AP Literature and Composition
DMACC Literature 101/English 105
“A literature that does not confront, affront, offend, test and challenge the reader,
thereby, [leaves] the world moribund.”
– Andre Brink
Course Description
This course is designed to help students develop critical reading, writing, and thinking
skills related to the analysis, investigation and critique of literature. It is for high school
students capable of doing college-level work in English who are dedicated to devoting
the necessary time and energy to a rigorous and challenging course. Students will acquire
the critical skills and technical vocabulary necessary to effectively articulate the analysis
of literature. Students will often be asked to "go beyond" the text to accumulate research
and pursue inquiries instigated by the readings. A rigorous writing process will be
employed to help students sharpen their writing skills and effectively articulate their
study of the literature. The course is designed with curricular requirements described in
the AP English Course Description and will prepare students to take the AP Literature
and Composition exam in the spring as well as for life-long learning. Further, each
semester, students will have the opportunity to three DMACC credits: DMACC
Literature 101 in the fall and DMACC English 105 in the spring. By the end of the year,
students can accumulate six college credits.
DMACC Literature 101 Course Competencies (Fall Semester)
1. Identify the elements of poetry, fiction and drama.
2. Differentiate between various approaches to literature such as Formalist (New
Criticism), Marxist, Feminist, Psychoanalytic, Deconstructionist, Reader
Response, New Historicist, Structuralist, Cultural Studies, and others.
3. Analyze a range of literary works.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of a range of literary works.
5. Develop an appreciation for the importance of literature in culture.
DMACC English 105 Course Competencies (Spring Semester)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Practice writing as a recursive process.
Practice reading as an active part of the writing process.
Adapt the rules of standard English grammar.
Investigate research resources where/when available.
Recognize standard documentation form.
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Assignment Types and Grading
Reading Assignments
Reading is thinking. Too often we mistake that act of running our eyes over print as an
act of reading, or “knowing what happened” functions as a replacement for having read.
However, the kind of careful reading you’ll expect in this class will require you to be
much more deliberate, active, involved. Fighting the urge to be a “passive” reader and
transforming into an “active” reader will be crucial to your success. There are a few
reading apparatuses you can count on to doing and consistently being accountable for.
 Active reading (the STICKY NOTES)
 Bookmarks
 Vocabulary journal
Writing Assignments
Writing is hard work. Few will dispute the claim. However, there’s nothing like
finishing a paper and knowing you’ve just exceeded your own expectations. Like
reading, writing is an exercise of thinking, a task of great worth and great reward.
Writing is also a skill that can be learned, fine-tuned, and sharpened. You can become a
better writer! I believe in a recursive process of writing. This means all of our writings
build on each other. It means that revision is rethinking, not just editing. It means that
you will get consistent, formative feedback to aid you in cultivating important skills.
Rubrics are provided for all major writing and many minor writing experiences.
 Writing to understand
o You will have many occasions in which to write in order to understand
what you think. Whether it is a journal response, a letter to a guest reader,
a journal inspired by a sticky note, or one of your postings on our on-line
discussion boards, you will have many opportunities to find out what you
know.
 Writing to explain
o Each semester you will work with the same “discussion group.” This is a
small group of students (ideally four) who will periodically convene to
discuss and conference about literary analysis papers that you’ve written.
These groups will not only focus on the writing (syntax, use of quotes,
motifs), but they will also use the content of the papers to generate
meaningful discussions.
o Close-reading exercises will also give you opportunities to write explicitly
about image, style, figurative language, etc.
 Writing to evaluate
o This is the place we want all of our literary analysis to be at by spring
term. It’s at this evaluative level that you are arguing a critical thesis
seeing social and cultural implications. Your Flannery O’Connor analysis
will be a step-by-step avenue into this kind of writing.
 The writing process and the GREASE monkey
o While I highly encourage all of you to schedule writing conferences with
me when we can’t do them in class, I also realize the pace of our course. I
want each of you to have explicit feedback to implement in your revisions,
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so for each paper I will provide you with a digitized, individual conference
prior to your final draft. Revisions are required.
Projects
Projects are considered to be applications of skills you are practicing. You will note
descriptions of them later in the syllabus. In addition to reading, and writing, there will
be an emphasis on various formal and informal speaking skills to foster a balanced
approach to literacy education.
Grading
Students will be assessed in a variety of ways throughout the entire semester. Grading
will be conducted using a point system.
 70% is based on major assignments (papers, tests, in-class essays, projects)
 15% is based on response/journal assignments (active reading, on-line
discussions, bookmarks, etc.)
