AP Lang abridged syllabus (06)
Grade 11 AP English Language and Composition: ENG 3UI
2006-2007
Note:
This is an abbreviated syllabus based on the one I submitted for the audit. The audit version contained more specific detail about the units, assignments and instructional activities.
Overview
As an equivalent to a first-year university course, AP Language and Composition requires a commitment to independent learning and strong study skills. The focus in this course is on becoming a critical thinker and a “citizen rhetor” – an individual aware of the world around her and capable of communicating her ideas about it strongly and purposefully.
All students are expected to write the AP English Language and Composition exam. A Mock AP exam in early May counts as the course’s final exam and serves as preparation for the real exam later in May. There is no June final exam for this course.
Bibliography
Summer reading
Students read a selection of the following over the summer:
Two of:
King, Stephen. On Writing
Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran
Orwell, George. Down and Out in Paris and London
X, Malcolm and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
One of:
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House
James, Henry. Washington Square
Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion
Sophocles. Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray
Five editorials/commentaries/essays from newspapers or issues-based magazines such as:
The Globe and Mail (newspaper) The National Post (newspaper)
The New Yorker (magazine) The New York Times (newspaper)
The Washington Post (newspaper) Harper’s (magazine)
Atlantic Monthly (magazine) The Economist (magazine)
Mother Jones (magazine) Salon.com (online magazine)
Course Materials
All students purchase and use copies of the following texts:
Benton, Michael and Peter. New Touchstones Advanced. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2002.
Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. 4th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin, 1990.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1984.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. New York: Avon Books, 1965.
Students choose one of the following novels for independent study:
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451
Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World
Maguire, Gregory. Wicked
Students are provided with selections from the following sources:
Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.
Dean, Nancy. Voice Lessons. Gainesville: Maupin House, 2000.
DiYanni, Robert and Pat C. Hoy II. Frames of Mind. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.
Lunsford, Andrea A. and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Everything’s An Argument. 3e. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
Roskelly, Hephzibah and David Jolliffe. Everyday Use. United States: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005.
Selected online resources:
AAEC – Political Cartoons (http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/cartoon_topic.cfm)
NPR: This I Believe (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138)
The Onion (http://www.theonion.com)
Companion site to Pocket Style Manual (http://dianahacker.com/pocket)
Representative Poetry Online (http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display/index.cfm)
Silva Rhetoricae – The Forest of Rhetoric (http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm)
Additional teacher resources include:
Norman, Ron. English Language and Literature – An Integrated Approach. Cheltenham, UK: Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd., 1998.
Shea, Renee H. and Lawrence Scanlon. Teaching Nonfiction in AP English: A Guide to Accompany 50 Essays. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.
Online materials, including available essays, websites, newspapers and periodicals as supplemental reading and instructional material.
Released AP Language and Composition exams and other exam material available on AP Central (open questions, student exemplars, etc.).
The College Board outlines the following curricular requirements for a course to be designated as “AP English Language and Composition”:
The course teaches and requires students to write in several forms (e.g., narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative essays) about a variety of subjects (e.g., public policies, popular culture, personal experiences).
The course requires students to write essays that proceed through several stages or drafts, with revision aided by teacher and peers.
The course requires students to write in informal contexts (e.g., imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing, and in-class responses) designed to help them become increasingly aware of themselves as writers and of the techniques employed by the writers they read.
The course requires expository, analytical, and argumentative writing assignments that are based on readings representing a wide variety of prose styles and genres.
The course requires nonfiction readings (e.g., essays, journalism, political writing, science writing, nature writing, autobiographies/biographies, diaries, history, criticism) that are selected to give students opportunities to identify and explain an author's use of rhetorical strategies and techniques. If fiction and poetry are also assigned, their main purpose should be to help students understand how various effects are achieved by writers' linguistic and rhetorical choices. (Note: The College Board does not mandate any particular authors or reading list, but representative authors are cited in the AP English Course Description.)
The course teaches students to analyze how graphics and visual images both relate to written texts and serve as alternative forms of text themselves.
The course teaches research skills, and in particular, the ability to evaluate, use, and cite primary and secondary sources. The course assigns projects such as the researched argument paper, which goes beyond the parameters of a traditional research paper by asking students to present an argument of their own that includes the analysis and synthesis of ideas from an array of sources.
The course teaches students how to cite sources using a recognized editorial style (e.g., Modern Language Association, The Chicago Manual of Style, etc.)
The AP teacher provides instruction and feedback on students' writing assignments, both before and after the students revise their work, that help the students develop these skills:
a. A wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively
b. A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination
c. Logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis
d. A balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail
e. An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure
In the Unit Outlines that follow, references to College Board course expectations and activities have been labeled (in parentheses) according to these numbered expectations. These course expectations have been designed with the AP English Course Description in mind.
UNIT 1 – Finding Your Voice (September – October)
Unit Focus: Essays and Modes of Writing
This unit focuses on the essay as a form of expression and a process of reasoning, with an emphasis on the intricate connection between language and meaning. Students learn to identify, analyze, and use rhetorical devices within the various texts studied. Writing instruction aims to help students hone their own skills in expository, narrative, and persuasive writing.
