A. P. Language & Composition

Mr. J. D. Wilson, Jr.

A. P. Language and Composition 11th Grade

Phone: (508) 418-0875

"You must read, Alice, before it's too late. You must fill your mind with the converted images of the past: the more the better. . . . These images, apart from anything else, will help you put the two and twos of life together, and the more images your mind retains, the more wonderful will be the star studded canopy of experience beneath which you, poor unfortunate primitive creature that you are, will shelter." Fay Weldon Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen

As often as a study is cultivated by narrow minds, they will draw from it narrow conclusions." John Stuart Mill

"He who knows only his side of the case knows little of that." John Stuart Mill

The Nature of the Course

Stuff We Will Read

Stuff We Will Write

Sites to Check Out

Calendar of Events

Keep Quiet and do your work!

The Nature of the Course:

In this course you will learn how to analyze literature in its three primary forms, poetry, prose, and drama. You will then learn to express your thoughts and opinions on what you have read. Much of your professional lives will be spent responding to written or verbal forms of communication so it follows that the ability to read, understand, and communicate your understanding is a valuable skill to possess and develop, even if, God help you, you never read another line of great literature. It is our aim to teach you to express your thoughts, impressions, and opinions so that the average reader can understand them. You will be expected to write cogent essays that are well developed and defended that successfully persuade others of the validity of your thoughts. This does not mean you have to persuade others to think like you. It does mean that others, even if they do not come to share your view, understand the merits of your view. As you study literature the awareness should strike you that there are many "right" answers to the issues discussed. What is important is not that you reach some sanctioned conclusion, but that your conclusions are defensible. It is a further aim that you learn to understand and write about different points of view. To fully understand your own point of view you must know, and to a certain extent understand, opposing points of view.

This is the first goal of this class, and the second is like unto it: to develop critical thinking skills. The first step in this process is to understand our own thinking. "What do I think about this and why do I think it?" are questions we must constantly ask ourselves. It is a presumption of this class that writers write to, among other things, express ideas and communicate points of view. Hopefully the process of analyzing ideas and different points of view will expand, or even change, our thinking on the issues the various authors raise. To understand the ideas a work of literature expresses it is helpful to understand and appreciate the forms they use. For example, why did the author write a sonnet instead of an ode? It is also important to be able to assess a works artistic merit. It is important to remember that it is possible to recognize the artistry with which a poem or story is written without personally "liking" it. It is also important to recognize how authors use the various literary devices to tell their stories. As a result of pursuing these two sets of goals you should come to understand literature, its artistry and craft.

Stuff We Will Read:

September 18 - September 21 - Introduction to Literary Analysis and Native American Literature

September 22 - November 10 - The Last of the Mohicans

December 20 - December 13 - Walden

December 14 - January 21 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

No Mid-Term Exam - First Semester Finals

January 23 - January 24 - Short Narratives

January 30 - February 10 - The Crucible

February 11 - March 10 - The Great Gatsby

March 11 - "Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby"

March 16 - May 7 - Light in August

May 20 - May 30 - Their Eyes Were Watching God

June 9 - June 15 - Second Semester Finals (Dates Depend on Snow Days)

Essay the Situation

September 21 - “Democratic Education”

September 28 - “That It Is Madness to Judge the True and the False from Our Own Capacities”

October 5 - “Of Friendship”

October 13 - “On the Situation, Feelings, and Pleasures of an American Farmer”

October 20 - “Self Reliance”

October 26 - “History”

November 4 - “The American Scholar”

November 19 - “Civil Disobedience”

November 30 & December 7 - “Walking”

December 14 - “Life Without Principle”

December 14 - “On Natural Law”

January 7 - “Consolation to His Wife”

January 14 - “Poe's Review of Slavery in the United States”

No Mid-term Exams - First Semester Finals

January 22 - “Of Vicissitude of Things”

January 29 - “Cargo Cult Science”

February 5 - “Are Women Human”

February 12 - “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

February 26 - “Attitude”

March 5 - “On Noise”

March 12 - “Young Hunger”

March 19 - “Familiar Style”

March 26 - “Review of Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne”

April 5 - from The Apology

April 12 - “The Haunted Mind”

April 26 - “We Have No Right to Happiness”

May 3 - May 10 - “Notes of a Native Son”

May 17 - “Going Home Again”

June 9 – June 15 - Second Semester Finals (Dates Depend on Snow Days)

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Stuff We Will Write:

Research Paper

Must be at least five pages in length with at least two bibliographic citations.

Topic Due by September 25

Thesis statement due by October 2.

Outline and bibliography due by October 9

First draft due for peer review October 26.

Final draft due November 2.

Rewrite due November 10.

Literary Analysis Paper

Must be at least five to six pages in length with at least one bibliographic citation.

Topic Due by November 25

Thesis Due by December 6

Outline, thesis statement, and bibliography due December 11.

First draft due for peer review January 6.

Final draft due January 13.

Rewrite due January 21.

Internet Project

Part One due January 28.

Short Essay Analysis

Must be six to eight pages in length with citations from at least five different sources.

Paper is to include a works cited page that properly identifies the sources of the citations used in the paper and a bibliography that references all the outside reading done in researching your pa-per. The bibliography should be of significantly greater length than the works cited page and is to include at least fourteen items that were studied in the course of researching your paper.

Paper topic due February 2.

Thesis statement due February 11.

Outline and bibliography due February 25.

First draft due for peer review March 11.

Final draft due March 18.

Rewrite due March 25.

Personal Essay

Must be at least four pages in length.

Topic due April 11

Outline due April 15.

First draft due for peer review May 14.

Final draft due May 21.