AP English Language and Composition
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The purpose of Advanced Placement English Language and Composition is to "engage
students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, discipline
and rhetorical contexts," and to help students "[become] skilled writers who compose for
a variety of purposes" (The College Board, AP English Language and Composition,
2006-2007, p.4). Our school offers the Advanced Placement Language and Composition
course during the junior year. Any student may choose Advanced Placement, but it is
specifically designed for the student who is well grounded in grammar and writing
fundamentals. This curriculum, as established by the College Board, will help students
to write and read more effectively in preparation for their college classes. Nonfiction
pieces will frequently be used. One goal of this AP class is to effectively prepare the
students for the AP Language and Composition exam given in May by the College
Board. To this end, we will diligently practice writing in class essays and multiplechoice questions from previous AP exams.
GRADING SYSTEM:
All assignments are graded on the point value system. Assignments will be given a 10 to
100 point value based on requirements, length, and difficulty of assignment.
Essays/writings--Composition work, informal and formal writings, serves as an integral
part of this course. Therefore, students will complete a variety of writing assignments,
particularly emphasizing exposition, analysis, and argumentation. Students will often
focus on prewriting/peer editing activities to learn how to successfully revise their own
writings. The teacher will, of course, also help edit students' writing after completion.
Since writing is considered a process exercise, students are evaluated on their various
stages of writing, and grades are assigned to these various stages (rough drafts; annotated
prewriting; peer evaluations). Students are expected to revise essays after teacher
evaluations for improved grades. Students maintain a composition folder which enables
them to keep a record of their writing, recognizing their individual strengths and
weaknesses.
Tests/quizzes--Tests and quizzes will evaluate students' understanding of taught material
(e.g. definitions of rhetorical terms), but some tests and quizzes will evaluate students'
understanding of new material (e.g. recognizing main ideas in a passage; identifying
figurative devices in a passage). Some tests and quizzes will also evaluate students'
understanding of specific skills tested on the ACT test. Students will be taking this
college admission test in April, so many of the skills will be taught in this course;
however, the teaching of these skills is very often consistent with the AP curriculum.
Students will be given specific vocabulary from the assigned readings and textbooks to
study; these vocabulary units will also be tested, but ideally, such complex vocabulary
study will help students improve their writing and reading skills.
Daily assignments--These activities are assigned as both out of class and in class
activities. These activities will focus on student improvement in stylistic and rhetorical
skills. These exercises will be assigned from the Harbrace Handbook and/or teacher
prepared handouts. These exercises will be designed to improve student effectiveness in
writing as well as preparation for the ACT.
Class Texts: Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby
Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter
Holt McDougal, Elements of Literature, Fifth Course, 2012
Hodges Harbrace Handbook, 15th edition, 2012 Second Edition, 2013
The Language of Composition:
McCourt Angela’s Ashes
Miller The Crucible
Freakonomics
Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Teacher supplementary text: Everyday Use, Roskelly and Jolliffe, AP edition, 2005
INTRODUCTION:
WHY TAKE AP?
Explanation of Advanced Placement Language and Composition course and curriculum.
Introductory letter given to students and parents.
Written Assessment: Write an informal essay introducing yourself to the class modeled
after Mike Royko's newspaper editorial. Identify "where you stand" on specific social
issues, contemporary issues, and trivial issues. Teacher presents her own "Where I
Stand" every year as a model. Students revise papers after teacher comments.
Oral Assessment: Students read their papers to peers.
UNIT ONE:
Summer Reading Assessment: AP Language student must read both Angela’s Ashes
and Freakonomics during the summer.
Written Assessment: Students must write paragraph "connections" between six
significant characters, quotes, settings, etc. Students choose six from a list of
approximately fifteen terms provided.
Oral Assessment: Students in four groups choose a passage from Angela’s Ashes. This
passage must be of significant length, two-three pages. The students must provide the
passage for all students in class. The students plan, lead, and participate in a Socratic
seminar/inner-outer circle discussion focusing on the writer's use of diction to reveal
speaker's epiphany. Methods of annotation will be discussed.
