AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION SYLLABUS
What is Freedom and What is it For?
In this AP English Language and Composition class the student will learn close reading of texts,
discussion and writing skills that will include the study of argument, language, rhetorical
devices, and the use of logos, ethos and pathos for persuasive writing.
In-class timed writing will provide practice for test conditions, as well as allow for immediate
peer and teacher review.
Texts will include classical authors, such as Plato, and contemporary writers including Bertrand
Russell, Marx, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. Students will also study TED talks, Time, Economist,
Newsweek and NY Times articles. Vocabulary will be gleaned from the weekly reading; various
methods will review the vocabulary with definitions determined by their contexts.
FIRST QUARTER: Philosophy, Religion and Politics
Understand and use tone, meaning, rhetoric and voice
Learning Objectives:
- close reading
- basic rhetorical devices
-what is a thesis and how to write a good one
- narrative essay writing: voice, tone, mood and style
- understanding the rhetorical triangle-- ethos, logos, pathos
-introduction to A.P. Language test format and questions
Reading:
Galatians
The Republic, Plato
"Why I Write" Elie Wiesel (1978), Joan Didion (1976), George Orwell (1946)
“Reading with and Against the Grain”
"Politics and the English Language", George Orwell
Men Without Chests, C.S. Lewis
Media: Film Clips:
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Assignments
- Autobiographical writing assignment: Newsflash on the student’s summer presented orally
and submitted to the teacher (week 2)
- Analysis of rhetorical devices in Roark’s courtroom speech in The Fountainhead
(week 3)
 Comparison of Plato (Book IV) and Lewis (Men without Chests)
- Critical analysis of nonfiction excerpts from: Why I am not a Christian, Bertrand
Russell and Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
- Speech delivered to the class based on Julius Caesar (Mark Antony) for voice and
rhetorical devices (week 6 and 7)
- Diagnostic AP Test (week 8 and 9)
SECOND QUARTER: Business, Economics and Marketing
Understand and use arguments that include identifiable presuppositions, theses, qualifying
arguments and supporting points
Learning Objectives:
- identify presuppositions of the author and the audience
- identify strong arguments – thesis and support
- identify fallacies and straw men
- use MLA citation of texts
- analyze graphs, tables and charts
Reading:
NY Times
Non-fiction excerpts from: Orthodoxy, Chesterton, "I Have a Dream" MLKJ", The Origin of
the Species (Recap and Conclusion), Darwin, "On Nation and Race" (Mein Kampf ch. 11), Hitler
Media:
- Martin Luther King You Tube clips.
- Hitchens on evolution
http://scienceblogs.com/primatediaries/2009/10/christopher_hitchens_in_collis.ph
p
- World statistics on income disparity, poverty, disease, use of resources, military
expenditures and development
Assignments:
- analysis of nonfiction argumentation (week 10-14)
– each student prepares their own synthesis
question on a topic within this quarter’s subject matter (week 10-14)
- argument essays on a different topic each week (week 15-18)
- use of complex rhetorical devices and syntax in writing (week 10-18)
- practice scoring AP exam sample essays (weeks 10-18)
- practice with AP exam style multiple choice questions (weeks 10-18)
THIRD QUARTER: Arts, Sciences and Math
Understand and engage with the opposing argument
Learning Objectives:
- thesis inspiration
- addressing opposing viewpoints
-acknowledging historical conversation (journal research)
-development of supporting points
-adoption of appropriate tone and mood
-understanding Inductive and Deductive reasoning
Reading:
"Orwell vs. Huxley" excerpt from Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
Climate Warming and the Amazon
Empathy and the Critic by Ann Jurecic
Sample AP prompt questions, student essays and the grading rubric
Origin of Species excerpt by Darwin
Genesis
Media:
TED talks on education and science
Assignments:
- Essay that identifies an opposing view point and presents a thesis with qualification that
acknowledges the other view. (week 19)
- Mock Debate (week 19)
- visual presentation to the class (week 20-22)
- Informed Citizen report presentation of synthesis essay questions. Each student will write
3 synthesis argument essays presented by their peers (week 23-25)
- in class AP Lang practice tests (week 26,-27)
FOURTH QUARTER: Memoir, Culture and Sports
Including personal experience in writing
Learning Objectives:
- review of rhetoric skills
- to hone writing skills, including syntax, vocabulary usage, tone and voice
Reading:
Selected Essays from The Personal Essay: An anthology, selected by Phillip
Lopate
"Nobel Prize Speech", Solzhenitsyn
Excerpts from Augustine’s Confessions,
Lewis’ The Problem of Pain,
Media:
Star Trek (2009 film)
It’s a Wonderful Life
Bill Gate speech
Jobs speech
Assignments:
-personal memoir (week 28)
- columnist writing style (week 29)
- use of humor to persuade analysis paper (week 30,31)
- persuasive research paper based on Informed Citizen Reports
(week 32-35)
-in class final exam (week 36)