Ms. Engebretson
AP English III
2014-2015
AP® English Language and Composition
Course Overview
In this introductory course of college-level English Language and Composition, students learn to
read and analyze a variety of fiction and non-fiction works chosen primarily from the American
literary canon. Students write in a variety of modes for a multiplicity of audiences while developing
a sense of language and literary techniques used by themselves as well as other writers. The course
is organized in accordance to the requirements and guidelines of the current AP® English Course
Description, therefore, students are expected to read critically, think analytically, and communicate
clearly both in writing and in speech. As this is a college-level course, performance and
participation expectations are appropriately high, and the workload is challenging. Time
management, effective study skills, organization, and willingness to learn are all necessary to
achieve the expected goals of this course.
The course is divided into segments according to six-week grading periods. During each period,
students should expect to complete at least one out-of-class essay and several in-class writings.
Additionally, there will be one extensive research project in which students study an American
author in depth. The research project will include reading novels, short stories, and other written
material by their author. This extensive project will be spread over several months of the course and
will require checkpoint due dates in which students should have completed a particular segment of
the project.
Course Planner
Fall Semester
First Unit: “Laying the Foundation”



Students keep an analysis journal beginning the first week of the grading period. Each week,
students will receive a quote from an American author. Students will write the quote in their
journals, write an explanation of the writer’s stance, noting the use of rhetorical devices, and
then either defend or challenge the quote.
Students are presented each week with a new set of literary terms to learn and begin using in
their essays and analyses.
Students learn to read critically by reading several different types of essays, including (but
not limited to):
o Autobiography
 “An American Childhood”
Annie Dillard
 “The Stranger in the Photo is Me”
Donald Murray
o Observation
 “The Long Good-Bye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison” Amanda Coyne
o Reflection
 “Black Men and Public Space”
Brent Staples
o Explanation
 “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences” Gardner/Walters
o Evaluation
 “Working at McDonald’s”
Amitai Etzioni
o Cause/Effect
Revised 8-19-14
1
Ms. Engebretson




AP English III
2014-2015
 “Why We Crave Horror Movies”
Stephen King
 “What Makes a Serial Killer”
La Donna Beaty
o Proposal
 “Reforming Schools through a Federal Test for College Aid” Robert J.
Samuelson
 “Wheelchair Hell: A Look at Campus Accessibility” Shannon Long
o Position
 “Sticks and Stones and Sports Team Names”
Richard Estrada
Students will complete first major essay assignment after completion of the study of the
autobiographical essay. Students will write a personal essay using their own memories,
observations, and perceptions of life. A visual presentation will also be included as part of
the assignment. Students will present drafts for peer review and will conference with
instructor upon completion of final draft prior to the due date of the assignment. Within the
conference with instructor, the students will address logical organization, writing techniques,
balance, and grammatical conventions to increase coherence. After the conference, students
will revise and re-submit a final draft for further feedback from the instructor.
Students will produce two to three short essays, usually written during class time, which will
be modeled after the various essay types.
One timed-writing will be given during the grading period.
Students are introduced to research guidelines, including topic selection, gathering and
analyzing credible resources, organizing information, and formatting secondary sources as
MLA citations.
Second Unit: “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”


Students continue analysis journal and study of literary terms.
Students study the following essay styles while focusing on active reading:
o Gathering and using examples
 “Westbury Court”
Edwidge Danticat
 “One of the Girls”
Leslie Haywood
o Narration
 “Salvation”
Langston Hughes
 “Lockdown”
Evans D. Hopkins
 “The Way to Rainy Mountain”
M. Scott Momaday
o Division and classification
 “What’s in Your Toothpaste?”
David Bodanis
 “How We Listen to Music”
Aaron Copeland
o Comparison and contrast
 “Academic Selves”
Mary Pipher
 “Neat People vs. Sloppy People”
Suzanne Britt
 “Two Views of the River”
Mark Twain
o Process
 “My Daily dives in the Dumpster”
Lars Eighner
 “Stripped for Parts”
Jennifer Kahn
o Cause/Effect (part 2)
 “On Teenagers and Tattoos”
Andres Martin
 “The Trouble with Fries”
Malcolm Gladwell
o Definition
Revised 8-19-14
2
Ms. Engebretson

