ENGLISH IV AP TIMELINE AND SCOPE AND SEQUENCE HP Components WEEK 1 WEEK 2 Unit Name: G r e e k T r a g e d y Oedipus, King of Thebes, upon hearing that his city is being ravaged by fire and plague, sends his brother-in-law Creon to find a remedy from Short, Descriptive Overview the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. When Creon returns Oedipus begins investigating the death of his predecessor, Laius, and discovers through various means that he himself was the one who had unknowingly killed Laius and then married his own mother, Jocasta. Jocasta commits suicide, Oedipus blinds himself, takes leave of his children, and is led away. TEKS : Listening and Speaking Reading Writing (24) Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students will use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students will continue to apply earlier standards (1) Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing. Students are expected to: (A) determine the meaning of technical (15) Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or workrelated texts to communicate ideas with greater complexity. Students are expected academic English words in multiple content and information to specific audiences to: areas (e.g., science, mathematics, social studies, for specific purposes. Students are (A) listen responsively to a speaker by the arts) derived from Latin, Greek, or other expected to: framing inquiries that reflect an understanding of linguistic roots and affixes; (C) write an interpretation of an the content and by identifying the positions taken (B) analyze textual context (within a sentence expository or a literary text that: and the evidence in support of those positions; and in larger sections of text) to draw (i) advances a clear thesis and conclusions about the nuance in word meanings; statement; (B) assess the persuasiveness of a (E) use general and specialized dictionaries, (ii) addresses the writing presentation based on content, diction, rhetorical thesauri, histories of language, books of skills for an analytical essay strategies, and delivery. (25) Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the quotations, and other related references (printed or electronic) as needed. (2) Reading/Comprehension of Literary including references to and commentary on quotations from the text; conventions of language. Students will continue Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make (iii) analyzes the aesthetic to apply earlier standards with greater inferences and draw conclusions about theme effects of an author's use of stylistic complexity. Students are expected to formulate and genre in different cultural, historical, and or rhetorical devices; sound arguments by using elements of classical contemporary contexts and provide evidence (iv) identifies and analyzes speeches (e.g., introduction, first and second from the text to support their understanding. ambiguities, nuances, and transitions, body, and conclusion), the art of Students are expected to: complexities within the text; and persuasion, rhetorical devices, eye contact, (A) compare and contrast works of literature (v) anticipates and responds speaking rate (e.g., pauses for effect), volume, that express a universal theme; to readers' questions and enunciation, purposeful gestures, and (B) compare and contrast the similarities and contradictory information; and conventions of language to communicate ideas differences in classical plays with their modern effectively. day novel, play, or film versions; and (26) Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. (C) relate the characters, Students work productively with others in teams. setting, and theme of a literary work to the Students will continue to apply earlier standards historical, social, and economic ideas of its time. with greater complexity. Students are expected to (4) Reading/Comprehension of Literary participate productively in teams, offering ideas Text/Drama. Students understand, make or judgments that are purposeful in moving the inferences and draw conclusions about the team towards goals, asking relevant and structure and elements of drama and provide insightful questions, tolerating a range of evidence from text to support their positions and ambiguity in decision-making, and understanding. Students are expected to evaluate evaluating the work of the group based on how the structure and elements of drama change agreed-upon criteria. in the works of British dramatists across literary periods.
Required Fiction Arp, Thomas, and Greg Johnson. Perrine s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 10 th edition. New York: Cengage Learning, 2009. Enrichment Fiction Ruth Eisenburg s Jocasta ; related poetry Required Non-Fiction Aristotle. Poetics. classics.mit.edu/aristotle/poetics.html (primary source) Enrichment Non-Fiction Miller s Tragedy and the Common Man Freud s writings on the Oedipal complex Aristotle s Poetics Writing Focus (e.g., Purpose, Timed Write to create an effective argument Process, and Text Structure) Journal entries to explore ideas Formal analysis to explore critical approaches and apply Aristotle s elements of tragedy Viewing/Representing Focus Watch film adaptation - to understand text to stage interpretation Speaking/Listening Focus Choral readings, i.e. Ruth Eisenburg s Jocasta to discuss POV Role play Generalizations/Enduring In defying fate, humans are subjected to being struck down for going beyond their limitations as humans. Understandings To accept this order is to be part of the harmony which rules the universe. To go against it means disrupting this order and taking the consequences of one's actions. Guiding/Essential Questions Who am I? What is Knowledge? Should some knowledge be forbidden? How does obtaining forbidden knowledge shape mankind? Is the individual s uncompromising search for truth a positive guiding force? How does character emerge as an element in tragedy? How does drama, especially tragedy, articulate the range of universal human emotions? Concepts The Risk of Knowing Topics Oedipal Complex, Fate v. Free Will