 10% is based on participation (attendance, preparedness, whole-class
contributions, and small-group contributions)

5% is based on minor assignments (in-class exercises and brief out-of-class
exercises)
Course Schedule
FALL SEMESTER
Unit 1 — The Quest: Establishing the Thinker
(2 weeks)
Essential Questions:
 What drives humans to search for an ultimate truth?
 Is “the quest” necessary for human survival?
 How does the quest organize and guide a community of learners?
In this unit we’ll explore what it means to be a thinker. Thinking is the most fundamental
skill of this course. Our goal is to shed passivity and move toward being actively
engaged (thinking) about everything we read, write, communicate, and view.
Texts/Content:
“Parable of the Cave,” Plato
“Thinking as a Hobby,” William Golding
“The Swimmer,” John Cheever
“Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S. Eliot
Oedipus the King, Sophocles
Aristotle’s theory of tragedy vs. Arthur Miller’s theory of tragedy
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Objectives:
 To incorporate active reading strategies in daily reading practices
 To identify and begin to interpret symbolism
 To analyze texts for character, theme, and stylistic tendencies
 To effectively organize an expository essay
 To use the writing process (pre-writing, drafting, GREASE monkey, revision, and
editing) to compose
 To incorporate symbolism into writing
 To synthesize major ideas from several texts
 To apply Aristotle and Miller’s theories of tragedy to texts
 To learn appropriate listening and sharing behaviors in Socratic Seminar
Major Assessments:
 Timed, in-class essay exam following the format of an AP test question
 Thinking about Thinking paper
o Students devise their own system of thinking inspired from the readings in
the unit. Further, students use a symbol or allegory to illustrate their
system of thinking.
Unit 2 — Have a live encounter with literature: the lenses of literary theory
(2 weeks)
Essential Questions:
 What is literary theory?
 How can literary theory illuminate nuanced readings of a text?
 What is the purpose of using literary theory in an AP Literature course?
In this unit we’ll explore the realm of literary theory. One of the keys to becoming an
astute reader is to be able to see the text from “the inside out.” Simply put, we all have to
have an avenue into a text before we can start to wrestle with its nuances. Employing
various literary theories can be instrumental in helping readers to have a more panoramic
understanding of texts. In this unit, you will learn the basics of six different literary
theories and how to couple those theories with close-readings of texts in order to elicit
insightful analysis.
Texts/Content:
“A&P,” John Updike
“Papa’s Waltz,” Theodore Roethke
“Vultures,” Mary Oliver
“Garden of Love,” William Blake
“Stockings,” Tim O’Brien
Literary theories
 Reader Response
 New Criticism
 Archetypal
 Feminist
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

Psychoanalytic
Marxist
Objectives:
Building upon previous objectives and:
 To apply critical approaches (literary theories) to create original interpretations
 To compose controlling and sophisticated thesis statements
 To articulate, in written format, analyses of texts with close attention to diction,
voice, and style appropriate to literary theory of choice
 To discern the most appropriate literary theory for text and occasion
 To determine how multiple readings create layered discussions
Major Assessment:
 Timed, in-class exam, following the format of prose questions from the AP exam
Unit 3 — The Individual, Society, and the System
(7 weeks)
Essential Questions
 Is the system created with everyone’s interest in mind?
 Can society exist without a system?
 Should everyone be able to fit into society?
 What are the effects of assimilation and conformity?
The purpose of this unit is to use the relationship among the individual, society, and the
system as a framework for constructing meaningful analyses and interpretations of the
texts we’ll encounter. This is fundamentally a unit on process. We’ll establish, practice,
and work to enhance a process of reading, of writing, of thinking, and communicating.
It’s through learning these processes that your skills will flourish. Likewise, we’ll work
to answer essential questions using literature as our compass. In order to become more
metacognitive about some of these processes, we will be using occasional visual
mediums to practice.
Texts/Content
The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
 Supplemented by critical readings
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
 Supplemented by critical readings
“The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathanial Hawthorne
“Jury of Her Peers,” Susan Glaspell
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” Ursula LeGuin
“ A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“Diving Into the Wreck,” Adrienne Rich
A selection of one film (Cider House Rules, Edward Scissorhands, Finding Forrester,
Mystic River, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, or Searching for Bobby Fisher)
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Objectives:
Building upon previous objectives and:
 To use various reading strategies (annotating, summarizing, questioning) to
activate interpretative thinking
 To employ analytic process of 1) making observations 2) locating patterns 3)
drawing conclusions
 To recognize nuances of literary devices and how they function and, thereby,
contribute to the overall meaning of the text (focus on tone, symbol, irony, and
theme)
 To incorporate basic argumentation (logos, ethos, pathos) structure into various
written and verbal discourse
 To balance the use of specific details with generalizations in writing
 To use critical reading skills to generate original arguments based on textual
analysis
 To engage in all phases of writing process with close attention to peer feedback
and subsequent discussion
Major Assessments:
 Advertisement analysis (this will not only reinforce the analysis process we’ve
been practicing, but also connect to skills associated with composition course
from last year)
 Literary analysis utilizing discussion groups and GREASE monkey writing process
o Catcher in the Rye OR Metamorphosis
 Short answer exam concentrating on analyzing the form and function of short
passages
 Timed, in-class exam, following the format of AP exam question
 Film trailer
Unit 4 — In Search of the American Dream
(7 weeks)
Essential Questions:
 What is the American dream?
