AP English Language & Composition
Syllabus
2014-2015
Course Overview: The chief function of the AP English Language and Composition course is to offer an
extensive writing experience to students wanting to strengthen their analytical and rhetorical skills. The special
focus of this course is upon argumentation and the analysis of arguments.
AP English Language and Composition students ideally have excellent reading and writing skills. Students will
become “skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines and rhetorical contexts and…writers
who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the
interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic
conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing” (“English Language and
Composition,” The College Board Advanced Placement Program Course Description, 2010, p.7). In addition,
students’ ability to think abstractly, interpret, and read beyond mere plot and summary are keys to success.
The AP EXAM:
The Readers’ scores on the free‐response questions are combined with the results of the computer scored
multiple‐choice questions; the weighted raw scores are summed to give a composite score.
The composite score is then converted to a grade on the AP’s 5‐point scale.
READING ASSIGNMENTS:
The most important requirement for this course is that students read every assignment—
read it with care and on time. Students unused to literature courses will need to plan time in their
schedule for more reading than most courses require. Novels in particular require planning.
Beware. 20‐30 pgs. per night.
TIMED WRITING:
While timed writings are an integral component of the AP Program, mastering the skills of thinking
and organizing in a specific amount of time will prove to be very advantageous during a student's
college years, in employment opportunities, and in everyday life. To prepare the student with these
academic and life skills, 12th grade students should practice one timed writing every three
weeks.
The organizing principles of the course require students to
 Examine the nature and history of the English & American essay
 Read broadly among a variety of authors, rhetorical purposes, and eras
 Learn to employ the fundamentals of sound argumentation
 Analyze images and investigate how they relate to written texts and serve as texts themselves
 Engage in a significant study of writing as an art
 Develop a wide-ranging vocabulary to use appropriately and effectively
 Study logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition,
transitions, and emphasis
 Learn to properly document using MLA, APA, Turabian, and Chicago citation styles
AP English Language and Composition students write frequently. The grading of essays sometimes focuses on
specific skills such as a point of grammar, use of a variety of sentence patterns, organization, and/or appropriate
tone and diction. However, grading always takes into account the content of the student’s essay, and thus
writing is graded holistically. Often at the beginning of the year, students will receive instruction and the
scoring guidelines for essays in advance. As the year progresses, they are expected to know the criteria for
good writing and will see scoring guidelines and get other feedback when the papers are returned.
As research has shown, students also learn to write through the reading and analysis of prose. Good readers are
good writers; therefore, reading comprehension will be assessed in a variety of ways, including AP-style
multiple choice questions, tests and essays on the novels and other readings, and the prompts for in-class essays.
Methods used may include, but are not limited to:
 Question/answer
 Lecture/discussion/Socratic seminar
 Small group activities
 Close‐reading and annotating using dialectical journals
 Daily writing in journals
 Research process and writing (note taking, documentation, citations)
 Argumentative and persuasive writing and speaking (logos, ethos, pathos)
 Written homework and class assignments
 Individual speeches
 Practice AP tests (multiple choice; passage analysis; DBQ; open‐ended essays)
 Use of film, magazines, cartoons, advertisements
 Use of library and electronic research
Readings (may include, but is not limited to:)
Beowulf, Anonymous 800
Macbeth, William Shakespeare, 1600
1984, George Orwell, 1948
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi, 2004
Literature World Masterpieces, Prentice Hall, 1996
How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster, 2003
The Crucible, Arthur Miller, 1954
Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, 1599
A Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, Fredrick Douglass, 1845
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards, 1741
“Speech to the Virginia Convention,” Patrick Henry, 1788
Common Sense & The Crisis No. 1, Thomas Paine, 1776
The Hero has a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell
“Learning to love Big Brother: George W. Bush channels George Orwell.” Daniel Kurtzman
“Shooting an Elephant”; “The Politics of English Language”; “Marrakech” George Orwell
50 Essays, A Portable Anthology. Samuel Cohen, ed., 2007
In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, Alice Walker, 1983
Selections from Lincoln, Washington, Churchill, & Bush
Speech selections from www.americanrhetoric.com
Everything’s an Argument, Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, Walters, 2010
Essential Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
How does the study of rhetorical inform the study of literature and composition?
What are the roles of and relationships between the reader, writer, and text?
How are an author’s style, voice, mood, and tone manifested in written and visual forms?
How true is the maxim, “He who controls language controls others?”