Stylistic lessons: Students will be given various daily assignments related to diction,
connotation; denotation; colloquial/slang; inclusive language.
Written Assignment: Students write a personal "epiphany" memoir as out of class
writing with rough draft/preliminary work required. Students will revise after teacher
comments.
Readings: The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
In Search of our Mother’s Gardens
"Shame," Gregory--nonfiction memoir
"Back to School," Lee--New Yorker nonfiction personal memoir
Text Excerpts:
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Self Reliance, Emerson
Nature, Emerson
Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas
Autobiography of Mark Twain
Stylistic lessons: Students begin analysis of figurative language/sentence structure
techniques contrasting Lee's and Gregory's pieces. After answering questions class will
discuss implications of author's stylistic choices.
Visual Learning: Students will explore photographs of toys and television shows
popular in the 1990’s during their childhoods. Students will create a "found" poem.
Students will create a pictorial representation of their "found" poems (collage; original
artwork; photos)
UNIT TWO:
Rhetorical Triangle and Ethos/Pathos/ Logos
Great Speeches and Letters Analyzed Using Rhetorical Triangle
Letter from the Birmingham Jail, King
Appeal to Action, Henry
Necessary to Protect Ourselves, Malcolm X
Civil Disobedience, Thoreau
On Civil Disobedience, Gandhi
Gettysburg Address, Lincoln
Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln
Lou Gehrig’s Speech
George Bush 9/11
Kennedy’s Innagrual Address
Queen Elizabeth Addressing the Troops at Tilbury
Churchill’s Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Nixon’s Checker’s Speech
Persuasive Writing- Using Ethos/Pathos/Logos persuade your parents to buy you a car.
Class Activity-Potato Chip Sampling-In four groups, sample a variety of potato chips in
class. Persuade that Brand X is best using rhetorical strategies.
UNIT THREE:
THE AMERICAN DREAM: ANCHORED (AND BURDENED) BY OUR
TRADITIONS
Readings: The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne
"Why Guilt is Good," Goodman--nonfiction editorial
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards (textbook)
Visual/Auditory Learning and Written Assessment: Students will focus in Scarlet
Letter on mood and characterization, focusing on chapters 1, 10, 11, 12, 23. Students
will write a short essay comparing either Munch's The Scream/Rachmanioff musical
selection/Frost's "Acquainted with the Night" to Dimmesdale's guilt, remorse, and
confusion in chapter 12.
Oral/Written Assessment: Students will role-play an abbreviated trial to determine the
"guiltiest" in sin in Scarlet Letter. Students will work in groups presenting and writing
arguments to convict Hester (or) Dimmesdale (or) Chillingworth (or) Puritan society.
Teacher will serve as judge to evaluate "best" proven evidence and argument.
Rhetorical Lessons: Students will begin exploration of persuasive/rhetorical devices
through Edwards' sermon and discuss various devices found in speech. Students will
complete daily lesson assignments using the sermon as basis for identifying
rhetorical/figurative devices.
Stylistic Lessons: Students will discuss and do daily lessons on figurative/stylistic
devices in Hawthorne’s piece. Students will continue to focus on diction use and be
introduced to syntactical variety in readings. Students will note specific use of details to
develop piece.
Visual Learning: Students will examine scenes of nature inspired by specific lines from
Hawthorne's piece and connect to figurative devices and their effectiveness.
Written Assignment: Students write on Gary Soto essay from AP exam, 1996. Students
write rough draft as in class essay and peer edit according to evaluation form. Students
examine student models from previous exams.
UNIT FOUR:
Readings: The Crucible, Miller
"Why I Wrote The Crucible," Miller
"The Trial of Martha Carrier," Mather (nonfiction piece)
Oral assessment: Students choose two significant scenes from The Crucible and present
to class, also leading class in discussion relating points to main theme of man vs.
authority. Students will define McCarthyism and note the social and political conditions
of the time-does historical lens color understanding?
