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AP English Literature and Composition Jones College Prep Department of English Mission Statement: The JCP English Department is committed to helping students improve their skills in rhetoric, writing, and text analysis based on the ACT English College Readiness Standards, which naturally align with the Illinois state standards. Through their English courses, students will develop their critical-thinking ability: the well-reasoned problem-solving process where one examines evidence and decides
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AP English Literature and Composition Mr. Ernesto Saldivar, Jr.
Jones College Prep 2011-2012 [email protected]
Department of English Mission Statement: The JCP English Department is committed to helping students improve their skills in rhetoric, writing, and text analysis based on the ACT English College Readiness Standards, which naturally align with the Illinois state standards. Through their English courses, students will develop their critical-thinking ability: the well-reasoned problem-solving process where one examines evidence and decides what to believe, communicate, or do.
Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition In this college-level course, students read carefully and critically to analyze literature, developing skills in analyzing and evaluating structure, style, themes, figurative language, tone, and purpose. Students analyze a variety of literature selections representative of a number of genres from writers of the world, with an emphasis on British Literature, and demonstrate an appreciation for the written word. Students write to understand, to explain, and to evaluate, using different modes of writing, including, but not limited to timed and prompt-based writings and essays developed through the writing and revision process. All essays and class discussion respond to literature (in content, in cultural/sociological/historical context, in style, in literary analysis) in a manner that is persuasive, argumentative, expository, or analytical/interpretive, whether the essay is modeled on the literature (such as through writing one’s own satirical essay) or directly responding to the literature through quotes and analysis of the material. Students prepare for and take the AP English Literature and Composition exam for possible college credit. Again, this is a college-level course and will be taught as such. This means students will read and write extensively: Students will never be without a reading or writing assignment.
Instructional Strategies Reading Texts will run the gamut; students will read prose, poetry, and drama from the 16th century to modern times by writers of various ethnicities. Students will learn these texts well, going beyond basic aspects of a story (i.e.: beyond plot, characterization, and theme). Instead more complex literary and rhetorical strategies will be emphasized: Examples include narration, description, characterization, exemplification, cause and effect, diction, argumentation, voice, ethos, logos, and pathos. Students will view these readings through a variety of cultural and social lenses and utilize numerous types of critical theories to analyze them. Students are expected to complete all reading assignments on time. Students must read closely and actively and take notes (see Reading Journal, outlined below) on significant details from the readings. Students will also be expected to independently read at least one full-length novel or play each month, as well as various newspapers, magazines, and other print sources of news.
Writing Writing will be as wide-ranging as reading. Students will write prolifically and for various purposes; principally students will write to understand, explain, evaluate, and persuade. Students should expect to write about 2-3 formal extended essays (3- pages each) outside of class, 3-4 timed in-class essays (1-2 pages each), and numerous 1-page response papers (both in and out of class) each semester. Response papers will be in response to class discussions, a certain segment of text, motifs, characters, lines of poetry, and other concepts that may arise.
Students will also be required to write a number of mini-research papers for which one or two outside sources will be applied to a reading. Most of the research papers will require students to say something original about the social and cultural values surrounding the piece. Others will necessitate students to discuss language, structure, and style. For example, a student might find an article that explores gun ownership in the first half of the 20th^ century and apply it to Richard Wright’s short story “The Man Who was Almost a Man.”
Finally, students will maintain a Reading Journal for all readings. These will include notes, questions, impressions, responses, and vocabulary that will help enhance comprehension, develop papers, and spur discussion. Sometimes written work in the journals will be prompted by the teacher, other times the writing will be entirely up to the students. Journals will be periodically checked and discussed throughout the year. Students must bring the journals to class with them every day.
Writing Instruction and Support Students will be provided with time to collaborate, edit, evaluate, and review with the teacher and peers, for all major writing assignments. For example, students will be required to meet one-on-one with the teacher at least two times per year to discuss at length a major writing assignment and next steps for the revision process, including appropriate use of vocabulary, sentence structure, organization, detail and support, tone, and voice. Students will also have time to informally discuss comments the teacher wrote on papers, which is a first step toward revising. Additionally, students will have nearly every major writing assignment and all timed essays evaluated by a peer in a formal and organized manner; revising decisions should be made based on these peer interactions. All writing done in this class should be maintained in a writing portfolio that will be utilized at various times throughout the year (that means keep everything you’ve written).
