MORGAN PARK HIGH SCHOOL
1744 WEST PRYOR AVENUE
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60643
Instructor: Nicole Ortman, NBCT
Course: AP English Literature & Composition
B.A. Secondary Education w/ English Major, Knox College;
M.Ed. Interdisciplinary Studies, National-Louis
University
Main Office Phone: 773-535-2550
Email: nmortman@cps.edu
Website: www.morganparkcps.org
Link to Parent Portal: https://parent.cps.k12.il.us/pc/default.aspx
Link to Student Portal: https://student.cps.k12.il.us/pc/studentlogin.aspx
Course Overview
The AP English Literature and Composition Course is designed to teach students to be come critical readers,
interpreters, evaluators, and writers of text. Students will read, experience, discuss, and respond in writing to a variety of
works from various genres. The AP English Literature and Composition exam will be given on May 8, 2014. Only by
taking the exam, can students earn advanced placement credit towards their GPAs. Only by doing well on the exam, can
students earn college credit. The cost of an Advanced Placement exam is $89.00. In past years, students who qualified for
free or reduced lunch qualified for a fee waiver from the State of Illinois. The state has not published its policy this year,
but make sure to turn in a "lunch form" to make sure you qualify for the waiver if the policy doesn't change. Test fees for
those students who don't qualify for a waiver will be collected at the beginning of the second semester. Any questions
regarding the AP exam or fees should be directed to Mr. Moore, Morgan Park's Advanced Placement Coordinator, at
GTMOORE@CPS.EDU .
Reading Assignments
 Students will be required to actively read every assignment and utilize a reading/note-taking strategy
such as Cornell Notes, reader response journals, or annotating the text.
 Students will closely read texts and will be able to interpret multiple meanings, recognize and evaluate
historical and cultural context of the text, and analyze rhetorical devices.
 Students will read texts from various time periods and will be able to assess the author’s style and
compare and contrast the style of numerous authors.
 Students will be required to participate in thoughtful discussion about text through a Socratic Seminar
and will use reading strategies to improve writing skills.
 The majority of the reading that is required will be done outside of class.
Writing Assignments
 Students will clearly, concisely, and consistently write expository, analytical, and argumentative
essays.
 Students will write creative assignments such as poems and narratives.
 Students will complete in-class timed writing activities.
 Students will keep writing logs as a reference for the proper use of sentence structure, voice,
vocabulary, and supporting details.
 Students will proofread, edit, and revise all written work and will be required to participate in
writing groups and teacher conferences. All major writing assignments will involve a peer edit
and teacher conference before the final paper is submitted.
 Students will utilize the SOAPSTone strategy as they compose their own written work and will
use the strategy to better interpret text.
 I have listed all of the writing assignments with the appropriate units of study. The essays that
are from previous AP exams will be timed and written in class. The others will be completed for
homework.
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Expectations for students:
 Come to class prepared and ready to learn.
 Complete the reading assignments.
 Turn in assignments when they are due and do not make excuses for late work.
 Have fun, keep an open mind, and always try your best.
Expectations for the teacher:
 I will provide you with examples of the different types of writing that are required in this course
and model strategies that we will use in this class.
 I will provide you with a rubric before you begin writing so you know how you will be assessed.
 I will schedule a conference with you before your major papers are due.
 I will have high expectations for you and have confidence in your success in this college level
course.
Grading Scale
Practice exams
Research assignment
Reading journals and notes
Unit writing assignments
Class discussions and activities
10%
10%
20%
30%
30%
90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
Under 60%
A
B
C
D
F
Attendance is mandatory. No late work will be accepted except in the case of an emergency. If you have any
questions or are concerned with your progress in this class, you can email me at nmortman@cps.edu. I am
available after school in room 250 if you require extra assistance. I am here to make sure that you are
successful in this class so please do not hesitate to ask for help.
Required Materials
Pens, highlighters, post-it notes, notebook, binder, pocket dividers, paper
Textbooks
Most of the poems, short stories and the plays are in the text, The Brief Bedford Reader, ninth edition.
Handouts of the poems that are not in the course textbook will be given to you. Some of the novels will be
provided for you. The titles are listed in the units. Although the school provides novels, you might want to
purchase your own novels so you can make notations and write in the margins. You will have to purchase two
books, Light in August by September 10th and The Scarlet Letter by December 1st.
Common Core and CRS Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements
of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and
developed).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text
(e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its
overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
COU (20-23): Ensure that a verb agrees with its subject when there is some text between the two
·WCH (24-27): Use the word or phrase most appropriate in terms of the content of the sentence and tone of the essay.
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Unit One
1st quarter
Essential Questions: What is advanced placement? What are the requirements for this course?
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Teacher will introduce the course requirements, syllabus, AP exam format, and will review
writing techniques and organization of papers.
Teacher will review strategies that are to be utilized as pre-writing strategies during reading in
this course such as SOAPStone, rhetorical devices, and annotating a text.
Students will complete a timed assessment on the summer reading assignment and will peer edit
these papers. Students will re-write these papers after a review of writing styles and a teacher
conference.
Teacher will model how to organize an AP binder with the prompts, rubrics, written
assignments, and other pertinent material.
Unit Two
1st quarter Theme – Identity
Essential Questions: How do we define ourselves? What internal and external factors contribute to our
identities?
Novels:
Analyze characters, theme, style, and the importance of setting. The final essay will be to explain
how the speaker uses language to provoke questions about identity and perception.
William Faulkner
Toni Morrison
Drama:
Light in August
Sula
Introduction to drama and the elements of drama. The final assessment will be an AP style timed
writing prompt from 1996.
