A.P. LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION SYLLABUS
AP Prerequisite
The prerequisite for this course is A.P. Language or a year-long Honors-level
American Literature and Composition class. About nine-weeks of that course uses
AP-level assignments in literature and writing about literature. Students are
introduced to the pace of the AP course to help them decide if they want to take
the next step.
Summer Reading: Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare will be read by
all students. Essay questions will be written for the work. Additionally, students will
write a complete annotated bibliography for every major work studied since the
8th grade (this can be a cooperative effort). The Kite Runner will also be read.
Journal questions will be submitted as summer writing over this contemporary
book.
Course Description
This AP course covers the authors and writing assignments missing in the English
curricula grades 9-12. It is intended to provide students with a very rich and deep
literary experience spanning sixteenth through twenty-first centuries to help the
advanced English student to practice and polish critical reading, writing, and
thinking skills centered on literature. This practice will prepare the student for the
AP English Literature and Composition exam and for the challenges of reading,
writing, and thinking in college and beyond. It is designed to comply with the
curricular requirements described in the AP Course Description.
AP English students will write critically about literature in reaction papers,
analytical essays, argumentative essays, and brief writings (journal style) on tightly
focused questions intended to extend the student’s thinking and emotional
response to a variety of pieces. Most formal essays will use past AP Exam literature
prompts.
Instruction in various types of writing is provided using Writing About Literature
(Roberts). The elements of writing to be addressed in the various writing
assignments are also discussed and practiced. Brief instruction is offered as
needed in the areas of grammar, usage, and style with special emphasis on
parallelism and syntax.
Critical essays are reviewed for a variety of poems and prose works to assist
students with critical thinking and interpretation.
TEXTS
*Roberts, Edgar V. Writing About Literature, Ninth edition.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
*Arp, Thomas, and Greg Johnson. Perrine’s Literature: Structure,
Sound, and Sense, Ninth edition. Boston, MA: Thomson
Wadsworth, 2006.
Bevilacqua, Mary, et al. Amsco’s AP Literature and Composition
Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. New York:
Amsco School Publications, 2002.
Shostak, Jerome. Vocabulary Workshop, Level F. New York: SadlierOxford, 2005.
* Primary texts
Evaluation of writing – approximately 50-60% of the quarter grade,
depending on the other assignments in that quarter
Essays with well-developed, logical organization; clear, coherent, and persuasive
language; a thesis statement well-supported with textual details or quotes; and
attention to mechanics, usage, grammar, parallelism, and spelling is the goal of
all writing.
Each first quarter essay will be graded using a rubric that focuses heavily on the
one or two elements of writing reviewed in instruction for that assignment.
Each essay in the second through fourth quarters will be graded based on the AP
rubric provided for it or one that has been adapted from previous AP rubrics.
Rewrites of portions of the essay or of the entire essay will be offered as needed.
This may be a whole class assignment or an individual assignment.
Presentations/Projects – 20-30% of the overall quarter grade based on
the scope on the assignment.
Other Evaluations
Portions of the multiple choice sections of past AP exams and multiple choice
questions from Amsco’s guide will be used and graded.
Quizzes over reading selections and vocabulary, brief writing assignments (about
5-10 minutes each), and written homework will also make up the balance of the
points for the quarter.
SYLLABUS
I add or subtract from this syllabus as the year progresses. The number of students
in the class, the date of the AP Exam, the number of class interruption, and the
number of calamity days all impact the schedule.
First Quarter
7-9 formal essays to be written
Discuss summer assignments: Kite Runner and Taming and the essays
about the play
tone
Unit on Tone: poetry, prose, composition
Understanding tone, identifying tone and tonal shifts,
creating a
word bank, writing about the tone in selected short stories and poetry
Short Fiction unit in Perrine and supplements to include “A Child
by Tiger,” T. Wolfe; “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker; “The
Lesson,” Toni Cade Bambara; “Hills Like White Elephants,”
Ernest Hemingway; “The Rockinghorse Winner,” D. H. Lawrence
and “A Rocking-Horse: The Symbol, the Pattern, the Way to
Live” by W. D. Snodgrass; “The Guest,” Albert Camus;
“Metamorphosis,” Franz Kafka; and “The Death of Ivan Ilych,”
Leo Tolstoy
Essay writing with focus on point of view, theme, setting, irony,
characterization, and symbolism. Writing About Literature is used
throughout this unit with students reading the model essays and
evaluations then writing their own essays. Formal timed essays use
past AP Literature and Composition exam prompts. Brief writing
assignments will be small, focused questions to begin critical thinking
prior to class discussion. The following group essay is assigned
with Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants.”
