words” and from readings
Quiz – Grammar (from warm-up exercises, syntax discussions, and/or reading annotations)
Multiple Choice samples
Composition – Compare and Contrast
Prompt: Consider that the audiences are similar in Woolf’s “Professions for Women” and Sontag’s
“Women’s Beauty: Put Down or Power.” Then, in an essay that discusses the interaction of all three
components of the rhetorical triangle for each of the two readings, compare and contrast the dissimilar
components of the two essays – the speakers and the subjects. Are there similarities in the two speakers,
Woolf and Sontag, other than that they are both females? What are their differences? Discuss the
similarities and differences in the subjects of each of the essays. How do these similarities and differences
affect how each of the essays appeals to us?
Composition –Expository
Prompt: In her essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Names Maria,” Cofer makes the
claim that “Mixed cultural signals have perpetuated certain stereo-types—for example, that of the Hispanic
woman as the “Hot Tamale’ or sexual firebrand. It is a one-dimensional view that the media have found
easy to promote. In their special vocabulary, advertisers have designated ‘sizzling’ and ‘smoldering’ as the
adjectives of choice for describing not only the foods but also the women of Latin America” (para. 6). Does
this assertion – that the media promotes stereotypes – apply today? In answering, consider Cofer’s example
of Latin American women, or choose another group, such as African Americans, older people, or people
from the Middle East.
Composition – Argumentation and/or Compare and Contrast
Prompt: How do you suppose the female protagonist in Zora Neale Hurston’s short story, “Sweat,” or Jo
Goodwin Parker (“What is Poverty”) would respond to Paul Theroux’s assertion that “Being a Man” in
today’s society is “just as bad” as being a woman? Writing in the voice of one of the two women, refute
Theroux’s claims. When considering what style to use, remember that you are writing from one of the
women’s points of view. Try to imitate the style used in either Hurston’s short story or Goodwin’s essay.
Composition – Synthesis
Prompt: What is the impact of the gender roles that society creates and enforces? How do males and
females define their roles? Does society clearly delineate the roles of men and women? Or are we forced to
define ourselves by conforming to stereotypes? In an essay that synthesizes and uses for support at least one
additional reading above along with the poem “Barbie Doll” and the cartoon “Cathy,” discuss how males
and females determine their roles in society. Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations. Refer
to the sources by authors’ last names or by titles. Avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
Original Visual and Composition -- Expository
Prompt: From popular magazines and newspapers, collect ads that reflect stereotypes about the roles of
men and women, as well as ads that show men and women in a more progressive light. Make a collage
using both kinds of ads. Determine which kinds of products show men and women in stereotyped roles and
which show men and women breaking from gender stereotypes. Which stereotypes are more common in
these ads – stereotypes about women or about men? Then write a report that discusses what the ads show
about American values, beliefs, and attitudes toward gender roles.
First Semester Exam
At the end of the Unit 2 and the end of the first three six-week marking periods (approximately January 25),
students take an 80-minute exam featuring two AP free-response questions from released exams – one focusing
on prose analysis and rhetoric, the other on argument.
SPRING SEMESTER
UNIT 3: Individuality vs. Conformist Society
Independent reading: Kesey, Ken, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Students do an annotated reading of this novel. They are responsible for identifying and understanding the
elements of the plot: characterization, setting, initial incidents, conflicts, climaxes, resolutions, and conclusions,
as well as identifying and commenting on the stylistic and rhetorical choices made by the author. The book is
divided into four parts. Additional theme-related readings by other writers are included in this unit.
Readings:
 Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
 “Psychedelic 60s: Literary Tradition and Social Change,”<http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties>
 Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
 Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”
 Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”
 Theme-related articles, photos, and/or cartoons from current periodicals will be discussed as they
become available.
Assessments:
Quizzes and in-class writing – For most of the readings, students are given either a quiz or they respond in
writing to focused questions, which checks for understanding of meanings and rhetorical strategies.
