Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
April 2007
Course Description:
Advanced Placement English is a challenging, year-long, elective class aimed at
preparing students for the Advanced Placement exam and for college coursework. In this course,
we will examine and analyze major works of literature in depth. Our study of novels and plays
will take us from a narrow focus on the individual to a broader view of the world around us.
In addition, students will continue to develop their communication skills through speech
and writing. Students will be expected to do extensive research, revision and publication of their
work. Finally, students should understand that there will be a great deal of thinking, studying
and discussion in this class.
Students are expected to:
1. Read assigned works of literature.
2. Complete written assignments and projects.
3. Participate in class discussion and group work.
4. Complete daily assignments, notebooks and papers.
Students will be graded on:
1. Written assignments including questions, notebooks and readings.
2. Projects and papers.
3. Announced and unannounced quizzes and tests.
4. Participation in group, partner and individual work.
5. Final Exam.
Student Resources: (The school maintains enough copies of the resources below for every
student to have his or her own for the unit of study.)
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to
Reading Between the Lines. New York: Quill Publishers, 2003.
Perrine, Laurence and Thomas R. Arp. Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry, 8th Edition.
New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1992.
Roberts, Edgar V. Writing About Literature, 8th Edition. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 1995.
Sebranek, Patrick, Verne Meyer, and Dave Kemper. Write for College. Wilmington, MA: Great
Source Education Group, 1997.
Warriner, John E. English Grammar and Composition: Complete Course. Chicago: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1982.
Throughout the course, we use many different novels, plays and short stories. Editions of these
works vary, so they are noted by title and author within the units outlined below. All are
available to students at no cost.
Online resources: (The school purchases a subscription to these sites for all students to have free
access.)
Thomson Gale Publishers. Literature Resource Center Online. <http://galenet.galegroup.com>.
Apex Learning, Inc. Apex Learning AP Exam Review. <http://apexvs.com>.
General Program Objectives:
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To enable students to recognize literature as the verbal expression of human thoughts and
feelings, embodying imagination and transmitting cultural values.
To enable students to know the relationship between history and literature, so that they
are able to evaluate works for their historical, social, philosophical, and aesthetic values.
To encourage students to use language honestly and effectively, recognizing writing as a
tool for both thinking and communicating.
To introduce students to the field of critical studies surrounding literature and writing, so
that they can synthesize relevant criticism and establish their own interpretations.
To enable students to develop critical reading, writing and thinking skills that will
prepare them for the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature and Composition.
We use the College Board’s vertical teams approach to AP English. We offer accelerated classes
that begin at 9th grade and end with AP English at 12th grade. Some students choose to take the
accelerated program for four years; others enter the accelerated track for the first time in their
senior year for AP English. All of our accelerated courses require summer reading. The summer
reading guidelines for students in AP English are below.
Advanced Placement English Summer Reading
Your study and analysis of literature for AP English will begin this summer. As you head into
your senior year, we will emphasize depth of analysis and originality of response, as well as use
of literary terminology to discuss works.
Summer Reading:
 Albert Camus, The Stranger
 Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One
 Charles Dickens, Hard Times
 Harry Middleton, The Earth Is Enough
 Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Requirements:
Response logs. After you complete each novel, I would like you to write a short response paper
(approximately 500 words) on the issues and themes regarding family in the novel. You will use
these to compose your literary analysis in the fall. Your writing in these logs does not need to be
formal, but should include important characters, literary devices and techniques, as well as your
personal thoughts on the novel’s views on family.
Test. In the first week of school in the fall, you will have a test over the summer reading which
will include both objective and essay responses.
Literary Analysis Paper. When you start back to school in the fall, your first assignment will
be to write a literary paper on the theme below. Therefore, in reading the summer novels, you
may want to take notes in terms of the topic.
Literary Analysis Topic:
The role of the family has evolved over the years and continues to be redefined in our society.
All of your reading selections examine the nature and complexity of families: their strengths and
weaknesses, their conflicts and rewards. Choose two of the summer works and examine the role
that family plays in the lives of the main characters. Is the family supportive and enriching? Is
the family damaging and neurotic? Or is the truth about family far more complex? Close by
addressing the universal themes about family that a reader takes away from the two works.