 What sacrifices are made in pursuit of the American dream?
 What challenges the American dream?
 Is the American dream only a dream, or is it a goal worth pursuing?
In this unit, we’ll challenge ourselves to recognize the underpinnings of a culture in
pursuit of the American dream as illustrated by these six texts. Each text explores a
distinctly different social class and time period, all which work together to illuminate the
hope and despair perpetuated by the American dream. Further, we’ll move forward in
our reading and writing processes by focusing on the close-read and how employing that
skill enhances analysis as well as substantiates arguments in literary analysis. Finally,
we’ll embark on a research experience in which you’ll create a non-profit organization
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that targets a group of people in our community unable to achieve their American dream
and compose a grant to pitch to a panel of community members.
Texts/Content:
“This is an American, “ from Letters from an American Farmer, John Hector de
Crevecoeur (excerpt)
“Of Individual in Democratic Countries,” from Democracy in America, Alexis de
Tocqueville (excerpt)
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
 supplemented by critical readings of major texts
“America,” Allen Ginsberg
Objectives:
Building upon previous objectives and:
 To select, cut and connect quotes blending them into the analysis of an effective
essay
 To use close-reading to supplement and enhance analysis
 To use precise vocabulary to add poignancy to arguments
 To recognize patterns in and among texts to synthesize meaning
 To demonstrate understanding of purpose, audience, and tone by presenting a
researched argument for grant proposal funds
Major Assessments:
 Close-reading analyses (brief 1-2 pages each)
 Literary analysis utilizing discussion groups and GREASE monkey writing process
o The Great Gatsby OR Death of a Salesman
 Grant project
o As an extension of this unit on the American dream, and in an effort to
meet local standards/benchmarks for research, I have constructed this
college-level experience for students. Upon finishing our unit, students
look at our own community and find a group of people who cannot
achieve their American dream. Working in groups, students then create a
hypothetical non-profit organization and create a plan to implement a
program or service into our community that would aid their target “client.”
Students research existing programs similar to their own, as well as
research on things such as immigration laws, adult learning programs, or
early literacy intervention. We spend focused time on how to present this
information using strong argumentative skills. Further, students have a
keen focus on diction and audience as they compose their grant proposals.
Students compete against each other for funding, determined by a panel of
community members.
o Use recursive writing process using GREASE monkey apparatus
o NOTE: This writing experience serves students very well. We do not
have an AP Language and Composition course at our school, and this
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
project gives students the opportunity to sharpen their argumentation and
rhetoric skills in a rigorous, real-world scenario.
SEMESTER EXAM
o Timed, in-class essay, following the format of the AP exam
o Comprehensive quote exam (identify text, determine speaker, provide
context, and analyze significance)
SPRING SEMESTER
Unit 1 — Freedom vs. Responsibility in Existentialism
(2 weeks)
Essential Questions (Existentialism):
 What is existentialism?
 How do existentialists contend with the world?
 What is the role of freedom and responsibility in existential texts?
This semester should feel both familiar and varied. While we spent the fall term
establishing processes and creating a reservoir of literary knowledge, this semester will
work to hone those processes and knowledge in increasingly sophisticated fashion. Our
processes haven’t changed, but my expectations of the degree to which you use them are
elevated. Our unit on existentialism will first challenge many of you to take intellectual
risks by evaluating characters and texts while keeping personal bias about the philosophy
in check.
Texts/Content:
The Stranger, Albert Camus
No Exit, Jean-Paul Sarte
Objectives:
Building upon previous objectives and:
 To use critical reading skills to analyze character motivations
 To evaluate author’s style in relationship to effectiveness
Major Assessment:
 Timed, in-class essay, following the format of the AP exam
Unit 2 — Author In-Depth and Literary Analysis
(2 weeks)
Although we’ve been reading poetry all year, this unit will be a focused genre-study
where we delve into poems and the devices that serve to create their meaning. Not only
will we read poems, but we’ll also write poems in an effort to understand poetry from
“the inside out.” Poetry is a genre to embrace, not be afraid of. My goal is for each of
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you to gain confidence in and enjoyment from this genre. I want you to read with clarity,
ask questions that serve as catalysts for investigation, and write without inhibition!
