AP Literature & Composition

This course, designed to be at a level equivalent to a college or university English class, is a rigorous, in-depth look at American and British literature, poetry, drama, and non-fiction texts, along with other, equally challenging examples of world literature from the 16th to 21st centuries. It is also a course to have students develop their writing and rhetorical strategies, so students will construct, write, and revise multiple drafts of expository, analytical, and argumentative essays to help prepare for college-level coursework.  Students will be studying the historical, cultural, and societal contexts and implications of works they are reading, and their writing will cover topics that range from author’s tone, syntax, and diction, to synthesizing the context of the works with different literary criticisms such as modernism, feminism, and post-colonialism. Daily reading assignments will generally be accompanied by either written responses, detailed notes, or work in reading journals, where students process their thoughts, findings, and questions while they read. Longer essays, done outside of class, will include in-class conferences to revise and edit writing.  Active participation and engagement with all texts and activities is imperative. 

AP Literature consists of units with poetry, short fiction, and longer fiction/drama.  Each unit of study will build off skills and ideas mastered in previous units.  You will have access to all texts, poems, short stories, and readings either on paper or digitally, but if you would like to buy your own copy of any of our longer texts so that you may annotate in the book, you may. The longer texts you will be reading are will be chosen from the following list:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 

• Independently read, interpret, and analyze challenging literature from the 16th to 21st centuries, in a variety of genres

• Study the structure, style, symbolism, theme, and tone of multiple poems, short stories, and works of fiction

• Use active reading strategies and journals to work through complex ideas

• Compose interpretations of literature based on close reading, analysis, and application of literary criticisms and devices

• Write and revise timed, in-class responses to literature in preparation for the AP exam

• Outline, draft (multiple) and revise analytical essays

• With teacher instruction and regular feedback, improve vocabulary and usage, develop variety in sentence structure, and establish appropriate rhetoric.

• Study the organization and expectations of the AP exam

Students will read literature addressing mature content and themes aligned with concepts tested on the AP exam.  As it is a college level course, readings will be at the college level, and the pace of the class moves swiftly.  Be prepared to do both reading and writing outside of class. 

The college board has decided on six big ideas that serve as the foundation of the course and “enable students to create meaningful connections among course concepts” (College Board)” The six big ideas and enduring understandings associated with each idea, as stated in the Course and Exam Description, are as follows 

Characters in literature allow readers to study and explore a range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms represented by those characters. 

Setting and the details associated with it not only depict a time and place, but also convey values associated with that setting. 

The arrangement of the parts and sections of a text, the relationship of the parts to each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information are all structural choices made by a writer that contribute to the reader’s interpretation of a text. 

A narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that affect how readers experience and interpret a text. 

Comparisons, representations, and associations shift meaning from the literal to the figurative and invite readers to interpret a text. 

Readers establish and communicate their interpretations of literature thought arguments supported by textual evidence. 

Much of the class will be based on ideas and discussion that students bring.  In order to have this function correctly, it is the expectation that students will have read, annotated, analyzed, and endeavored to understand all assigned readings prior to the class period in which they are due.  Inability or failure to do this will hold up the class and ensure a reliance on reading and comprehension quizzes rather than collaborative discussion. 

The exam is broken up into two sections: A multiple choice section, and an essay section. 

• 55 questions

• 60 minutes

• Worth 45% of exam grade

• Questions focus differently on different types of literature

  • Short fiction = 42-49%

  • Poetry = 36-45%

  • Longer fiction/Drama = 15-18%

• 3 questions

• 2 hours

• Worth 55% of exam grade

• Questions are three different types

  • Question 1: Poetry Analysis (6 points)

  • Question 2: Prose Fiction Analysis (6 points)

  • Question 3: Literary Argument (6 points)

• Recommended that you spend 40 minutes per essay

Each essay is guided by its own set of rubrics, attesting to the thesis, evidence and commentary, and sophistication. The rubrics are attached on Google Classroom under the “Resource Materials” section, and should be referenced regularly when writing.

Assessments……………………………..…………………….……..50%

Classwork…………………..………………………………………....50%

93 – 100 A 80 – 82 B- 67 – 69 D+

90 – 92 A- 77 – 79 C+ 63 – 66 D

87 – 89 B+ 73 – 76 C 60 – 62 D-

83 – 86 B 70 – 72 C- Below 60 F 

On the left side are the points you can receive on the rubric. On the right side are the corresponding grades depending on the time in the semester.  While progressing through the class, students’ writing should become significantly better, so the sliding scale represents those expectations

Sept-Oct Nov Dec-Jan

6   100 100     100

5   94 92       90

4   88 86       83

3   84 80       75

2   78 72       68

1   74 66       60 

All students are to adhere to rules and expectations set by the Pittsville Student Handbook. In addition:

• Students should arrive to class on time every day ready to give their best effort. This means having all materials as well as a learning-centered mindset.

•  Students may make up missing assignments at any time.  However, no more late work will be accepted after October 27, 2021 (One week left in the term)

• Cheating will not be tolerated.  This includes plagiarism. Cheating/plagiarizing will result in having to re-do the assignment as well as disciplinary action.

•  Students are expected to be respectful of all people, spaces, and materials.

• Classwork assignments that are missing will go in the gradebook as a 50%. Assessments that are missing will still go into the gradebook as a 0%. The use of a 50% helps give students the ability to more effectively raise their grades after missing work.

RL. 1 -  Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

RL. 2 - Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. 

RL. 3 -Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed)

RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)

RL. 5 - Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact

RL.6 - Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). 

W.1 - Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. a. Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

W.5 - Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. 

W.9 - Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. a. Apply grades 11–12 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics”).