Avoid plot summary in your essay.
Course-Long Plan:
Unit 1: Summer Reading Evaluation and Introduction to Literary Analysis
Assessment: AP-style free-response essay
Paper #1: Literary Analysis
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Support assertions and interpretations about the texts with logical, detailed evidence from
works during class discussion.
2. Arrange a logical argument supporting interpretive details in impromptu, timed writing
assignments, and in extended writing pieces.
3. Evaluate the quality of literary works from a set standard as well as from their own
experiences.
4. Prewrite, outline, draft, edit, and revise their own compositions.
5. Demonstrate a willingness to offer constructive criticism to and accept it from their peers
during the writing process.
6. Demonstrate an understanding of the composition and the expectation level of a college
freshman.
In completing the summer reading test, students are introduced to the free response question
format for the AP Exam. They are given writing and grammar instruction in three focus areas in
class via mini-lessons, and they read selected chapters of Writing About Literature by Edgar
Roberts as they work to complete the extended composition. As this is the students’ first attempt
at literary analysis, they revise these papers after they are graded.
Unit 2: Introduction to Criticism and the Close Reading
Review of literary terms, elements of fiction, introduction to schools of literary criticism
Close readings of selected short stories:
“Youth”, Joseph Conrad
“Araby”, James Joyce
“The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“Metamorphosis”, Franz Kafka
Assessment: AP-style free-response essay
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Discover meaning in literature through attention to language, image, character, action,
argument, and the various techniques authors use.
2. Recognize, identify, and explain the use and effect of stylistic devices such as symbolism,
imagery, archetype, allusion, and theme in fiction.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the various interpretive levels of fictional work.
4. Support or refute critical claims through careful analysis of details.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the universal themes that recur in literature of all
cultures and time periods.
6. Support assertions and interpretations about the texts with logical, detailed evidence from
works during class discussion.
7. Understand the concept of authorial intent.
8. Recognize the various ways in which a critic might evaluate a piece of fiction and explain
why.
9. Arrange a logical argument supporting interpretive details in timed writing assignments.
During this first introduction to close reading and deep analysis, students read selected chapters
of Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor as they read the short stories. At
the beginning of the unit our in-class discussions are teacher-driven and analysis of the stories is
teacher-modeled. As we progress, however, we move to Socratic method conversations and
eventually to student-led conversations which require them to support their interpretive claims
with textual evidence. The unit ends with an assessment that includes a released AP freeresponse question to which they must write a timed essay.
Unit 3: The College Application Essay
Review of college application essays that work
Paper #2: College Essay
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Recognize that writing is a form of communication, discovery, self-expression, and
critical thinking.
2. Demonstrate creativity and originality in a polished piece of writing.
3. Identify the audience for their work and compose papers appropriate to that audience.
4. Recognize the appropriate uses of active and passive voice in their writing.
5. Write concisely and clearly.
6. Develop a unique, mature voice in their writing.
For this paper, the students focus on three stylistic issues in their writing. Mini-lessons in class
help them to understand the appropriate uses of the passive and the active voice, as well as the
importance of conciseness and transitional flow in compositions. Model essays from
professionals, from online resources, and from former students serve as examples as they write
their own application essays.
Unit 4: Blind Ambition
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Assessment: AP-style free-response essay
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Assessment: Multiple AP-style free-response prose passage essays
Paper #3: Literary analysis
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Discover meaning in literature through attention to language, image, character, action,
argument, and the various techniques authors use.
2. Recognize, identify, and explain the use and effect of stylistic devices such as symbolism,
imagery, archetype, allusion, antithesis, frame narration, juxtaposition, point of view,
personification, impressionism, and figurative language in fiction.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the various interpretive levels of fictional work.
4. Compare and contrast literature from different time periods, classic to contemporary, and
from varying cultures around the world.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of historical and political perspectives in relation to
literature.
6. Exercise the close reading skills they learned in Unit 2.
7. Support assertions and interpretations about the texts with logical, detailed evidence from
works during class discussion.