Quizzes – Vocabulary from Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam, Chapter 8 "The Hit
Parade—Words, Words, Words” and from readings
Quiz – Grammar (from warm-up exercises, syntax discussions, and/or reading annotations)
Multiple Choice samples
Test – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Composition -- Expository
Prompt: The main conflict in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is described in three different ways: as the
struggle of the "sane individual vs. a crazy institution," "man vs. machine," and "a primeval, wild,
unsocialized, anti-family form of masculinity vs. asexual women, institutions, and society that want to tame
it." Discuss how these views differ from one another. Choose the theme that you think most accurately
describes the conflict in the book and explain why.
Composition -- Definition
Prompt: Kesey states that One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest helps the reader to "question reality" by
"tearing away the fabric of what we've been told is reality and showing us something that is far more real."
In Part I, the schizophrenic narrator, Chief Bromden, tells readers, “I been silent so long now it’s gonna roar
out of me like floodwaters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is
too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. It’s still hard for me to
have a clear mind thinking on it. But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.” Although this sounds like a
brainteaser, the Chief’s hallucinations provide metaphorical insight into the hidden realities of the hospital
and should not be overlooked simply because they did not actually happen. Select one of the Chief’s
hallucinatory perceptions and explain its reality in regards to what is going on at the insane asylum.
Magazine Article – Expository and Comparison and Contrast (technology activity using the “webquest” site for
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, http://www.huffenglish.com/webquests/cuckoosnest.html html)
Prompt: Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest exposed the public to the inner workings of
mental health institutions and was the result of his experiences working as an orderly at a mental health
facility in Menlo Park, California. Through the narration of schizophrenic patient Chief Bromden, the reader
learns of Nurse Ratched's abuses of power and use of barbaric practices such as shock therapy and
lobotomies to maintain control and order.
You are a journalist working for a weekly news magazine who has been asked by your editor to write an
update to Ken Kesey's exposé of the mental health industry. You must research the history of mental health
care in the U.S. and other western countries and determine what kind of progress has been made since the
death of Randle P. McMurphy in the late 1950's in an Oregon mental health facility.
You must go undercover as a mental patient, recording your thoughts and experiences in a journal. Using
your journal reflections as a guide, you will write an article comparing mental health care in the late 1950's
to that of today, recommending courses of action for improvements that still need to be made.
Compositon – Argument
Prompt: The three African American hospital aides clean the ward and herd the patients around according
to Nurse Ratched’s orders. They hat the nurse who manipulates them and take their frustrations out on the
inmates. The novel’s depiction of these three black men has been faulted as racist and stereotypical because
of the negative way in which the author – and his narrator – portray them. Is the book racist? Support your
answer by citing examples from the novel.
Composition – Exposition
Prompt: In the essay, “Psychedelic 60s: Literary Tradition and Social Change,” the author states that
Kesey’s goal in writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest “was to break through conformist thought and
ultimately forge a reconfiguration of American society.” Known as a pioneer of the hippie phenomenon
called the psychedelic era, Kesey, along with his Merry Pranksters, “openly used psychoactive drugs, wore
outrageous attire, performed bizarre acts of street theater, and engaged in peaceful confrontation with not
only the laws of conformity, but with the mores of conventionality.” Research Kesey’s life and then write
an essay that explains how the character, Randle Patrick McMurphy, and his actions in One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest might be considered the incarnation of Kesey’s own life. Remember to attribute both direct
and indirect citations, making sure to copy website addresses accurately.
Composition –Expository
Prompt: What are the attitudes toward women Kesey’s novel? Describe the images of women in the novel.
Is the book anti-woman? In Kesey’s terms, what are the “good” female characters like? What prospects
does this book offer a woman as opposed to a man? Support what you say with evidence from the book.
Composition – Comparison and Contrast
Prompt: The following three major characters -- McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Mrs.
Hutchinson in “The Lottery,” and Harrison in “Harrison Bergeron” – are individuals rebelling against the
conformist societies in which they inhabit. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast how the three
characters rebel against their societies and the end results of their attempts. Also compare the three societies
and how explain each of them is conformist. Finally, describe some ways that everyday people “rebel”
against our society and how these “rebellions” help or hurt society in general.
OR
Prompt: In his essay, “Self-Reliance,” Emerson states, “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the
manhood of every one of its members….Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist….What I must
do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.” Imagine that Emerson and McMurphy meet in some
sort of otherworld. Write the conversation they have concerning individuality vs. a conformist society. You
can include narrative, however, most of your writing should consist of dialogue.
