AP Language and Composition Syllabus

Tecumseh High School: 2014-2015

Mrs. Ripple
sripple@warrick.k12.in.us
www.rippleclass.weebly.com

Course Overview
An 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. Both
their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among
a writers purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic
conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.
The AP Language and Composition course ...enables students to read complex texts
with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to
communicate effectively with mature readers (The College Board).

Students entering this course should be skilled in reading comprehension and in the
use of the Standard English Language. This course will focus on the expansion of
those skills, as well as focusing the students proficiency of rhetoric, argument, and
synthesis. These three skills are essential to obtaining a passing score on the AP
Language and Comprehension Exam in the spring.

This is a college level course, and the workload will reflect this. Students should
expect several hours of homework a week, which will include critical reading and
long-term writing assignments. It is necessary for each student to have access to a
computer for homework. Please make arrangements to borrow one or use an available
one at the library, if you do not already own one.

Teaching Strategies
Summer Reading:
Students are to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and complete an
essay answering the question:
Is the portrayal of Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn offensive and
detrimental to the image of African Americans, OR can this novel be
seen as a promotion of anti-slavery by humanizing Jim?
Students will also complete the following essays:
1) Read Dr. Heideggers Experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Then, write up
to a 1 page response detailing the moral of the story. What lesson is to be
learned from the characters? Give specific examples from the text as evidence
to back up your claim.

2) Read the Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving .Write up to a 1 page
response examining how the mood of the story is conveyed through the
setting. Look at specific choice of words the author uses to describe the
setting. What mood is produced? Give examples of ways it is produced.

3) Read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Write up to a 1
page response analyzing the antagonist of the story. Who is the antagonist? Is
there more than one? What conflicts are they creating for the main character?
Remember, an antagonist does not have to be confined to a human being.

Journals:
Students will keep journals throughout the course of the year. Journals may take
several forms and cover multiple texts.
- Structured Journals
- Dialectical Notes
- Cornell Notes
- Editorials
- Prcis Paragraphs

Research:
Junior year requires a major research paper from the students. This class will fill that
requirement, in addition to several smaller research based writings. This will be a
multi-draft essay focusing on a historical topic found in The Immortal Life of Henrietta
Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. Students will practice how to find specific, reliable
resources from the internet. They will create note cards with quotes and citations. As
a class, we will practice how to cite resources in MLA format and create in-text
citations/works cited pages. Finally, they will take the research, quotes, citations, etc.
and mold it into a concise 5 page essay.

Multi-Draft Essays:
In conjunction with 1
st
draft AP Exam essays, students will be editing and revising
essays to take a final draft form. These essays include:
- Research paper
- Synthesis Essays
- Argument Essays
- Rhetorical Analysis Essays

AP Exam Practice:
This class is specifically designed to prepare students for the AP Language and
Composition Exam. Therefore, we will practice multiple timed essays and multiple
choice questions. We will be using College Board released prompts and multiple
choice questions for preparation.

Critical Reading:
This course will cover numerous non-fiction texts, as well as some fiction novels.
Reading outside of class is a required component of this course.

Discussion:
Our classroom discussions will range from formal Socratic Seminars, to informal
classroom dialogue. Participation in classroom discussion in required.

Rhetorical and Stylistic Analysis:
On a daily basis, we will be studying the following strategies:
- SOAPSTOne (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone)
- OPTIC (Overview, Parts, Title, Interrelationships, Conclusion)
- DIDLS (Diction, Imagery, Details, Language, Syntax)


Visual texts:
Texts are not limited to what is written. We will look at images through the lens of
Rhetorical Appeals, Rhetorical Situations, and how they relate to other texts. During
the 3
rd
quarter, when synthesis is our focus, we will use visual texts as a way to
connect to the theme. OPTIC will be a tool used.

Course Outline
1
st
Quarter: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

Learning Objectives:
The class will begin looking at the summer reading assignments as both a jumping off
point for discussion and as a method to gauge his or her current skills in analysis and
Standard English Language. The first couple weeks will be establishing practices we
will use throughout the year, including close reading, multiple choice scaffolding, and
timed writing. This first quarter will focus on rhetorical analysis and the use of
rhetorical devices. Students will go beyond memorization of terms and instead look
closely at how effective each rhetorical device is in the text. We will be looking at
famous speeches, essays, and excerpts from non-fiction texts to analyze specific
devices.
Readings:
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Summer Reading)
- Dr. Heideggers Experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Summer Reading)
- The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving (Summer Reading)
- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Summer Reading)
- Farewell Speech, July 4, 1939 by Lou Gehrig
- Letter to Phyllis Wright 1936 by Albert Einstein
- 9/11 Speech by George W. Bush
- The Kings Speech September 3, 1939 by King George VI
- from The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria by
Judith Ortiz Cofer
- from Slow-Food Nation by Alice Walker
- from The Checkers Speech 1952by Richard Nixon
- Order of the Day before 1944 D-Day Invasion by General Eisenhower
- Letter to Senator Obama 2008 by Toni Morrison
- Man Takes First Steps on Moon from The Times
- In Event of Moon Disaster by William Safire
- The July 16, 1969 Launch: A Symbol of Mans Greatness by Ayn Rand
- The Santa Ana Winds by Joan Didion
- The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf
- A Night in Casablanca Letter to Warner Bros. by Groucho Marx
- Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961 by John F. Kennedy
- Inside Kennedys Inauguration, 50 Years On by Eleanor Clift
- I Have a Dream, August 28 1963 by Martin Luther King Jr.

