Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
Course Information and General Syllabus (2014-2015)
Course Overview
According to the guidelines provided by The College Board, Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature
and Composition is a course that engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of
imaginative literature. Students will read literature from various genres and periods, primarily from the
sixteenth through the twenty-first century, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit written
in English. Writing to understand, explain, and evaluate these works is a significant part of the class.
Students will demonstrate skill in literary interpretation and analysis by responding to questions on both
familiar and unfamiliar works. Students will also be held accountable for recognizing subtleties of
language, identifying literary techniques and devices, and connecting these observations to meaning in
literature. Students will take the AP examination in May (possibly earning scores that lead to college
English credit) and will continue to develop as appreciative life-long readers and effective writers who
think deeply and analyze critically. More specifically, students in this class will:
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analyze and interpret poetry, short stories, drama, novels, and essays by carefully considering
the structure, style, and themes of each work;
examine how authors’ use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone contributes to
meaning and leads to better understanding;
apply effective composition strategies and develop stylistic maturity in writing that
demonstrates the ability to use:
-a wide-ranging vocabulary of denotative accuracy and connotative resourcefulness
-varied sentence structure, including appropriate incorporation of subordinate and coordinate
constructions
-logical organization that is enhanced by coherent repetition, transitions, and emphasis
-effective generalization that is illustrated with specific detail
-a clearly developed voice and controlled tone that is genuine and consistent
-emphasis through parallelism and antithesis
write for a variety of purposes (understanding, explanation, persuasion, evaluation, and
reflection)
demonstrate an understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary sources (MLA
format); and
research, draft, revise, and reflect upon the writing process.
Texts and Materials
The primary text is provided and will be utilized for most short story and poetry coverage, as well as
some reading and composition instruction. Novels and plays that are not included in the primary text
may be student-owned/purchased, checked out, or occasionally provided from a classroom set.
Selections from all genres include a variety of American, British, and world authors from several
centuries.
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Primary text: Literature & Composition, Reading, Writing, Thinking, Carol Jago, Renee H. Shea,
Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses, editors
*How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster
Novels and plays: Macbeth(William Shakespeare); *Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte); *Things Fall
Apart (Chinua Achebe); Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka); Antigone (Sophocles); Trifles(Susan
Glaspell); The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde), The Awakening (Kate Chopin); A Doll’s
House (Henrik Ibsen); Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austin); Fences (August Wilson); Fahrenheit 451
(Ray Bradbury); My Antonia (Willa Cather); Frankenstein (Mary Shelley); The Great Gatsby (F.
Scott Fitzgerald); and excerpts from selected other novels and plays.
Various handouts and texts provided by Instructor
Pens
Highlighters (several colors)
Loose-leaf paper and binder
Flashdrive
3x5 index cards
Post –it notes (1 ½ by 2” works well, but if you prefer the larger size that’s fine.)
*Denotes summer reading assignment
Class Activities and Assignments
Reading
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Class readings will be grouped mainly according to genre. Our schedule is divided into 6-week
segments. The first two 6-weeks will be mainly devoted to poetry explication with some time
spent given to the summer reading assignments. The third 6-week lessons will focus on
elements of drama. During the second semester, drama will be continued into the fourth 6weeks, with elements of the short story and novels taking the remaining time. Novels for
outside reading will be assigned throughout the school year. Students will always have an
outside reading assignment. Although the study of the genre is how the class is set up, some
attention will be given to periods. Also, I intend to use Abrams examination of literature using
various lenses.
Writing
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Class writings will be almost daily with double entry journals, annotations, informal reaction
papers, timed writings, and research /analytical papers. Students will have ample opportunities
to write for specific purposes, such as argumentative and persuasive papers; they will also
practice writing in response to a prompt. Writing workshops dealing with rhetorical strategies,
sentence combination, subordination/coordination, paragraph organization, and the use of
transitions will also be implemented. Students will also have peer reviews and teacher
conferences to decide on improvements. Use of effective voice will be reviewed and practiced
twice weekly with exercises from Voice Lessons (Nancy Dean).