AP English III
2014-2015
 “Mother Tongue”
Amy Tan
 “Mess is a State of Mind”
John Hollander
o Argument and persuasion
 “Memories of a Dead Man Walking”
Sister Helen Prejean
 “What do Murderers Deserve?”
David Gelernter
 “I Have a Dream”
Martin Luther King
 “None of This is Fair”
Richard Rodriquez
o Combinations
 “A Modest Proposal”
Jonathan Swift
 “Once More to the Lake”
E. B. White
 “On Keeping a Notebook”
Joan Didion
Students will complete one major argumentative paper over one of the essays studied during
this grading period. Students will work with peer partners in the editing process of the rough
draft. Students will make revisions and submit final drafts to the instructor for thorough
feedback on rhetorical structures, organization, fluidity, development, balance of
generalization and specific detail, and conventions. Students will also complete three inclass essays (Cause/Effect, Compare/Contrast, and Narration) on a variety of topics.
Third Unit: “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit”





Students continue analysis journal and study of literary terms.
This grading period will focus on the foundation of our country and its effects on life as we
know it today. Students will read and respond to various speeches, historical documents,
letters, and journals including the following:
o “from The General History of Virginia”
John Smith
o “from Of Plymouth Plantation”
William Bradford
o “The Declaration of Independence”
Thomas Jefferson
o “The Crisis”
Thomas Paine
o “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Jonathan Edwards
o “The Gettysburg Address”
Abraham Lincoln
o “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
o “Aren’t I a Woman?
Sojourner Truth
o “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Martin Luther King
o “Inaugural Speech, 1961”
John F. Kennedy
o “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”
Benjamin Franklin
o “Civil Disobedience”
Henry David Thoreau
o “The Battle of the Ants”
Henry David Thoreau
o “The Crucible”
Arthur Miller
During this period, students will also read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne,
keeping a close reading journal.
Students will complete one major assignment over the assigned novel. Students will also
complete two to three in-class short essays analyzing rhetorical techniques used in selected
documents or speeches.
Students will complete this grading period with a semester exam over literary terminology,
types of essays, rhetorical devices as well as content of selected works. The semester exam
will feature AP type multiple choice questions along with a timed essay.
Revised 8-19-14
3
Ms. Engebretson
AP English III
2014-2015
Fourth Unit: “The Battle of the Sexes”




Students continue analysis journal and study of literary terminology.
Work continues on the Research Project as students continue to meet various deadlines.
Within these deadlines, students will indicate their gathering process, their evaluation of
credible sources, and their organization of information in the form of plans, outlines, drafts,
and resource citations.
During this grading period, students will examine composition skills such as appeals to
authority, reason, and emotion in argument; diction and syntax; rhetorical evidence;
definitions in argument and the Toulmin argument as they are used in written works. Studied
works will be chosen from the following:
o “Lost in the Kitchen”
Dave Barry
o “Women’s Brains”
Stephen Jay Gould
o “There is No Unmarked Woman”
Deborah Tannen
o “The Rise in Reported Incidents of Workplace Sexual Harassment” Sarah West
o “Title IX: Political Football”
Ruth Conniff
o “Barbie Doll”
Marge Piercy
o “I Want a Wife”
Judy Brady
o “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Gillman Perkins
o The Awakening
Kate Chopin
Students will write a synthesis essay using the stories, essays, and novel studied during this
grading period. This essay will be similar in format to the AP synthesis essay. Students will
use in-class time to write an argument of definition, a causal argument, and a proposal
argument based on techniques in Everything’s an Argument.
Fifth Unit: “Life as They Knew It”



Students continue analysis journal and study of literary terminology.
Work continues on the Research project as students use peer review techniques coupled with
teacher writing conferences. Students will be entering the final phase of the project during
this grading period.
Students will focus on identifying and understanding of fictional writing in the American
literary canon. Students will read selections from the following list:
o Various magazine and newspaper articles from the 1920s and 1930s
o The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
o Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
o “The Barn Burning”
William Faulkner
o “A Rose for Emily”
William Faulkner
o Spoon River Anthology
Edgar Lee Masters
o “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Flannery O’Connor
o Exodus (pictorial representations of the era)
o Various visual texts from the two eras in history
Sixth Unit: “Finding our Place in the World”