Objectives: Alabama Core Curriculum Standards for Language Arts Literacy and to prepare for the Advanced
Placement Exam, which will be given in May.
1. All students will speak for a variety of real purposes and audiences.
2. All students will listen actively in a variety of situations to information from a variety of sources.
3. All students will write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for
different audiences and purposes.
4. All students will read various materials and texts with comprehension and critical analysis.
5. All students will view, understand, and use contextual visual information.
All essays will be graded according to the AP 9‐point rubric, and then translated into a letter grade
Advanced Placement English Literary Analysis Scoring Guide
9‐8 With apt and specific references to the story, these well‐organized and well‐written essays
clearly analyze how _____ uses literary techniques to _____. The best of these essays will
acknowledge the complexity of this _____. While not without flaws, these papers will
demonstrate an understanding of the text as well as consistent control over the elements of
effective composition. These writers read with perception and express their ideas with clarity
and skill.
7‐6 These papers also analyze how ___ uses literary techniques to ___, but they are less incisive,
developed, or aptly supported than papers in the highest ranges. They deal accurately with
technique as the means by which a writer _____, but they are less effective or less thorough in
their analysis than are the 9‐8 essays. These essays demonstrate the writer's ability to express
ideas clearly, but they do so with less maturity and precision than the best papers. Generally, 7
papers present a more developed analysis and a more consistent command of the elements of
effective composition than do essays scored 6.
5 These essays are superficial. They respond to the assignment without important errors in
composition, but they may miss the complexity of _____'s use of literary techniques and offer a
perfunctory analysis of how those techniques are used to _____. Often, the analysis is vague,
mechanical, or overly generalized. While the writing is adequate to convey the writer's
thoughts, these essays are typically pedestrian, not as well conceived, organized, or developed
as upper‐half papers. Usually, they reveal simplistic thinking and/or immature writing.
4‐3 These lower‐half papers reflect an incomplete understanding of the _____ (story, passage, essay,
poem, etc.) and fail to respond adequately to the question. The discussion of how _____ uses
literary techniques to _____ may be inaccurate or unclear, misguided or undeveloped; these
papers may paraphrase rather than analyze. The analysis of technique will likely be meager
and unconvincing. Generally, the writing demonstrates weak control of such elements as
diction, organization, syntax, or grammar. These essays typically contain recurrent stylistic
flaws and/or misreadings and lack of persuasive evidence from the text.
2‐1 These essays compound the weaknesses of the papers in the 4‐3 range. They seriously
misunderstand the _____ or fail to respond to the question. Frequently, they are unacceptably
brief. Often poorly written on several counts, they may contain many distracting errors in
grammar and mechanics. Although some attempt may have been made to answer the question,
the writer's views typically are presented with little clarity, organization, coherence, or
supporting evidence. Essays that are especially inexact, vacuous, and/or mechanically unsound
should be scored 1.
0 This is a response with no more than a reference to the task or no response at all. The following
are the grade equivalents for these scores. To "pass" the AP test, you must write essays that score a
6 or higher. Always aim for the highest score possible.
Grading:
Grades for the course will be based on the total score achieved based on the following items: tests, quizzes,
writings, homework, class work, notebook, projects, and to some extent punctuation. Students’ grades are
based on an accumulated point system. Each graded assignment or activity is designated a certain number of
points based on its complexity and importance to the course. The student’s grade is determined by dividing the
number of points earned by the number of points possible.
Traditional daily grades are not given during the class; students are mostly assessed on major assignments such
as essays, timed writings, grammar exercises, annotated readings, practice on multiple-choice questions based
on reading passages, informal writings, and class participation. Work outside the class will be required.
Instructions for projects and assignments will be issued as needed.
The Writing Process
Most of the writing in this class will be done “on demand,” in class with a pen and paper. It will be
timed, and you will write from bell‐to‐bell. Since we are on block scheduling (96 minutes),
sufficient time is allowed for each writer to work through the writing process. Writing is not an act;
it does not occur in a vacuum. It is imperative that each student pre‐write and revise. The writing
process is as follows:
1. PREWRITING:(5-15 minutes, depending on length of passage)
• “Pencil Reading” of the prompt and/or passage.
• Annotating/marking the prompt and/or passage.
• Outlining, T‐charting, webbing, listing ideas/terms
• Formulating a 2‐4 part thesis and/or topic sentences
2. WRITING: (30-45 minutes)
• Styled for the “ideal reader”: “someone who has read the book,” an AP grader
• Less is more: fewer but longer paragraphs, multiple ideas, examples, viewpoints
• Ideas drive the writing, not plot. A balance of general and specific.
