AP Language and Composition

Course Narrative: Students in this introductory college-level course read and carefully analyze a broad and challenging range of nonfiction prose selections, deepening their awareness of rhetoric and how language works. Through close reading and frequent writing, students develop their ability to work with language and text with a greater awareness of purpose and strategy, while strengthening their own composing abilities. Course readings feature expository, analytical, personal, and argumentative texts from a variety of authors and historical contexts. Students examine and work with essays, letters, speeches, images, and imaginative literature. Featured authors include Mary Roach, Byron Stevenson, Aristotle, William Pope, John Milton, Truman Capote, Dan Rather, Greg Lukianoff, and Steven Greenblatt. Summer reading and writing are required. Students prepare for the AP® English Language and Composition Exam and may be granted advanced placement, college credit, or both as a result of satisfactory performance.

Course Learning Objectives: The general learning objectives are informed by the AP English Language and Composition scoring components as listed in the AP English Language and Composition Course Description.

Students will be required to write essays in a variety of forms including narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative styles. Essay topics will also tackle a variety of issues including, but not limited to, environmental and ethical concerns, popular culture’s influence on the Western mind, educational policies, and personal experiences. Students will be expected to master a variety of prose styles and genres.
Students will be required to master the drafting and revision process. Students will write routinely, producing multiple drafts, as they work to consistently improve their techniques through focused composition workshops, peer revision sessions, and conferences with the instructor.
Students will maintain portfolios for drafts and informal writing exercises. Students will respond to nonfiction texts, literature, their own writing, and the writing of their peers. Portfolios will be used to reflect upon an author’s purpose and style. Students will be encouraged to generate ideas, imitate rhetorical styles, and attempt new modes of expression.

Grading System: Students will be evaluated for their mastery of grammar, rhetoric, style, vocabulary, revision strategies, speaking and listening skills, and comprehension. Students are expected to write daily and add new material to their portfolios by the end of each class. Over the course of the school year, students will revise at least four drafts from their portfolios. In addition to these assignments, students will produce one major summative essay at the end of each marking period. Students will demonstrate comprehension and proficiency by completing AP practice exams, vocabulary quizzes, and reading checks.

We will use a point-based system in this class. Points will be adjusted to correspond with the difficulty of assignments that fall into the following categories:

Minor/rough draft compositions, homework, classwork
Major/revised compositions
Quizzes, tests, symposiums, and projects

Daily Assignments: Daily tasks include grammar practice, informal quick-writes, annotated passages, close reading/rhetoric charts, outlines, research, drafts, peer editing sessions, vocabulary exercises, timed writing tasks, and essay preparation. Some of the daily assignments will be placed in the writing portfolios. Others will be collected for immediate assessment.

Writing Assignments: Students will be assessed on each stage of the writing process. Students will produce a number of rough drafts that will be placed in their writing portfolios. Each marking period, through a combination of self-editing, peer-editing, and conferencing, students will revise at least one rough draft of their choice. Final drafts will be typed and submitted to turnitin.com.

Tests & Quizzes

Each marking period, students will take two graded AP English Language and Composition practice exams. Students will use the assessments to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The essay portion of the exam will be graded according to the scoring guidelines provided by the College Board. Data will be collected and stored for the purpose of remediation.
Quizzes will be used to assess each student’s ability to identify rhetorical devices, elements of style, argumentation, and theme. Students will also complete regular reading comprehension quizzes to prove that they read and understood the assigned texts. Vocabulary and grammar quizzes will be implemented on a bi-weekly basis.

Course Materials:

Aufses R., Pankiewicz M., Scantlon L., Shea R. The Language of Composition. Third Edition, 2018. Print.
Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy. New York. Spiegel & Grau. 2015
Roach, Mary. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. New York. W.W. Norton & Company. 2003

Essential Questions:

How do writers utilize rhetoric as a means of effective persuasion?
How do writers use the different modes of writing to address a variety of rhetorical situations?
What are effective strategies for decoding different types of text?
How do writers construct effective arguments?
How do style, diction, word choice, and tone affect meaning?
Why are drafting and revision important to successful writing?
What does effective research look like?
How do writers synthesize sources into an informed argument?
What rhetorical strategies do artists employ in the creation of art, music, film, literature, and poetry?

Unit 1: Introduction to Rhetoric and Theories of Writing

Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicolas Carr
Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott
The Allegory of a Cave by Plato
The Decline of Grammar by Geoffrey Nunberg
Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully – In 10 Minutes by Stephen King
Reading to Write by Stephen King
Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass
Learning to Read by Malcolm X
On Keeping a Notebook by Joan Didion

Unit 2: Close Reading, Rhetorical Analysis, and Analyzing Arguments

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
How it Feels to be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston
People and Peace, Not Profits and War by Shirley Chisholm (Model)
“People and Peace, Not Profits and War” by Milutin Gjaja
2016 Concession Speech by Hilary Clinton (Rhetorical Analysis Essay) *
Star Wars by Robert Ebert
The C Word in the Hallways by Anna Quindlen
Felons and the Right to Vote by The NY Times Editorial Board
On Being a Cripple by Nancy Mairs
The Ways We Lie by Stephanie Ericsson

Unit 3: Education

In Defense of a Liberal Education by Fareed Zakaria (Argumentative Essay) *
“A Talk to Teachers” by James Baldwin
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Independent Writing Task (Students will have two weeks to complete this assignment): How do popular movies depict life in high school? Choose one – maybe even an old movie – and explain what you’d think of high school based on the film. Possibilities include 10 Things I Hate about You, The Breakfast Club, Bring it On, Clueless, Cooley High, Dead Poets Society, Easy A, Friday Night Lights, Grease, Mean Girls, The Principal, Rushmore, To Sir, with Love, Freedom Writers, and Lean on Me.
The Education of Women by Daniel Defoe
My Friend, the Former Muslim Extremist by Nicholas Kristof
Have we Lost Sight of the Promise of Public Schools by Nikole Hannah – Jones
What I Learned: A Sentimental Education from Nursery School through Twelfth Grade by Roz Chast
(Synthesis Essay Based on the Excerpts Below) *
Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education by Horace Mann (271 – 273 Language and Comp)
Let Teenagers Try Adulthood (274 – 275 Language and Comp)
Meditation in Schools Across America (276 Language and Comp)
Why We Desperately Need to Bring Back Vocational Training in Schools by Nicholas Wyman
What America Can Learn from Smart Schools in Other Countries by Amanda Ripley
How High Schools are Demolishing the Classroom by Leslie Nguyen – Okwu
We Will Pay High School Students to Go to School And We Will Like it by Brentin Mock
This High School Wants to Revolutionize Learning with Technology by Amy Rolph

Unit 4: Pop Culture

Hip Hop Planet by James McBride (Argumentative Essay) *
Corn-Pone Opinions by Mark Twain (Timed Multiple Choice Assessment) *
The Affluence of Despair by Ray Bradbury
High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies by David Denby
Have Superheroes Killed the Movie Star? By Angelica Jade Bastien
Nobel Prize Banquet Speech by Bob Dylan
“A Hard Rain is A-Gonna Fall” and “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan (Rhetorical Analysis of One Song) *
(Synthesis or Argumentative Essay Based on the Excerpts Below) *
The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills
Dr. Clooney, I Presume? A Map of the Celebrity Recolonization of Africa by Dave Gilson
West Memphis Three: Internet Campaign, Hollywood Drove Their Release by Brad Knickerbocker
Why Celebrity Activism Does More Harm Than Good by Andres Jimenez
Jim Carry, Please Shut Up about Vaccines by Jeffery Kluger
Who Really Benefits from Celebrity Activism? By Georgia Cole, Ben Radley, and Jean-Benoit Falisse
Beyoncé and Why Celebrity Activists Matter by Joshua Ostroff
Should Athletes Stick to Sports? By Jay Caspian Kang

Unit 5: The Environment – 8 Classes

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Excerpt from The Road by Cormac McCarthy
“A Fable for Tomorrow” by Rachel Carson (Creative Rewrite) *
Excerpt from Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Timed Multiple Choice Assessment) *
Natural Man by Lewis Thomas (One Page Rhetorical Analysis) *
The Clan of the One-Breasted Woman by Terry Tempest Williams
A Moral Atmosphere by Bill McKibben
Why Science is So Hard to Believe by Joel Achenbach
(Synthesis or Rhetorical Analysis Essay Based on the Excerpts Below) *
Unhappy Meals by Michal Pollan
The Locavore Myth by James McWilliams
The Carnivore’s Dilemma by Nicolette Hahn Niman
Let Them Eat Dog by Jonathan Safran Foer
A Good Food Manifesto for America by Will Allen
Waste Not by Aliza Eliazarov
Could Insects Be the Wonder Food of the Future? By Emily Anthes
Lab-Grown Meat May Save a Lot More Than Farm Animals’ Lives by Bahar Gholipour

