AP English IV Literature and Composition Syllabus

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1 AP English Literature and Composition is designed to be a college/university-level course. This course will provide students with the intellectual challenges and workload consistent with a typical undergraduate university literature course. As required in the AP English Course Description Guide , the course includes intensive study of works from various genres and periods concentrating on works of literary merit. Its short-term goal is to enable students to qualify on the Advanced Placement English Literature Exam. Its more important and long-term objectives are to refine students analytical reading and writing skills, to enhance their appreciation of and pleasure in literature, and to increase their self-confidence in reading and writing about it, even under the pressure of time. The course focuses on close reading and analysis of poetry, prose, and drama and on the students oral and written responses to what they read. This course is broken into units of study by work, genre, and skills. Vocabulary Study and Multiple Choice Passage will be done weekly throughout the course. During Style Analysis Weeks and Critical Lens Weeks, students will be reading novels from either pre-1900 or post-1900 based on their weaknesses in their Multiple Choice weekly results. FIRST SEMESTER Introduction to Class 1 week Summer Reading 3 weeks The Picture of Dorian Gray How to Read Literature Like a Professor Students will create discussion questions to use in Socratic seminars over the novel they chose to read in the summer. Students will respond to a close reading passage before the Socratic Seminar and will write an essay using a Question 3 style prompt as a culminating assignment. Style Analysis 2 weeks Students will study style through a packet adapted from Jane Schaefer s. They will begin with tone and diction. This will feed into their weekly vocabulary study. Novel Focus 5 weeks Frankenstein Heart of Darkness Students will read the novels outside of class using the AP pacing guide. We will study related poetry and short fiction in class through close readings and analysis. Students will participate in whole class and small group discussions over the novels. They will also write culminating essays as described below. Style Analysis 2 weeks Students will study style through a packet adapted from Jane Schaefer s. They will study Organization and Syntax. They will use the summer reading and novel unit texts to synthesize learning. During this time they will study grammatical issues that may have arisen in their writing specifically related to sentence variety and structure.

2 Final Exam Review - 1 Week The final exam will be a sample AP Exam with a shortened multiple choice section and one essay as our exam time is only 90 minutes. SECOND SEMESTER Poetry Focus 4 weeks Poetry Collection Though poetry is weaved throughout the course with multiple choice practice and text connections, students will study the elements of poetry needed for success on the exam. They will study Beowulf as the birth of poetry and language. They will review style elements already studied, as well as, style elements specific to poetry. They will analyze other poetry using TPCASTT. They will create a poetry project that requires them to analyze poems by a particular author, as well as, write poetry of their own using that poet s style. This helps reiterate the style analysis we have been studying thus far. Drama Focus 4 weeks Oedipus Rex A Streetcar Named Desire Hamlet The Tempest We will study Oedipus Rex as the birth of drama to tragedy with Streetcar and Hamlet to comedy with The Tempest. Student s will be assigned a research project during the drama unit. They will be tasked with finding poems and short fiction pieces that thematically or stylistically relate to the plays we are studying. They will then have to write analytical papers over each piece and discuss the relationship to the play. This paper will analyze the elements of the poem and/or short stories and how those elements affect the overall theme. The paper will then argue how the poem and/or short fiction relate to the play being studied either through theme, structure, etc. Style Analysis 2 Weeks Students will study style through a packet adapted from Jane Schaefer s. They will study Point of View and Detail. For Point of View they will rewrite some of the speeches from the above plays from the perspective of other characters to help understand the difference in point of view. They will also look at how point of view could have changed the meaning of other works we have studied thus far. Detail is the last element and sometimes the most difficult. They will experiment with removing and adding detail to works to understand apt detail in their writing.

3 Novel Focus 4 weeks Invisible Man Students will read the novel outside of class using the AP pacing guide. We will study related poetry and short fiction in class through close readings and analysis. Students will participate in whole class and small group discussions over the novels. They will also write culminating essays as described below. Critical Lens Study 2 weeks Students will study critical lenses such as feminist, Marxist, psychological, etc. They will use these lenses to re-evaluate a work that they have already studied from a different perspective yielding an essay. Final AP Exam Review 2 weeks Students will complete their final review for the exam. We will cover test taking strategies, review grammar and vocabulary. We will also work on close reading passages for multiple choice and essays. Who I Am Project 2 weeks Students will create a final project about who they are and who they plan to become. As they are embarking on a new journey it s good to reflect on where they are and where they want to go. This unit will involve a written and verbal presentation. College Board Curricular Expectation for AP English Literature and Composition The course includes an intensive study of representative works such as those by authors cited in the AP English Course Description. (Note: The College Board does not mandate any particular authors or reading list.) The choice of works for the AP course is made by the school in relation to the school's overall English curriculum sequence, so that by the time the student completes AP English Literature and Composition she or he will have studied during high school literature from both British and American writers, as well as works written in several genres from the sixteenth century to contemporary times. The works selected for the course should require careful, deliberative reading that yields multiple meanings Classroom activities / Assignments / Teacher assessment and evaluation strategies In this course, students study literary works (prose, drama, and poetry) such as: The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad Invisible Man Ralph Ellison The Awakening Kate Chopin A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams Antigone, Oedipus Rex Sophocles The Tempest William Shakespeare Hamlet, King Lear, Othello William Shakespeare Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe Poetry Dickinson, Atwood, Yeats, Keats, Cummings, Frost, Eliot, Plath, Poe, Wordsworth, Hughes, Blake, and others Beowulf Seamus Heaney - translator Ethan Frome Edith Wharton