Students should be prepared to share with others most of what they’ve written. Most days class members will talk about essential facets of writing, including, but not limited to, the following: vocabulary, audience, structure (sentence variety, construction), style (vocabulary, syntax, language, mechanics), transitions, topic development, support, organization, emphasis, and complex subordination and coordination. Additionally, numerous classes will serve as Writing Workshops during which students will apply these concepts while writing and revising essays. Although students will briefly review basic punctuation (commas, semicolons, colons) and usage (subject/verb agreement, pronoun/antecedent agreement, appositives) they will be expected to rely on outside sources for further explanation if needed. The teacher can provide students with useful websites and/or texts for this purpose. This is one of the best: http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/index.html. Students will also garner writing strategies from various writing texts: Grammar and Language Handbook , Writing First , Write Source , and Writers, Inc.
Tests and Quizzes Quizzes will serve two purposes: They will help ensure students are completing and analyzing the readings, and they will engender thoughtful discourse. The teacher will not announce quizzes ahead of time. Quizzes will usually be given at the beginning of class; students who are late to class, whether excused or not, may not make up a quiz. Tests, which are more in depth and worth more points, will be announced in advance. Tests and quizzes of varying formats will be given throughout the year; essay, short answer, multiple choice, passage identification, vocabulary usage, and quotations tests will be the most common.
Course Goals: Students will read, write, and verbally communicate to understand, experience, interpret, explain, and evaluate by way of these objectives: Reading Students will read a wide range of merited literary texts that are representative of a variety of literary forms and historical periods. Students will read critically, analyze closely, and interpret holistically focusing on language and meaning. Writing Students will practice writing in a clear, readable, attractive style that is appropriate for both purpose and audience. Students will hone formal writing skills with the goal of establishing one’s own “voice.” Students will practice the timed essay, thereby preparing them for the English AP Literature and Composition Exam as well as standardized tests, such as the ACT and SAT. Verbally Communicating Students will converse about and respond to stylistic features in writing and their relationship to purpose and audience. Students will discuss and utilize a variety of techniques used in literary analysis and criticism. Students will use discourse to comprehend and appreciate the cultural components of literature.
Required Texts Numerous selections from Abrams, M.H. and Stephen Greenblatt. The Norton Anthology of English Literature (Seventh Edition). New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. Numerous selections from Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Seventh Edition). New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2007. Albert, Camus. The Stranger. New York: Vintage Books, 1954. Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992. Lewis, C. S. An Experiment in Criticism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1961. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Minneola, New York: Dover Publications, 1992 (originally published in 1603). Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Dover Publications, 1993 (originally published in 1891).
Quarter Three: Weeks 20- Reading: Modern Literature o Albert Camus’ The Stranger Writing Instruction: o Through discussion, students will develop an awareness of modern literature and thought, absurdism, existentialism, nihilism, realism. Students will develop the ability to recognize and analyze conventions of fiction, with an emphasis on character development—the way by which a character is developed through language, dialogue, actions, imagery, and symbolism—and critical turning points in text and characters. Through in-class and out-of-class writing assignments (timed essays and reading journals), students will then develop their ability to support a paper topic based on their analysis of the use of literary devices and ideology in a text, addressing character development, critical turning points in texts and characters, the use of imagery and allusion to create theme, and the use of characters/narrators as mouthpieces for the author or to assert alternate perspectives. o Students will produce a paper analyzing Camus’ use of literary devices, vocabulary, character dialogue and actions, critical turning points, imagery, and allusion to originally interpret a character. The paper will also discuss literature as social commentary, addressing of world issues. Weeks 25- Reading: Modern Poetry o Dickinson, Frost, Mureda, Plath, Pound and Shihab Nye, and Silko Writing Instruction: o Students will compare and contrast modern British and American poetry to poetry that preceded it. Through teacher instruction, students will become aware of and respond to literary strategies in poetry, such as language, imagery, symbolism and tone. Via their individual research, students will determine the social and historical context and values related to particular poems. Students will write and share their own poetry with a focus on language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. o Students will write three papers in response to 3-5 poems of their choosing. The first paper will analyze the structure, style, and themes. The second paper will discuss the figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone of the poems. The third will analyze the social and historical values the poems exhibit.