Students will complete Critical Reading Portfolios (CRPS) for each novel and play. Each portfolio
requires students to engage in analysis, reflection, and evaluation. Students examine structure,
style, tone, characterization, plot, theme, imagery, and symbolism. Students are also expected
to explain biographical, social, and historical concerns and values that are relevant to the
novel/play.
Students are required to write one formal MLA-format critical essay on a teacher approved work
of literature.
Students will also write one to two essays per grading period. Some of these will be timed, with
opportunities to revise and edit after instructor and/or peer feedback. Scores will be based on
the AP rubric for essays.
Vocabulary
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Class vocabulary lessons will be done each day at the beginning of class. These “bellringers” will
consist of two terms of literary/rhetorical form. Students will define and /or use the terms
correctly in a sentence. At the end of the six weeks, students will be tested on the terms.
Students will also be given handouts with various vocabulary terms; some of these will be
“tone” words, synonyms, vivid verbs, among other examples of vocabulary that can make
writing stronger and more interesting. Use of connotation and denotation will also be
discussed. Students are expected to demonstrate appropriate word choice in written
assignments.
Other Assignments
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Students will have homework assignments which will usually consist of reading (outside novel);
additional assignments may include reaction papers and double entry logs.
Students will have regular reading checks on assigned reading.
Students will have tests that are similar in format to the AP style examination, with multiple
choice passage analysis and in-class essay response.
Students will occasionally be assigned projects in which they will incorporate technology.
Grading
Grades will be categorized according to the three levels below.
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Level one (homework and participation)
Level two (reading checks and quizzes)
Level three (essays and tests)
20%
30%
50%
Mid-term and final exams will count as 10% each of the semester grade.
Policies and procedures
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All materials (texts, novels, paper, etc.) should be brought to class each day unless otherwise
instructed.
Late papers and major assignments will be deducted 10 points per day late. No major
assignments will be accepted more than a week past the due date.
A student may make up work for EXCUSED ABSENCES. These missed assignments are always
recorded as zeroes until they are made up. This practice helps the student and parent see how
the student’s grade will be affected if the assignment is not completed.
Students are expected to read each novel outside of class, take appropriate notes, answer
assigned questions, prepare a CRP entry (see previously stated guidelines), and be prepared for
a class discussion on the date specified.
Class discussion is very important. Each student is expected to keep up with all the assignments
and contribute to class discussions as much as possible.
Most selections included in our class reading list were written by suggested authors on the
College Board list.
First semester
Week 1: Introduction to the course
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Diagnostic AP exam
Summer reading tests and writing assignments
What is genre?
Poetry explication handouts (tone words, DIDLS, TPCASTT)
Week 2: Poetry
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Vocabulary terms
Voice lessons (tone)
M. H. Abrams’ approach to literature
Barbie Doll (Marge Piercy)
Small group analytical exercise
Annotation/double sided notes log
Week 3: Poetry
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Vocabulary terms
Voice lessons (tone)
Composition workshop: Responding to the prompt—a look at taking a statement and turning it
into a question; students will practice responding to prompts in short writing assignments, then
apply skills to essay assignments.
Storm Warnings (Adrienne Rich); 1981 prompt
The Man He Killed (Thomas Hardy); Mirror (Sylvia Plath)
Week 4: Poetry
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Vocabulary terms
Voice lessons (diction)
Denotation/connotation
Assign Great Expectations (Charles Dickens); assign CRP.
In class writing: critical analysis of poem we have read thus far in class (students will learn
how to go beyond the five paragraph essay). Students will learn how to perform a “close”
reading of a poem. They will use their annotation log (week two) to examine the textual
details and to conclude how these components create an overall effect. They will include in
their analytical essay specific references to details in the specific poem they have chosen to
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critique. They will prove (with textual evidence) claims about the artist’s mastery and
quality of work. We go beyond “likes or dislikes” in our evaluation. We must look at a work
and decide “did the artist achieve what he or she set out to do?” The evaluation for this
analytical essay will include a scoring rubric for the textual evidence of a poem and also the
final summation that answers whether or not the artist “mastered” his or her poem. The
main point is for the students to be able to make a clear decision and back up his or her
point with evidence.