• Textual support follows the ideas. Sentence variety. A balance of ideas, quotes.
• All writing is persuasive: argumentation and rhetorical mode must fit the prompt
• “Jump into the thesis”: engage the reader from the start; avoid “canned” teasers
3. REVISION: (5-10 minutes)
• Read the prompt or passage again, if time allows. Crosscheck your paper to make sure you’ve
addressed all it asks.
• “Revise as you go”: do not wait to end to revise entire paper
• Read your paper “silently‐aloud.” Mouth the words as if it were a monologue; check for flow,
readability.
Unit 1: Close Reading & Rhetorical Analysis
Heroes?
Literary and rhetorical terms will be given daily. Students will make a ring binder with 3 x 5 colored index
cards. Students will study vocabulary primarily through a mastery of the words and context sentences from a list
of words. Each week the student will be quizzed, after four such quizzes, they will take a cumulative test.
Daily grammar lessons. DOL journals.
MATERIALS: Beowulf, The Crucible, ENotes Lesson Plans, Teaching Units, Activity Packs,
Response Journals, and Multiple Perspectives; The Tragedy of Macbeth; Susan Snyder’s
“Introduction to Macbeth”; “I Dream of Oedipus: Freud’s Interpretation of Macbeth”’; Coleridge’s
“Macbeth is Wholly Tragic”; Robert Frost’s “Out—Out”; The Language of Composition; How to Read
Literature Like a Professor; Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers;
selected poems, criticism, essays, and AP test‐prep materials
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
• How does the study of rhetoric inform the study of literature and composition?
• What are the roles of and relationships between the reader, writer, and text?
• How are an author’s style, voice, mood, and tone manifested in written and visual forms?
• How true is the maxim, “He who controls language controls others?”
EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSION AND WRITING:
1. What is AP? How do AP graders evaluate writing? What is quality AP writing?
2. How does a writer analyze a passage from a novel?
3. What are the Key Elements of Rhetoric?
4. What is The Rhetorical Triangle?
5. What are the Appeals to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos?
6. What is Visual Rhetoric?
7. What is the study of Rhetoric in Literature?
8. What are the Patterns of Development in language and composition?
9. When does Rhetoric Miss the Mark
10. How does one Analyze Style?
11. How does one annotate using a Dialectical Journal and a Graphic Organizer?
12. How does one perform a Close Reading a Visual Text?
13. What is an author’s style? How do writers limit topics? Who is a writer’s primary audience?
14. What is the purpose Shakespeare’s verse?
15. WRITING PROMPT: Discuss the historical background as to why Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.
To which monarch did Shakespeare write the play? How does Shakespeare’s tragedy differ?
from the historical account of Duncan’s murder, according to Holinshed’s Chronicles of Scotland
(as cited in Snyder’s essay)?
16. WRITING PROMPT: Snyder and Coleridge notice the absence of “equivocal morality” in the
character of Macbeth. What is “equivocal morality”? Who uses it in the play? Why does
Macbeth not use it?
17. WRITING PROMPT: Snyder says the Weird Sisters provide the nouns and Lady Macbeth the
verbs. What does she mean? Provide examples from the play and/or Snyder’s essay as
support.
18. WRITING PROMPT: How is natural law or natural order disturbed in Macbeth? Discuss “The
Great Chain of Being” and/or imagery that show a fallen world order. Provide examples and
quotes from the play or Snyder’s essay as support.
19. How does Macbeth (the play) and Macbeth (the character) conform to the Aristotelian model of
a tragedy and tragic hero, respectively?
20. Discuss how Lady Macbeth rejects her womanly function. How does Lady Macbeth challenge
her role as a woman by persuading Macbeth to murder?
VISUAL RHETORIC:
Students will analyze magazine ads, political cartoon, photos, artwork accompanying the readings, and
newspaper photos in order to discuss the ways in which the images convey non-verbal information and
messages, and expand visual literacy. Students will discuss the similarities and differences in the visual and
verbal tellings, and why a storyteller might choose one or the other as their medium. Discussion of rhetoric will
include claims that are made in advertising and strategies employed by advertisements to persuade consumers to
purchase goods or to support particular causes. Students will carefully read and analyze advertisements and
propaganda from sources such as:

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

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Consumer Reports
The New Yorker
Newsweek
Parenting
People
Portland Monthly
Sport Illustrated
Sports Illustrated for Kids
Students will create their own advertisement for an article of clothing. In addition to creating the visual
image, students will complete an assignment, which reflects their understanding of the target audience for their
advertisement, distribution plan for their product to best reach their target audience, and design components of
their advertisement.