Quarter Four: Weeks 29- Reading: The American Novel o Christina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban Writing Instruction: o Through a series of timed essays, students will write and rewrite about society and culture as it relates to segments of a text, dialogue, and character attributes. Students will learn about and examine the facets of literature’s quality and ways of evaluating it. Through various techniques of criticism, students will view and write about authors’ artistry. o Students will write a major research paper in which they make arguments about the impact of the social and cultural backgrounds of people, locations, and events in Garcia’s novel. Within this argumentative essay, students will analyze the works’ quality and authors’ artistry. Weeks 33- Reading: Short Stories o Faulkner and O’Connor Writing Instruction: o Lessons and writing assignments, such as response papers, will address the structure, style, and themes of alliterative poetry, epic poetry, and allegorical poetry. Students will also learn about and discuss the language, imagery, symbolism, and tone of these types of poetry. Finally, students will analyze the impact of religion on literature, attitudes toward and criticism of religion, heroism, and changing mores and societal roles. o Students will write two analytical essays. In the first, students will compare and contrast the two texts, emphasizing structure, style, and themes. In the second, students will compare and contrast the two texts in terms of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.
Student Expectations Students will be in class, on time, and prepared to work daily, as attendance and participation will help ensure success in this course. In the event that a student is absent, it is his/her responsibility to network with a classmate or classmates to determine the day’s activities and assignments. If a student is tardy after a bell-ringer (including reading checks), he/she will not be allowed to take/retake the assignment and will result in zero points for that specific assignment. Assignments are due on the designated dates. Late work is not accepted, as work completed after its due date loses relevance. An unexcused absence indicates truancy, and NO work will be accepted if a student has been truant from class. If a student is absent when an assignment is due, you must submit the assignment with a valid medical excuse signed by your doctor—a parent’s note will not suffice as a valid medical excuse. Supplies All students must bring the following with them to class each day: A 2-inch binder that includes at least 100 pieces of paper (loose leaf or in a spiral); some handouts will be hole- punched and you should be able to place them in the binder for easy access. A folder with pockets on both sides for your writing portfolio A spiral notebook for your Writing Journal (this is in addition to the other notebook paper) Black and/or blue pens, a few #2 pencils, at least two differently-colored highlighters Assessment and Grading Policies: This class may present a different type of challenge that you have not faced previously. Please embrace the challenge and work through it. However, please understand that I am not grading your effort; your grade in this class is the result of the quality of work turned in. Students will be assessed by way of regular in-class assignments, homework assignments, participation, group work, quizzes, tests, and papers/presentations. Assessments will be weighted as follows:
Writing 40% Tests and Quizzes 35% Classwork/Homework 25%
Assessments will be reflective on students’ ability to think and express themselves critically through writing critical analyses essays, which involve interpreting, critiquing, comparing and judging a text(s) and arguing for a particular way of understanding it. Both the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition 9-point Rubric and the English Department Literary Analysis Rubric will be used in this class. Students will receive copies of these and they are available online. The grading scale is as follows: A = 92 – 100 Indicates learning at the highest level. The student not only has demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the material but also has demonstrated an ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the material with breadth and depth of understanding. An A indicates work that has gone above and beyond the expectations of an assignment. B = 83 – 91 The student not only has demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the material but also applies the material. The student will be able, on occasion, to demonstrate an ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the material. C = 74 - 82 The student has demonstrated a basic knowledge and understanding of the material and some ability to apply it.
D = 65 - 73 The student has demonstrated a limited knowledge and limited understanding of the material and is not able to apply much of it
F = 64 - Below The student has not demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the material, and therefore is not able to apply it.
The semester—midterm and final—exams will be comprehensive assessments of the semester’s work including an objective section and essay prompt. Students must keep track of all quizzes, tests and notes from the entire semester. Stay organized. Academic Dishonesty: Plagiarizing, cheating, or copying another student is a flagrant violation of ethics, let alone school policy. Group work is important and a vital aspect of the class, but the teacher will clearly let students know when they can work with others. When this is not expected, do your own work. Use the Internet as a resource only; it will not have the “answers” for you. Communication : I am best available via email. If for any reason you or your parents need to see me, please schedule an appointment with me in advance. Thank you!