Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course Syllabus
2015 -2016
Mr. Oakley
Course Description: In this course students will hone writing and analytic skills in preparation for both the AP
Literature and Composition exam and future college studies. Below is an outline of the course units grouped
by marking period. Students can expect to have two outside readings and a series of papers each marking
period.
General Notes on this Syllabus: In addition to the units and assignments mentioned above, there will be
practice tests and essay prompts given on a regular basis to hone students’ writing and analytic skills. Classwide outside reading projects will be assessed through various means; individual outside reading projects will be
assessed through book talks, as well as through student participation and attention when others are presenting
book talks.
Writing Practices and Procedures: A variety of strategies will be practiced when planning, writing, and revising
both outside and timed in-class writing. Pre-writing activities will include modeling and critiquing sample essays,
brainstorming, free-writing, annotating, and utilizing graphic organizers. Drafting and revising activities will
include teacher conferences, peer review, writing workshops, and self-assessment. Revision is encouraged at
every step in the writing process. Even after an essay has been graded, revision will be permitted, but the
student must conference with the teacher both before and after revising. Essays will be assessed using the
nine-point AP rubric. A revision scale will also be utilized to help identify specific areas in need of improvement;
a copy of this checklist is attached to the end of the syllabus.
Reading Materials: Several school-owned texts, such as The Hours, The Odyssey, Oedipus Rex, and
Death of a Salesman, will be loaned to students during the school year. Each student will also sign out, at the
beginning of the year, one textbook that must be returned by the end of Marking Period Four:
Jago, Carol, et al. Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking . Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2011. Print.
Marking Period One – The class-wide outside reading for this marking period is Michael Cunningham’s The
Hours. Due date for completion of reading will be in early November.
I.
What is Literature? Recap of summer assignment, discussion of the prompt. Books to be
discussed: The Road, The Goldfinch: A Novel, All the Light We Cannot See, Tender at
the Bone, The Devil in the White City, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
II.
The College Essay – Each student will work on perfecting a college essay draft (due the
first day of class). We will go over editing techniques; essays will be critiqued in writer
workshops. The essay’s final draft will be submitted to the teacher for a grade.
Due Date: to be determined (TBD)
III.
Introduction to AP Literature
Introduction to Book Talk and outside reading assignment
Textbook: Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking, Chapter One: Thinking
about Literature (pages 1-17)
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
What is literature?
2.
Why is literature important?
3.
What is metaphor?
4.
How do authors successfully create and “inhabit” a metaphor?
5.
What makes an effective reader?
6.
How does a reader work through indirection, implication, and inference?
7.
What are the differences between experience, analysis, and extension as
pertaining to literature?
We will complete a series of activities in the textbook regarding the topics of these questions.
We will also read excerpts or full texts of the following pieces: “Tell All the Truth but Tell it
Slant” by Emily Dickinson, “The Sacred” by Stephen Dunn, “When my love swears that
she is made of truth” by William Shakespeare, “Vegetarian Physics” by David Clewell,
“Praise Song for the Day” by Elizabeth Alexander, Peanuts by Charles Schultz, “The
Bagel” by David Ignatow, “Shawl” by Albert Goldbarth, “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy
Collins, Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie, “Learning to Read” by Franz Wright, “Out,
Out” by Robert Frost, and “Snow” by Julia Alvarez.
IV.
Close Reading
Textbook: Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking , Chapter Two: Close
Reading Analyzing Poetry and Passages of Fiction (pages 19-58)
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
What is close reading?
2.
How does one engage a text?
3.
How does one effectively use first impression questions?
4.
How does one recognize and evaluate the elements of style, including diction,
figurative language, imagery, syntax, tone, and mood?
5.
How does one recognize and evaluate the additional elements of style that
pertain to poetry, including rhyme, meter, form, poetic syntax, and sound?
6.
How does one differentiate between different poetic forms, including Petrarchan
and Shakespearean sonnets, elegies, ballads, odes, and villanelles?
7.
How does one recognize and analyze poetic techniques, such as enjambment,
caesura, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia?
8.
How can these elements of style be used to analyze both poetry and prose
effectively?
9.
How may annotation, exploratory writing, and graphic organizers be used to
analyze a text successfully?
10. How does one effectively write a close analysis essay?
We will complete a series of activities in the textbook regarding the topics of these questions.
We will also read excerpts or full texts of the following pieces: My Antonia by Willa Cather,
“To an Athlete Dying Young” by A. E. Houseman, “Old Mr. Marblehall” by Eudora
Welty, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William
Carlos Williams, “Bright Star, would I were stedfast as thou art” by John Keats, “Delight in
Disorder” by Robert Herrick, “My Father’s Song” by Simon Ortiz, “Promises like PieCrust” by Christina Georgina Rossetti, “Sonnet 29” by William Shakespeare, The Scarlet
Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” by Yusef Komunyakaa, “Fast
Break” by Edward Hirsch, “Traveling through the Dark” by William Stafford, and
“Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin.
