Course Outline: AP Language and Composition
Cordova High School
Erin Muse
AP English Language and Composition
Course Description:
The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to help students become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and to become skilled writers who can compose for a variety of purposes. By their reading and writing in this course, students should become aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes and how the resources of language contribute to effective writing. Our AP English Language and Composition course runs within the frame of American literature, but non-fiction is emphasized as we study the writings, speeches, historical events and visual images that have shaped the American paradigm of thought and the literature that has blossomed from it.
This course allows students to compose for wide-ranging purposes and on a variety of subjects from personal experiences to public policies, from historical analysis to popular culture. Philosophical, religious and ethical assumptions are drawn from our reading as students analyze how an author’s language is used for its persuasive purposes. Students’ awareness of their own composing processes—the way they explore ideas, research with an awareness of validity and documentation, reconsider strategies, and revise their work— are highlighted as we study the rhetoric of America.
General Goals/Purposes:
The students will:
 Write effectively and confidently in their college courses and in their professional and personal lives.

Write research, expository, analytical, and argumentative pieces that form the basis of academic and professional communication, as well as the personal and reflective writing that fosters the ability to write in any context.
 Read complex texts with understanding and write prose that is rich and complex.
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Analyze the rhetoric of literature, visual images, historical documents, and contemporary pieces in terms of rhetorical devices and how they are used to enhance the author’s ideas.
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Support opinions, analyses, or conclusions by appropriate use of research and evidence while organizing complex ideas in a clear, concise, and persuasive manner.
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Study the language itself—differences between oral and written discourse, formal and informal language, and historical changes in speech and writing.
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Speak both formally and informally on given topics to develop skill and confidence in public speech.

Fall Semester
Week 1
 Introduction to the course and the philosophy of critical reading
The first days of class introduce students to all elements of the course, including the use of
Schoolwires web site. Schoolwires will be utilized as a tool to keep the students up to date with materials provided in class as well as a variety of other links to useful web sites on our authors and their texts.
The class will complete the multiple-choice section of the AP English Language and
Composition Exam in the first week of school. (I will explain that the score will not be factored into their grades.) The purpose is twofold: I want my students to understand what they will be able to accomplish over the year, and I want a baseline score that we can compare with a score on the same exam taken in the last week of April. In April, the results will be returned from both testing sessions.
Ongoing Activities—Students will be introduced to and practice multiple choice style questions which focus upon rhetoric, author’s meaning and purpose, main idea, organization and structure, and rhetorical modes used in writing. First we analyze types of questions from previous AP exams. As we read various pieces, we practice developing and answering all of these types of questions both individually and in groups, orally and in writing. At the end of the first, second, and third quarters, students will take a portion of a practice AP exam with multiple choice questions and an essay.
Through the year, students study grammar and vocabulary independently and as a full class using Michael Clay Thompson’s 4Practice series of 4-Level analysis and his vocabulary program
Word Within a Word. We use the first five to ten minutes of class to study/analyze sentences, parts of speech, phrases and clauses; punctuation, including parallel structures and subordination; and also vocabulary, including analogies, connotative and denotative meanings, and word choice. Sentences are drawn from our readings, and students answer specific questions on all of these topics.
Because we have a strong Pre-AP program, the class is front-loaded with a review of rhetorical modes and devices. Students take notes and review the resources of language: diction, imagery, syntax, tone, figurative language, etc. in order to speak and write critically. Students annotate the following pieces, marking up rhetorical structures and contexts, meanings, etc. and after small group and full class discussion, students write short analytical responses in class to questions of style, purpose and meanings.
Quarter One: Foundation of American Thought
Summer Reading:
Black Boy by Richard Wright

The students will conduct a close reading of Black Boy in order complete their analytical essay which evaluates reader, culture, and text; power and privilege; text and genre. We study all writing as a persuasive and political act. All writing adheres to the guidelines for formatting and citations according to MLA.
Writing Assignment:
Analytical Essay
Based on your summer reading and your observations, respond to one prompt from the following categories:
 Reader, culture, and text o How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers? o If the text had been written in a different time or place or language or for a different audience, how and why might it differ?
 Power and privilege o How and why is a social group represented in a particular way? o Which social groups are marginalized, excluded or silenced within the text?