Visual Texts
- Death of Rosa Parks by Tom Toles The Washington Post
- Infant Death Prevention Ad 2011 Milwaukee City Health Department
- Transported July 18, 1969 by Herblock The Washington Post
- Inauguration of John F. Kennedy by United States Signal Corps
- Its a Big Fat Juicy Cheeseburger in a Land of Tofu by Dodge Durango

Supplemental resources:
Rhetorical Terms
Logical Fallacies
Aristotles Triangle
Introduction to Rhetoric

In-Class/Writing Activities:
Course expectations and syllabus
Close reading and annotation
Discover rhetorical strategies in readings
Deconstructing Prompts
Journals
Vocabulary
Analytical Essays
Short Essays addressing the readings
In-class Timed Essays addressing AP prompts and archaic prose.

Major Writing Assignment: Write a college admissions essay that addresses the
following prompt: Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, which
marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community,
or family.
Students will practice how to find specific, reliable resources from the internet. As a
class, we will practice how to cite resources in MLA format and create in-text
citations/works cited pages.


2nd Quarter: ARGUMENT ANALYSIS

Learning Objectives:
As we move to the 2
nd
quarter, our focus will shift to argument analysis; however, the
study of rhetorical devises will continue to be the undercurrent of our lessons. With
argument analysis, students will look at differing perspectives on the same argument
and either defend, challenge, or qualify that perspective. Argument analysis will be
used from current editorials to basic moral ponderings. A well-rounded knowledge of
the world is necessary to complete an analysis. We will continue to work with the
multiple choice questions that will be seen on the AP Exam.

Readings:
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- Star Wars Review, 1977 by Roger Ebert
- Right to Vote Editorial, 2004 New York Times
- The Movie That Changed My Life by Terry McMillian
- A Debate About Death Penalty by H. L. Mencken
- Stone Soup by Barbra Kingsolver
- Facebook Friendonomics by Scott Brown
- Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted by Malcolm
Gladwell
- I Want a Wife by Judy Brady
- Offensive Play: How Different Are Dogfighting and Football? by Malcolm
Gladwell
- High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies David Denby
- Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven by Hans Ostrom
- Myths by Andy Warhol

In-Class/Writing Activities:
Vocabulary
Multiple Choice Practice
Journals
Annotations
Socratic Seminars
In-Class Timed Essays
Toulmin Model
Types of Claims: Claim of Fact, Claim of Value, Claim of Policy

Major Writing Assignment: This will be a multi-draft essay focusing on a historical
topic found in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. Students will
practice how to find specific, reliable resources from the internet. They will create
note cards with quotes and citations. As a class, we will practice how to cite resources
in MLA format and create in-text citations/works cited pages. Finally, they will take
the research, quotes, citations, etc. and mold it into a concise 5 page essay.

3rd Quarter: SYNTHESIS

Learning Objectives:
The focus on the 3
rd
quarter will primarily focus on the construction of synthesis
essays. Synthesis essays require taking several sources/outside knowledge and
applying it to a conclusion. Students must be able to critically read each source,
evaluate its content, and use it as evidence to support his or her claim in the essay.
This type of essay requires students to use skills they learned in the rhetorical and
argument analysis, therefore we save it for last. This is the last quarter before students
take the AP Exam, so time will be spent on polishing skills learned in the previous
quarters.

Reading:
Mandatory Community Service
- from Millennials Rising by Neil Howe and William Strauss
- Community Service Mission Statement The Dalton School
- Volunteering Opens Teens Eyes to Nursing Detroit News
- Study: Resume Padding Prevalent in College-Bound Students Who Volunteer by Dennis
Chapman
- The Effects of Mandatory Volunteerism on Intentions to Volunteer by Arthur Stukas,
Mark Snyder, and E. Gil Clary
- from Youth Attitudes toward Civic Education and Community Service Requirements
Mark Hugo Lopez
Affluenza
- Ethics by Aristotle
- The Declaration of Independence
- Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill
- Something is Missing Cartoon by Jim Sizemore
- The Golden Ghetto: They Psychology of Affluence by Jessie H. ONeill
- Money and Class in America by Lewis Lapham
- Wealth by Andrew Carnegie

In-Class Activities:
Vocabulary
Socratic Seminars
Multiple Choice Practice
In-Class timed essays
Synthesis practice

Major Writing Assignment: Students will choose a topic that the AP Exam might
choose for a synthesis prompt. Using reliable web sources, students will construct a
synthesis question using 4 articles, 1 visual text, and 1 data resource. They will
propose the topic and format the articles in the approved template. Students will then
Use these prompts as practice for the exam.


4
th
Quarter: EXAM PREP & THE AMERICAN DREAM

Learning Objectives:
A large portion of the 4th quarter will be reserved for AP Exam preparation. At this
point, students will have learned all the skills required of them on the exam; now they
need to practice. Timed writings and time multiple choice questions will be a daily
occurrence until the exam. Students will be pushed mentally to help them build the
stamina required for a long exam.
After the exam, we will still be working with key concepts learned for the AP exam.
The class is not finished. We will use this as an opportunity to apply language and
composition skills to works of fiction, as our focus has been primarily non-fiction up
until this point. These last few weeks can be seen, not as an end to AP Language and
Composition, but as a preview of AP Literature and Composition.

Readings:
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
In-Class Activities:
Multiple Choice Practice
In-Class timed essays
Fiction Analysis
Socratic Seminars
Vocabulary

Major Writing Assignment: What is the basic American Dream represented in The
Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men? What are the flaws in this dream? Do we still have
the same dreams today?