Department Objective Focus: Fostering inquiry and helping students develop strong questioning skills and annotating skills when reading and responding to texts

Course Description

“AP English Language is a rigorous course, emphasizing expository writing and critical reading, with the majority of the curriculum drawn from American literature. Writing assignments include in-class timed writings and out-of-class essays. The analysis of many forms of literature (i.e., nonfiction essays, reflective essays, letters, etc.) focuses on how authors use language and literary devices to inform or persuade. The literature at this grade level focuses on the belief in the significance of the individual and the struggle to maintain individuality reflected in American writing and culture. Students also continue to work on grammar and vocabulary development. Since this is an Advanced Placement course, university credit may be available to students who pass the AP Language examination.” –AP Language Guide

Objectives:

All students taking this course are expected to take the AP Language and Composition exam in May. Upon completing the AP English Language and Composition course, students should be able to

• analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques
• apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing
• create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience
• write for a variety of purposes
• produce expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary sources, cogent explanations, and clear transitions
• demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in their own writings
• demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary sources
• move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review.
• write thoughtfully about their own process of composition
• revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience
• analyze image as text"

     --AP Language Guide

Course Topics:

Language and Identity

Summer Reading Texts:
     The Road from Coorain, Jill Ker Conway
     Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Richard Rodriguez
     A Hope in the Unseen, Ron Suskind
     Additional essays, including:
          "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan
           Excerpt from Under the Eye of the Clock, Christopher Nolan

Focus:

• What is meant by the term "rhetoric"?
• How does knowing the rhetorical situation contribute to our understanding of texts?
• How does language contribute to our sense of identity?
• How do authors use the appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos to present an argument.

Description and Narration: Perception and Epiphany

     Excerpt from The Road From Coorain, Jill Ker Conway
     “The Way to Rainy Mountain,” N. Scott Momaday
     “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White
     “A Hanging,” George Orwell (model)
     “A Swimming Lesson,” Jewelle Gomez
     “The Chase,” Annie Dillard
     “Gun Crazy,” Dorothy Allison
     “Salvation,” Langston Hughes
     “The Pie,” Gary Soto
     “Nor Poor, Just Broke,” Dick Gregory
     Selected visuals

Focus:

• How does a writer use imagery, figurative language, and descriptive diction to create an effect?
• How does knowing the rhetorical situation contribute to our understanding of the texts?
• What epiphany is conveyed through the text’s purpose?

Advertising and Our Culture

Essays, Excerpts, Etc.

• “What is the Good Life?” David G. Myers
• Excerpt from Born to Buy, Juliet B. Schor
• “Why I Hate Britney,” Nisey Williams
• “Devastating Beauty,” Teal Pfeifer
• “The Fat Tax: A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Rauch
• Selected advertisements and images

Focus:

• What is visual rhetoric and how are images used as arguments?
• How do advertisers use logos, pathos, and ethos effectively?
• What is “culture” and how may we “read” cultural artifacts?
• How is satire and humor used to effectively present a claim?
• What are claims, warrants, and data (the Toulmin approach) and how do we use this to evaluate and write arguments?

The Great Gatsby: Selling the American Dream

     The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

     Additional texts on the American Dream and patriotism, including:
     “A Model of Christian Charity” (City on a Hill), John Winthrop
     “I Have a Dream,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
     “The Declaration of Independence,” Thomas Jefferson
     “A Patriotic Left,” Michael Kazin
     “A Nation Worth Defending,” William J. Bennett
     Selected visuals for rhetorical analysis 

Focus:

• How does Fitzgerald use language, including the methods of description and narration, to present a critical commentary on American life?
• How has rhetoric shaped our views of what it is to be an American?
• What can we learn from analyzing different sides of an issue?

Main Text

Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. New York: Bedford/St. Martin, 2004

Reteaching/Reassessing Policy:

Students will be reassessed on assignments as determined by the AP Language team. Students will be informed ahead of time when an assignment may be reassessed. Finally, students must show evidence as determined by the teacher and team that they have made an attempt to relearn the material before taking the reassessment. Examples of that evidence include, but are not limited to

• Coming to the teacher for extra help
• Attending TAP
• Completing practice assignments
• Making corrections on the original assessment/assignment.

Reassessment must be done in a timely fashion according to a schedule determined by the teacher and team. The reassessed grade will replace the original grade.

Course Grading Criteria

Your grade will be based on an assessment of the work that you complete inside and outside of class. Please refer to the MCPS Grading and Reporting Policy featured on the B-CC web page for more specifics. Your grade for each quarter will be determined based upon the total number of points earned for all assignments divided by the total number of available points. Homework completion will count as 10% of your grade. All other assignments will count as 90% of your grade. Other assignments include:
     • Papers
     • AP-Style Timed Writings and Tests
     • Position Papers, Proposals, and Quizzes
     • Presentations and Graded Homework

Grading Policy

Final marking period grades in this course will be determined on a percentage basis.

A=90-100%
B=80-89%
C=70-79%
D=60-69%
E=50-59%

Absences:

Attendance is mandatory and necessary for success in this class. Please e-mail me if there is an issue. If a student is absent the day an assignment is due and the student had knowledge of the assignment, the assignment is due the day the student returns.

I allow students to make up missed assignments equal to the number of days of the legitimate absence. Failure to complete work in the allotted time will result in a failing grade for all missing assignments.

Late penalty:

One letter grade will be deducted for an essay that is passed in after the due date and by the deadline. An assignment passed in after the deadline must be approved by the teacher and may receive only 50% credit.

Academic Dishonesty
This applies to both written work and oral presentations. Examples of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to, the following: the willful giving or receiving of an unauthorized text, unfair, dishonest, or unscrupulous advantage in academic work over other students using fraud, duress, deception, theft, trickery, talking, signs, gestures, copying, or any other methodology.

Plagiarism:

• Submitting or presenting another person's work as your own without proper documentation, including downloaded information from the Internet and lab data.
• Using another student's material without prior approval.

• Giving or receiving information during a test, quiz, and/or class work assignment without teacher authorization.
• Using hand signals, gestures, and the like during tests or quizzes to obtain/give information.
• Using unauthorized materials during a test or quiz.