Text and genre o How does the text conform to, or deviate from, the conventions of a particular genre, and for what purpose? o How has the text borrowed from other texts, and with what effects?
Writing focus: Essay structure and format, developing arguments, integrating evidence, organization, rhetorical choices, MLA formatting, citations, revision, peer evaluation.
Text: The Language of Composition – students read the chapters on “An Introduction to
Rhetoric: Using the ‘Available Means’”, “Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Analysis”, and
“Synthesizing Soures: Entering the Conversation;” then they will apply these strategies to various forms of text. I give my students these readings and assignments the first two weeks of school in order to lay the foundation for students to become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and to become skilled writers who can compose for a variety of purposes.
The Crucible, Arthur Miller – Evaluation of drama as means of protest
Black Boy, Richard Wright – analysis of the genre of autobiography in contrast to historical, autobiographical fiction; examine elements of subtle persuasion.
Drawing from both their summer reading and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, students are required to select a significant segment from each of their texts and analyze the author’s purpose based upon his or her use of various rhetorical devices. Groups read background information on the historical and literary settings for each of these two readings and create a power point slide show in which they present their findings to the class. Students then connect this information to elements from either the summer reading or Miller’s The Crucible. Finally,

groups share their rhetorical analysis with the class for a Socratic Seminar and informal writing on how an author’s historical setting affects his/her manner and method of writing.
Readings – Puritan Background, Style, and Influence
Students annotate the following pieces individually then share their notes and ideas in small group and full class discussion: speaker, occasion or situation, audience (considering historical time period), purpose, subject, and tone. Additionally, students analyze the syntax of selected paragraphs from selected pieces, noting the number of sentences, first four words, number and types of verbs, number of words per sentence, and special features (subordination, coordination, periodic sentences, simple sentences, repetition, parallel structure, etc.).
Students use these same topics to analyze their own and their peer’s writings and for imitation exercises in which they practice the styles of various authors whose writings they have annotated.
 “Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666,”Anne
Bradstreet – plain style
 From A Narrative of Captivity, Mary Rowlandson – literary allusions
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“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathon Edwards – figures of speech, parallelism, tone, imagery
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The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne – periodic sentence; use of complex-compound sentences; descriptive style; use of literary allusion; author’s purpose
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“The Haunted Mind,” Nathaniel Hawthorne
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The Crucible by Arthur Miller - We spend a short time talking about Miller’s purposes and make comparisons to a 10-minute clip from Guilty by Suspicion, with Robert DeNiro, about The House Hearings on Un-American Activities. We watch Good Night and Good
Luck to give the historical backdrop for The Crucible. Students discuss all three pieces as examples of protest through different genres of literature. Students write informally in responses to questions about the text and films.
Informal Writing #1: Discuss how an author’s time period and experiences influence topic, treatment of topic, rhetorical style, and genre.
Formal Writing Assignment #2
Compare/Contrast
Students read about point-by-point and block structures for writing a comparison/contrast paper. Students then develop a purpose to compare and contrast two or more of the following pieces as examples of societal and/or political criticism: The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Guilty by Suspicion (video), and Good Night and Good Luck (video) Their writing revision focuses upon transitioning, thesis development, and organizational structure. Students conference with me, before their final draft is due, for feedback upon how well they have applied the organizational structure, upon their integration of supporting evidence, and upon their sophisticated methods of transitioning.

Readings - Rationalist Writings
As we challenge students to become aware of all writing and speaking as a political act, we study the elements of persuasion: logos, pathos, and ethos, logical fallacies, and deductive/inductive reasoning. Students annotate and discuss the following pieces for their persuasive elements.
 “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” & from The Autobiography by
Benjamin Franklin - tone & purpose (satire)
 “Speech to the Virginia Convention” by Patrick Henry – persuasion using logos and pathos, parallelism

“The Crisis No. 1” by Thomas Paine – persuasion emphasis on style—diction, parallelism, tone

“The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson – parallelism and revision strategies
 from “The Iroquois Constitution,” Dekanawida
 from Letters from an American Farmer - Jean de Crevecoeur

“Letter to John Adams,” Abigail Adams – epistolary form, rhetoric
 from “Declaration of Sentiments of the Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights
Convention,”Elizabeth Cady Stanton – examination of how diction and syntax advance persuasive purpose
Informal Writing #2: - Compare/contrast the Declaration of Independence, the Iroquois
Constitution, and the Declaration of Sentiments of the Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention for cause/effect reasoning.
Informal Writing #3: - Examine the tone in Franklin’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North
America.” Why did he choose to be satirical? How does his tone affect his purpose?
Informal Writing #4: - Evaluate who is the most persuasive: Patrick Henry, Thomas Pain, or
Abigail Adams. Consider the method of persuasion and the use of inductive versus deductive reasoning.
Formal Writing Assignment #3
Argument essay – The Informed Argument, Robert K. Miller.
Students choose a current event from a primary source (drawn from something published in a newspaper, magazine, or in the televised/Internet media in the past two weeks) on which to formulate an opinion. They will determine what the issue is and whether to refute, defend or qualify the author’s argument. Students will examine and document other primary and secondary source documents that revolve around this same issue; determine the credibility of sources; and incorporate these resources into their argument, using MLA style. The first draft will focus upon organization—inductive or deductive--and incorporation of logical arguments