William Shakespeare King Lear
Poems:
Introduction to poetry and poetry analysis with a stress on reading for meaning. We will review
poetic devices. The final assessment will be an AP style multiple choice exam and a creative
writing essay using a photograph of your own.
Sylvia Plath
Margaret Atwood
Anne Sexton
Joy Harjo
Gwendolyn Brooks
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
“Mirror”
“This is a Photograph of Me”
“Self in 1958”
“Fire”
“the birth in a narrow room”
“Sonnet 55”
“Sonnet 118”
Unit Three 2nd quarter Theme - Love and Loss
Essential Questions: What is true love? Has society’s views about love changed over time?
Short Stories: Introduction to short fiction. We will focus on using language effectively and writing a clear
thesis statement. Write a critical essay on what love and/or loss means to the speaker in one of
the stories with an emphasis on the religious, social and political culture of the location and time
period in which it was written. Independent research will be required for this assignment and
students will use the MLA format. Papers should be a minimum of five pages typed.
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James Joyce
Raymond Carver
Ernest Hemmingway
Tim O’Brien
Chinua Achebe
Louise Erdrich
D.H. Lawrence
William Faulkner
Poems:
Figurative language, tone, diction, imagery, and symbolism. Students will complete three essays
as we read and interpret poetry. Evaluate how diction, imagery, tone, and figurative language
develop the theme of a poem. After reading the poems by Marlowe and Raleigh, write the
mistress’s reply to Marvell’s poem. Compare and contrast the poems by Browning and Spera.
AP timed writing prompt from 1995.
John Donne
Christopher Marlowe
Sir Walter Raleigh
Andrew Marvell
Robert Browning
Gabriel Spera
Drama:
Araby
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Hills Like White Elephants
The Things They Carried
Dead Men’s Path
The Red Convertible
The Rocking-Horse Winner
A Rose for Emily
“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”
“To His Coy Mistress”
“My Last Duchess”
“My Ex-Husband”
Writing about drama with a focus on character. The assessment will entail students to choose one
character from Death of a Salesman and argue that he or she is the hero. Students will also write
a first person narrative in which an older Willy looks back at his life and reflects on a specific
incident. AP timed writing prompt from 1997.
Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman
Novel
The written assessment will be a prompt from the 1995 AP Exam.
Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter
Unit Four
3rd quarter Theme – Nature and Technology
Essential Questions: What role does technology play in our lives? How has technology changed over
time? How is nature viewed?
Novel:
The written assessment will be a prompt from a previous AP Exam.
Students may choose from the prompt used in 1977 or the prompt from 1980.
Mary Shelley Frankenstein
Poems:
What emotions do the actual or imagined death of the creatures in these poems stir in the viewer?
Consider specific details and poetic forms.
AP timed writing prompt from 1997.
Maxine Kumin
D.H. Lawrence
Richard Wilbur
William Stafford
“Woodchucks”
“Snake” (double check this one)
“The Death of a Toad”
“Traveling through the Dark”
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Theodore Roethke
Sylvia Plath
“The Meadow Mouse”
“Medallion”
Considering poetic devices and elements, compare and contrast how technology/progress is
presented in two of the following poems. Write an original poem about modern technology
using imagery and symbolism. Multiple-choice questions following the AP exam format will be
used as a final assessment.
William Blake
William Blake
Robert Frost
Walt Whitman
Langston Hughes
Carl Sandburg
e.e. cummings
Lord Byron
Ezra Pound
“The Tyger”
“The Lamb”
“Mending Wall”
“A Noiseless Patient Spider”
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
“Chicago”
“pity this monster,manukind”
“She Walks in Beauty”
“In a Station at the Metro”
Unit Five
4th quarter
Essential Questions: What is a personal statement? What devices do authors use to make personal
statements?
After the AP Exam, we will work on personal statements and college entrance essays. We will
focus on voice, style, sentence structure, and tone. We will read a variety of essays, such as
“Shooting an Elephant” and students will write about the personal statements being made in
literature. Students will also participate in literature circles and will be able to choose one book
from the following:
William Faulkner
Emily Bronte
Charles Dickens
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Kate Chopin
Jane Austen
Toni Morrison
William Shakespeare
As I Lay Dying
Wuthering Heights
A Christmas Carol
The Great Gatsby
The Awakening
Pride and Prejudice
The Bluest Eye
Hamlet
An overview of the roles in the literature circles are as follows:
Roles
Discussion Director
-develop questions for group discussion
-focus on the major themes
Examples of questions
What do you think will happen next and
why? How might other people (of different
backgrounds) think about this passage?
Illuminator
- determine what passages should be read
out loud and reasons why this passage is
important to the text as a whole
Illustrator
-draw what you read and explain how your
What one question you would ask the
author if you got the chance and why?
What did the text/passage make you think
about?
What are you trying to accomplish through
this drawing?
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drawing relates to the text
Connector
-connect this text to other text, news
events, or popular trends
-the connections should be meaningful
Summarizer
-prepare a brief summary of the text
How does this relate to the story?
What is the most interesting or important
connection that comes to mind?
What people, places, and text can you
relate this story to?
What makes these events important?
What changes in plot, tone, etc. did you
notice as you read?
What effect do these events have on the
characters or plot?
Word Watcher
What words are used in unusual ways?
-watch our for words worth knowing and
What is both the connotative and
mark the specific location of the words
denotative meaning of this word?
In these literature groups, students will write their own practice AP timed writing prompt.
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