Syllabus
English Language and Composition AP III
Ms. Elizabeth A. Holub, Rm. 28
holub.elizabeth@sad37.org
http://msad37.org/nhs/holub/index.html
Course Overview
According to the College Board the “AP® course in English Language
and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose
written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts,
and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of
purposes.” (The College Board, AP® English Course Description
6).
In this class students will concentrate on examining the ways in which
writers use language in order to persuade, amuse, educate, and
sometimes provoke. Students will be required to engage in close and
careful reading of prose from a variety of genres—letters, essays,
short stories, novels, speeches, autobiographies and biographies.
Reading of the texts will be followed by class discussion, reflection,
and a variety of writing assignments ranging from response to formal
analysis and argument. In addition to written texts, students
will engage with visual media and learn to read and analyze
photographs, advertisements, illustrations and political cartoons.
Key WA = Formal Writing Assignment, Proof of Purchase = a test or
quiz where students demonstrate that they have completed a reading
assignment, usually short answer and short essay.
Course Outline
(Some or all of the following assignments will be included in this
year's course
in addition to other assignments)
Students are provided with a form called a “Personal Writing Skills
Log.” This form provides students with a place to keep track of
the challenges they encounter as they strive to improve their
writing. The form encourages students to note everything from
problems with mechanics—subject/verb agreement or parallelism to
problems with thesis, support, and sentence structure. Students
will make notes in their logs during writing conferences and record
instructor’s comments on drafts submitted for grading. This log
helps students keep track of their habitual problems as well as
solutions or strategies to employ in their efforts to improve their
writing.
During the first several weeks of the fall semester, students will work
with the texts they read over the summer in addition to learning and
practicing the skills necessary for successful close reading and
skillful writing. Students will begin to understand and work with
the components of rhetorical analysis including but not limited to
subject, audience, speaker, claims, warrants, appeals, syllogisms,
context, purpose and tone.
Students will also take a grammar, punctuation and usage
diagnostic. Students will also begin to work with the “Glossary
for AP English”
Students will take a “Proof of Purchase” test on Huckleberry Finn.
WA--Students will begin keeping a Writing Journal—a place for planning,
notes, and reflection. Students will read, reflect upon, and
discuss a selection of texts on the topics of journaling and writing. *
WA--Students will write a 1st person reader response for their
nonfiction summer reading. Students will be provided with a
rubric and will engage in peer review and conferencing with the
instructor during the drafting and revision process. The goal of
this paper is to focus the students’ attention on author’s purpose and
the strategies employed to achieve it.
WA--Personal Writing Reflection After carefully reading and
considering the essays ”The Writing Life” by Annie Dillard,
“Freewriting” by Peter Elbow, and “The Maker’s Eye” by Donald Murray,
students will reflect upon their own experience with writing.
They will write an essay which discusses various aspects of their
writing while incorporating ideas from at least two of the essays. *
WA--The "Race" paper (an introduction to argument and synthesis)
Students will read a number of essays and literary criticism and
account for their reading and thinking using so called Cheddar
Sheets—reading sheets that require students to think about thesis or
central claim, tone, purpose, audience and style. Students will
be preparing to write a paper in which they defend, challenge or
qualify the statement that race has shaped and continues to shape life
in America. Students may find that they will wish to read not only
those texts assigned to them but others as well. This paper
requires students to synthesize at least five of the written texts as
well as at least one audio and one visual text. Students must
formulate a thesis and support it with quotes and paraphrases
(correctly formatted using MLA style). Students will be provided
with a rubric and will engage in peer review and conferencing with the
instructor during the drafting and revision process. *
Students will write a reflection on the experience of writing the “Race
Paper” in their Writing Journals.
WA--Students will use annotations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I
Have a Dream” and or Patrick Henry's "Speech to the Virginia
Convention" to begin looking at and thinking about argument and
persuasion. Students will examine and discuss a variety of other
speeches available via the internet (americanrhetoric.com).