with specific evidence; the second draft will have students focus upon diction and syntax to enhance their persuasive tone; the final draft will work on incorporating rhetorical strategies such as parallelism and rhetorical questioning, and correctly documenting sources.
Writing focus: diction, syntax, tone, deductive/inductive reasoning, pathos, ethos and logos, audience, purpose, development of evidence and logical arguments, evaluating sources and citing sources.
Quarter Two: Challenges to the Early Paradigms of American Thought
Students study the writings that formed progressive movements and ideas in American prose in the 1800s and early 1900s. At this point in the course, students have become more rhetorically aware. They understand that writers make choices to support meaning and are ready to take a few more risks in their own writing. Imitation and skill-based exercises continue to give them opportunities to practice some new rhetorical strategies before they are expected to employ them in a formal piece.
Readings - Transcendentalism, Realism, and Modernism as Methods of Thought
Students read and annotate the rhetorical strategies of the authors, interpret meanings, and make comparisons to American thinking and values today. They also link the literary movements to historical happenings that influenced these writers. All of these ideas occur initially through class discussion.
Students annotate the following pieces individually then share their notes and ideas in small group and full class discussion: speaker, occasion or situation, audience (considering historical time period), purpose, subject, and tone. Additionally, students analyze the syntax of selected paragraphs from selected pieces, noting the number of sentences, first four words, number and types of verbs, number of words per sentence, and special features.
 from Self-Reliance, Emerson – essay as a rhetorical form—study of thesis, generalization, and supporting evidence
 from Civil Disobedience, Thoreau – essay as rhetorical form – study of cause/effect writing, author’s purpose, rhetorical strategies
 from On Nonviolent Resistance, Mohandas Gandhi - comparative literature, linked to
Emerson, Thoreau, and later MLK and Douglass
 excerpt from “Letter from Birmingham City Jail”, by Martin Luther King, Jr.
 “I Have a Dream,” by Martin Luther King, Jr. – analysis of the spoken word verses the written word—elements of persuasion, rhetorical strategies of parallelism, metaphor, repetition
 from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass – elements of autobiography, elements of protest without verbal attack, use of examples to protest injustices of slavery


The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln – diction, syntax, tone; criticisms
 “The Lowest Animal” – Mark Twain – analyze as a persuasive essay which uses a satirical tone
 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain - We study the satirical nature of the book, but also the controversy it has raised since its inception. We view a PBS documentary, Culture Shock: Born to Trouble, which documents a student in Arizona who, along with her mother, challenged the text for its racial slurs. Students consider the issues Twain raises and weigh the book’s literary merit with the anger and passion it raises. Students constantly compare/contrast the various means of protest as practiced by each of the following authors through essay, autobiography, and fiction: Thoreau,
Gandhi, King, Douglass, and Twain. At the opening of each class during this discussion period, we view current satirical cartoons—which students are required to bring in--and discuss the elements of satire as a genre of protest, whether through a visual or written medium.
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“A Word’s meaning Can Often Depend on Who Says It,” Gloria Naylor
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The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald - Reading focuses upon choices Fitzgerald makes with color, setting, character names, and the American vs. British paradigm of self-made vs. generational wealth. We study the importance and establishment of point-of-view, audience awareness, and subtleties of foreshadowing and the placement thereof.
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“A Letter to His Daughter,” F. Scott Fitzgerald – primary source document
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Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, 1950, William Faulkner – oral versus written discourse, primary source document
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“America and Americans,” John Steinbeck – explores paradox of American culture. This essay is used to analyze the use of paradox and parallelism in content and structure.
Informal Writing #5: Explore the issue of paradox in Emerson, Thoreau, Douglass, and Twain’s
“The Lowest Animal.. How does each take an abstract idea and present it in concrete terms?
Informal Writing #6: What paradoxes do you see in everyday life? Explore what each means while taking some risks in your rhetorical strategies and use of tone.
Informal Writing #7: - How does Fitzgerald’s writing reflect the sentimentality of the times?
Explore the expectations of his audience? How does he use language to accentuate the nostalgic tone?
Formal Writing Assignment #4
Synthesis Essay - Write an essay of argumentation that defends, challenges or qualifies the
NAACP’s position on the teaching of Huck Finn.
Final Exam – Criticism and protest—discuss how authors in early America compare/contrast to later authors in their manner and method of protest. Analyze their styles, their purposes, and their rhetorical strategies and modes. Choose from any of the pieces we have read this semester.