Written assessment: Students will write out of class assignment responding to one of
two well-known quotes: "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." or
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing." Students will write this
paper in stages requiring students to complete peer editing on first draft (handout three,
peer revision, teacher created). Students will integrate literary quotes from The Crucible
correctly into analysis. Students will revise after teacher comments.
Readings: Declaration of Independence, Jefferson (textbook)
Rhetorical/Stylistic Lessons: Students will be introduced to inductive and deductive
reasoning, review the purposes of rhetoric, consideration of audience; persuasive
techniques; fallacies; Students will recognize the purposes of editing by examining the
text of Declaration of Independence in textbook and noting the revisions Jefferson was
forced to make by the other convention delegates.
Visual learning: Students will complete daily assignments using current magazine
advertisements to target audience appeals and types of fallacies. (PETA, MADD, tobacco
company ads, weight loss, liquor, and fast food ads will be used.)
Written assessment: Students will identify audience/types of appeals by writing an
explanation to three different audiences--explaining a failing grade to 1)another student
2) a parent 3) a teacher. Teacher will respond informally to this writing by comments in
class on oral reading or on assignment.
Visual learning: Students need to examine several historical paintings in relation to time
period :
Henry Arguing the Parson's Cause, Cooke (textbook)
Signing of the Declaration of Independence, Trumbull (textbook) Students will discuss
characters in relation to purpose of the action-lighting, placement of characters.
Students will create a photo essay on “Independence.”.
UNIT FIVE:
The Gothic and the Grotesque-Why Do We Enjoy Being Frightened?
Readings:
Fall of the House of Usher, Poe
The Masque of the Red Death, Poe
The Raven, Poe
Danse Macabre, King
Anne Rice excerpt
The Devil and Tom Walker
Liza Lou and the Yellow Bellied Swamp
A Rose for Emily
Thanatopsis
Stylistic lessons: Students will continue to identify figurative/rhetorical devices from
speeches and clarify tone consideration of audience. Students are further introduced to
the rhetorical devices of concession; refutation; syllogism; qualification and stylistic
devices of anaphora, parallelism, pronoun references.
Written Assessment: 1. Students will persuade the class using rhetorical devices learned
of the most influential horror movie of all time. 2. Students will write a mini-synthesis
work using zombies.
UNIT SIX:
American Controversy
Columnist Project- Students will choose six columns from one columnist and write a
précis summarizing the columns and a one paragraph reaction to them. Students will then
write an argumentative essay by developing an argument inspired through
“conversations” with the columnist.
Oral Assessment: Students will participate in debate forum. In groups, students choose
specific contemporary topics and prepare to debate the opposition. Students are required
to find at least three articles from academic journals as support; complete a survey of
representative sampling of focus group; interview with authoritative figure on topic. In
the speech, students are expected to mention various sources as practice for synthesis
essay. Students are required to submit a works cited page following MLA guidelines
provided. Students present debates as well as visual support--students must present
survey numbers in visual form--i.e. charts; graphs.
Written Assessment: Students continue to practice for state wide writing assignment,
TCAP, which requires students to defend a specific position on specified argumentative
topic. Students will examine models from sample state writings--students participate in
"Olympic" judging on models holding up scores after group discussions.
Readings:
Inherit the Wind, Lawrence and Lee
Editorials from local newspaper The Tennessean
Minimum of two journal/paper/magazine articles arguing the merits of
teaching theories of Darwin's evolutionary theories and Intelligent Design
Written Assessment: Students are asked to write a letter to the editor arguing
for/against teaching of Darwinism/ID, but students must take the contradictory side from
their own personal beliefs. Teacher has determined their belief before assignment is
given.
