Course Description and Syllabus

AP Literature and Composition 2014 - 15

Mr. Evans

Readings (selected from):
Bernhard Schlink: The Reader
Jane Austen: Persuasion
William Shakespeare: Hamlet
Brian Friel: Translations
Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Ted Hughes: Tales From Ovid
T. S. Eliot: The Wasteland and Other Poems
Albert Camus: The Stranger
Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot
Nella Larsen: Passing
Toni Morrison: Song of Solomon
Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Various short prose pieces
Various poems by various poets

From the College Board: An AP English Literature and Composition course engages
students in the careful reading and analysis of imaginative literature Reading in an
AP course should be both wide and deep. Students should read works from several
genres and periods from the sixteenth to the twentieth century but more
importantly, they should get to know a few works well. They read deliberately and
thoroughly, taking time to understand a works complexity, to absorb the richness of
its meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form.

So, in our course, we will be building on previous English classes that you have
taken, both in terms of literary reference, but also in terms of formal awareness. We
will, as suggested, read carefully, deliberately, and thoroughly to engage fully with all
the texts assigned, and so enable us to rigorously and vigorously discuss the
richness of meaning offered. In so doing, we will not only be preparing you to
receive college credit through the AP exam, but also participating in a college-style
environment. But more than that, I hope that you reach into each text to draw some
aspect out that you can explore and evaluate to its full depth, and thereby discover
literature as the complex and rewarding animal that it is. An important part of our
class, then, will be the open dialogue between reader and text, and student and
class. Come to class prepared to discuss, to argue, to debate, to enrich the
community.

You will, of course, write essays. You should keep and maintain a portfolio of all
your writings so that we can discuss your writing goals and development as the year
progresses. You should aim to achieve a mature writing style, which the AP
committee characterizes as:

a wide-ranging vocabulary used with denotative accuracy and
connotative resourcefulness;
a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of
subordinate and coordinate constructions;
a logical organization enhanced by specific techniques of coherence
such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis;
a balance of generalizations with specific illustrative detail; and
an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, maintaining a
consistent voice, and achieving emphasis through parallelism and
antithesis.

You will write 45 minute essays both at home and in class. Treat all 45 minutes
essays that you write at home like in class essays that you have not seen before. I
will grade these essays to the 9-point scale used for the AP exam to help you achieve
the above goals. To get you comfortable with AP essay questions, I will draw on
previous exams questions, either based on passages of poetry or prose that will be
unfamiliar to you or from the free-response question.

Here are a few rules:

Come to class; be prompt, responsible, attentive, polite, enthusiastic, and involved in
all that we do. Take notes (I will check notes) that are more than mere underlinings.

Come to class with all appropriate materials book, paper, and pen. Not doing so
will harm your participation grade.

When reading, engage with the texts: take notes (I will check your texts for evidence
of reading and of engagement) that will be useful when you review the book for
discussion. These notes will also help you for any open-book quizzes I may give.

Handwrite all take-home 45 minute essays, which will constitute your homework
for that night. Treat these essays like you would an essay in class.

For in-class essays you must use blue or black ink only. No pencil.

You must type all other written work assigned for you to complete at home, such as
creative assignments, individual paragraphs, or research papers. For analytical
work, follow MLA format for citations etc. I expect you to know how to cite in the
MLA style.

You must actively, thoughtfully, and, as far as possible, creatively engage with the
questions and prompts posted once a week on the class Weebly site. Your postings
will not only be graded but also begin to help you think out your reactions and
responses to the texts that we read.



For written work, you must:

Submit all typed take home essays to turnitin.com by the assigned time, and bring a
hard copy to class the next day.

Submit all typed work to Dropbox by the time assigned.

If you are going to miss the class on the day that any long term assignment is due,
submit the essay to turnitin.com by the time due but bring a hard copy of the essay
to the next class that you attend.

Ensure that you submit these essays to turnitin.com by the time due if you miss
the deadline by even one minute, your grade will lose 10% of the available points.

Papers not printed at the beginning of class will lose 5% of the available points.

Keep copies of all papers, in a cloud, on a disk, on a thumb drive, in case of
printer/computer collapse. BUT handing me a disk, thumb drive, etc. is not an
acceptable form of submitting work.

Print on straight-edged paper, double-spaced, with one inch margins on all pages
MLA format

For handwritten work, write in blue or black ink only: pencil is not acceptable.

Carefully proofread what you have written: spelling and grammatical errors will
damage the mark that you receive for that piece of work.

Do not plagiarize. Plagiarized papers will receive no marks. Plagiarism is the
unacknowledged use of another writers words or ideas. If you use someone elses
words or ideas without giving that writer any credit, you are performing academic
theft, an act which can bring devastating results. For more information on
plagiarism, refer to the Parent/Student Handbook.

College Visits:

Students making visits to colleges of interest to them are responsible for turning in
any long term assignments due during their absence either the day before their
departure or the day of their return to class. You should make known to me any
such absences at least one week before you leave, preferably through email. All
homework (reading, writing, etc.) must be completed during these absences and
handed in (if necessary) the day of your return. You should schedule make-up work
for any in-class tests, essays, etc. for within three days of your return.


Grading:

Your semester grade will be broken down into three parts:

Each quarter is worth 40% of your whole mark. Each quarter grade will be
based upon the following breakdown, which may vary from quarter to
quarter:
Essays: 35%
Multiple-choice tests: 25%
Quizzes 20%
Participation: 20%

The category Essays and Tests includes, but is not limited to: in-class and at-home
45-minute essays, research papers, and creative projects. Research papers will be
weighted twice to reflect the extra work involved in their completion. AP-style
essays will be graded on the College Boards 9-point scale, attached below.

