Subject: Advanced Placement III Grade Level 11 Completed By: 2 nd
marking period
Unit of Study: The Rhetoric of Politics and Society
Major Objectives Suggested
Resources
Suggested Activities Suggested
Assessments
CCS
Identify, understand, and apply a variety of rhetorical devices
Develop the ability to interpret, analyze, compare, contrast and write about a variety of nonfiction texts
Analyze, interpret and write about nonfiction texts in a timed situation
Read developmentally appropriate materials at an independent level with accuracy and speed
Read a variety of genres and types of text with fluency and comprehension.
Identify, describe, evaluate, and synthesize the central ideas in a variety of texts
Interpret how literary devices affect reading emotions and understanding
Analyze how an author's use of words creates tone and mood, and how choice of words advances the
Patterns for
College Writing: A
Rhetorical Reader and Guide, Ninth
Edition
Dreams and
Inward Journeys,
Fifth Edition
Prentice Hall
Literature: The
American
Experience
Cliff’s AP English
Language and
Composition Test
Prep
Readings and
Analysis:
“Politics and the
English Language” by George Orwell
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”
Excerpts from
Machiavelli’s The
Prince
“The Declaration of
Independence” by
Thomas Jefferson
Excerpts from
Marx ’s “The
Communist
Manifesto”
Albert Beveridge and George W
Bush (speeches on
Imperialism)
Researched
Argumentative
Essay: Drawing on a variety of text- and electronicbased documents, students will write an essay in which they take a clear position on a controversial subject (media violence, immigration, etc).
Supporting evidence should come from legitimate, verifiable sources.
Students will demonstrate mastery of the writing process, including drafting and revision (there will be several class periods of peer editing and
CCS:
Reading Literature:
RL.11-12.1
RL.11-12.2
RL.11-12.3
RL.11-12.4
RL.11-12.5
RL.11-12.6
RL.11-12.7
RL.11-12.8
RL.11-12.9
RL.11-12.10

theme or purpose of the work
Analyze and evaluate the appropriateness of diction and figurative language
(e.g., irony, paradox)
Distinguish between essential and nonessential information, identifying the use of proper references and propaganda techniques where present
Write informal and formal responses to texts
Analyze and revise writing to improve style, focus and organization, coherence, clarity of thought, sophisticated word choice and sentence variety, and subtlety of meaning.
Review and edit work for spelling, usage, clarity, and fluency.
Use a scoring rubric to evaluate and improve own writing and the writing of others.
Analyzing characteristics, structures, tone, and features of language of selected genres and apply this knowledge to own writing.
Critique published works for authenticity and credibility.
Mark Twain’s “The
War Prayer”
Jonathan Swift’s “A
Modest Proposal”
Mary
Wollstonecraft’s “A
Vindication of the
Rights of Woman”
Katha Pollitt’s
“Why Boys Don’t
P lay with Dolls”
John Grisham’s
“Unnatural Killers”
Oliver Stone’s
“Memo to John
Grisham”
Critical Viewing:
Michael Moore’s
Bowling for
Columbine instructor conferences before the final draft is submitted), and will utilize the MLA format to format their essays and to document their sources.
Analysis:
Students will write an essay in which they attack, defend, or qualify
Machiavelli’s notions of what constitutes a good leader. Students will draw on their own experience, observations, and reading to support their ideas.
Rhetorical
Analysis:
Students will compare and contrast the stylistic elements and rhetorical strategies of Albert
Beveridge’s speech on imperialism, and
George W. Bush’s speech supporting
SI.11-12.1
SI.11-12.2
SI.11-12.3
SI.11-12.4
SI.11-12.5
SI.11-12.6
Reading
Informational Text:
RI.11-12.1
RI.11-12.2
RI.11-12.3
RI.11-12.4
RI.11-12.5
RI.11-12.6
RI.11-12.7
RI.11-12.8
RI.11-12.9
RI.11-12.10
Speaking and
Listening:

Draft a thesis statement and support/defend it through highly developed ideas and content, organization, and paragraph development.
Write multi-paragraph, complex pieces across the curriculum using a variety of strategies to develop a central idea (e.g., causeeffect, problem/solution, hypothesis/results, rhetorical questions, parallelism).
Write a range of essays and expository pieces across the curriculum, such as persuasive, analytic, critique, or position paper.
Use primary and secondary sources to provide evidence, justification, or to extend a position, and cite sources, such as periodicals, interviews, discourse, and electronic media.
Foresee readers’ needs and develop interest through strategies such as using precise language, specific details, definitions, descriptions, examples, anecdotes, analogies, and humor as well as anticipating and countering concerns and arguments and advancing a position.
Provide compelling openings and strong the war in Iraq
(from 2003).
Creative
Composition:
Employing the stylistic and rhetorical elements utilized by
Jefferson in “The
Declaration of
Independence,” students will compose a personal
Declaration of
Independence, in which they identify a tyrannical entity from which they long to be free.
Synthesis Essay :
Students will write an essay in which they explore the idea of violence in the media, and its possible effect on society. In addition to several of the readings in this unit, students will examine a number of documents, including statistics on TV and movie
Language:
L.11-12.4
L.11-12.5
L.11-12.6
Writing:
W11-12.1
W.11-12.2
W.11-12.3
W.11-12.4
W.11-12.5
W.11-12.6
W.11-12.7
W.11-12.8
W.11-12.9
W.11-12.10
Language:
L.11-12.1
L.11-12.2
L.11-12.3

closure to written pieces.
Employ the most effective writing formats and strategies for the purpose and audience.
Demonstrate command of a variety of writing genres, such as: persuasive essay, personal narrative, research report, literary research paper, descriptive essay, critique, response to literature, parody
Evaluate the impact of an author’s decisions regarding tone, word choice, style, content, point of view, literary elements, and literary merit, and produce an interpretation of overall effectiveness.
Support a position integrating multiple perspectives.
Support, modify, or refute a position in small or largegroup discussions.
Assume leadership roles in student-directed discussions, projects, and forums.
Summarize and evaluate tentative conclusions and take the initiative in moving discussions to the next stage
Explore and reflect on ideas viewing by adolescents and rates of violent crime in the United
States, and will determine whether or not aberrant, violent behavior can in any way be attributed to the media.
Creative
Composition/Proj ect: After reading
Twain’s “The War
Prayer” and Swift’s
“A Modest
Proposal,” and after discussing more contemporary examples of political and social satire (such as The
Onion and
Saturday Night
Live ), students will create their own satire. This may take the form of an essay, cartoon, or video project.
Current
Events/Rhetorical

while hearing and focusing attentively.
Listen skillfully to distinguish emotive and persuasive rhetoric.
Demonstrate appropriate listener response to ideas in a persuasive speech, oral interpretation of a literary selection, or scientific or educational presentation.
Listen to summarize, make judgments, and evaluate.
Evaluate the credibility of a speaker.
Determine when propaganda and argument are used in oral forms
Analyses: Brief, bi-weekly submissions
Exam: AP English
Language and
Composition practice exam
(multiple choice)
Quiz : Reading quiz for each text
(25 points each)
Quiz: Vocabulary from readings (25-
40 points each)
Quiz:
Define/explain rhetorical elements used in the readings (25 points)
Journal Writing:
Students are expected to maintain an active reading/viewing journal.