THE GREAT DEBATE- the class will participate in a debate consideringclaim/reason/effects/warrant/evidence/significance/audience on Darwin’s evolutionary
theories and Intelligent Design
Written Assessment: Students will annotate Douglass' passage from 1988 AP exam,
highlighting effective figurative language/syntax
UNIT SEVEN: SATIRE
Readings: A Modest Proposal, Swift
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain
The Onion
Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart
Oral assessment: Students will focus on satire as tone in novel and work in groups in
identify six targets of satire seen in Twain's writing. Students will analyze methods of
developing satire, especially irony and point of view. Students present information in oral
presentations.
Visual Learning: Students will identify political cartoons from news editorial pages and
write a paragraph identifying the target of the satire; the intended audience; the
effectiveness of the satire. Teacher will respond informally to students' written
paragraphs and present to class.
Written assessment: Students will write a persuasive essay on chapter 31 climax of
Huck Finn. Students will respond to their own personal opinion on the validity of
breaking laws: Is there a current law that they believe is unjust and, therefore, can be
challenged? Students may choose either side to support/refute--or qualify. Students will
need to cite two other reading sources as support/refutation. Teacher will respond to
student's strength of argument in evaluation.
Written assessment: Students will write an in class essay on the 2005 question from
The Onion on satirical commentary. Students will be evaluated on recognizing the
rhetorical devices in satire and the effective use of tone. Students will be graded
holistically.
Visual Learning: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Disney Pictures, starring Elijah
Wood, Courtney Vance. Students watch segmented scene of the "funeral" of Wilks.
Students comment on the use of satire as seen in film/contrast with depiction in novel.
Stylistic Lessons: Students will continue to work on syntactic variety by recognizing
this technique in authors' sentences. Teacher provides "cut-up" sentences from wellknown novels/stories, and students will combine these "cut-up" sections. Teacher will
focus on teaching various forms, such as appositive phrases, participial phrases, absolute
phrases, coordination, and subordination.
UNIT EIGHT:
Readings: The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
"The Company Man," Goodman--AP essay/editorial
"My mother is not surprised…," Rodriquez--AP essay (1991)
"Richard Cory," Robinson (textbook)
Written Assignment: Class will discuss their views of the title of the novel. Students
will take on the persona of one of the assigned characters in Gatsby and defend/refute
Gatsby as "great." Choose a character: Nick Carraway; Daisy Buchanan; Tom
Buchanan; Gatsby's father; Owl Eyes. Students will be evaluated on their success in
proving their thesis, using support from novel, and writing in appropriate persona.
Written Assignment: Students will annotate either Goodman essay/Rodriquez essay;
highlighting specific rhetorical/figurative/stylistic devices as prewriting exercise.
Oral Assignment: Students will complete abbreviated research in groups on one of the
major 1920's issues: 1) fashion; 2) music; 3) sports; 4) politics; 5)criminals; 6)movies;
7) transportation. Students present a works cited page with at least three
journals/scholarly articles on topic. Students present information with appropriate
visuals, either PowerPoint, poster board. Students bring music, wear fashions, and cook
food to celebrate a 1920's speak easy party.
Written Assignment: Students will write on the 2006 AP Price essay on the pink
flamingo. Student papers will be graded holistically..
UNIT NINE: Research Paper--synthesis paper
1. Students will choose a contemporary, social, controversial issue from list prepared
by teacher.
2. Students will gather at least six sources from academic journals, online sources,
newspapers, and visuals. Students will highlight, annotate information on reading
sources for support/refutation/concession. Students are encouraged to address
opposing viewpoints and use such sources within arguments.
3. Students will make printed copies of the sources used in final product.
4. Students will formulate a specific, focused, pointed thesis as argument for
research paper.
5. Students will write a research paper of 1200-1500 words integrating six sources
and personal claims, assertions within the paper. Students must be practiced in
the art of writing a "subjective" research paper with a clear sense of personal
voice supported by authoritative sources.