Selected poems from Emily Dickinson, Henry Reed, William Wordsworth
Week 5: Poetry
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Vocabulary terms
Voice lessons (imagery)
Imagery—selected poems from Robert Browning, Gerard Manly Hopkins, Adrienne Rich,
Seamus Heaney, and John Keats
Double entry reaction log
Week 6: Poetry
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Vocabulary test
Voice lessons (imagery)
In class timed writing (writing a critical analysis essay)
Students will examine their essays and use different colored highlighters to mark
generalizations, abstractions, and textual references made through paraphrase and direct
quotation; students will then revise the essay.
Week 7: Poetry
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Vocabulary terms
Voice lessons (tone)
Students will practice scoring a sample essay using a rubric.
Students will write a college entrance essay.
Students will research college requirements and create comparisons of tuition, entrance
requirements, scholarship opportunities, and essay requirements.
Week 8: Poetry
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Vocabulary terms
Voice lessons (imagery)
Imagery—selected poems from Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Theodore Roethke, and
Andrew Marvell
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Students will create questions from the question stems; they will then work together to
discuss and answer the questions.
Students will write a sample “prompt” question pertaining to one of the week’s poetry
selections. They will highlight important parts of the prompt and create actual questions
that should be answered in the prompt. They will then meet with a partner who will offer
revision suggestions for clarity. They will then revise and rewrite the prompt for a class
writing assignment.
Week 9: Poetry
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Vocabulary terms
Voice lessons (detail)
Figurative language: symbolism/allegory—selected poems from Robert Frost, Walt
Whitman, William Blake, and Billy Collins
Students will write their own poems focusing on symbols and allegory.
Week 10: Poetry
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Vocabulary terms
Voice lessons (syntax)
Allusion—selected poems from Edwin Arlington Robinson, William Blake, and e.e. cummings
Tone—selected poems from Denise Levertov, William Shakespeare, Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
John Donne
Students will explicate each poem and annotate in a double-sided notebook.
Assign The Great Gatsby (selections).
Week 11: Poetry
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Vocabulary test
Voice lessons (syntax)
Musical devices—selected poems from Ogden Nash, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, and
Robert Frost
Rhythm and Meter—selected poems from George Herbert
Sound and Meaning—selected poems from Galway Kinnell
Students will explicate each poem and annotate in a double- sided notebook.
Week 12: Poetry/Fiction and Drama
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Students will choose two of the poems covered and write a comparison/contrast analysis.
Peer edit and review.
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Collaborate with instructor for insight and suggestions.
Rewrite and present to the class.
Score a sample poetry AP essay; peer review and discuss.
Weeks 13 and 14: Fiction and Drama
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Introduction to Drama.
Voice lessons (tone)
Assign The Grapes of Wrath for outside reading.
Read selections from the following authors: Charles Dickens, Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
George Orwell, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, and selected others.
Read Macbeth (William Shakespeare).
Multiple choice test on fiction selections.
Practice multiple choice questions from the AP exam.
Week 15: Fiction and Drama
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Voice lessons (tone)
Read Trifles (Susan Glaspell.
Demonstrate the different phases of the interpretive essay—analyzing literary elements,
developing a thesis statement, planning the essay, and supporting the essay.
Write an interpretive essay after analyzing a student sample.
Week 16: Fiction and Drama
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Voice lessons (tone)
Vocabulary terms on fiction
Continue to read The Grapes of Wrath—in class reading time.
Selection from Bharati Mukherjee (nonfiction)
Week 17: Fiction and Drama
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Voice lessons (diction)
Vocabulary quiz
Read Fences (August Wilson).
Read selection from Geeta Kothari (nonfiction).
Week 18: Fiction and Drama
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Voice lessons (imagery)
Semester review
Exam on selections from Fiction and Drama and The Grapes of Wrath.