Texts:
summer reading books
essays from 50 Essays (Cohen) and Frames of Mind (DiYanni/Hoy)
material from Voice Lessons (Dean)
handouts and online material
Pocket Style Manual (Hacker)
Major Evaluations:
Terminology and annotation test
Expository writing pieces
AP English Language and Composition Expectations covered:
(4, 5) Analyze features of published expository essays
(9) Learn the terminology of rhetoric, analysis, and writing convention
(5) Read and analyze increasingly complex texts
(3, 4, 9) Identify a variety of essay structures beyond the 5-paragraph model
(3) Analyze their own choices and strategies in expository writing
(2) Receive peer feedback during the writing process
(2) Revise written work
(2, 9) Receive teacher feedback during the writing process
(3, 9) Write informally (imitation, journaling, in-class responses)
UNIT 2 – Power and the Art of Discourse (October – January)
Unit Focus: Drama and Satire
Discourse analysis is used to explore characterization, rhetoric and logic, and methods of persuasion used by characters in Antigone and Othello, as well as the power dynamics created by characters’ interactions. Complementary speeches and non-fiction texts introduce students to the principles of logic and rhetoric and provide them material with which to take a more critical approach to the dramatic texts. Online discussions and a comparative rhetorical analysis essay require close reading of focused scenes and use of textual evidence. Oscar Wilde’s satire of Victorian English culture provides a contrasting tone and an understanding of satire in order to examine other satirical texts, such as Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. Students write persuasive pieces such as speeches and satirical social criticism, and are encouraged to read additional satirical texts outside class.
Texts:
Antigone (Sophocles)
Othello (Shakespeare)
The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde)
material from Everyday Use (Roskelly/Jolliffe) and from Everything’s An Argument (Lunsford)
handouts and online material
Pocket Style Manual
Major Evaluations:
Online discussion boards
Argumentative/persuasive and satirical writing pieces
Discourse analysis essay (rhetorical analysis)
Comparative scene study essay (rhetorical analysis)
AP English Language and Composition Expectations covered:
(9) Learn to identify and explain rhetorical strategies and techniques
(5) Read and analyze dramatic texts with a focus on the rhetorical effects of dialogue/discourse
(5) Read and analyze texts from a variety of periods and disciplines
(5) Read and analyze persuasive texts
(5, 6) Read and analyze satirical texts
(6) Analyze visual images as texts and in comparison with texts
(1, 3, 9) Write analytical essays
(1, 3, 4, 9) Write argumentative and persuasive essays
(1, 3, 9) Write comparative essays
(7, 8) Research and cite literary, primary, and secondary sources according to MLA format
(3, 7, 9) Synthesize multiple sources in the formation of arguments
(3) Analyze their own choices and strategies in expository writing
(2) Receive peer feedback during the writing process
(2) Revise written work
(2, 9) Receive teacher feedback during the writing process
(3, 9) Write informally (imitation, journaling, in-class responses)
UNIT 3 – Literature and the “Real World” (February – April)
Unit Focus: The Novel and Media
Students read Nineteen Eighty-Four and another novel on a dystopian theme, examining the novels’ themes and discussing the significance of their messages in the context of contemporary times. They will also study Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language,” examining the author’s strong stand on how language shapes our thinking, and examine the novel with this perspective in mind. Making connections with current events and world issues, students will write a researched argument that synthesizes information from a variety of newspapers and periodicals, including visual material such as charts, graphs, and political cartoons.
Texts:
Nineteen Eighty-Four
independent reading (dystopic novel)
newspapers and periodicals
handouts and online materials
Major Evaluations:
independent reading dystopia essay
media literacy/synthesis assignment
mock AP exam
AP English Language and Composition Expectations covered:
(5) Read fiction texts with an emphasis on making connections to societal and political concerns
(5, 6) Read non-fiction texts about current events, politics, society and history
(6) Read and analyze visual materials as informational texts
(3) Write informally (journaling)
(6, 7, 8) Evaluate sources for perspective, relevance, and reliability
(6, 7, 8) Synthesize multiple sources in the formation of arguments / write researched argument essays
(1, 2, 4) Adapt writing using different voices / revise work
(3, 9) Exam preparation
UNIT 4 – Touchstones in Poetry (May)
Unit Focus: The History of the English Language
Beginning with direct instruction of the historical and social context of Beowulf, students gradually become more independent in their research and discovery of the dynamic nature of the English language. Students are exposed to a sampling of poetry and the stylistic and language conventions from each era, and discover how poetry reflects the mores and concerns of the times. Students then take on an era to examine and research, putting together a body of knowledge to use in creating their summative projects.
Note: The bulk of this unit occurs after the AP Language and Composition exam in May, and serves as preparation for students planning to enter AP Literature and Composition in the following year. It also fulfils the Ontario curriculum requirement of studying the history and development of the English language.
Text:
New Touchstones Advanced (poetry text)
handouts and online materials
Major Evaluations:
Creative and research-based writing and oral presentation
AP English Language and Composition Expectations covered:
(5) Read poetry with an emphasis on analyzing changes in language conventions and identifying societal concerns
(7, 8) Research historical information about literary periods and styles / evaluate sources for relevance
(1, 4, 7) Write / present for different purposes / adapt writing using different voices / synthesize multiple sources in the formation of arguments