Syllabi

AP Language/Composition

Instructor: Patty Brown

email: pabrown@greenville.k12.sc.us

Greenville Senior High Academy

Course Overview

This course will not only prepare you for the AP English Language and Composition test, this course will prepare you to become analyzers, synthesizers, investigators, philosophers, problem solvers, writers, and critics. You will examine the English language and recognize its power to persuade, entertain, and inform a target audience. Most importantly, as a writer you will learn to confidently employ rhetorical devices so that you too may persuade, entertain, and inform your target audience.

The class operates like a seminar at some times and a workshop at others. Often you will work with small groups of students, within which each student is expected to develop his or her ideas about a particular subject and share them with the group. There will be times when you will be reading each others' papers and making suggestions for revision, and there will also be times when we will discuss a single paper or reading as a class and all of you will be expected to contribute to the discussion.

Course Objectives

Reading Objectives:

• Read widely and reflect on the reading through extensive discussion, writing, and rewriting.

• Increase use of elevated vocabulary in oral and written discourse.

• Study the English language with special attention to the differences between formal and informal language usage.

• Recognize and evaluate logical fallacies in reasoning.

• Evaluate and synthesize how rhetorical devices advance an author’s argument.

• Analyze primary and secondary source information.

Writing Objectives:

• Understand the value of the formal writing process, including: planning, brainstorming, organizing, rough draft writing, revising, and proofreading.

• Create informal responses indicating your analysis and interpretation of a writer’s use of rhetorical devices.

• Identify effective rhetorical strategies and apply these strategies to your own original compositions.

• Create original pieces in a variety of genres employing appropriate use of rhetorical devices and stylistic conventions.

• Develop and defend a thesis.

• Locate, evaluate, analyze, synthesize, and appropriately document information.

Mechanics & Usage Objectives:

• Recognize, correct, and avoid fragments, run-ons, faulty modifiers, and subject/verb and pronoun agreement problems.

• Demonstrate a mastery of conventional punctuation and mechanics used in standard written English.

• Demonstrate a mature approach to style, emphasis, and sentence structure

Major Texts

Depending on the teacher’s discretion and availability of the texts for distribution, the number of supplemental texts covered in the year may vary.

Nonfiction Books of Choice

Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand

Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand

Educated, by Tara Westover

Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nahesi Coates

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

Outliers, by Macolm Gladwell

Into the Wild, by John Krakauer

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, by John Carreyrou

Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah

Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

Empire of Pain, by Patrick Radden Keefe

Contemporary/Current Issues

Depending on current events or “hot topic” issues, additional readings will be assigned as a source of information or a writing model.

Sentence Structure and Vocabulary

Vocabulary drill words will come from a variety of sources. Along with appropriately using the selected word(s) in a sentence, you will need to use the assigned sentence structure: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex, loose, and periodic. As we progress through the year, you will be asked to write a sentence that creates a particular effect. Example: “Write a sentence that creates suspense before the final thought of the sentence is completed. Remember to include today’s vocabulary word. As an extra challenge, try to include yesterday’s vocabulary word as well.” This, of course, would require you to write a periodic sentence.

Quizzes

You will be given quizzes on most readings. These assessments will check comprehension of content and style.

Exams

Exams will be AP style multiple choice and timed essays. The writing portion will require you to apply your skills in rhetorical analysis and/or synthesize multiple sources in order to craft a well-developed argument.

Essays

An in-class timed writing will be given at least once a week. These will consist of writing prompts from past AP exams, as well as responses to assigned readings and current events in the local, national, and global news.

All in-class essays are hand written in black ink and simulate the AP exam experience. When essays are revised and rewritten beyond the initial in-class “rough draft” and are reviewed, edited, and reflected upon by the teacher and/or peers, they must be typed and in accordance with MLA format.

Academic Integrity

In all institutions of higher education, one instance of plagiarism can result in an “F” or expulsion from the school. In the world outside of high school and college, however, such practices regularly lead to lawsuits, lost jobs, and permanent disgrace. Plagiarism is a form of theft. It means presenting the work of someone else as though it were your own, that is, without properly acknowledging the source. Sources include published material and the unpublished work of other students.

Regardless of whether you have summarized, paraphrased, or copied, if a source is not acknowledged, an intention to deceive will be presumed.

Materials

Required Materials: loose- leaf paper, Highlighters, pens, and, pencils, Post-it notes or flags

Please see me if you are unable to acquire any of the above materials. I will find a way to get you the supplies.

Late Work

25 points off per day. On the 4^th day and beyond it is a zero

Make-Up policy

• When you are absent, YOU are responsible for anything you have missed. Check the class website, see me before or after school, and/or e-mail me. Under no circumstances should you interrupt class to ask what you missed. You have two days to make up work for each class day missed (not including the day of return). PREVIOUSLY ASSIGNED WORK IS DUE THE DAY YOU RETURN.

email

I strongly encourage you to email me with questions. You can email me up until 6:00 pm, and you will typically receive a response from me on the same night. Often you will find that if you are struggling with an assignment, taking the time to think through writing the email and presenting your questions in a logical sequence often helps you answer your own question.

An Important Note About Technology

“My computer crashed.” “The internet was down.” “My printer ran out of ink.” “I forgot to save my work.” I consider these statements to be the modern day equivalent to “The dog ate my homework.” Technical difficulties, either legitimate or fabricated, are by no means an acceptable excuse for not turning your work in on time.

Rules

NO CELL PHONES AND NO SMART WATCHES– if I see them or hear them you will receive a referral.

BE RESPECTFUL TO YOUR CLASSMATES

BE PREPARED

NO EATING DURING CLASS/NO GUM

FOLLOW THE STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT