Advanced Placement English: Literature & Composition
2015-2016
Mrs. Passler
Room N149B
e-mail: passler@ahs.k12.wi.us
Course Description:
This course is a college level course that engages students in the study of imaginative literature. Students are expected to read
carefully and perceptively to deepen their understanding and appreciation of literature. Critical standards for interpreting the effects
of an author's artful manipulation of language are developed throughout the course. Students also study writing and speaking skills
that will allow them to express their interpretations precisely and logically.
Each semester, students develop skills in literary analysis and composition through a variety of writing, speaking, and reading
assignments. These assignments will cover a range of English literature from the 16th century to the present. Some significant works
by non-English authors may be read in translation. Selected literature will challenge the students and require careful, deliberative
reading.
Curricular Requirements (from the College Board: "AP English Literature & Composition
Curricular Requirements"):
The course includes an intensive study of representative works such as those by authors cited in the AP English Course Description so
that by the time the student completes AP English Literature and Composition she or he will have studied during high school
literature from both British and American writers, as well as works written in several genres from the sixteenth century to
contemporary times.
The course teaches students to write an interpretation of a piece of literature that is based on a careful observation of textual
details, considering the work's structure, style, and themes; elements such as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism,
and tone.
The course teaches students to write an interpretation of a piece of literature that is based on a careful analysis of the social and
historical values it reflects and embodies.
The course includes frequent opportunities for students to write and rewrite formal, extended analyses and timed, in-class
responses.
The course requires writing to understand: Informal, exploratory writing activities that enable students to discover what they think
in the process of writing about their reading (such assignments will include annotation, free-writing, journaling, and
response/reaction papers).
The course requires writing to explain: Formal expository, analytical essays in which students draw upon textual details to develop
an extended explanation/interpretation of the meanings of a literary text.
The course requires writing to evaluate: Formal analytical, argumentative essays in which students draw upon textual details to
make and explain judgments about a work's artistry and quality, and its social and cultural values.
Both before and after students revise their writing they will work to develop: A wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and
effectively; a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination; logical organization
(enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions); a balance of general and specific, illustrative
detail; an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate
emphasis through diction and sentence structure.
Composition and Course Work:
Each semester, students develop skills in literary analysis and composition through a variety of writing, speaking, and reading
assignments.
Writing
According to the College Board’s "AP English Literature & Composition” guidelines, “writing instruction includes attention to
developing and organizing ideas in clear, coherent and persuasive language. It includes study of the elements of style. And it attends
to matters of precision and correctness as necessary.
Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on helping students develop stylistic maturity, which, for AP English, is characterized by
the following:
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•
•
•
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a wide-ranging vocabulary used with denotative accuracy and connotative resourcefulness;
a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordinate andcoordinate constructions;
a logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques of coherence such as repetition, transitions and emphasis;
a balance of generalization with specific illustrative detail; and
an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, maintaining a consistent voice, and achieving emphasis through
parallelism and antithesis.”
Writing will be addressed through handouts, exercises, and models available on the course web site or university web sites. These
materials include but are not limited to:
 Purdue University On-line Writing Center Handouts. Available on-line
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/index.html
 Strunk, William J. The Elements of Style. New York: Bartleby.com, 1999
Available on-line at http://www.bartleby.com/141/
 University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Handbook. Available on-line http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Style.html
Approximately 7 times each semester, students will complete a timed, in-class essay exam based on a passage or complete work of
literature by an author on the course-reading list. Exams will be formatted in a manner similar to that of the AP free-response
questions and will require students to analyze how an author's manipulation of language contributes to the meaning and purpose of
the work as a whole. These essays will foster a precise understanding for the variety of literary devices authors use to create
attitude, mood, tone, and meaning.
Superior Essays (Score Range 8-9: 8=95% / 9 = 100%)
The essay offers a persuasive interpretation of the text in question and presents an insightful analysis concerning the relationship
between the text’s ideas and the literary techniques or rhetorical strategies the author uses to convey his or her meaning. Essay
moves efficiently from general to specific and specific to general: textual references are apt, specific, and rationally explained. Essay
demonstrates consistent and effective control over the elements of composition: the essay is thoughtfully organized; demonstrates
an ability to structure concise, graceful sentences; and reflect the student’s efforts to engage the reader through mature and
precisely chosen diction. At all times the writing is clear, sophisticated and persuasive.
Very Good Essays (Score Range 6-7: 6=85% / 7 = 89%)
The essay provides a convincing reading of the text; its interpretation of the text is perceptive and offers a reasonable explanation of
textual evidence and the relationship between the text’s ideas and the literary techniques or rhetorical strategies the author uses to
convey his or her meaning; however, the writing does not move quite as efficiently from general to specific and specific to general as
it does in the very best essays. The writing is clear but not sophisticated or as fully persuasive as it is in the top tier essays. The
essays demonstrate good control over the elements of composition but may lack the structural variety, concision, and immediacy
that the top tier essays reflect. The essay’s diction is properly chosen for the occasion but lacks the precision and variety exhibited
in the very best essays.
Adequate Essays (Score Range 5: 5=75%)
Essay offers a plausible interpretation of the text but presents a superficial analysis of the relationship between the text’s ideas and
the literary techniques or rhetorical strategies the author uses to convey his or her meaning. Essay moves adequately from general
to specific and specific to general, but is often pedestrian or plodding in its development. Essay demonstrates some lack of precision
in its analysis of themes and techniques. Essay also lacks precision regarding the effective control over the elements of composition:
organization may be lacking; sentences structures may be repetitive, wordy, and pedestrian; word choices are adequate for
conveying basic ideas but lack the variety, precision, and maturity of better essays.
Weak Essays (Score Range 3-4: 3=65% / 4 = 69%)
Essay fails to offer an adequate interpretation of the text and presents merely a superficial analysis of the relationship between the
text’s ideas and the literary techniques or rhetorical strategies the author uses to convey his or her meaning. Essay exhibits only
minimal skill in moving from generalization to specific observation and or from specific observation to generalizations. Essay relies
on paraphrase or summary with little implicit or explicit analysis. Demonstrates control of language, but the writing is marred by
surface errors and/or problems in organization and development. Sentence structures are elementary and word choices may reflect
a limited, informal or immature vocabulary.
Inadequate Essays (Score Range 1-2: 1=50% / 2=60%)
Some attempt to answer the prompt has been made but the essay may ignore or give little emphasis to the text. Textual references
are slight and/or misconstrued. The essay contains serious misreadings or misunderstandings about the text. Essay demonstrates a
lack of control over the elements of composition: inadequate development of ideas, accumulation of errors, inconsistent focus,
repetitive. Essay also lacks clarity and organization. Essay contains serious errors in grammar and mechanics.
Speaking
Participation in formal and informal discussions is also required. Conversation is vital to the process of discovering and clarifying
ideas about literature; therefore, students will be required to make frequent speeches and oral presentations. Many of these
presentations will be brief and somewhat informal, but on at least one occasion each semester, students will be required to
complete a longer, formal oral presentation.
Reading
For every primary source reading assignment, students are required to complete multiple- choice and short answer reading quizzes
that assess the quality of their reading. Most multiple-choice quizzes are formatted to resemble the multiple-choice format students
will encounter on the AP Literature & Composition Exam. Reading quizzes assess not merely a student's basic comprehension or
recall of a text, but also require the application of higher cognitive domain tasks such as interpreting, analyzing, evaluating, and
critiquing. Some quizzes will be unannounced and may be based on secondary source reading assignments as well as primary
sources.
Students are expected to annotate all readings and will keep a response notebook where observations, questions, insights, and
connections can be recorded and used as a basis for understanding, in-class discussion, and writing.
Main Text (bring to class every day):
Michael Meyer, ed., The Bedford Introduction to Literature 5th ed.
Supplementary Texts:
Thomas Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Richard Wright, Native Son
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Edwidge Danticat, Krik? Krak!
William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
William Shakespeare, Othello
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
Arthur Miller / Death of a Salesman
Richard Wright / Native Son
Greek Tragedies
Additional supplementary handouts will be provided by the instructor.
Course Outline
Units rotate between poetry, drama, novel, and short story and may be further subdivided into topic, theme, interest, time period,
etc. Units feature opportunities for both formal and informal, graded and ungraded reading, writing, and speaking. Interspersed
throughout will be test preparation, grammar, and vocabulary/idiom lessons. The semester one final will consist of an AP practice
exam. The semester two final will consist of a student-directed literary exploration project.
Semester One
Unit 1: Poetry--Blackberries
Blackberry Eating, Galway Kinnell
Blackberry Picking, Seamus Heany
Blackberrying, Sylvia Plath
August, Mary Oliver
Blackberries for Amelia, Richard Wilbur
Blackberry Picking, Wendy Mooney
Blackberries, Yusef Komunyakaa
Assignments:
 Writing About Poetry Packet
 Sentence Pattern Analysis
 Poetry Essay
 AP Essay Rubric Analysis
Unit 2: Short Story
The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin
The Swimmer, John Cheever
A & P, John Updike
Analytical Essay Construction Notes, Freeburg
Assignments:
 Critical Strategies: Formalist, Feminist, Marxist, Mythological pp. 2031 -2038, Bedford.
