2012-2013 AP English III Reading Syllabus
Unit 1 – The Truth of One’s Heart
Bless Me, Ultima
Everyday Use, Chapter 1 “Everyday Use: Rhetoric in Our Lives”
Chapter 2 “Using the Five Traditional Canons of Rhetoric”
Unit Focus: The significance of rhetorical analysis: defining rhetoric, the rhetorical situation, tone; close
reading and annotation; style: diction, connotation and denotation, syntax; satire, appeals to ethos and
pathos through humor.
Supplemental Readings to reinforce unit focus:
Smite, Frank “Looking for Love” Frank The Prentice Hall Reader
Quindlen, Anna: “The Name is Mine” The Prentice Hall Reader
Pinker, Steven. “The Language Instinct” The Prentice Hall Reader
Angelou, Maya. “Sister Monroe” The Prentice Hall Reader
Haines, Tom. “Facing Famine” The Prentice Hall Reader
Big Eagle, Duane. “Traveling to Town” The Prentice Hall Reader
Britt, Suzanne: “Neat People vs. Sloppy People” The Prentice Hall Reader
Senna, Danzy. “The Color of Love” The Prentice Hall Reader
Kahn, Jennifer. “Stripped for Parts” The Prentice Hall Reader
Upfront
In addition to these supplemental readings, we also analyze visual media such as political cartoons,
comic strips, photographs, and excerpts of documentaries. Several of the visuals are chosen by me or
the students.
Unit 2 – The Power of Truth
The Crucible
The Scarlet Letter
Everday Use, continue Chapter 2 “Using the Five Traditional Canons of Rhetoric” and
“Interchapter 2”
Unit Focus: For this unit, I primarily focus on invention, arrangement; generalization and specific, style,
memory, and delivery, more specifically, rhetorical devices; identifying and explaining an author’s use of
rhetorical strategies and techniques; incorporating a variety of sentence structures to enhance meaning.
Supplemental Readings to reinforce unit focus:
Ericsson, Stephanie: “The Ways We Lie” The Bedford Reader
Carter, Stephen L. “The Insufficiency of Honesty” The Bedford Reader
Edwards, Jonathan: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Texas Treasures: American Literature
Bradford, William: excerpt of Plymouth Plantation Texas Treasures: American Literature
Franklin, Benjamin: “The Ephemera” Handout
Franklin, Benjamin: “Remarks Concerning the Savages” Handout
Upfront
In addition to these supplemental readings, we also analyze visual media such as political cartoons,
comic strips, photographs, and excerpts of documentaries. Several of the visuals are chosen by me or
the students.
Unit 3: Denying the Truth
The Color of Water
Everyday Use, Chapter 3, “Rhetoric and the Writer”
Unit Focus: The Writing Process; writing as a rhetorical process; produce expository, analytical, and
argumentative compositions that introduce complex central ideas and develop ideas with appropriate
evidence; effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing a voice through diction and
sentence structure; the convention of citing primary and secondary source material (MLA citation)
Supplemental Readings to reinforce unit focus:
James, Henry: “Speech to the Virginia Convention”
Franklin, Benjamin: excerpts from The Autobiography, Handouts
Paine, Thomas: “The Crisis, No. 1” Handout
Divakaruni, Chitra: “Live Free and Starve” The Bedford Reader
McCain, John: “The Truth about Torture” Handout
Upfront
In addition to these supplemental readings, we also analyze visual media such as political cartoons,
comic strips, photographs, and excerpts of documentaries. Several of the visuals are chosen by me or
the students.
Unit 4: What is Truth? - 9 week duration
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Everyday Use, Chapter 4, “Rhetoric and the Reader”
Unit Focus: The students will continue with The Writing Process and citing primary and secondary source
material using MLA format.
Supplemental Readings to reinforce unit focus:
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: excerpt from Nature Elements of Literature, Handout
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: excerpt from “The American Scholar” Handout
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: “Self Reliance” Elements of Literature
Thoreau, Henry: “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” Everyday Use
Thoreau, Henry: excerpt of Walden, Elements of Literature
In addition to these supplemental readings, we also analyze visual media such as political cartoons,
comic strips, photographs, and excerpts of documentaries. Several of the visuals are chosen by me or
the students.
Practice timed writings will be given on a weekly basis
Unit 5: In Search of Truth – 9 week duration
The students will choose a literary non-fiction novel from a compiled list of novels.
The Great Gatsby (???)
Of Mice and Men
Unit focus: The students will continue with The Writing Process and citing primary and secondary source
material using MLA format.
Supplemental Readings:
Rodriguez, Richard “The Achievement of Desire” Handout
Oates, Joyce Carol “Theft” Handout
Douglas, Susan “Narcissism as Liberation” Handout
Ellison, Ralph “An Extravagance of Laughter” Handout
Upfront
In addition to these supplemental readings, we also analyze visual media such as political cartoons,
comic strips, photographs, and excerpts of documentaries. Several of the visuals are chosen by me or
the students.