Students will create their own propaganda poster that supports a particular cause. In addition to creating
the visual image, students will complete an explication assignment that reflects their understanding of the cause,
understanding of the target audience for the poster, distribution plan for the poster to best reach their target
audience, and design components of the poster.
Analyze a political cartoon in terms of the rhetorical triangle and its appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos. As part
of your analysis of audience, note if possible where the cartoon first appeared, and describe that source’s
political leanings. Finally, examine the interaction of written text and visual images.
Unit 2: Argument
Censorship and the Politics of Language
Literary and rhetorical terms will be given daily. Students will make a ring binder with 3 x 5 colored index
cards. Students will study vocabulary primarily through a mastery of the words and context sentences from a list
of words. Each week the student will be quizzed, after four such quizzes, they will take a cumulative test.
Daily grammar lessons. DOL journals.
MATERIALS: 1984 George Orwell; Kurtzman, Daniel. “Learning to love Big Brother: George W. Bush
channels George Orwell”; Orwell, George “Shooting an Elephant”; Postman, Neil. From “Amusing Ourselves
to Death”; Daniel Kutzman’s “Learning to Love Big Brother”; George Orwell, Politics and the English
Language; Toulmin’s “Model of Argumentation”; articles related to the topics of “Surveillance” and
“Profiling”; Quizlet.com; Newspeak Dictionary; ENotes Lesson Plans, Teaching Units, Activity Packs,
Response Journals, and Multiple Perspectives; Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood; Bedford’s
“ENCOUNTERING FICTION: Comics and Graphic Stories”; comic strip: Matt Groening, from Life in Hell;
graphic story: Marjane Satrapi, "TheTrip" from Persepolis; Visual Text: J. Howard Miller, We Can Do It!
(poster); Common Sense and The Crisis No. 1 by Thomas Paine, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by
Jonathan Edwards; The Language of Composition; How to Read Literature Like a Professor; Rhetorical
Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers; selected poems, criticism, essays, and AP test‐prep
materials
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
• How does the study of rhetoric inform the study of literature and composition?
• What are the roles of and relationships between the reader, writer, and text?
• How are an author’s style, voice, mood, and tone manifested in written and visual forms?
• How true is the maxim, “He who controls language controls others?”
EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSION AND WRITING:
• How does the language we use reveal who we are?
• How can 1984 and Persepolis be analyzed using the Socratic seminar model and Bloom’s
taxonomy?
• What is the Toulmin model of argumentation? How does it add to our study of rhetoric?
• CLASS DEBATE: What are the affirmative and negative arguments in the policy debates of
“Surveillance” and “Profiling” in the post‐9/11 United States?
• If we termed this novel a “cautionary piece,” we would be saying that one of Orwell’s
purposes in writing this book is to caution people about what can happen to society in the
future. Assuming that this is a “cautionary piece,” of what dangers is Orwell warning us?
• In times of war or great civil unrest and danger, people are willing to give up some freedom
in order to secure more protection. For example, it is conceivable that some people would
be willing to give the police greater and wider powers to conduct searches in order to
combat drugs. What is your opinion about freedom and security?
• Politically, socially, and militarily, what did the world look like in 1949?
• Discuss the terms “utopia” and “dystopia” and relate those terms to this novel. In your
opinion, what would a utopian society of the future be like?
• Consider any of the science fiction novels or movies that you have read or seen, which are
set some time in the future. How did the society in that work compare or contrast to the
society in 1984? How were the heroes similar or different?
Unit 3: Recognizing & Analyzing Satire/ Society/Politics/Diversity/ Synthesis & Research
Literary and rhetorical terms will be given daily. Students will make a ring binder with 3 x 5 colored index
cards. Students will study vocabulary primarily through a mastery of the words and context sentences from a list
of words. Each week the student will be quizzed, after four such quizzes, they will take a cumulative test.
Daily grammar lessons. DOL journals.
MATERIALS: A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift; Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen; Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt
Vonnegut; excerpts from Great Expectations Charles Dickens; “The Atlanta Exposition Address” by Booker T.
Washington “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin L. King, Jr.“I Have a Dream” by Martin L. King, Jr.