WA--Students will write and deliver a persuasive or argumentative
speech in class. Students will be provided with a rubric and will
engage in peer review and conferencing with the instructor during the
drafting and revision process.
WA--Students will read Death of a Salesman and view clips from two film
versions (1966, Lee J. Cob, Teleplay & 1985, Dustin Hoffman)which
they will discuss and reflect upon (in writing) focusing on the
concept of adaptation.
WA--Title: My Synthesis Portfolio or How I Learned to Start
Thinking and Love this Stuff
This activity is intended to help students develop their close reading,
analytical, and synthesis skills over the course of the
semester. The culminating activity will be a
research/argument paper using eight to ten of the sources they have
collected. Students will receive this assignment at the
beginning of the semester and work both independently and during class
to complete it. Students will use the time after the AP exam
to complete the final paper.
WA--Students will read and annotate Donald Murray’s “The Stranger in
the Photo Is Me.” After discussion and reflection, students will choose
photographs of their own. Upon selection of the photographs,
students begin to fashion their own memoirs, integrating words and
images. Students will be provided with a rubric and will engage
in peer review and conferencing with the instructor during the drafting
and revision process. After completing the paper, students will
arrange their photos in an appealing visual display and “caption” them
with quotes from their papers. Students will write a reflection on the
experience of writing the “Picture Paper” in their Writing Journals.
The culminating activity will be a “gallery walk” through the photo
displays. *
Timed Writing Practice
Towards the end of the first semester it is time to start practicing
AP® free response essay writing. The first effort is a
collaborative effort—students work in groups of two or three to write
one response to a released item—they will take most of one period
(60-80 minutes). The second time students will complete a timed
writing as homework—students are required to time themselves—they must
complete the essay, but they must mark where they were when the time
was up. Students share their essays and come to consensus as to
the most effective efforts. Then students will review the
released examples of student responses. Hereafter, students will
practice timed writings about once every three weeks.
Multiple Choice Practice
Starting at the end of the third quarter, students will practice
completing AP® multiple choice released items. Much like the essay
practice, students work collaboratively at first and progress to
individual completion. This activity also includes analysis of
released items—questions and answers.
WA--Students will read and annotate The Great Gatsby, F. Scott
Fitzgerald focusing on questions about Fitzgerald’s style and
historical context. In addition, students will watch clips from
two different film versions of The Great Gatsby (Mira Sorvino, 2000 and
Robert Redford, 1974) and write film reviews recommending
one version over the other. For the final activity students will
put on a “thumbs up/thumbs down” style reviewer debate.
WA--Students will prepare a rhetorical analysis of two essays that
share a topic but differ in purpose and style. Students read,
annotate, and prepare a says/does analysis of Linda Thomas’s “Brush
Fire” as well as an excerpt from Joan Didion’s “Los Angeles
Notebook.” In their papers students will demonstrate their
ability to identify and explain the specific rhetorical tactics used by
each author, and to what end they are used. The goal is for
students to demonstrate their understanding of how rhetorical
strategies are used in the service of purpose.
WA--Students will read two groups of essays each centered on a
particular theme or topic. They will engage in close reading,
annotations, reading sheets, and says/does analysis. Once again, the
goal is for students to be able to recognize and explain the rhetorical
differences (as well as differences in style) in the texts given
differing purposes and audiences. The students will review the
essays and decide which group they would like to join. Each group
will work with a cluster of essays, and each group will search for and
select another essay to add to the collection, then each student will
choose three of the essays and write an essay which explores how these
essays intersect with and diverge from each other—how does each author
use language to accomplish his or her goal. All of the selections
come from either the McGraw-Hill Reader or the Norton Reader (except
for the essays chosen by the students). This activity will conclude
with an informal debate where students attempt to persuade the
opposition of the superiority of nature over technology or technology
over nature. *
Students will write a reflection on the experience of writing the
“Nature or Technology Paper” in their Writing Journals.