Major Writing Assignment: We will complete the prompt on page 57 of the textbook that asks
each student to craft a comparison and contrast essay based on the poems “Traveling
through the Dark” and “Woodchucks.” Remember to use the close reading skills that have
been practiced throughout this unit. Essays should consider an examination of how the poets
use voice and figurative language to produce different techniques about a common theme.
Due Date: TBD
V.
The Modern Novel
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
How does the author employ the technique of stream of consciousness throughout the
text?
2.
How does the author's use of stream of consciousness and point of view affect the way
the reader views the characters?
3.
What symbols are in the text?
4.
How does the author represent characters being trapped?
5.
What forces prevent the characters from being free?
6.
How does Michael Cunningham represent the characters and figures from Mrs.
Dalloway in his novel The Hours?
We will complete a series of activities regarding these questions.
Major Assignment: Each student will write an in-class essay analyzing Michael Cunningham’s
portrayal of figures from Mrs. Dalloway in The Hours, his modern re-working of the piece.
VI.
Book Talks – The end of each of the first three marking periods will conclude with book talks.
(The book talks for the fourth marking period will be due prior to the AP test.) At the
beginning of the year each student will select a text and book talk date. For the three marking
periods in which a student does not have a book talk, the student will be assessed, using a
variety of techniques, on participation and engagement while viewing the book talks presented
by classmates.
Book Talk Dates MP 1: TBD
Marking Period Two – The class-wide outside reading for this marking period is The Odyssey by Homer.
Near the end of the marking period each student will complete an in-class essay regarding the text. Due date
for completion of reading will be determined.
I.
Analysis
Textbook: Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking, Chapter Three: The Big
Picture: Analyzing Fiction and Drama (pages 59 - 121)
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
How does one recognize and evaluate the elements of fiction, including plot,
character, setting, point of view, symbol, and theme?
2.
How does one correctly apply terms relating to characters and characterization,
including protagonist, antagonist, round, flat, stock, foil, indirect, and direct?
3.
How does one recognize and evaluate a text in light of the following literary terms:
bildungsroman and epiphany?
4.
How may historical context and the cultural environment influence both the
author’s selection and the reader’s interpretation of the setting?
5.
How does one recognize and evaluate the additional elements of fiction that
pertain to drama, including act and scene divisions, dialogue, monologue,
soliloquies, dramatic irony, stage directions, and props (symbols)?
6.
How does one write a successful interpretive essay?
We will complete a series of activities in the textbook regarding the topics of these questions.
We will also read excerpts or full texts of the following pieces: “One of These Days” by
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Hard Times by Charles
Dickens, “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, The Grapes of Wrath by
John Steinbeck, Call it Sleep by Henry Roth, 1984 by George Orwell, Tess of the
D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw
Mengestu, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, “Miss Brill” by Katherine
Mansfield, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, “Seeing
Eye” by Brad Watson, A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne, Frankenstein by
Mary Shelley, Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, “The First Day” by Edward B. Jones, Girl by
Jamaica Kincaid, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, Othello by William Shakespeare, A
Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, The Gin Game
by D.L. Coburn, Andre’s Mother by Terrence McNally, and Trifles by Susan Glaspell.
Major Writing Assignment: We will complete one of the prompts on page 121 of the textbook
asking each student to craft an interpretive essay based on one of the following stories: “One
of These Days,” “Seeing Eye,” “The First Day,” Andre’s Mother or Trifles. Remember to
use the analysis reading skills that have been practiced throughout this unit.
Due Date: TBD
II.
Extension
Textbook: Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking, Chapter Four: Entering
the Conversation (pages 123-160)
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
How can multiple literary texts be used to support an interpretation or viewpoint?
2.
How does one successfully write an essay integrating multiple texts?
3.
How does one effectively integrate quotations to strengthen an argument?
4.
When and how should an author use personal anecdotes in an essay?
5.
When writing an essay, how does one employ techniques of successful writing,
such as variation of sentence structure, use of transitions, balance between detail
and generalization, effective use of vocabulary, variation of tone and voice in
consideration of audience, emphasis(focus) on appropriate and meaningful detail,
and establishment of a logical organization? How does one revise and improve an
essay taking these elements into account?
We will complete a series of activities in the textbook regarding the topics of these questions.
We will also read excerpts or full texts of the following pieces: “The New Colossus” by Emma
Lazarus, “Playground in Tenement Alley” by Lewis W. Hine, “Let America Be America
Again” by Langston Hughes, “In Response to Executive Order 9066: All Americans of
Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers” by Dwight Okita, “Immigrants” by
Pat Mora, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, “The Latin Deli” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, and “Two
Ways to Belong in America” by Bharati Mukherjee.