“God’s Justin and Ours” by Antonin Scalia “An Ideal of Service to Our Fellow Man” by Albert Einstein
“Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” by Alice Walker
“How It Feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston various selections on immigration articles related to
satire. ENotes Lesson Plans, Teaching Units, Activity Packs, Response Journals, and Multiple Perspectives; The
Language of Composition; How to Read Literature Like a Professor; Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and
Activities for Student Writers; selected poems, criticism, essays, and AP test‐prep materials; MLA Handbook
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
• How does the study of rhetoric inform the study of literature and composition?
• What are the roles of and relationships between the reader, writer, and text?
• How are an author’s style, voice, mood, and tone manifested in written and visual forms?
• How true is the maxim, “He who controls language controls others?”
EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSION AND WRITING:
1. How does the language we use reveal who we are?
2. How can A Modest Proposal and Pride and Prejudice be analyzed using the Socratic seminar model and
Bloom’s taxonomy?
3. What methods does the author employ use in constructing his satire.
4. What is the author’s tone in his use of satire?
QUOTE OF THE DAY JOURNALS:
Students will keep a Quote of the Day journal where they will freely record observations and ideas related to the
quote. Journal entries are informal and the student’s concerns are to record ideas and observations with little
regard for grammatical and mechanical perfection. The journal is meant for students to examine new ideas and
reevaluate old ones. The students will be given time in class to write during and after the mini-Socratic seminar
on each quote. The following is a sample of the daily quotes:
 If you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too. Even
when you're in the dark, even when you're falling.
• Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie
• (1958 - ) American author, journalist
 Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. Solid flesh can never live up to the blind
shadow cast by its absence.
• Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
• (1939 - ) Canadian author, poet, critic.
 Among those whom I like, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all
of them make me laugh.
• W.H. Auden, Collected Shorter Poems 1927-1957 (1966)
Collected Longer Poems (1968)
• (1907 - 1973) poet
Synthesis
To develop the synthesis skills necessary for the synthesis prompt on the upcoming AP exam, students will be
given a synthesis prompt three times a week. In a synthesis writing prompt, students will practice the skill of
formulating a response to the scenario given and using the documentation provided. Students are expected to
cite the sources in the response. Students will be given 40 minutes to read, annotate, and draft an essay that will
be peer-reviewed the next class period. In this class period, students and teacher will discuss the writing prompt,
use the 1-9 analysis rubric, and review annotation strategies. Students will analyze the sample papers reading
both the high and low.
A sample prompt: 2008 Should the Penny Coin be Eliminated?
A sample prompt: 2005 Television has been influential in United States presidential elections since the
1960’s. But just what is this influence, and how has it affected who is elected? Has it made
elections fairer and more accessible, or has it moved candidates from pursuing issues to pursuing image?
RESEARCH:
All students must complete a major research paper utilizing one or more libraries as well as electronic media.
Task and Prompt:
 Choose a current event that reflects one of the themes studied this semester.
 Research the topic through different types of sources (newspapers, magazines, news stories, interviews,
online sources, visual, etc.). Minimum of three sources used.
 Take careful notes, making sure that you cite your sources accurately using MLA format.
 Develop an argument about this topic.
 Establish a claim.
 Then integrate a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay.
 Use the sources to support your position; avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
 Your argument should be central.
 Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations, using MLA format.
 Create a Works Cited page using MLA format.
 Plagiarism will result in a zero.
Texts & Supplements:
Beers, Kylene and Lee Odell. Elements of Literature: Sixth Course Essentials of British and World Literature
(Alabama Edition). Orlando: Holt, Rinehardt, and Winston, 2008.
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2003.
Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing 2nd ed.
New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2010.
Gross, John, ed. The Oxford Book of Essays. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument: With Readings 3rd
ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004.
Shea, Renee H., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008.
Materials Required:
Each student is responsible for all required materials on a daily basis.
 Jump drive
 1-1 ½ inch Binder w/notebook paper
 Black pen, a red pen, a No. 2 pencil, and three highlighters of different colors
 Textbook
 Required novel
 Notebook dividers
 Colored index cards
Work:
 Homework is due at the beginning of class.
 Class work is due as assigned.
 Students are responsible for scheduling all make-up work. Assignments missed will receive a grade of
“0” until made up. No make-up work for an unexcused absence. Missed assignments must be
turned in within one week of their being missed.
Conferences:
Students or parents wishing to meet with the teacher only have to make arrangements with the teacher through
the office or email. Students are encouraged to seek aid when having difficulty. Each student has a
responsibility to seek help. School Phone Number: (256) 492-2250