8. Discuss the authorial intent behind the works of literature.
9. Arrange a logical argument supporting interpretive details in extended writing pieces.
10. Utilize literary criticism from experts to enable them to grow in their thinking and
understanding of texts.
11. Utilize sentence complexity, variety and effectiveness to achieve clarity and sustain
interest in compositions.
12. Support or refute critical claims through careful analysis of details.
In this unit, students read Frankenstein and Heart of Darkness. Extensive historical background
is presented before each work, covering not only the events of the time but the literary eras and
the biographies of the authors. Students maintain notebooks of their in-class notes and also their
notes on the reading as they go. They also do extensive work on vocabulary-building while
reading these works. The focus of our class time is the close reading. Selected passages serve as
springboards for our daily discussions, which may be teacher-directed, student-directed or
managed in small groups. For Heart of Darkness, we use the Norton Critical Edition (Conrad,
Joseph. Heart of Darkness: A Norton Critical Edition, 3rd Edition. Ed. Robert Kimbrough.
New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1988.) This text allows students to have historical
background, Conrad’s source information, and literary criticism at their fingertips. We read
selected portions of the background, source and critical information. The paper for this unit
requires students to either synthesize the two works or blend one work and its criticism. Minilessons and instructions for this paper include proper documentation and citation, depth and
detail of analysis, and parallel structure in sentence construction.
Unit 5: The Individual vs. Society (choice unit)
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
The Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
Assessment: AP-style free-response essay
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the various interpretive levels of fictional work.
2. Recognize, identify, and explain the use and effect of stylistic devices in fiction.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the universal themes that recur in literature of all
cultures and time periods.
4. Value literature as an imaginative representation of truth or reality and apply their
knowledge to their own life experiences.
5. Make choices in the reading of texts for pleasure and personal growth.
6. Take responsibility for thoughtful and meaningful daily literary discussion in a small
group.
7. Support assertions and interpretations about the texts with logical, detailed evidence from
works during class discussion.
8. Arrange a logical argument supporting interpretive details in impromptu, timed writing
assignments.
In this unit, students select the work that they will read from the three choices listed. Students
are arranged into literature circles based on the title they select. On a daily basis, students are
responsible for roles in literature circles (as outlined in Daniels, Harvey. Literature Circles:
Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom. York, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers,
1994.) This means the nature of inquiry for this unit is self-driven or group-driven. Students
research the historical and biographical information pertinent to the novel; they choose passages
for analysis and close reading; and they chart the course of their learning, much as they might do
in a college-level course. The unit culminates in a group project/presentation to the class about
their novel and an assessment which models the free-response essay of the AP exam.
Unit 6: Shakespeare
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Selected sonnets, William Shakespeare
Paper #4: Creative writing with Hamlet
Assessment: AP-style free-response essay
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Read, paraphrase, and demonstrate an understanding of all the complexities of
Shakespearean dramas.
2. Discover meaning in literature through attention to language, image, character, action,
and the various techniques playwrights use.
3. Recognize, identify, and explain the use and effect of stylistic devices such as iambic
pentameter, soliloquy, symbolism, imagery, allusion, irony, tragedy, and figurative
language in poetry and drama.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the historical and political issues of the Elizabethan era
as they relate to Shakespeare’s choices.
Our Shakespearean unit begins with historical background of the Elizabethan era and a
discussion of the biographical mystery of Shakespeare. Because of the tremendous wealth of
information available on the internet, students use the World Wide Web to conduct research.
They take virtual tours of the Globe in London, research the historical period, and access
discussions from the PBS special, The Shakespeare Mystery
(<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shakespeare/>). We then study vocabulary and
poetry terms that are directly relevant to their reading of Hamlet. Throughout the unit, we do
much of the reading in class, during which we pause to paraphrase, research allusions, consider
thematic choices, and talk about Hamlet’s timelessness through real-world applications. In this
unit, students have the chance to express themselves in a creative assignment where their choices
include writing a sonnet, a missing scene, or a psychological case study of Hamlet. They also
again write an in-class timed essay to a question modeled after the AP free-response section as
the final test over this work.
Unit 7: Literary research
Paper #5: Literary Research Paper
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Arrange a logical argument supporting interpretive details in an extended writing piece.