Major Assignment: Each student will complete a response to one of the prompts on page
160 of the textbook asking for an analysis essay involving multiple texts (or enter into a
conversation) regarding the topic of America. This essay must reference a minimum of four
sources.
Due Date: TBD
III.
Roots of Ancient Drama
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
What is a tragic hero?
2.
How does Oedipus Rex follow the tragic structure?
3.
What is the purpose of tragedy?
4.
What are the common elements of a tragedy?
5.
How do the unities of action, space, and time function within Oedipus?
6.
How has mythology influenced the texts of the time period and later ones?
7.
What is hamartia and how is it represented through the character of Oedipus?
8.
What is hubris?
9.
What are the characteristics of ancient drama?
10. How did Aristotle define dramatic characteristics?
We will complete a series of activities regarding the topics of these questions. We will also
read full texts of Oedipus Rex and Antigone, both by Sophocles.
Major Assignments: Small groups will create presentations regarding the background
information for the play that will include researching literary terms, philosophy, and history
pertaining to ancient drama. Due date: TBD
Each student will complete an in-class essay pertaining to justice in Antigone.
IV.
Book Talks – This marking period will conclude with book talks. At the beginning of the year
each student selected a text and book talk date. For any student who is scheduled to present
his/her book talk in Marking Period 1, 3, or 4, he/she will be assessed during Marking Period
2 on participation and engagement while viewing the book talks presented by classmates.
Book Talk Dates MP 2: TBD
Marking Period Three – The class-wide outside reading for this marking period is Fences by August Wilson
(page 195-246 in the textbook). Due date for completion of reading will be determined.
I.
Elizabethan or Shakespearean Drama
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
What are the characteristics of Elizabethan drama?
2.
Is Hamlet a tragic hero?
3.
What is Hamlet’s tragic flaw?
4.
How does Shakespeare use literary devices and dramatic conventions?
5.
Are the themes universal or limited to a particular time and place?
6.
How do Shakespeare’s techniques differ from those used in ancient drama?
We will complete a series of activities regarding the topics of these questions. We will also
read William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Major Assignments: Each student will be given essay options upon completion of Hamlet.
One of the choices will be agreeing or disagreeing with the statement that “we are all Hamlet.”
A full description of this assignment will be made available closer to the due date. Due date:
TBD
II.
Modern Drama
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
What are the characteristics of modern drama?
2.
What dramatic techniques are used in modern drama?
3.
How does modern drama differ from Elizabethan and ancient drama?
4.
Why might these differences have been implemented?
5.
What do the differences signify?
6.
How does the American Dream function thematically in this play?
We will complete a series of activities regarding these questions. We will also be reading Death of
a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
Major Assignment: Each student will be applying the ideas about America and the American
Dream as represented by Miller in Death of a Salesman to one of the representations of
America presented in Chapter Four of the textbook. A specific assignment will be provided
closer to the due date. Due date: TBD
III. Textbook: Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking, Chapter Five: Home and
Family (pages 161- 366)
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
What is home?
2.
How are homes and families represented in literature?
3.
How do these representations change throughout eras?
4.
What do these changes signify?
We will complete a series of activities in the textbook regarding the topics of these questions. We
will also read excerpts or full texts of the following pieces: “The Dead” by James Joyce,
“Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Moths” by Helena Maria Viramontes,
“Saving Sourdi” by May-Lee Chai, “On My First Son” by Ben Johnson, “Before the Birth of
One of Her Children” by Anne Bradstreet, “We are Seven” by William Wordsworth, “A Prayer
for My Daughter” by William Butler Yeats, “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, “Those
Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath, and “The Bistro Styx” by Rita
Dove.
Major Assignment: Each student will complete a response to one of the prompts on page 359 of
the textbook asking for creation of an analysis essay covering multiple texts (or enter into a
conversation) regarding the topic of home and family. A minimum of four sources is required for this
essay. Due date: TBD
IV. Book Talks – This marking period will conclude with book talks. At the beginning of the year
each student selected a text and book talk date. For any student who is scheduled to present
his/her book talk in Marking Period 1, 2, or 4, he/she will be assessed during Marking Period 3 on
participation and engagement while viewing the book talks presented by classmates.
Book Talk Dates MP 3: TBD
Marking Period Four – The class-wide outside reading for this marking period is Daisy Miller by Henry James
(pages 1166-1207 of the textbook) and A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor (pages 12111222 of the textbook). Due date for completion of reading will be determined.
I.
Textbook: Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking, Chapter Six: Identity and
Culture (pages 367-572)
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
How does culture influence literature?
