8/2021
Welcome to AP Literature and Composition! I hope you are excited about your senior year in English. We have a great deal to accomplish: reading, writing, discussing. My main goal is not to prepare you for the AP Test in May but to prepare you to walk confidently into any college classroom and be able to tackle a text, hold your own in a class discussion, decipher a writing prompt, and construct a well-written essay. Preparing you for the AP Test in May is a goal, just not my main goal.
Basic supplies for this class are a binder (absolutely no spiral bound notebooks), plenty of loose leaf paper (do not be that kid who constantly asks his/her neighbor for paper--it's annoying), a writing utensil (blue or black ink pens or pencil), the text we are reading, and access to a computer. We read, write, and discuss everyday, so you will need pen, paper, and book everyday. To show up to class without those basic materials is just inconsiderate.
You will need to bring your laptop computer to class, though we will not use it for the entire class period. Our assignments will be a mix of paper and Google Classroom. Since the AP Exam requires that you handwrite your answers, therefore, you will hand write most of your in-class assignments. I will let you know when it is appropriate to have your laptop open in class. Otherwise, there is no need to have it out/open/on your desk during class. It is too tempting to watch videos, play games, online shop...
Our class is discussion-based, so I hope you like to talk...to me and the whole class...about the material we've read...I will ask you to read almost nightly. It is imperative that you complete the reading assignment so that you can participate in the discussion during the next class. If you haven't read, you have nothing to say. If the majority of the class hasn't read, no one but me talks. One-sided. Boring. After we discuss, we write. Sometimes you write in class. Sometimes you write at home. I try to make our class as much like a college course as possible so that you have an idea of what the future looks like.
Please see the 2021-2022 Proposed Reading List on the Syllabus page. I encourage you to obtain your own copies of the texts whenever you can. They do not have to be new copies. Check out amazon.com or used book stores here in town. I think (maybe??) there is still a used bookstore on Hillsborough Street near NCSU. Having your own copy of the text allows you to practice a variety of strategies as you read and annotate. Also, some of the texts we will read this year are in limited quantities and you will need to obtain your own copies. You can also donate those copies to the classroom once we are done and receive community service hours.
Also, be aware that I expect each one of you to sign up and take the AP Exam in May. While my main goal for teaching is not this test, you have signed up for an AP course. You should be expecting to take the AP Exam. The exam is a good measurement to see how you have grown as a student and to evaluate writing instruction in the course. The state pays for the exam; it is given on a school day not a Saturday; you are not counted absent for any classes you miss. Win-win-win.
The UNC Writing Center has a wealth of information on writing essays. This particular page has many handouts with helpful tips on constructing various essays. http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts. You might want to bookmark this page.