2nd semester
Week 1: Fiction and Drama
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Assign Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austin).
Read in class from novel.
Week 2: Fiction and Drama
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Voice lessons (syntax)
Vocabulary (language test terms)
Begin MLA style research paper.
Use multiple texts to develop a thesis for the paper.
Week 3: Fiction and Drama
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Voice lessons (detail)
Test on vocabulary
Continue MLA style paper.
Reintroduce Abrams lenses.
Read A Doll’s House (Henrik Ibsen).
Jigsaw discussion groups for MLA paper topics and supporting details.
Week 4: The Novel and selected readings
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In class reading of Pride and Prejudice.
Selected readings and double sided journal logs for the following authors: Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Joyce Carol Oates, Ana Menendez, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gwendolyn Brooks,
Gary Soto, and Chinua Achebe (nonfiction).
Peer edit and revise MLA paper.
Instructor conference
Week 5: The Novel and selected readings
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Submit MLA paper.
Finish reading Pride and Prejudice.
Essay response on Pride and Prejudice through the Abrams lenses (various lenses for the
class)
Week 6: The Novel and selected readings
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Sample prose AP questions (practice responses)
Sample multiple choice questions for AP exam practice
Week 7: The Novel and selected readings
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Assign The Awakening (Kate Chopin).
Discuss Abrams’ lenses and assign different critical approaches to different groups.
Students will work in groups to respond and analyze small prose selections; they will want to
pay special attention to details in The Awakening that will help them discover and make
connections to literary periods and critical approaches.
Week 8: The Novel and selected readings
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Literary circles for discussion on The Awakening
Read poetry by Anne Bradstreet to connect to feministic approaches
Write a comparison essay on the novel and one of Bradstreet’s poems
Students will work in pairs to identify the thesis statement and the main points of the essay
Teacher/student conferences on the essay
Submit final paper
Week 9: The Novel and selected readings
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Practice question stems with The Awakening
Voice lessons (tone)
Sample AP exam prose prompt
Practice writing thesis statements with the prompt
Practice main points with the prompt
Week 10: The Novel and selected readings
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Assign Frankenstein
Voice lessons (imagery)
Vocabulary for fiction
Selections from Sandra Cisneros, Oscar Wilde, Anton Chekov, John Donne, Andrew Marvell,
and William Shakespeare
Write questions from various selections using question stems
Week 11: The Novel and selected readings
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Continue Frankenstein
Voice lessons (detail)
Vocabulary quiz on fiction terms
Assign new terms from Frankenstein
Watch video of Frankenstein
Week 12: The Novel and selected readings
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Continue video of Frankenstein
Week 13: Spring Break
Week 14: Selected readings
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Out of class essay on Frankenstein (theme) in which the students analyze images and
strategies the author uses to create the tone, theme, mood, and characters
Selected readings from T. S. Eliot, James Baldwin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Seamus
Heaney
Sample free response prompts
Create thesis statements and main points for the prompt
Create evidence for the main points
Week 15: Selected readings/ Presentations
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Read Othello in class; discuss
Selected readings (outside class) from Emily Dickinson, Alice Walker, Salman Rushdie,
Flannery O’Connor, Robert Frost, William Blake, Matthew Arnold, and Walt Whitman
Begin oral presentation strategies; students will practice and incorporate guidelines and
strategies into class presentations
Week 16: Presentations/AP exam
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Continue Othello
Begin class presentations
Week 17: Selected readings/Presentations/AP exam
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Multiple choice test on Othello
Recap of multiple choice and essay strategies; students will take a released exam that may
be used as a final exam for the class
Week 18: AP exam review
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AP released exam
Review class members’ Critical Reading Portfolios on various novels
Week 19: AP exam review
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Review poetic devices, essay components, theme, tone, and tips for answering multiple
choice questions
Practice relaxation strategies, introduce healthy snacks for the brain, and encourage
students to shoot for the stars!!!!
Weeks 20 and 21: Post AP exam
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Cover Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and early Renaissance selections