UNIT 4: Moral Ambiguity and the Effects of Slavery
Independent Reading: Toni Morrison, Beloved
Students do an annotated reading of this novel. They are responsible for identifying and understanding the
elements of the plot: characterization, setting, initial incidents, conflicts, climaxes, resolutions, and conclusions,
as well as identifying and commenting on the stylistic and rhetorical choices made by the author. The book is
divided into four parts. Additional theme-related readings by other writers are included in this unit.
Readings:
 Toni Morrison, Beloved
 Mintz, Steven, ed. “Excerpts from Slave Narratives” <http://www.vgskole.net/prosjekt/slavrute/20.htm>
 Theme-related articles, photos, video clips, artist renderings from the internet and current periodicals
will be discussed as they become available.
Assessments:
Quizzes and in-class writing – For most of the readings, students are given either a quiz or they respond in
writing to focused questions, which checks for understanding of meanings and rhetorical strategies.
Quizzes – Vocabulary from Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam, Chapter 8 "The Hit
Parade—Words, Words, Words” and from readings
Quiz – Grammar (from warm-up exercises, syntax discussions, and/or reading annotations)
Multiple Choice samples
Test -- Beloved
Composition – Exposition
Prompt: On the page opposite the copyright page are the words “Sixty Million and more.” This is the
estimate of the number of people “immolated in the Holocaust of the Middle Passage and in the cotton
fields” (Sindiata, <http://way.net/dissonance/Amistad.html>. Africans perished during the Middle Passage.
In her Foreward, Morrison describes the female ghost of Sethe’s first child as “the murdered, not the
murderer, the one who lost everything and had no say in any of it.” After researching the Middle Passage,
write an essay in which you describe how the character of Beloved is a symbol for all of those who
perished, the past embodied, so to speak. Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations. Refer to
the sources by authors’ last names or by titles, making sure to copy website addresses accurately. Avoid
mere paraphrase or summary.
Composition – Analytical
Prompt: The plot of Beloved unfolds through the author’s style of a complex weaving together of multiple
flashbacks. Write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical effectiveness of Morrison’s use of this
narrative technique, citing textual evidence in your essay. Be sure to consider how the flashbacks function
and also what they may represent on a symbolic level. Also discuss the effective use of rhetorical appeal(s)
and be sure to support what you say with evidence from the text.
Composition – Persuasive (from www.paperstarter.com)
Prompt: When Sethe is faced with the trauma of having to return to slavery at Sweet Home, she attempts to
kill her children. She succeeds in killing one by cutting the infant’s throat with a hacksaw. This “rough
choice” is the axis around which the novel revolves. Write a persuasive essay in which you convince the
reader that Sethe’s choice was right or wrong. Guard against moralizing and editorializing, and substantiate
your position with evidence drawn from the text.
Composition – Persuasive
Prompt: Write an essay that discusses Morrison’s use of nature imagery in Beloved and how it corresponds
to the characters’ moods or situations. Support what you say with evidence from the text.
Composition – Persuasive
Prompt: President Obama opposes slavery reparations, which has been estimated to be $777 trillion. He
argues that “the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who
are unemployed.” Use the internet to research the issue of slave reparations. Then, write a letter to
President Obama expressing your views on the issue of slave reparations. Remember to attribute both direct
and indirect citations. Refer to the sources by authors’ last names or by titles, making sure to copy website
addresses accurately. Avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
Research Paper: The Documented Essay (Final Exam)
Task and Prompt:
 Select a topic that reflects one of the themes that we studied this semester. Topic must be approved by
teacher.
 Research the topic through different types of sources (newspapers, magazines, news stories, interviews,
online sources, radio and/or television broadcasts, visuals, etc.).
 Take careful notes, making sure that you cite your sources accurately using MLA format.
 Develop a thesis about your topic.
 Integrate a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay.
 Use the sources to support your position; avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
 Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations, using MLA format.
 Create a Works Cited page using MLA format.
 Plagiarism will result in a zero.
In this final essay, students are expected to exercise and sharpen the research and rhetorical skills that ultimately
will support and elucidate their own arguments. Students are directed to carefully evaluate, employ, and
properly cite primary and secondary sources using MLA documentation.