 Journey Map
 Thesis Roundup
 Outline Essay
Unit 3: Drama
The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare
Othello, William Shakespeare
Assignments:
 Speech Translation
 Characterization Essay
 Chapter 6: “When In Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare,” How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Unit 4: Novel
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Assignments:
 Postmodernist Presentation
 In-class Essay
Unit 5: Poetry—Animals
Woodchucks, Maxine Kumin (727)
Dog’s Death, John Updike (673)
To a Wasp, Janice Townley Moore (782)
Epitaph on a Hare, William Cowper (1085)
The Bear, N. Scott Momaday (1110)
The Maldive Shark, Herman Melville (1109)
Pied Beauty, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1099)
Dog Kibble: A Villanelle, Charles Baxter
Do Not Let Skeezix Go in There: Winslow’s Villanelle
Complacencies of the Fenced Yard, William Tester
Assignments:
 In-class Essay
Unit 6: Drama
Trifles, Susan Glaspell (1171)
Sure Thing, David Ives (1189)
Assignments:
 Sure Thing 2: The Sequel
Unit 7: Short Story
Point of View, pp. 174 – 179, Bedford.
The Lady with the Pet Dog, Anton Chekov
The Lady with the Pet Dog, Joyce Carol Oates
Unit 8: Novel
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Assignments:
 An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness,’ Chinua Achebe
 A Bloody Racist': About Achebe's View of Conrad, Cedric Watts
Unit 9: Poetry—Dad
My Papa’s Waltz, Theodore Roethke (871)
Bored, Margaret Atwood (737)
Those Winter Sundays, Robert Hayden (672)
Daddy, Sylvia Plath (1113)
To a Sad Daughter, Michael Ondaatje (698)
Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead, Andrew Hudgins (893)
My Son, My Executioner, Donald Hall(1093)
On My First Son, Ben Johnson (1102)
Unit 10: Drama
A Streetcar Named Desire / Tennessee Williams
Unit 11: Poetry—Perspectives
Latin Night at the Pawn Shop, Martin Espada (726)
Indian Movie, New Jersey, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (819)
We Real Cool, Langston Hughes (743)
Ethnic Poetry, Julio Marzan (816)
Mexicans Begin Jogging, Gary Soto (923)
Vasectomy, Thom Ward (920)
Ellis Island, Joseph Bruchac (921)
The Mother, Gwendolyn Brooks (1081)
Semester Two
Unit 1: Drama
Death of a Salesman / Arthur Miller
Unit 2: Poetry—Yusef Komunyakaa
(in packet)
Jasmine
Never Land
Unnatural State of the Unicorn
Somewhere Near Phu Bai
A Greenness Taller Than Gods
Fragging
2527th Birthday of the Buddha
Tu Do Street
Halloween, the Late Fifties
Unit 3: Drama
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Unit 4: Short Story—Flannery O’ Connor
(pp. 369- 429)
Unit 5: Novel
Richard Wright / Native Son
Unit 6: Poetry—Strange Times
Oh, Oh, William Hathaway (675)
First Party at Ken Kesey’s with Hell’s Angels, Allen Ginsberg (917)
Seniors, Alberto Rios (702)
The Joy of Cooking, Elaine Magarrell (792)
The Dover Bitch, Anthony Hecht (1096)
The Ruined Maid, Thomas Hardy (1093)
This Be the Verse, Phillip Larkin (1105)
Unit 7: Short Story—Literary Criticism
Unit 8: Poetry—Irony/Imagery/Poetic Form
Unit 9: Exam Prep
Unit 10: Final Project
Assessment/Grading:
Academic Honesty/Cheating/Plagiarism:
My personal philosophy regarding cheating in my class—don’t do it! If you find yourself in a position where cheating seems like a
good option, I urge you to contact me immediately, and we can make a plan for you to be successful without resorting to cheating. If
you chose to cheat, and get caught, a host of bad things will happen to you.
Refer to the school handbook (http://www.arrowheadschools.org/AboutArrowhead/DistrictPublications/HANDBOOK0910wcover.pdf) .
Cheating is defined as a dishonest act to obtain or help others obtain information that could affect their grade. A violation occurs
when answers to a test, quiz, homework, assignment or anything else that would be graded, either given verbally or written, are
passed along from student(s) to other students. ALL students involved are in violation. A violation also occurs when a student
obtains answers or information from any other source (i.e. pre-programmed calculators, previous tests, cheat sheets, notes or other
students with them not knowing it).
Disciplinary Action
1. First Offense – Zero for that grade. Parent and administration must be informed.
2. Second Offense – The cumulative grade for the six-week period will be lowered one full grade. Parent and administration
informed. Refer to activity office for conduct unbecoming a student.
3. Third Offense – Drop from the course and fail semester. Parent and administration informed. Refer to activity office for conduct
unbecoming a student.
Help:
Many resources exist to help you achieve success (however you choose to measure it) in your AP course journey.
Mrs. Passler:
At any point, I encourage you to contact me when you have a question, problem, issue, etc. See contact information at the top of
this syllabus.
Mr. Freeburg:
If I can’t help you or you’d prefer a different opinion, I’d recommend him as the voice of experience.
Any Arrowhead English teacher:
They have all been to college and have studied this material. Don’t be afraid to ask.
Arrowhead’s AP Coordinator:
For logistic information, test dates, protocol, college stuff, etc. See Guidance Department.
College Board Website:
Information specifically for what you’re going through: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/about.html