6. Students will accurately attribute citations, using MLA form.
7. Students will write an accurate Works Cited page using MLA form.
AP Practice test given under timed conditions
UNIT TEN: I Hear America Singing-Poetry and Short Stories
Selected works from- Emily Dickenson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, writers of the
Harlem Renaissance, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor will be enjoyed after AP
testing.
Diction worksheet (handout one sample)
I.
Choose the more vivid word choice.
The whole surface of the ice was (a chaos, full) of movement. It looked like an enormous (mass,
jigsaw puzzle) stretching away to infinity and being (crunched, pushed) together by some invisible
but irresistible force. The impression of its (titanic, great) power was heightened by the unhurried
deliberations of the motion. Whenever two thick (pieces, floes) came together, their edges (met,
collided) and (moved, ground) against one another for a time. Then, when neither of them showed
signs of yielding, they rose (uncertainly, quiveringly) driven by the (implacable, tremendous)
power behind them. Sometimes they would stop (altogether, abruptly) as the unseen forces
affecting the ice appeared mysteriously to lose interest. More frequently, though, the two floes,
often ten feet thick or more, would continue to rise, (rearing up, tenting up) until one or both of
them toppled over, creating a pressure ridge.
II.
Place a 1 by the word with the most favorable connotation; 2 by the word with a neutral
connotation; and 3 by the least favorable.
1. ill___________
sick____________
diseased_______________
2. decay________
rot_____________
decompose_____________
3.garbage_____________
rubbish______________
trash_______________
4. stern____________
severe_______________
harsh______________
5. abnormal______________ eccentric_______________ peculiar_____________
6. aged______________
mellow_______________
mature_____________
7. request____________
solicit______________
beg_____________
8. watch______________
ogle________________
stare______________
9. ignorant_____________
dumb_______________
10. puny______________
small__________________little________________
III.
uninformed________________
Replace the slang expressions with more exact, precise expressions
1.
After the ceremony, the guests and the officers of the society stood in the hallway shooting the breeze.
2.
When I was a kid, parents knew how to maintain discipline.
3.
Because of unexpected rain, the parade commemorating the founding of the city was a flop.
4.
Macbeth got mad when he realized his followers were deserting him.
5.
I found the objective part of the exam easy, but the essay part threw me.
6.
The investors took him to court, claiming that they had been had.
7.
My friend, Carol, gave up the job because it caused constant hassles at home.
Course Vocabulary, Allusions, and Terminology:
First Quarter:
1. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here
2. Ad infinitum
3. All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others
4. All that glitters is not gold
5. Angst
6. Apocryphal
7. Anaphora
8. Archetype
9. Bacchanalian
10. Begging the question
11. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
12. Bite the dust
13. Bread and circuses
14. Caricature
15. Catch-22
16. Circumlocution
17. Conceit
18. Coda
19. Crossing the Rubicon
20. Date which will live in infamy
21. Denotation
22. Didactic
23. Elegiac
24. Ethos
25. Exposition
26. 15 minutes of fames
27. From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step
28. Genre
29. Golden calf
30. Mrs. Grundy
31. Holy Grail
32. Internal Monologue
33. Indefinite article
34. I think, therefore I am.
35. Juggernaut
36. Lemmings to the sea
37. Lodestone
38. Loaves and fishes
39. Magnum opus
40. Meet one’s Waterloo
41. Milieu
42. NIMBY
43. O Brave New World
44. Ombudsmen
45. Oxymoron
46. Pathos
47. Philistinism
48. Pyrrhic Victory
49. Predestination
50. Purple passage
51. Real politik
52. Rhetorical question
53. Scapegoat
54. Secular
55. Seven deadly sins
56. Secular
57. Stereotype
58. Skeleton in the closet
59. Syllogism
60. Throw down the gauntlet
61. Xanadu
62. Wheel of Fortune
Second Quarter:
1. Ad absurdum
2. Agnosticism
3. Allegory
4. Allusion
5. Annus mirabilis
6. Apostrophe (O)
7. Baker’s dozen
8. Benedict Arnold
9. Beware the Ides of March
10. Burning Bush
11. Cain and Abel
12. Chip on one’s shoulder
13. Chiasmus
14. Cock and bull
15. Conspicuous consumption
16. Dickensian
17. Draconian
18. Ellipsis
19. Erudite tone
20. Fireside chat
21. Running the gamut
22. Grotesque
23. Good fences make good neighbors
24. Gordian knot
25. Hope springs eternal
26. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
27. Luddite
28. Janus
29. Muses
30. Methuselah
31. Muckraker
32. Nemesis
33. Once in a blue moon
34. Panacea
35. Pastoral
36. Pass the buck
37. Persona non grata
38. Primogeniture
39. Quasi
40. Red herring
41. Salem witch trials
42. Scarlet letter
43. Seize the day
44. Sic
45. Scheherazade
46. Sovereignty
47. Stoicism
48. Shibboleth
49. Sour grapes
50. Summa cum laude
51. Sword of Damocles
52. Tower of Babel
53. Surrealism
54. Xenophobia
Third Quarter1. Ad hoc
2. Albatross around one’s neck
3. Alter ego
4. Anaphora
5. Anthropomorphism
6. Asymmetry
7. Baroque
8. Bedlam
9. Best laid plans of mice and men oft’ go awry
10. Big brother is watching you
11. Bowdlerize
12. Buying a pig in a poke
13. Chutzpah
14. Cassandra
15. Coals to Newcastle
16. Colloquial
17. Crème de la crème
18. Cultivate one’s garden
19. Delphic oracle
20. Emperor’s new clothes
21. Euphemism
22. Expletive
23. Freudian slip
24. Handwriting on the wall
25. Icarian
26. Indian summer
27. Invective
28. Ivory tower
29. Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone
30. Lot’s wife
31. Kafkaesque
32. Malapropism
33. Memento mori
34. Murphy’s law
35. Noble savage
36. Oratory
37. On tenterhooks
38. Pandora’s box
39. Prose
40. Pavlovian
41. Pharisaical
42. Pass the buck
43. Pollyanna
44. Poetic justice
45. Postulate
46. Procrustes’ bed
47. Quixotic
48. Redundancy
49. A rose is a rose is a rose
50. Salt of the earth
51. Scrooge
52. Semantics
53. Sound and fury
54. Stratification
55. Synecdoche
56. Sold down the river
57. Superego
58. Tantalus
59. Utopianism
60. Zeitgeist
Fourth Quarter
1. Ad hominem
2. Al fresco
3. All roads lead to Rome
4. American Gothic (image)
5. Aphorism
6. Anecdote
7. Augean stables
8. Bas-relief
9. Bildungsroman
10. Byronic
11. Cast pearls before swine
12. Cacophony
13. Cliché
14. Crocodile tears
15. Damn with faint praise
16. Double entendre
17. Ecumenism
18. Ex cathedra
19. Fiddle while Rome burns
20. For whom the bell tolls
21. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
22. Goethe’s Faust
23. Hoist with his own petard
24. In media res
25. Left-handed compliment
26. Juxtaposition
27. Magna cum laude
28. A man’s reach should exceed his grasp
29. Metonymy
30. Narcissism
31. No man is an island
32. Over a barrel
33. Paradigm
34. Parody
35. Pickwickian
36. Poet Laureate
37. Promethean
38. Pound of flesh
39. Pulitzer Prize
40. Read the riot act
41. Renaissance man
42. Sacred cow
43. Sangfroid
44. Sturm und Drang
45. Scylla and Charybdis
46. Simper fidelis
47. Sisyphean
48. Svengali
49. Stealing someone’s thunder
50. Staccato
51. Stream of consciousness
52. Syntax
53. Taboo
54. Tilting at windmills
55. Watershed
56. White elephant
57. Thirty pieces of silver