SPRING SEMESTER
Quarter Three: Modernism and Its Effects on American Literature
Students begin this quarter writing timed writings, which peers and I comment upon approximately once every other week, using the AP nine point scale.
Students annotate the following pieces individually then share their notes and ideas in small group and full class discussion: speaker, occasion or situation, audience (considering historical time period), purpose, subject, and tone. Additionally, students analyze the syntax of selected paragraphs from selected pieces, noting the number of sentences, first four words, number and types of verbs, number of words per sentence, and special features (subordination, coordination, periodic sentences, simple sentences, repetition, parallel structure, etc.).
Students will use these same topics to analyze their own and their peer’s class writings and for imitation exercises in which they practice the styles of various authors whose writings they have annotated.
During this time, we also look at the released questions for the objective portion of the exam and work in groups to understand and discuss the questions. We begin to write with time restraints in class, and by the time the students take the exam, they have taken two timed objective tests. Students take a comprehensive literary terms exam during the third quarter; the exam includes multiple choice definitions, but also assesses a student’s ability to use the terms in analyzing several new passages.
Released AP passages used in preparation for the exam:
Prose Analysis from “Dust Tracks on the Road” and passages from Their Eyes Were Watching God by
Zora Neale Hurtson
“Owls” by Mary Oliver
Okefenokee Swamp
Article on Paret
Coca-Cola correspondence
Adlai Stephenson’s veto of “The Cat Bill”
“I am a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs excerpt from “On WWII” by Ernie Pyle
“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros
Passage by Sir George Saville
“The Company Man” by Ellen Goodman
Readings - Modernism and Contemporary Challenges in Writing

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck – journalistic style in intercalary chapters, paradox, ambiguity, irony – analyze Steinbeck’s purpose and rhetorical strategies


“Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech,” (1954) John Steinbeck
 “Homeless,” Anna Quindlen
 “The Box Man,” Barbara Lazear Ascher
 from Dust Tracks on a Road, Zora Neale Hurston
 Review passages from Black Boy, Richard Wright – compare/contrast style and purpose to Hurston’s
 Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston – examine style of frame story, use of free indirect discourse

“The Middle-Class Black’s Burden,” Leanita McCain
Informal Writing #8: - How is the use of understatement used for effect in “The Box Man”?
Informal Writing #9 – Who is a more sympathetic character: Richard Wright or Janie Starks?
How does the genre contribute to one character/person being more sympathetic than another?
Formal Writing Assignment #5
Analysis Essay – Examine how Steinbeck develops sympathy for migrant workers in The Grapes of Wrath. Whom does he blame for their condition? How does his journalistic style contribute to the overall effect of his novel? What elements of realism enhance his purpose?
Informal Writing #10 - To Kill a Mockingbird, starring Gregory Peck – visual of his closing arguments; students have copy of this speech from www.americanrhetoric.com
; analyze the components of oral discourse and how they compare to written discourse
Informal Writing #11 - “The Problem We All Live With,” Norman Rockwell painting– examine the purpose, the tone, the images and how they are conveyed.
Formal Writing Assignment #6 – Expository Analysis – Who is more effective in conveying the plight of the individual in his or her society—Richard Wright or Zora Neale Hurston? Consider the differences in genre and style.
Quarter 4 – Contemporary Writers: New Styles of Protest
During this time, we also look at the released questions for the objective portion of the exam and work in groups to understand and discuss the questions. We begin to write with time restraints in class, and by the time the students take the exam, they have taken two timed objective tests.
Released AP passages used in preparation for the exam:
Essay of Argumentation
Excerpt from Antigone on pride.
Television and Presidential Elections Synthesis Essay

On Photography by Susan Sontag
Students are asked to research articles having to do with the topic to help formulate opinions.
Comparison of Orwell and Huxley
Students are asked to research articles having to do with the topic to help formulate opinions.
“If We’re Gonna Have Guns…” by Mike Royko
Students are asked to research articles having to do with the topic to help formulate opinions.
 In Cold Blood, Truman Capote – examine as an example of creative nonfiction, fusing elements of fiction to aid character development, view historical setting, and promote readability, but with a subtle focus on death penalty issues
 “The Case for Torture,” Michael Levin
 “Life is Precious, Or It’s Not,” Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver

“The Waste Generation,” Bill Bryan
Formal Writing Assignment #7
Research Paper – Students consider the varying methods authors have used to protest various ills in our American society. At the beginning of this semester, they must choose a current topic worth protesting. After appropriate and approved topic selection, students must research to find primary and secondary sources which indicate others’ beliefs concerning the topic. Then students must develop their own style of writing their paper of protest. They may use all the methods we have studied this year including elements of narrative, compare/contrast, expository, analysis, persuasion, or argumentation. Students must incorporate a variety of stylistic techniques including a focus on tone, voice, and rhetoric. The first draft will be analyzed by peers for its use of denotative and connotative word choices along with its use of concrete rather than abstract diction. The second draft also will focus on diction in examining effective use of logos, pathos, and ethos. The last draft will be reviewed individually with the teacher for sentence variety, coherence, unity and a clear and appropriate tone. Students are expected to use MLA style and to check the accuracy and validity of each source by reading a wide variety of articles.
After the AP exam, we have approximately three weeks until the end of school. During this time, we engage in SAT preparation while groups compile their power point presentation for their final.
Final Exam: Students are expected to take the AP exam in May as part of their final.
1Groups create a power point slide show evaluating the effectiveness of protest in major pieces of literature. Or
2Groups with similar protest topics from research papers, create a power point to use to make a formal speech focusing upon their protest.

GRADING
Grades are weighted according to the following guidelines:
 Formal Writing Assignments: 35% of grade o Formal writing assignments are designed to assess progress in writing and understanding of the meanings of assigned readings. Essays are
 graded with an AP rubric, using a 9 point scale.
Tests/Quizzes: 30% of grade o Students are given short quizzes on nearly every reading assignment.
These quizzes are designed to assess reading comprehension and to keep the students on track with their reading. Students are given a comprehensive literary terms test, and several assessments of understanding of vocabulary and grammar. Final exams are counted in
 this category.
Grammar:

Vocabulary:

Classwork/Homework/Participation:
10% of grade
10% of grade
15% of grade o Daily assignments, including in-class essays and smaller writing assignments, vocabulary packets, grammar

Student Resources
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Random House, 1965.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Collier Books, 1925.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Four Classic American Novels. Ed. William Throp. New York:
New American Library, 1969.
Hemingway, Ernest. Farewell to Arms. New York: Simon & Shuster, 1929.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper & Row, 1937.
Langan, John. College Writing Skills with Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.
Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin. Aufses. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing and Rhetoric. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. Print.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books, 1960.
Literature and Language Arts: Essentials of American Literature. Ed. Krstine E. Marshall, et.al. Austin:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2005.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin Books, 1953.
Miller, Robert Keith. The Informed Argument. Boston, MA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2007. Print.
Pivarnik-Nova, Denise. AP English Language and Composition 2012. New York: Kaplan Pub.,
2011. Print.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 1937.
Swovelin, Barbara V. CliffsAP English Language and Composition: [AP Test-prep Essentials from the Experts at CliffsNotes]. Foster City, Calif. [u.a.: IDG Worldwide, 2001. Print.
The Oxford Book of Essays. Ed. John Gross. USA: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Thompson, Michael. The Word within the Word. Vol.1. New York: Royal Fireworks Press, 2003.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Four Classic American Novels. Ed. William Throp.
New York: New American Library, 1969.

Wright, Richard. Black Boy. New York: Perennial, 1991.
Teacher Resources
Aaron, Jane E. The Compact Reader: Short Essays by Method and Theme. New York: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2003.
Clark, Irene. The Genre of Argument. Boston: Thomson, 1998.
Good Night and Good Luck. Dir. George Clooney. Perf. Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn. Warner, 2005.
Guilty by Suspicion. Dir. Irwin Winkler. Perf. Robert DeNiro, Annette Bening. Warner, 1991.
Kingsolver, Barbara. “Life is Precious or It’s Not.” Small Wonder. New York: Harper Collins, 2002: 180-
183.
McCuen, Jo Ray and Anthony C. Winkler. Readings for Writers. Boston: Thomson, 2001.
Miles, Robert, et.al. Prose Style: A Contemporary Guide. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991.
Penfield, Elizabeth. Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition. New York: Addison-Wesley
Educational Pub, 2002.
Thompson, Michael C. 4Practice. Vol. 3. Unionville: Royal Fireworks, 2007. Print.
Thompson, Michael C. Advanced Academic Writing. Vol. 1-3. Unionville: Royal Fireworks,
2010. Print.
Thompson, Michael C. The Magic Lens. Vol. 1. Unionville: Royal Fireworks, 2003. Print.
To Kill a Mockingbird. Dir. Robert Mulligan. Perf. Gregory Peck, John Megna. Universal, 1962.