4 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya Some of the above texts will be studied as a whole group and others as small literature circle groups. In this course, students have ready access to anthologies / instructional texts that include, but are not limited to: DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: McGraw Hill, Book. Ferguson, Margaret, Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stallworthy. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., Book. Johnson, Greg and Thomas R Arp. Perrine's Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Book. Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, Book. The course teaches students to write an interpretation of a Students will annotate passages from the above works. The annotations will be used in whole piece of literature that is based on a careful observation of class discussions and small group discussions. These discussions will lead to students creating a textual details, considering the work's structure, style, notebook with their analyses and sample concrete details for different types of essay prompts. and themes Students will use TPCASTT, SOAPStone, DIDLS, and other devices to begin to break down pieces The course teaches students to write an interpretation of a of literature. Before writing students will discuss these as a whole class or small groups. piece of literature that is based on a careful observation of Students will create individual analysis paragraphs on shorter works from the anthology. These textual details, considering the social and historical will help develop the ability to analyze fiction without having to write the whole paper. values the work reflects and embodies Students will write 1-2 essays per novel or play studied above. The course teaches students to write an interpretation of a One will be a prompt that would be included on the AP Exam as question 3 and explore themes, piece of literature that is based on a careful observation of symbolism, social and cultural values, etc. textual details, considering such elements in the work as The other essay will be a sample question 2 using a close reading passage from the novel or play the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, being studied and will focus on structure, figurative language, imagery, etc. and tone One of these essays will be timed and the other will be done outside of class. Which one will differ throughout the course. The course includes frequent opportunities for students to write and rewrite formal, extended analyses and timed, in-class responses In some cases students will receive peer edits on the essays they write. They can take the notes given to them by other students to rewrite sections of their papers.

5 Other times we will do class reviews of sections of papers. Each student will read an assigned part of a peer s essay to the class who will then give positive and negative feedback. All students will benefit from hearing different parts of different essays to improve their own writing. The course requires writing to understand: Informal, exploratory writing activities that enable students to discover what they think in the process of writing about their reading The course requires writing to explain: Expository, analytical essays in which students draw upon textual details to develop an extended explanation/interpretation of the meanings of a literary text The course requires writing to evaluate: Analytical, argumentative essays in which students draw upon textual details to make and explain judgments about a work's artistry and quality, and its social and cultural values Students will respond daily to short passages, poems, or songs. These will be in the form of warm-ups to class. They will be approximately 1-2 paragraphs in length. Students will create individual analysis paragraphs on shorter works from the anthology. These will help develop the ability to analyze fiction without having to write the whole paper. During the study of some novels, students will respond to reading journal prompts. These prompts are varied and are chosen by the students, but each choice asks for a deeper insight into the text. At other times students will answer study guide or discussion questions relating to the text they are reading. Each text that is read throughout the year will be annotated; those annotations will be a portion of the students grade. Students will study critical lenses including feminist, psychological, Marxist, archetypal, etc. This will create additional pathways for thought and analysis for each work they read. Students will write 1-2 essays per novel or play studied above. One will be a prompt that would be included on the AP Exam as question 3 and explore themes, symbolism, social and cultural values, etc. The other essay will be a sample question 2 using a close reading passage from the novel or play being studied and will focus on structure, figurative language, imagery, etc. One of these essays will be timed and the other will be done outside of class; which will differ throughout the course. Students will create individual analysis paragraphs on shorter works from the anthology. These will help develop the ability to analyze fiction without having to write the whole paper. Students will write an essay based on a close reading of a poem. In the paper the student will focus on how the parts of the poem affect the meaning of the whole and argue their specific analysis of those elements to the poem s meaning. For some essays students will have writing conferences regarding specific issues in the paper. In some cases students will receive peer edits on the essays they write. They can take the notes given to them by other students to rewrite sections of their papers.

6 work, that help the students develop a wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively. work, that help the students develop a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination. work, that help the students develop logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis. work, that help the students develop a balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail. work, that help the students develop an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure. Other times we will do class reviews of sections of papers. Each student will read an assigned part of a peer s essay to the class who will then give positive and negative feedback. All students will benefit from hearing different parts of different essays to improve their own writing. Once the final drafts have been turned in, students will receive a grade based on the AP Scoring Rubric for that prompt. The student will be given the rubric and specific words and phrases of the rubric will be highlighted and explained to the student. Throughout the course students will participate in a weekly vocabulary study using the Saddler Oxford Vocabulary Workshop. Students will study 20 ways to begin sentences to encourage their sentence variety, as well as, gain instruction on various grammatical structures. Students will study tone by defining common tone words and presenting them to the class, as well as, classifying the tone words in broader categories by degree helping the students understand the more understated nuances of identifying tone. Students will be given discussion questions or threads to contemplate during reading; students will choose specific quotes from the text that they are reading to relate to the thread. These will then be developed into analytical paragraphs using both textual evidence and insight from the student. Students will study style analysis using a packet adapted from Jane Schaefer s which includes Tone, Diction, Detail, Point of View, Organization, and Syntax