Essential Questions:
 What patterns can you determine about an author by studying multiple texts?
 How do you combine primary and secondary sources to achieve an original
thesis?
How does studying an author in-depth help you understand style?
Authors/Topics to choose from (three stories from each author):
 Flannery O’Connor
 Gabriel Garcia Marquez
 Joyce Carol Oates
 Sherman Alexie
 Metafiction (a genre study rather than author study)
 selected secondary sources including criticism and biography on authors
 additional short fiction by authors as necessary for extended literary analysis
Objectives:
Building upon previous objectives and:
 To substantiate arguments using a combination of primary and secondary
sources
 To cite multiple texts by the same author as well as a variety of secondary sources
correctly using MLA format
 To use the writing process as a recursive experience aimed at rethinking, not just
revising work
 To produce a piece of scholarly criticism that adds to the academic conversations
about Flannery O’Connor
Major Assessment:
 Extended literary analysis (6-8 pages) on a series of work by a single author
o This formal literary analysis paper will begin with a student-generated
topic and thesis (e.g. grace, irony, images of light, use of color, religious
allusions, etc.). The thesis must be substantiated with the use of secondary
sources to augment the persuasiveness of the paper. The paper will
include textual evidence from both the primary texts as well as the
secondary sources.
 Utilize writing process including peer review and GREASE monkey
 Utilize teacher-created handbook, “Roadmap to Writing Literary
Analysis,” which details resources and expectations for all literary
analysis in the course.
Unit 3 — Poetry
(4 weeks)
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Although we’ve been reading poetry all year, this unit will be a focused genre-study
where we delve into poems and the devices that serve to create their meaning. Not only
will we read poems, but we’ll also write poems in an effort to understand poetry from
“the inside out.” Poetry is a genre to embrace, not be afraid of. My goal is for each of
you to gain confidence in and enjoyment from this genre. I want you to read with clarity,
ask questions that serve as catalysts for investigation, and write without inhibition!
Essential Questions:
 What is poetry?
 How does poetry illuminate truth?
Texts/Content:
Poets on Poetry
 “Ars Poetica, “ Archibald Macleish
 “Poetry,” Marianne Moore
Focus on Metaphor
 “Because I could not stop for death,” Emily Dickinson
 “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” John Donne
 “The Drum,” Nikki Giovanni
Focus on Symbol
 “A Poison Tree,” William Blake
 “Ozymandias,” Percy Bysshe Shelley
 “my momma moved among the days,” Lucille Clifton
Focus on Image
 “The Fish,” Elizabeth Bishop
 “The Pulley,” George Herbert
 “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” John Keats
Focus on Words (ways in which poets “play” with words)
 “The Red Wheelbarrow,” William Carlos Williams
 “In a Station of the Metro,” Ezra Pound
 “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town,” e.e. cummings
Focus on Form
 “To an Athlete Dying Young,” A. E. Housman
 “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” William Shakespeare
 “Daddy,” Sylvia Plath
Collection of poetry provided by guest poet (a local, frequently published poet)
Each student reads an additional 20-25 poems of his/her choice in order to complete the
poetry montage project.
Objectives:
Building upon previous objectives and:
 To weave annotation, research, and close-readings into analysis
 To recognize specific poetic devices and how those devices function in a poem
 To practice fluent readings of poems as a means to deeper understanding
 To recognize the relationship between sound and meaning
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


To compose a variety of poems employing and/or mimicking poetic devices in
professional poems
To use revision process as a means of purposefully achieving the desired effect
To think metacognitively about writing and apply understandings to revision
Major assessments:
 Personal poetry writing and revision collection
o Five original poems with two taken through revision process, analysis, and
reflection
 Timed, in-class essay, using a released poetry question from a previous AP exam
 Poetry Montage
o This comprehensive project combines annotation, research, and closereading to create an analysis of a collection of professional poems. You
will select three poems, all which have a similar or connecting idea. An
idea such as love, or death is far too general. Rather, you may consider a
connecting motif to be how nature mirrors love, or how death is patriotic.
Also, each poem must come from a distinctly different (75-100 years) time
period. Finally, you should demonstrate having read a diverse
representation of authors. That is, once you have one DWM (dead white
male) you cannot have another one. You should consider a diversity of
gender and ethnicity as you make your selections. A detailed assignment
guide and rubric will outline the annotation, secondary research, and
close-readings that must be completed for each poem. In essence you will
look at multiple poetic techniques and determine how they contribute to
the meaning of the poem. Further, you will need to demonstrate the
ability to read the poems from multiple literary theories.
Unit 4 — The Outsider
(5 weeks)
Essential Questions:
 Who is an outsider?
 How does the outsider perceive and make sense of the world?
 What characterizes the outsider’s relationship with others?
This is an important unit because it is a culmination of all the work we’ve done up to this
point. Each skill you’ve practiced, each process you’ve internalized, and each genre
you’ve explored will be collapsed into the experience of this unit. Contemplating the role
of the outsider will undoubtedly cause us to call upon all kinds of texts from the year in
order to generate sophisticated readings of the new texts before us.
Texts/Content:
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
 Theory of the Sublime and Beautiful
 Selected film clips
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The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams
Selected pieces of criticism related to the texts
Objectives:
Building upon previous objectives and:
 To use all skills in concert with each other to orchestrate critical analysis guided
by intellectual risk-taking and independent thought.
Major Assessments:
 Close-reading analyses (brief 1-2 pages each)
 Literary analysis utilizing discussion groups and GREASE monkey writing process
o Frankenstein OR The Glass Menagerie
 Unit exam
o Timed, in-class essay, following the format of the AP exam
o Quote exam (identify text, determine speaker, provide context, and
analyze significance)
Unit 5 — Othello: Heroes and Villains
(4 weeks)
Essential Questions:
 What is the nature of villainy?
 Does language reflect or construct reality?
 Is there a “correct” reading of Othello?
 How does performance influence reading?
We began the year with a formidable tragedy (Oedipus the King), and we will end the
year with one as well. Aristotle and Miller’s debate about tragedy will certainly resurface
as we step into the contemplative world of Othello. Not only will be look at the history
of revenge tragedies and how those inform Shakespeare’s play, but we will also
concentrate on reading the play as directors who must understand the nuances in such a
way that we use performance and script-writing in a way that offers critical
interpretations. Be ready to get out of your chairs and literally put your readings on
center stage!
Texts/Content:
Othello, William Shakespeare
 Selected critical readings
 Selected film clips
Objectives:
Building upon previous objectives and:
 To construct multiple interpretations of the same scene
 To appreciate the aesthetic qualities of language
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
To use performance as a way to understand and as a way to demonstrate
interpretation
Major Assessments:
 Periodic quote quizzes (identify speaker, accurately paraphrase, provide context,
and analyze significance)
 Performance with cut script and vision rationale
o This performance will demonstrate a critical reading of Othello based on
the way the script is manipulated and the performance is delivered in order
to reflect a critical interpretation of a scene.
Unit 5 — COURSE FINAL
(1 week)
Essential Questions:
 How can reflection serve to synthesize my learning?
 How can reflection serve to propel me towards future learning?
 How does everything tie together?
Texts/Content:
Teacher created portfolio criteria and assignment
All texts previously listed in syllabus
Objectives:
 To collect, select, reflect, and project artifacts, which prove evidence of skill
mastery in the areas of reading, writing, thinking, and communicating.
 To use portfolio to demonstrate meeting course standards
 To synthesize critical analysis skills in an oral format
Major Assessments:
 Final portfolio
o This portfolio is a collection of works from throughout the year, which
demonstrate your mastery of standards in reading (3 artifacts), writing (2
artifacts), writing process (1 artifact), communication (2 artifacts), and
thinking (2 artifacts). Each artifact needs to be accompanied by a
reflection, which addresses how the standards were met.

Exit Interview (15-20 minutes for each student)
o Prepared question: One week before your scheduled interview, you’ll
draw the name of three texts, each from a distinctly different point in the
course and prepare a critical analysis based on a pattern that runs
throughout all three texts. You’ll present your findings and then I’ll ask
you follow-up questions.
o Impromptu question: You’ll draw the name of a major text, a literary
device, and a literary theory. After taking some time to think and process,
I’ll ask you to describe an example of the literary device in your chosen
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text and how it functions. Separately, I’ll ask you to determine how you
would approach a reading of your chosen text using that critical theory.
o Reflection questions: I’ll conclude the interview by asking you some
questions about what you liked, didn’t like, a character you connected to,
your plans for upcoming reading, etc. These questions should be easy
after doing your portfolio.
Teacher Resources
Course textbook where most texts are located:
Roberts, Edgar V. and Henry E. Jacobs. Eds. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and
Writing. 6th ed. NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.
Other novels and plays are in paperback form. A few poems and short stories are
supplemented through photocopy.
In-class handouts.
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