In a well-organized essay explain how Hemingway reveals the
identity of the “operation” to the reader. Consider various
elements of fiction; such as, symbolism, setting, imagery,
characterization, diction, or any other aspects of the narrative artist’s
craft.
Short Story analysis project: read The Dubliners by James Joyce;
Assignment: pairs of students will explicate one of the works
for an in-class presentation. Turn in notes and
bibliography. All groups must include a discussion of
the epiphany and the paralysis theme.
Introduction to poetry to include selections from Perrine and
supplements by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, William Shakespeare,
Wilfred Owen, Robert Hayden, Dudley Randall, Gwendolyn
Brooks, A. E. Housman, Archibald MacLeish, Thomas Hardy,
Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, William Blake, Ellen Kay,
Henry Reed, William Wordsworth, Robert Frost, John Donne,
And Elizabeth Bishop
Vocabulary: Poetry terms and lessons from Vocabulary Workshop
Second Quarter
5-7 formal essays to be written
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
This first novel will look closely at characterization,
theme, symbolism, and setting, with a special look at
language. Four different translations will be examined to
discover the differences in tone and effect. A
simile/metaphor hunt will also help the class understand the
power of figurative language in shaping interpretation. Use
of original similes and metaphors will be a expected in their
writing for this unit.
Additionally, each student will choose one of the chapters I
have selected to present to the class. In this presentation
the student should
1.Discuss he significance of this chapter to the rest
of the book. (Begin with this and relate everything
else in the presentation to the significance.)
2.Show examples of figurative language and imagery,
3.Show how the language supports the meaning of the
chapter.
The student making the presentation must be the chapter
authority. Be prepared to turn in your notes at the end of
the presentation. Good organization is essential.
Be concise, not rambling. A walk through the plot is
UNACCEPTABLE. A line-by-line interpretation is UNACCEPTABLE.
INVOLVE the class.
Poetry units covering imagery, figurative language, allegory, and
symbolism will include selections from Perrine and
supplemental handouts by Blake, Robert Browning, Lord Byron,
Dickinson, Donne, Robert Francis, Frost, Hayden, George
Herbert, Robert Herrick, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Keats,
Philip Larkin, Andrew Marvel, Plath, Alastair Reid, Rich,
Walt Whitman, and Richard Wilbur
Essays: Writing About Literature chapters dealing with
imagery, metaphor and simile, symbolism and allegory
Drama units to include “Trifles” contrasting short story “Jury of
Her Peers,” both by Glaspell, “The Sandbox” and The American
Dream, both by Edward Albee, Hamlet, Glass
Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, A Doll House, and An
Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
Vocabulary: Poetry terms and lessons from Vocabulary Workshop
MIDTERM EXAM – Students will read Macbeth independently.
Ten AP
exam essays are selected and distributed by the instructor at the time the
book
is assigned. Students are encouraged to arrange out-of-class group
study sessions to review each question. On EXAM DAY students will draw
two questions from a hat and write on one of the two. The essay will be
worth
67 percent of the exam grade. An objective test will also be given worth 33
percent of the exam grade.
Third Quarter
5-7 formal essays to be written
Intense work with Objective quizzes for exam preparation using
released AP English Literature and Composition exams, and Amsco’s
AP Literature and Composition Preparing for the Advanced
Placement Examination, 2002
Poetry units covering irony, overstatement, understatement,
paradox, allusion, meaning and idea, and tone will include
selections from Perrine and supplemental handouts by W. H.
Auden, Blake, Browning, Billy Collins, Countee Cullen, e.e.
cummings, Dickinson, Donne, Michael Drayton, T.S. Eliot,
Frost, Keats, John Milton, Rich, E.A. Robinson, Shakespeare,
Percy, Bysshe Shelley, William Butler Yeats
Wuthering Heights Language, structure, use of narrators, and
setting are the focuses in this unit.