Students continue analysis journal and study of literary terminology.
Work is finalized on the Research Project and will be due the third week of the grading
period.
Revised 8-19-14
4
Ms. Engebretson



AP English III
2014-2015
Students will continue to read a variety of essays as well as short stories including the
following:
o “Lowering the Cost of a College Education”
Beth Jaffe
o “The Value of a College Degree”
Katherine Porter
o “The Case against College”
Linda Lee
o “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation”
Alfie Kohn
o “When I Was Young an A Was an A”
Ronna Vanderslice
o “Defining Who We are in Society”
David D. Troutt
o “Are Families Dangerous?”
Barbara Ehrenreich
o “A Chinaman’s Chance: Reflections on the American Dream” Eric Liu
o “Graduation”
Maya Angelou
o “How It Feels to be Colored Me”
Zora Neale Hurston
o “Hills Like White Elephants”
Ernest Hemingway
o “The Things They Carried”
Tim O’Brien
o Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
As students prepare to take the AP exam, various methods of practice will be utilized.
Students will write timed essays, including the synthesis essay, as well as complete at least
one practice exam.
After the AP exam is taken in mid-May, students will shift their focus to writing college
application essays which will be available for revision during the fall semester. Students will
also write a farewell letter commemorating the end of the year. This letter may be serious,
humorous, didactic, or may give advice to the upcoming junior class. It may include
anecdotes, memories, suggestions, or observations. This is meant to be a fun writing
experience which allows students to reminisce about the year.
Extensive Research Project
As previously mentioned, students will complete an extensive research project on an American
author. This assignment will begin in the first six-week period with in-depth instruction on the
research process, including topic selection, gathering and analyzing credible resources, organizing
information, and formatting secondary sources as MLA citations. It will end at the beginning of the
last nine-week period. Because we are unable to read all of the great American literature available
during our class time, students will work outside of class to discover authors they may not have met
otherwise. Students will choose from a list of authors and topics and will be required to submit a
written proposal stating their focus and plan of action. Students should expect to read a variety of
literature relating to their subject while documenting all resources according to MLA format.
Students will also sign a statement acknowledging their understanding of plagiarism and its
consequences. Any plagiarized material submitted will be given a zero and will require a parent
conference. A detailed timeline of various submission dates and requirements will be distributed to
students during the first week of school.
Student Evaluation
Major tests, major writing assignments, and the analysis notebook count for 50% of the grade for
each period. In-class writings, vocabulary and terminology quizzes, ongoing research segments,
other homework assignments and class participation count for a daily grade of 50%, for the
remaining of the total grade of 100% per nine-week period.
Revised 8-19-14
5
Ms. Engebretson
AP English III
2014-2015
Course Texts
Axelrod, Rise B.; Charles R. Cooper, and Alison M. Warriner. Reading Critically, Writing Well:
A Reader and Guide. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford-St. Martins, 2005.
Charters, Ann, ed. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 7th ed. Boston:
Bedford-St. Martins, 2007.
Cohen, Samuel, ed. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Boston: Bedford-St. Martins, 2004.
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Faigley, Lester, Diana George, Anna Palchik, Cynthia Selfe. Picturing Texts. New York:
W.W. Norton & Company, 2004.
Kennedy, X.J., Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron. The Bedford Reader. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin's.
Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument: With
Readings. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford-St. Martin’s, 2004.
Lunsford, Andrea A. St. Martin's Handbook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Miller, George, ed. The Prentice Hall Reader. 8th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2007.
Murray, Donald. The Craft of Revision. Boston: Thomson/Heinle.
Nadell, Judith A., John Langan, and Eliza A. Comodromos. The Longman Reader. New York:
Longman.
Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. Elements of Style. New York: Longman.
Web Sources
Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/index.html
Gale Resources
http://www.gale.com
NOTE:
Works, texts, and assignments may be added, substituted, or altered thereby allowing for
variety as deemed appropriate by instructor.
Revised 8-19-14
6