AP English Language & CompositionSyllabusCourse OverviewThis course is based on the content and objectives established by the AP® English Course Description published bythe College Board. The list of texts is chosen based upon the suggested selections in the description with the intentof teaching students to think critically and analyze primarily non-fiction works. Students will also utilize these textsas models for their own writing to “emphasize the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing that forms thebasis of academic and professional communication.” Students enrolled in this course will become skilled readers ofprose from a variety of time periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts all the while becoming skilled writers in avariety discourses. Incoming students are expected to complete prescribed summer reading and assignments for thecourse. The course is designed to maximize the time allotted within the framework of ABC scheduling and spans the entire school calendar year. The course texts (including summer reading) are listed in theTeacher Resources section of this syllabus.

Course PlannerThe entire course is dedicated to developing understanding of the basic elements of language from diction, syntax,and figurative language to the varying modes of discourse to the key aspects of narrative, descriptive, and expositorywriting, as well as the study and writing of argument.

Response JournalsThroughout the course students will be provided a variety of readings in which they will be asked to formally andinformally analyze the effect of specific language elements on author purpose, tone, and attitude. One vehicle for this analysis is the response journal, a 250-400 word essay. The journals have several functions asidefrom student explication of rhetorical effects; the journals allow for the discussion of author style, teacherassessment of writing, and writing instruction. As students progress through this battery of journals, they becomemore acquainted and comfortable with the components of clarity and style, and are expected to include examples ofvaried sentence structure, parallel structure, strong diction, and figurative language elements.

Writing on DemandAP Timed Writings: Students will be given ample opportunities to complete analyses of past AP exam writing prompts and will utilize the methods suggested in the “Strategies” section of this document. The students will be given 20-25 minutes for prewriting activities and forty minutes for complete essay analysis of the prompts.

StrategiesStudents receive instruction in two analysis and prewriting strategies to aide them in their writing. Students are introduced to non-fiction prose primarily through rhetorical mode rather than by theme. These strategies are used throughout the course with a diverse selection of readings from the texts identified in Teacher Resources. Students take several AP-style multiple choice quizzes in addition to writing journals to assess their understanding of literary terms, author attitude, tone, and purpose; the quizzes are culled from the teaching guide by Renee H. Shea and Lawrence Scanlon which accompanies 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology edited by Samuel Cohen. As the students near the AP Examination in May, they will be required to complete 4-5 AP Multiple Choice Tests and will create and analyze Multiple Choice questions to better understand the sort of questions presented on the examination.

DiscussionThis course is not based solely on the written analysis of prose, but also on the oral analysis of the readings throughthe use of Socratic seminars and small and large group discussion. Many of the discussions center around purpose, attitude, tone, and the strategies authors use to present those things to the audience. The Socratic seminars are loosely based on the model provided by the National Center for the Paideia Program at UNC-Chapel Hill. In addition, students will be asked to periodically discuss a current event and write an on-demand short piece in class in order to prepare them for timed writings, especially of the argument/synthesis format.

StyleAs noted in the Response Journals section, students learn about their own writing strengths and weaknesses throughthe study of peer writing and their own. Constant review of sentence structure, verb use, punctuation, and other

grammatical structures is completed in an effort to enhance the clarity of student writing. Students participate inparagraph imitation style exercises to actually see and understand style, and then students participate in “syntax”challenges which require them to make improvements in peer writing and their own. Ultimately, students willreceive instruction on how to incorporate figures of rhetoric in a piece of writing into their own analysis of thewriting (see Response Journals and Strategies). Students begin learning about and applying the following literaryterms: parallelism, antithesis, alliteration, metaphor, simile, personification, irony, oxymoron, andparadox. Students are also introduced to the Aristotelian triad (ethos, pathos, logos) when analyzing author appealsto the audience.

Study of Rhetorical Analysis/Argument/Synthesis The course will be divided in the modes of discourse while keeping a strict focus on the types of responses the students will be asked to respond to on the AP Exam. Students will read and respond to given texts and then write response journals, conference with teachers regarding writing technique, and then take quizzes to prepare them to perform well on the AP Exam. The list of works studied may include, but is not limited to, the following pieces.Rhetorical Analysis“How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer Adler“My Mother Never Worked” by Bonnie Smith“The Death of the Moth” by Virginia Woolf “Death of a Moth” by Annie Dillard“The Inheritance of Tools” by Scott Sanders“Under the Influence” by Scott Sanders“Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” by Henry David ThoreauArgument“Television: The Plug-in Drug” by Marie Winn “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift“Declaration of Sentiments” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton“Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln“The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas JeffersonSynthesis“Never Just Pictures” by Susan Bordo“President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address”

Essays/ProjectsStudents will complete 9 AP Style timed writings throughout the year. Students will also have a variety of short essays and writing prompts. Students will complete a culminating project of a video claim.

Summer ReadingStudents will read and annotate two essays and will complete analysis questions. Class discussions will introduce students to AP Lang practices and procedures. A sample quiz will be given over one essay. A graded quiz will be given over the other essay.

ExaminationA final examination is provided at the end of each major grading period.

Teacher ResourcesCohen, Samuel. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.Joliffe, David A. & Hephzibah Roskelly. Everyday Use: Rhetoric At Work In Reading and Writing. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005.