Question 3 from the
1991 Exam on contrasting places is used for evaluation of
setting and theme. An additional essay on how Bronte uses
weather to lend additional depth to her creation of
character, plot, and theme is also assigned.
Crime and Punishment and “The Prophetic Art of Dostoyevski” by
Dmitry Grigorieff. This study will focus on characterization
and
motivations, but will also include activities on the structure of the
novel, theme, and a close reading assignment with students
selecting a passage and writing five AP-type objective questions for
it. Each student will also prepare
and
present
a
different
character explaining the
motivations of the character, what
he/she learns, and how and why he/she
is significant to the novel.
This will be an oral class presentation. Maximum Time: 22 minutes.
Additionally, students will write on Question 3 from the 1988
exam on mental or psychological events. A group essay is
also included in this unit:
Crime and Punishment is a novel of nightmares. Some are
real and some are dreamed. Show how the dreams reveal the
truth to the dreamers. Use examples from the novel. See
Part I, Ch. V; Part III, Ch. VI; Part VI, Ch. VI; and
Epilogue, Ch. II.
Speculate on why you think Dostoyevsky chose to use this
device of dreams as a way to make the characters more
complex.
ASSIGNMENT: Working cooperatively in triads or pairs,
spend time discussing the dreams and your interpretations
of them, plan and write the joint essay, then revise and
edit it.
EVALUATION: All members of the team will be given a
single grade. Each of you will additionally submit a self
evaluation. What did you contribute? What were your
strengths and weaknesses in this assignment?
Essays: Writing About Literature chapters on tone, and
compare and contrast.
Vocabulary: Poetry terms and lessons from Vocabulary Workshop
Begin work on Senior Poetry Project, an independent, long-term,
Intense study of one poet’s work and style. Project must be
completed before the AP Exam; however, the presentations
will follow the exam. Frequent deadlines must be met for
evaluations of work in progress. Project requirements
follow:
A.
B.
1.
2.
3.
Summarize each poem and identify theme, tone, meaning
Use highlighter to mark and explain ON THE POEM
Imagery – identify the kind of imagery
Words that indicate tone – what tone is indicated?
Figurative language – What kind is it? Explain the purpose.
III.
Read 5 critical essays on the poetry. Summarize the essays. Include
copies of the essays and the poems criticized.
IV.
Poetry terms, definitions, and examples. This may be done cooperatively.
I.
Choose 1 poem and write eight (8) Biography of the poet and a
discussion of his/her influences. This must include a Works Cited page.
Use a minimum of three sources.
II. 30 poems (three deadlines of 10 each) DO NOT provide the
information on a separate page.
V.
objective AP-type questions. Include questions concerning:
A. Line interpretation
B. Tone
C. Figurative language
D. Musical devices
E. Rhythm and Meter
VI.
Write three essay questions (use different poems). Write an essay abstract
for each, include thesis statement and conclusion. You may use the AP
prompts that we have used in class as models.
VII.
A summary outline of the poet’s style. This will be presented to the
instructor with your notebook on the day of the presentation. This section
must also include a TYPICAL poem and a thorough analysis of the poem.
Remind your audience what we have already studied by your poet; tie
your new information to past learning.
Fourth Quarter
6-8 formal essays to be written
Complete work with poetry: musical devices, sound and sense,
Rhythm and meter, pattern will include selections from
Perrine and supplemental handouts by Auden, Blake, Browning,
Byron, cummings, Dickinson, Donne, Frost, Herbert, Hopkins,
Housman, Keats, Galway Kinnell, Owen, Edgar Allen Poe,
Alexander Pope, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and
William Carlos Williams
Essays: Writing Themes About Literature chapters on writing about
sound, rhythm, and rhyme; on writing an essay based on a
close reading of a poem or short passage
Final preparation for AP exam with directed work in
composition, a full day out of school (Exam and Cram Day) to
take a released AP Exam and to look at a number of other exam
prompts not used in this course
Multiple Choice questions: Students will work on these in class and at home
to improve their thinking and scores.
Vocabulary: Poetry terms
and
Review Annotated Bibliographies
AFTER THE AP EXAM (depending on the remaining time)
Drama: An Inspector Calls
Contemporary novel: To be Announced
Long-term senior poetry project presentations
The national AP exam, given in May, is required.