Essential Facts Chorus (Greek Play) were bystanders in a Greek play who present odes on the action. A parode (or parados) is a song sung by the chorus when it enters. A stasimon is a song sung during the play, between episodes of action. The chorus generally had the following roles in the plays of Sophocles and other Greek playwrights: (1) to explain the action, (2) to interpret the action in relation to the law of the state and the law of the Olympian gods, (3) to foreshadow the future, (4) to serve as an actor in the play, (5) too sing and/or dance, and (6) to give the author's views. The climax is the high point in a story. Dramatic Irony is the failure of a character to see or understand what is obvious to the audience. Peripeteia (also peripetia or peripety) is, in a stage tragedy in ancient Greece, a sudden reversal of fortune from good to bad. Persona In a literary work, a narrator or speaker who presents the work to the reader. The persona may be an active character in the work, or he may be an unidentified narrator or commentator. The Poetics is an important work by Aristotle written about 335 B.C. It analyzes Greek theater and outlines its origin and development. One of its theses is that literature and other forms of art imitate the activity of humans. Tragedy is the higher form of the playwr ight's craft, Aristotle says, because it imitates the action of noble persons and depicts lofty events. Comedy, on the other hand, focuses on ordinary humans and events. Hamartia is a serious character flaw of the main character (protagonist) of a Greek tragedy. Often, this flaw is great pride, or hubris. Bu t it may also be prejudice, anger, zealotry, poor judgment, an inherited weakness, or any other serious shortcoming. The Unities are the three key elements of dramatic structure: time, place, and action. These unities, formulated in part by Aristotle in his commentary on Greek drama and in part by the Italian Renaissance humanist Lodovico Castelvetro, suggested that a play should have one setting with a single plot thread that unfolds in one short time period, about a day. A Greek Tragedy is a verse drama written in elevated language in which a noble protagonist falls to ruin during a struggle caused by a flaw (hamartia) in his character or an error in his rulings or judgments. Following are the characteristics of a Sophocles tragedy: (1) It is based on events that already took place and with which the audience is familiar. (2) The protagonist is a person of noble stature. (3) The protagonist has a weakness and, because of it, becomes isolated and suffers a downfall. (4) Because the protagonist's fall is not entirely his or her own fault, the audience may end up pitying him or her. (5) The fallen protagonist gains self-knowledge. He has a deeper insight into himself and understands his weakness. (6) The audience undergoes catharsis, a purging of emotions, after experiencing pity, fear, shock and other strong feelings. The people go away feeling better. (7) The drama usually unfolds in one place in a short period of time, usually about a day. A Greek Theater was designed as an open-air structure in which plays were performed. The stage faced the afternoon sunlight to illuminate a performance while allowing the audience to view the action without squinting. A Greek theater consisted of the following: Skene: Building behind the stage. First used as a dressing area for actors (and sometimes an entrance or exit area for actors), the skene eventually became a background showing appropriate scenery. Paraskenia: Extensions or annexes on the sides of the skene. Proscenium: Acting area, or stage, in front of the skene. Orchestra: Ground-level area where the chorus performed. It was in front of the proscenium. Parados: Passage on the left or right through which the chorus entered the orchestra. (Also, a song sung by the chorus when i t entered or the moment when the chorus enters. Thymele: Altar in the center of the orchestra used to make sacrifices to Dionysus. Theatron: Tiered seating area built into a hillside in the shape of a horseshoe. Machine: Armlike device on the skene that could lower a "god" onto the stage from the heavens.
Process and Thinking Skills Students will: Identify and define the history and components of Greek drama Apply the elements and terminology of Greek tragedy via Aristotle s Poetics Perform selected scenes Identify and discuss literary, rhetorical and dramatic devices Produce character analysis Evaluate Freud s psychological analysis Participate in a choral reading of Ruth Eisenburg s Jocasta (handout); discussion of point of view, comparision to play as well as literary form AP Connections The course includes an intensive study of representative works such as those by authors cited in the AP English Course Description 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 time s. The works selected for the course should require careful, deliberative reading that yields multiple meanings. The course teaches students to write an interpretation of a piece of literature that is based on a careful observation of textual details, considering the work's: o Structure, style, and themes o The social and historical values it reflects and embodies o Such elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone The course includes frequent opportunities for students to write and rewrite formal, extended analyses and timed, in -class responses. The course requires: o Writing to understand: Informal, exploratory writing activities that enable students to discover what they think in the process of writing about their reading (such assignments could include annotation, freewriting, keeping a reading journal, and response/reaction papers) o 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 AP teacher provides instruction and feedback on students' writing assignments, both before and after the students revise their work, that help the students develop: o A wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively o An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure
Language of Instruction Through diction and sentence structure Vocabulary In context; dramatic terminology Support Materials o Introduction to the history and components of Greek drama Introduction to and application of elements and terminology of Greek tragedy via Aristotle s Poetics Student performances of selected scenes Oral reading and discussion of literary, rhetorical or dramatic devices Character analysis Introduction and significance of Freud s psychological analysis (in DiYanni anthology) Choral reading of Ruth Eisenburg s Jocasta (handout); discussion of point of view, comparision to play as well as literary form Supplemental reference for critical analysis: Arthur Miller s Tragedy and the Common Man (in DiYanni anthology) Viewing of film adaptation of play ASSESSMENTS: AP timed write based on text evaluated using AP open-ended rubric Objective test for comprehension AP-style multiple-choice questions Formal analysis using one of critical approaches to literature (i.e. mythological, psychological, sociological, etc.) Short-answer analysis of relevant quotes