The category Multiple-choice tests is self-evident. These tests will be curved
depending on class performance.

The category Quizzes includes, but is not limited to: short writing assignments in
class, pop reading check quizzes, and literary devices quizzes.

The category Participation includes, but is not limited to assessments on:
constructive or destructive classroom behavior, postings to online communities, and
engagement in the reading and writing process.

At the end of the first semester there will be a final exam, which constitutes 20% of
the whole mark for the semester. There may be a final exam in the second semester
if students have not been keeping up with the work.

I will strive to return written tests and essays within one week and post the grades
after you have received the feedback on the manuscript.

If you need to contact me, the best way is through email at: jevans@buckley.org.
When sending an email, please observe professional letter writing courtesies.

I am also usually going to be available during B, E and F periods as well as during
office hours. Please try to schedule a meeting a day or so in advance. Thank you.

Use of Technology in the Classroom

Using a phone, iPad, or laptop during class is a privilege not a right. Students are
encouraged to use technology but ONLY when the instructor allows it and ONLY in the
ways specified by the instructor. Students may ONLY use software programs that help
accomplish learning objectives. The Internet may ONLY be used in ways deemed
appropriate by the instructor. The camera functions of the iPad are also ONLY to be
used with the instructors permission. Absolutely forbidden at all times: photographing
other students or the teacher without permission; use of any messenger software such as
iChat, AIM or Yahoo Messenger; and checking email. This includes BUCKLEY E-
MAILunless permission is given. This policy is in effect whenever iPads or laptops are
in use in the classroom. Failure to follow the classroom policy will result in a reduction
of your class participation grade and may include other consequences. There are no
warnings; restrictions on the use of iPads or laptop computer may be imposed by the
school or the instructor for disregarding these rules.
AP Literature Rubric

9-8
These well-focused and persuasive essays address the prompt directly and in a convincing
manner. An essay scored a 9 demonstrates exceptional insight and language facility. An essay scored
an 8 or a 9 combines adherence to the topic with excellent organization, content, insight, facile use of
language, mastery of mechanics, and an understanding of the essential components of an effective
essay. Literary devices and/or techniques are not merely listed, but the effect of those devices
and/or techniques is addressed in context of the passage, poem, or novel as a whole. Although not
without flaws, these essays are richly detailed and stylistically resourceful, and they connect the
observations to the passage, poem, or novel as a whole. Descriptors that come to mind while reading
this essay include: mastery, sophisticated, complex, specific, consistent, and well-supported.

7-6
These highly competent essays comprehend the task set forth by the prompt and respond to it
directly, although some of the analysis may be implicit rather than explicit. The 7 essay is in many
ways a thinner version of the 9-8 paper in terms of discussion and supporting details, but it is still
impressive, cogent, and generally convincing. It may also be less well-handled in terms of
organization, insight, or vocabulary. Descriptors that come to mind while reading these essays
include: demonstrates a clear understanding but is less precise and less well-supported than a 9-8
paper. These essays demonstrate an adherence to the task, but deviate from course on occasion. The
mechanics are sound, but may contain a few errors which may distract but do not obscure
meaning. Although there may be a few minor misreadings, the inferences are for the most part
accurate with no significant sustained misreadings. An essay that scores a 6 is an upper-half paper,
but it may be deficient in one of the essentials mentioned above. It may be less mature in thought or
less well-handled in terms of organization, syntax or mechanics. The analysis is somewhat more
simplistic than found in a 7 essay, and lacks sustained, mature analysis.

5
These essays may be overly simplistic in analysis, or rely almost exclusively on paraphrase rather
than specific, textual examples. These essays may provide a plausible reading, but the analysis is
implicit rather than explicit. These essays might provide a list of literary devices present in the
literature, but make no effort to discuss the effect that these devices have on the poem, passage, or
novel as a whole. Descriptors that come to mind when reading include: superficial, vague, and
mechanical. The language is simplistic and the insight is limited or lacking in development.

4-3
These lower-half essays compound the problems found in the 5 essay. They often demonstrate
significant sustained misreadings, and provide little or no analysis. They maintain the general idea of
the writing assignment, show some sense of organization, but are weak in content, maturity of
thought, language facility, and/or mechanics. They may distort the topic or fail to deal adequately
with one or more important aspects of the topic. Essays that are particularly poorly written may be
scored a 3. Descriptors that come to mind while reading include: incomplete, oversimplified, meager,
irrelevant, and insufficient.

2-1
These essays make an attempt to deal with the topic but demonstrate serious weakness in content
and coherence and/or syntax and mechanics. Often, they are unacceptably short. They are poorly
written on several counts, including numerous distracting errors in mechanics, and/or little clarity,
coherence, or supporting evidence. Wholly vacuous, inept, and mechanically unsound essays should
be scored a 1.

0
A zero is given to a response with no more than a passing reference to the task.
AP Literature Essay Grade Converter
9 100
8 95
7 89
6 83
5 77
4 71
3 65
2 59
1 50
0 0


AP Literature Multiple-Choice Grade Converter

Original Percentage Converted Score/100
90 100 100
85 89 95
80 84 90
75 79 88
70 74 86
65 69 84
60 64 82
55 59 80
50 54 77
45 49 74
40 44 70
35 39 67
30 34 64

25 29 60

20 24 55

0 19 50