2.
How does literature influence culture?
3.
What factors contribute to creating one’s identity?
4.
Does identity change and evolve or is it constant?
5.
How are culture and identity represented in literature?
We will complete a series of activities in the textbook regarding the topics of these questions.
Students will also read excerpts or full texts of the following pieces: Heart of Darkness by
Joseph Conrad, “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiiri, “Young Goodman Brown” by
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “A&P” by John Updike, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You
Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, “When I consider how my light is spent” by John Milton, “The
World is Too Much With Us” by William Wordsworth, “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks,
“Identity Card” by Mahmoud Darwish, “Mexicans Begin Jogging” by Gary Soto, and “The
Powwow at the End of the World” by Sherman Alexie.
Major Assignment: Each student will complete a response to one of the prompts on page 562 of
the textbook asking for creation of an analysis essay covering multiple texts (or enter into a
conversation) regarding the topic of identity and culture. A minimum of four sources is required for
this essay. Due date: TBD
II.
Odds and Ends
This unit will provide a sampling of texts from the textbook chapters that we will be unable to cover
in their entirety.
In this unit we will begin to look at the following questions:
1.
How do comedic dramatic techniques differ from the tragic techniques previously studied?
2.
How are the topics of relationships and love depicted in varying ways in literature?
3.
How are the themes of conformity and rebellion depicted in varying ways in literature?
4.
How are the topics of art and the artist represented in varying ways in literature?
5.
How are the themes of tradition and progress depicted in varying ways throughout
literature?
6.
How are the themes of war and peace depicted in varying ways throughout literature?
We will complete a series of activities in the textbook regarding the topics of these questions. We
will also read excerpts or full texts of the following pieces: The Importance of Being Earnest by
Oscar Wilde, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, “The Flea” by John Donne, “To the
Virgins to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick, “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron,
“Weighing the Dog” by Billy Collins, “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt (visual text), “Harrison
Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, “Song: To the Men of England” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Do
not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas, “Is About” by Allen Ginsburg, “Penelope”
by Carol Ann Duffy, “An Epitaph” by Matthew Prior, “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H.
Auden, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker,
“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, “The Second Coming” by W.B. Yeats, “The Things They
Carried” by Tim O’Brien, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell, and
“The Terrorist, He Watches” by Wislawa Szymborska.
Major Assignment: Each student will complete the prompt on page 941 or 1018 of the textbook;
students will either examine how Prior and Auden use elements of style to create mock elegies or
complete one of the Kafka prompts. Due date: TBD
III. Book Talks – The end of each of the first three marking periods concluded with book talks. The
book talks for the fourth marking period will be due prior to the AP test. For any student who was
scheduled to present his/her book talk in Marking Period 1, 2, or 3, he/she will be assessed during
Marking Period 4 on participation and engagement while viewing the book talks presented by
classmates.
Book Talk Dates MP 4: TBD
IV. Culminating Project
After the AP test, students will spend time working in small groups during class to create a multiperspective piece. Either using a text with which all members of the group are familiar (as Michael
Cunningham did in The Hours) or creating an original work, each group will tell a single story from
varying viewpoints. Further details regarding this project will be distributed closer to the due date.
Each group will, however, have to present the project to the class using some kind of visual medium.
Due date: TBD
Revision Checklist / Scale
This guide will be utilized during peer editing, teacher conferencing and self-assessment to determine
competence in the categories listed below.
1
2
3
Beginning – the author
Developing – the
Mastering – the author
is starting to integrate
author integrates good
effectively integrates
good practices
practices pertaining to
good practices
pertaining to this skill
this skill within the essay
pertaining to this skill
within the essay, but
with some consistency.
consistently within the
with little consistency.
essay.
___ The thesis is clear and appropriately complex, presenting a clear argument.
___ The author effectively varies sentence structure in the essay.
___ The essay has evidence of sound logical organization. This may include use of traditional
rhetorical structures such as text by text, idea by idea, or element by element organization.
___ The author effectively uses transitions both between and within paragraphs.
___ The essay avoids repetition (unless used effectively as a rhetorical strategy).
___ The essay is focused and the author emphasizes important and pertinent elements in support of
a thesis.
___ The essay maintains an appropriate balance between generalization and specific illustrative
detail.
___ The author effectively uses rhetorical techniques within the essay. This includes establishing a
tone and voice appropriate for the audience and task.
___ The essay effectively discusses how the author of the text being discussed employs literary
devices and strategies, including figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. (If the prompt
specifically requests a focus on different literary elements from those mentioned above, assess it in
light of those elements.)
___ The author uses a sophisticated vocabulary correctly and appropriately in the essay. The use
of vocabulary is consistent with the tone and voice used within the essay.