Unit 6: Gender

In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens by Alice Walker (Argumentative Essay) *
Excerpt from Professions for Women by Virginia Woolf (Timed Multiple Choice Assessment) *
I Want a Wife by Judy Brady
Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space by Brent Staples
Losing My Religion for Equality by Jimmy Carter
Why I’m not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto by Jessa Crispin
Feminism is for Everybody by Bell Hooks
Why Wonder Woman Is a Masterpiece of Subversive Feminism by Zoe Williams
(Synthesis Essay Based on the Excerpts Below) *
Marlboro Man by Leonard McCombe
Being a Man by Paul Theroux
The Myth of Male Decline: The Roots of Men and Trauma by Stephanie Coontz
Toxic Masculinity is Killing Men by Kali Holloway
The Perils of Being Manly by Roberto A. Ferdman
The Hard, Adrenaline-Soaked Truth about “Toxic Masculinity” by Frank Miniter
The Man Trap by Emily Bobrow
Talking to Boys the Way We Talk to Girls by Andrew Reiner

Unit 7: Justice

Between the World and Me by Ta – Nehisi Coates (Argumentative Essay) *
Excerpt from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (Timed Multiple Choice Assessment) *
Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix vs. Injustice Leading Greed and Opportunity by Sandow Birk
(Rhetorical Comparison/Rating Based on the Speeches Below) *
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy
Statement on United States Immigration and Refugee Policy by Roland Reagan
Remarks by the President at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches by Barack Obama
Justice and the Passion for Vengeance by Robert C. Solomon
Hellhole by Atul Gawande
American Notes for General Circulation by Charles Dickens
The Irrationality of Natural Life Sentences by Jennifer Lackey
Why Corrupt Bankers Avoid Jail by Patrick Radden Keefe
(Synthesis Essay Based on the Excerpts Below) *
Should Neo-Nazis Be Allowed Free Speech? By Thane Rosenbaum
No, There’s no “Hate Speech” Exception to the First Amendment by Eugene Volokh
Free Speech Is the Most Effective Antidote to Hate Speech by Sean Stevens and Nick Phillips
Free Speech Isn’t Always Valuable: That’s Not the Point by Lata Nott
The Case for Restricting Hate Speech
Free Speech by Signe Wilkinson

Unit 8: Money

Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich
Scratch Beginnings by Adam W. Shepard
Excerpt from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift (Timed Multiple Choice Assessment) *
The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie
“A Christmas Reminder” by Puck Magazine
On Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner
The Singer Solution to World Poverty by Peter Singer
Human Requirements and Division of Labour Under the Rule of Private Property by Karl Marx
(Quote-Driven Argumentative Essay) *
(Synthesis Essay Based on the Excerpts Below) *
Make the First Two Years of College Free: A Cost-Effective Way to Expand Access to Higher Education in America by Sara Goldrick-Rab and Nancy Kendall
The Case Against Free College by Matt Bruenig
The Value of a College Education and The Effect of Student Loan Debt on Major Life Decisions (graphs) by Gallup, Inc.
Make College Free for All by Bernie Sanders
The Argument for Tuition-Free College by Keith Ellison
No Way That Going to College Can, or Should Be, Free by Thomas Sowell
If Free College Really Free? By Anya Kamenetz

Unit 9: Community/Independent Book Study

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
On Compassion by Barbara Lazear Ascher
National Prejudices by Oliver Goldsmith
Raised to Leave: Some Thoughts on “Culture” by Lee Smith
Why I’m Moving Home by J.D. Vance
A GoFundMe Campaign is Not Health Insurance by Ted Closson
(Synthesis Essay Based on the Excerpts Below) *
Curbing Online Abuse Isn’t Impossible. Here’s Where We Start by Laura Hudson
Online Harassment (Graph) by Pew Research Center
Online Forums Are a Lifetime for Isolated Parents of Disabled Children by Emma Sterland
Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age by Sven Birkerts
How the Internet is Uniting the World by Dex Torricke – Barton
Companions of My Heart: On Making Friends on the Internet by Daniel Mallory Ortberg
Is Social Media Disconnecting Us from the Big Picture? By Jenna Wortham
The Constant Sharing Is Making Us Competitive and Depressed by Emerson Csorba