Grading
Quarter grades will be determined by the number of points earned out of
the total number of points possible. Each assignment will be
worth a given number of points—for example a final draft of a paper may
be worth 100 points, a homework assignment, 25 points In
addition, each marking period the student may earn up to 100 points for
participation—including peer evaluations and writing conferences.
The total number of points available will vary from one marking period
to the next.
The following scale will be used:
94-100 = A
85- 93 = B
75- 84 = C
70- 74 = D
0- 69 = F
I- Incomplete
Please note the following important dates:
Quarter One: Progress Reports—Oct. 2; Quarter Ends—Oct. 30;
Report Cards—Nov. 6.
Quarter Two: Progress Reports—Dec. 4; Semester Ends—Jan. 15;
Report Cards—Jan. 22.
Quarter Three: Progress Reports Feb. 26; Quarter Ends—April 2;
Report Cards—April 9.
Quarter Four: Progress Reports—May 7; scheduled last day of
school—June 14.
Make up Work
If you are absent from school for any reason, contact me AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE to determine what you may have missed. E-mail me, and/or
see me in person. Check the class web page http://msad37.org/nhs/
holub for posted assignments. Please remember that it is YOUR
responsibility to track down any missed assignments. Students
will be given a reasonable amount of time to turn in work (for full
credit) assigned during an absence. Any other assignment not
turned in by the due date will be considered late. Late work will
be accepted and graded at my discretion.
Supplies
Bring these with you EVERY DAY unless otherwise specified. (If you have
difficulty obtaining supplies, please see me privately.)
* three-ring binder
* lined, loose-leaf
paper (no spiral bound or perforated paper, please)
* blue or black pen
and a pencil (no colored ink, or markers used for work submitted
for grading)
* laptop (closed and
sleeping until instructed otherwise)
Rules
Please comply with the rules as stated in the Narraguagus High School
Academic and Social Performance Goals and always treat everyone with
the utmost respect and courtesy. You are expected to behave in a
civil, tolerant, and positive manner at all times. I will strive
to do the same.
* Do not speak when someone else is speaking.
* Enter and leave the room unobtrusively
before and after the bell—no lining up at the door.
* Take advantage of the opportunity to learn
something—do NOT interfere with the learning of others.
* Arrive on time to class with all required
supplies.
Absenteeism
Please do not miss class. Each student is responsible for all
work whether or not he or she is present in class at the time an
assignment is given. Please be advised that athletics and field
trips do not mitigate the student’s responsibility to turn in assigned
work on the day it is due.
Plagiarism/Cheating
Don’t do it. Copied or plagiarized work is unacceptable.
Anyone involved in any capacity in such an activity will receive a
failing grade for that assignment and he or she may incur additional
sanctions as deemed appropriate by the administration.
Extra Help
Ask LOTS of questions during class; if you do not understand something,
chances are another student is having the same problem. It could
be that I did not explain it well enough. You are in charge of
your own learning. Pay attention; make notes (if I write it on
the board or take time to explain something, you should be writing it
down); listen carefully; follow directions; work your brain until it
hurts! If at any time you have concerns or questions, please see
me before or after school, or e-mail me. Please take advantage of
my assistance; I can’t help you if you do not give me the opportunity.
Heading for all collected work: Always place this heading in the
upper right-hand corner of your papers:
Your full name and the period
The date you are turning in the work
The title of the assignment
In addition, work submitted on spiral bound paper, written in anything
other than blue or black ink or pencil, torn, sloppy, or otherwise
carelessly maintained, will not be accepted.
Some Final Thoughts
Please be seated when the bell rings and check the board for your first
assignment of the day. Please do not begin to pack up physically
or shut down mentally until I have informed you that we are through for
the day. I dismiss you; the bell does not. And, most
importantly, please take advantage of this opportunity to improve your
reading, writing and communicating—these essential skills can help make
your dreams come true.
I look forward to learning with you.
Syllabus Subject to Change
* Please see "AP III Year-at-a-Glance for a bibliographic listing of
specific texts.