• AP English Language and Composition Course Overview 23-24

    The AP English Language and Composition course aligns to an introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite evidence to support their arguments. Throughout the course, students develop a personal style by making appropriate grammatical choices. Additionally, students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in non-fiction texts, including images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods.

    Fundamentally, it is a course that deals with the power of written and spoken words. You will be challenged to read and respond to powerful texts, written in a variety of rhetorical modes. In AP Language, you will study rhetoric with an emphasis on speaker, purpose, and audience.

    In order to produce the competent writers and thinkers that college-level classes strive to achieve, this class will “emphasize the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing that forms the basis of academic and professional communication” as well as “enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers” (AP English Course Description 8). Along with the instruction in reading and writing, students will learn how to revise their work, which is an important skill in becoming a self-aware writer.

    Class Expectations

    AP English Language is a college-level course, so students should expect college-level assignments in both quantity and quality. This means there will be significant out-of-class reading required. It is also expected that students entering this class should have a proficient understanding of grammar, spelling, and composition. Deadlines are important, and work should be completed on time.

    • Please be aware that we will cover many challenging articles and texts. Persevere, and keep an open mind. We need to understand that there are complex, nuanced sides to many arguments.  You might not agree with someone, and that is fine. It is your task to learn how to argue your opinions with relevant evidence and rational thought.  You will learn to bolster opinions with facts, examples, and rhetorical techniques.

     

    • Materials

    Three-ring binder (any size)                        

    Paper, pencils, pens

    Highlighters (three colors)

     

    Grading Policies

    Late Work: Any late assignment loses 25 points.  Students may turn in late work until near the end of the quarter (and still lose only 25 points).  The teacher will announce the final deadline for each quarter. 

    Essays, Projects, and Tests –60%

    Students will be expected to produce both in-class essays and out-of-class polished essays. Students will also take tests over reading assignments and be expected to complete AP multiple-choice tests in preparation for the AP Language and Composition Exam.  Students will receive projects with advanced notice. 

    Quizzes, Homework, Classwork - 40%

    This category includes assessments like reading checks, vocabulary quizzes, quick writes, mini-assignments, journal entries, most classwork, and homework.  (There is one classwork grade per quarter that will count as a test grade.)

    Course Plan

    The study in this class will consist of units, which are organized by writing style and thematic content. In learning to be close readers, students will examine the rhetorical structure of the different works using “SOAPSTone” (subject, occasion, audience, purpose, speaker, tone).

    Most importantly, we will learn that analysis is the art of asking “why.”  From this premise we will not only learn how to answer why-questions, we will also (and more importantly) learn how to ask good why-questions.  Remember that an author may choose any word, image, description, event, style, or color—essentially writing is made of infinite choices.  Analysis is the process of examining those choices.  Additionally, we will extend this style of analysis beyond reading and learn to incorporate it in our writing and daily lives as we strive to be critical thinkers.

    Throughout the course we will read nonfiction and work on the three AP prompts.  While we might have a unit devoted to a specific question or concept, that will not be the only time we study that particular concept.    Theoretically (and hopefully in practice) you will look back at the writer and thinker you were in August and marvel at the writer and thinker that you are in May.

    Course Textbook: AP Language and Composition: Bedford - The Language of Composition, Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric, 2nd edition.

     

    You are encouraged to buy your own copies of class novels.  Having your own copy will allow for direct annotation and highlighting.  However, this is just a recommendation.  School copies will be provided to those students who do not purchase copies.  (Naturally, you will not be allowed to make annotations or highlight school copies.)