2. Evaluate the quality of literary works from a set standard as well as from their own
experiences.
3. Utilize literary criticism from experts to enable them to grow in their thinking and
understanding of texts.
4. Support or refute critical claims through careful analysis of details.
5. Sustain an argument while guiding a reader through well-organized analysis.
6. Use the correct format of the Modern Language Association (MLA) for quotations,
parenthetical documentation and works cited pages.
7. Demonstrate the ability to avoid plagiarism in their writing.
8. Utilize sentence complexity, variety and effectiveness to achieve clarity and sustain
interest in compositions.
9. Gather appropriate information from texts, the Internet, and electronic media.
10. Utilize a college library with all of its resources to select reference materials.
11. Evaluate information utilizing their critical thinking skills and in-depth analysis.
12. Synthesize information from external resources with their own interpretations to produce
original insights.
The purpose of this paper is to write a literary theme utilizing research to support an original
thesis. The students’ task is to draw an original conclusion, comparison or contrast from one or
more of the literary works they have read after conducting extensive research into the criticism
that surrounds the work. We take a field trip each year to a local university so that students can
use a college library for their research. We have a cooperative relationship with the university
that includes instruction and a tour for all students, and allows us to print electronic resources
and to check out text resources. The lesson students gain in using a college library is invaluable
as they head off to college the next year. The focus areas for this paper include logical
presentation of ideas, syntax appropriate to a college-level course, and proper documentation.
Mini-lessons in class instruct students in these areas as well as conducting the research process,
evaluating materials for reliability, developing a thesis with substance, incorporating quotes from
a variety of sources, and accurately recording information. Students use a style manual we have
created at our school, as well as online materials such as <http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/>,
and additional texts, like Write for College, during this paper.
Unit 8: Poetry
Sound and Sense, Laurence Perrine and Thomas R. Arp
Interactive poetry notebooks
Assessment: Multiple AP-style free-response poetry essays
Writing: composing their own poetry
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Discover meaning in poetry through attention to language, image, attitude, and the
various techniques poets use.
2. Recognize, identify, and explain the use and effect of poetic devices such as denotation,
connotation, figurative language, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, imagery,
meter, and many more.
3. Analyze a poem with specific attention to the tone, literary devices, imagery, and theme.
4. Present an analysis of the life, influences and style of one poet of their choosing to their
classmates.
5. Support assertions and interpretations about the poems with logical, detailed evidence
from works during class discussion.
6. Arrange a logical argument supporting interpretive details in impromptu, timed writing
assignments.
Students at our school have very little poetry analysis previous to AP English. Therefore, this
unit is lengthy and detailed when it comes to terminology, techniques of analysis, and
interpretation. Students begin the unit with a list of over 30 poetry terms that they define and
then record examples of as we travel through Perrine’s text. They have nightly reading in Sound
and Sense and they are introduced first to the TPCASTT method for analyzing poetry (a method
which has them look at the title of a poem, paraphrase the poem, look for connotations,
determine the poet’s attitude, note any shifts in the poem, re-examine the title, and finally, use
these details to explain theme). Though formulaic, this method gives them a starting point in
poetry analysis. We analyze in class; they analyze for homework; and they have at least three
written timed assessments using AP-style free-response poetry questions. They rewrite many of
their timed essays after grading and after viewing sample correct responses as models. They also
evaluate their responses and anonymous responses from their classmates according to the AP
rubrics. As a culminating project, students choose one poet and create an interactive notebook
on that poet. For this project, they are asked to examine deeply the style of one poet. They
create a visual aid that includes biography, influences, contemporaries, literary devices, themes,
two favorite poems, TPCASTT analyses of these poems, and an original poem written by them
in the style of their poet. They present their notebooks to their classmates in a small-group,
rotating format.
Unit 9: Conversation Papers
Paper #6: The conversation paper
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Develop a unique, mature voice in their writing.
Identify the audience for their work and compose papers appropriate to that audience.
Demonstrate creativity and originality in an extended writing piece.
Follow accepted rules of punctuation.
Utilize vocabulary in their writing that is precise, clear, and varied.
Publish their work in a genuine manner.
A conversation paper is unique among assigned papers. There is not a specific requirement in
terms of the subject; students may write fiction or nonfiction, even poetry. The aim of a
conversation paper is to get people talking, discussing, debating, and thinking; thus, it is
published for the entire class. Students work specifically on developing an authentic voice in
their writing, using sophisticated diction, and using commas and semi-colons appropriately. This
paper meets three demands often placed on students in college composition classes: producing a
paper without topic direction, developing their voice as writers, and publishing their work for the
class. This unit actually runs concurrently with the poetry unit. On each designated
conversation paper day, two or three students present their papers to their classmates.
Unit 10: Perspective
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Paper #7: Literary Analysis
Assessment: Multiple AP-style free-response prose passage essays
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Discover meaning in literature through attention to language, image, character, action,
argument, and the various techniques authors use.
2. Recognize, identify, and explain the use and effect of stylistic devices such as symbolism,
imagery, archetype, allusion, and theme in fiction.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the various interpretive levels of fictional work.
4. Compare and contrast literature from different time periods, classic to contemporary, and
from varying cultures around the world.
5. Support assertions and interpretations about the texts with logical, detailed evidence from
works during class discussion.
6. Arrange a logical argument supporting interpretive details in impromptu, timed writing
assignments, and in extended writing pieces.
7. Utilize apt and specific references in timed writing.
Students begin their study of The Poisonwood Bible by conducting research on the Biblical,
historical and cultural allusions in the novel. They also study the Congo (a reminder of its
history from Conrad’s day as well as a study of its progress since then) and Barbara Kingsolver’s
life. This novel begins with teacher-led discussion, but about one-quarter of the way into the
novel, students arrange themselves into groups and are assigned a portion of the reading to teach
to their classmates. They are responsible for all significant discussion and for involving all of
their classmates in meaningful analysis of the novel. On days when they are not presenting,
students write timed essays where they closely analyze select passages from the novel, evaluate
their essays and the essays of their peers, and discuss ways of improving their abilities to write to
a prompt. This unit concludes with a formal paper where they choose a topic and develop an
original thesis for an interpretive essay. The focus areas on this essay are depth of analysis,
sophisticated diction, and “apt and specific references” (a phrase from the AP rubric). Minilessons are done on each of these and models are shared in class.
Unit 11: “Read the best books first or you may not have the chance to read them at all.”
(choice unit)
1984, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Assessment: AP-style free-response essay
Portfolio evaluation
List of facts, skills, concepts, and generalizations to be covered in this unit.
Students will be able to . . .
1. Value literature as an imaginative representation of truth or reality and apply their
knowledge to their own life experiences.
2. Appreciate reading texts of all varieties for pleasure and personal growth.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the various interpretive levels of fictional work.
4. Recognize, identify, and explain the use and effect of stylistic devices in fiction.
5. Evaluate the quality and significance of literary works from a set standard as well as from
their own experiences.
6. Understand and articulate their own strengths and weaknesses as writers.
7. Select areas in need of improvement in their writing and analyze their own progress.
Students conclude our year-long study of literature with a choice unit in which they select from
some of the great works that we are unable to cover together (due to time). As with the earlier
choice unit, students use the literature circle format for daily discussion. This means the nature
of inquiry for this unit is self-driven. Students again research the historical and biographical
information pertinent to the novel (with some help from me); they choose passages for analysis
and close reading; and they chart the course of their learning, much as they might do in a
college-level course. They also use this time to evaluate their writing over the course of the year
to see how they have grown and to examine what they still need to work on as developing
writers. At our school, students maintain compiled writing folders from ninth through twelfth
grades, so students do a retrospective of themselves and their lives as writers.
Unit 12: Film Analysis: Citizen Kane
After the AP test, students at my school generally have five to seven class days left in AP
English. Therefore, we use these final days to apply the lessons of literature to film. They use
what they have learned about imagery, character, perspective, symbolism, archetype, allusion,
tone, and universal themes to analyze Citizen Kane. Though a valuable lesson for students, this
unit is outside the bounds of the Advanced Placement English course description, so is
mentioned here only incidentally.