Informal Writing:

Students will maintain a writing portfolio. The portfolio will contain a checklist that describes all of the required components, which include rhetorical analysis organizers, grammar worksheets, vocabulary terms and definitions, informal written reflections, timed writing assignments, rough draft essays, peer evaluation sheets, revised papers, and writing workshop handouts. Students will conference with the instructor twice per marking period. Portfolios will be assessed during each conference.
At times, students will be given a thesis statement generated by the teacher. The thesis statement could be connected to unit reading or a contemporary article. Students are then expected to formulate a paragraph supporting this thesis statement. Students are encouraged to generate their own ideas and reasoning.
Students will be responsible for producing a bi-weekly post in the Discussion Board. The post will serve as an open forum for student writing. In some cases, students will be responsible for responding to an Article of the Week. In other cases, students will have the option of producing personal narratives, responding to current events, or reviewing a product, restaurant, TV show, or event. The Discussion Board is maintained by the students but is actively monitored by the teacher. Students are required to leave constructive feedback to two peers by using the blog’s comment feature.

Writing Workshops:

For each major writing assignment, students will be expected to participate in a writing workshop. Writing workshops will serve three functions: (1) serve as an idea space for brainstorming and developing arguments; (2) provide a forum for peer editing exercises; and (3) allow for the evaluation of student work based upon assignment rubrics. While initially led by the teacher, students will be expected to run the workshops independently by the second marking period.

Writing workshops start with mini-lessons on some element of the writing process. These mini-lessons will focus upon vocabulary development, sentence structure, organization, use of evidence, and effective use of rhetoric. Mini-lessons could take the form of direct instruction, modeling exercises, close readings, or guided experimentation. Each lesson represents an ongoing effort to improve student writing. Lectures are recorded and stored on the classroom website to be accessed by students at any time.

Vocabulary development lessons could include but are not limited to lessons based upon using academic vocabulary in context, avoiding clichés, slang, and knowing synonyms to avoid repetition.
Sentence structure lessons could include but are not limited to lessons based upon compound sentences, complex sentences, compound-complex sentences, use of subordinate clauses, appositives, correct integration of quotations, and appropriate use of non-standard sentence structures.
Organization lessons could include but are not limited to lessons based upon rhetorical structures, logical organization, and the use of transitional devices.
Use of evidence lessons could include but are not limited to lessons based upon claims, appeals, general and specific details, and argumentative modes.
Effective rhetoric lessons could include but are not limited to lessons based upon clarity, changes in audience, and maintain a consistent voice, and emphasis via sentence structure.

Teacher delivers formative feedback throughout the drafting, revising, and submission process. Once rough drafts are completed, students must implement feedback for their final draft. Students must provide evidence of revision upon their final draft.
When commenting upon individual drafts, the teacher will maintain a list of key concerns for each writing assignment. This list is then handed to the students to be discussed during the writing workshops.

Contemporary Connections

Students will be expected to read Articles of the Week throughout the unit. These contemporary readings will connect either thematically or contextually to unit texts. Students will perform a SPACE CAT analysis for each outside reading. On occasion, study groups will be formed, and each group will be responsible for selecting an article for the rest of the class to respond to. Students making the selection will submit a completed questionnaire and written reflection that speaks to the merits of the peace.

Vocabulary

Students will be given a packet of containing a mix of SAT, academic, and unit vocabulary. Students are quizzed weekly on their ability to identify the word in context and use it in an original sentence.

Regular Assessments

Reading Quizzes: Students are given a quiz on most readings that are conducted outside of class. Quizzes designed to assess student comprehension and application of reading strategies.
Vocabulary Quizzes: Students will be expected to have a firm grasp on unit vocabulary. Vocabulary is gleaned from textbook readings as well as unit specific vocabulary.
Grammar Quizzes: Students will engage in a variety of grammar exercises over the course of the unit. Students will be assessed on these concepts when relevant.
Summative Essays: Students will revise at least one essay per marking period. These essays will carry a higher point value than the rough drafts in their portfolios.

Summer Reading:

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement by Jean Twenge
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt