AP English Language and Composition Course Guide

133 Pages·2012·1.54 MB·English

Advanced Placement
English Language and Composition
Course Guide

North Salem Middle / High School

Mr. Popken
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Advanced Placement English Language and Composition
Mr. David Popken
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Table of Contents
I. Course Syllabus
Course Overview 4
Grading Policy 6
Course Planner 7
II. On Reading
Pedagogical Approach 15
Vocabulary Program
Texts and Resources 18
• Test Debate / Analysis 19
The Process
Sample Conceptual Exam 21
Test Analysis Exemplar
23
Rationale and Research
24
AP English Language Literary /Rhetorical Devices Handbook 27
III. On Writing
Pedagogical Approach 53
• Modes of Writing
Formal Essays
Research Papers
Blogs

Journals
54
College Essays Final Project 55
AP English Language and Composition Writing Manual 57
Student Writing Portfolios 103
IV. AP English Language and Composition Exam
Overview 119
North Salem AP English Examination Scores 120
Multiple Choice Strategies 122
Sample Multiple Choice Passage and Questions 133
Sample Free Response Questions 140
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Course Syllabus
D. Popken
North Salem High School
914.669.5414 ext. 2196
[email protected]
http://nsenglish.wikispaces.com

Course Overview
This college course concentrates on the art of prose writing in a variety of forms on
variety of subjects, with a specific emphasis on the study and writing of analytic or
persuasive essays on nonliterary topics.

According to The College Board, upon completing the Language and Composition
course, students should be able to:
• Analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining
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 […]
• Demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as
stylistic maturity in their own writings;
• Move effectively through 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 work to make it suitable for a different audience
• Analyze image as text; and
• Evaluate and incorporate reference documents into research papers
(Source: Advanced Placement Program Course Description:
English-May 2007, May 2008)

Course reading and writing activities are designed to achieve the course objectives
outlined above. Our overarching goals, however, are much broader. The AP curriculum
lends itself well to a conceptual approach to literary and rhetorical analysis and
explication. Improving critical thinking and the ability to articulate effectively does not
occur through lecture, rote memorization, formulaic short-cuts, or any other such
“saccharine advice,” as Dr. Richard Vogel refers to it in the introduction to the 6th edition
of Multiple Choice & Free Response Questions in Preparation for the AP English
Language & Composition Examination.

Students should expect to engage in close-reading, rhetorical analysis and debate
concerning ambiguities to discern author’s intent. But students should also expect to
recognize parallels, analogize if you will, for the sake of a more comprehensive and
reflective understanding of the significance of the texts and the ideas contained therein to
the student’s perception of her/himself and the world in which we live.
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Thus we embrace our school district vision statement, to “produce motivated and
competent learners, capable of solving the intellectual, emotional, and ethical problems
they encounter, and of reaching their personal goals.”
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Grading:

Category Percentage of Grade
Writing: assignments include in-class
essays and formal research papers.

(Writing must follow tenets of formal,
standard English – revision of initial draft
40%
is expected.) Task specific AP rubrics will
be used to assess in-class essays. Research
paper rubric is attached.

Test Analysis/Test Debate: Examinations
follow the three part process to support

conceptual understanding of the textual
themes, critical thinking skills and
40%
metacognition. The process uses
sophisticated multiple-choice questions
patterned after questions used to assess
students on the AP exam.

Classwork (Blogs, Journals, Abbreviated
Writing Assignments): these shorter

reflective writing assignments require
students to draw conclusions, weigh and
20%
comment on the assertions of their
classmates, and make connections between
themes studied and the outside world.
(Rubrics used to grade these assignments
are attached)
* A College Essays Project will serve as the final examination grade for the course.
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Course Planner

*Of note: Preparation for the Advanced Placement Examination in English Language and Composition
will be interspersed throughout the school year. While our emphasis will be placed on curricular goals that
reflect student-growth and development as readers, writers, and critical thinkers, we must acknowledge and
prepare for the examination that reflects these objectives. In the interest of coherency, AP exam
preparation will be defined as a singular unit of study when the greatest attention is placed upon it, just
prior to the AP exam in May.

First Quarter

Into the Wild: An Introduction to Narrative Technique
(Weeks 1-5)
Krakauer's haunting tale detailing Chris McCandless's odyssey across the continental
United States and ultimately to Alaska is not only a great story, but it also a wonderful
exemplar of narrative technique.

Rife with historical, literary, and cultural allusions, as well as Krakauer's anecdotes
chronicling the investigation into McCandless's life and death and the self reflection it
inspired, Into the Wild is an evocative look at the adventurous, ambitious, and idealistic
spirit that is unique to the American identity.

Krakauer notes in the Author's Note preceding the novel that reader response to the initial
article, published in Outside Magazine, was "sharply divergent": "Some readers admired
the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a
reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity [...]."

• Research and discussion concerning the composition, publication, and initial
reaction to Krakauer’s novel with particular emphasis on the debate concerning
the central character’s motivation, actions, fate, and lasting impression
• Close reading and analysis of the rhetorical techniques used to achieve author’s
purpose in the novel
• Examination of various ancillary materials including frequently alluded to authors
(e.g., London, Stegner, Tolstoy, Thoreau, Emerson), literary passages, speeches,
essays, film clips, television clips, cartoons and other visual “art” to complement
the literature in an effort to extend scope and provide context
• Blog posts asking students to respond to issues posed by the literature and/or
critics regarding the value of Krakauer’s narrative in historical, cultural,
humanitarian and literary contexts; to reflect on the value and effectiveness of
other arguments examined in class; to compose brief arguments of their own
using rhetorical devices regarding contemporary issues of the day in “online
interactive debates”
• Journal entries challenging students to take critical stances and make personal
connections to the literature
• Conceptually-based multiple choice examination (modeled after the AP multiple
choice section) to be followed by student-driven test analysis class discussion and
individual follow-up writing component
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• In-class argumentative essay (modeled after the AP “Free-Response Essay”)
concerning a topic appropriately addressed through discussion of Into the Wild
and/or related literature, and other student-generated examples

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America: An Argument for
Change
(Weeks 6-10)
Nickel and Dimed is contemporary muckraking journalism at its finest. Ehrenreich, a New
York Times Best Selling author, immerses herself in her subject, the roughly four million
Americans who toil daily making $6-7 an hour as waitresses, hotel maids, house cleaners,
and even Wal-Mart salespeople. The author’s firsthand accounts of attempting to survive
in the “lowliest” of occupations serve as an excellent prompt for content and craft:
Ehrenreich’s subjects generate both sympathy and scrutiny; her rhetorical approach is
ripe for analysis and critique.

Class Activities
• Research and discussion concerning the composition, publication, and initial
reaction to Ehrenreich’s novel, with particular emphasis on the debate concerning
critics’ contentions regarding the novel’s successes and failures
• Close reading and analysis of the rhetorical techniques used to achieve author’s
purpose in the novel and the criticism published shortly thereafter
• Examination of various ancillary materials including a mini-unit on the history of
“protest music, ” as well as poetry, literary passages, speeches, essays, film clips,
television clips, cartoons and other visual “art” to complement the literature in an
effort to extend scope and provide context
• Extensive analysis of other famous (and not –so-famous) arguments for change,
with particular emphasis placed on how these writers/speakers use structure,
syntax, diction, and awareness of audience, among other more specific/subtle
rhetorical techniques, to achieve intent
• Blog posts asking students to respond to issues posed by literary critics regarding
the value of Ehrenreich’s muckraking novel in historical, political, humanitarian
and literary contexts; to reflect on the value and effectiveness of other arguments
examined in class; to compose brief arguments of their own using rhetorical
devices regarding contemporary issues of the day in “online interactive debates”
• Journal entries challenging students to take critical stances and make personal
connections to the literature
• Conceptually-based multiple choice examination (modeled after the AP multiple
choice section) to be followed by student-driven test analysis class discussion and
individual follow-up writing component
• In-class argumentative essay (modeled after the AP “Free-Response Essay”)
concerning a topic appropriately addressed through discussion of Nickel and
Dimed and other student-generated examples
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Second Quarter

The Crucible: Defining Tragedy and the Common Man
(Weeks 11-15)
The following Miller-penned excerpt came from his preface to Death of a Salesman, and
was published in the New York Times in 1949:

"As a general rule, to which there may be exceptions unknown to me, I think the tragic
feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay
down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity. From Orestes
to Hamlet, Medea to Macbeth, the underlying struggle is that of the individual attempting
to gain his "rightful" position in society.

Sometimes he is one who has been displaced from it, sometimes one who seeks to attain
it for the first time, but the fateful wound from which the inevitable events spiral is the
wound of indignity, and its dominant force is indignation. Tragedy, then, is the
consequence of a man's total compulsion to evaluate himself justly."

Thus the central question concerning The Crucible will consider John Proctor as a tragic
figure. Students will explore various definitions of tragedy (particularly Aristotle’s
classic definition vs. Miller’s contemporary one). Through research concerning historical
accounts of the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism of the 1950’s, our culminating
discussions and assignments will seek draw parallels or distinctions with contemporary
American society.

Class Activities
• Research and discussion concerning the composition, staging, and critical reaction
through the years to Miller’s The Crucible (in the form of primary documents
composed by Miller himself, literary criticism, reviews) with particular emphasis
on parallels and distinctions among 1692 Salem, 1950’s McCarthyism, and
contemporary American society
• Close reading and analysis of the literary techniques used to achieve author’s
purpose in the play as well as the cinematic techniques used by Nicholas Hytner
in the film version
• Scrutiny and debate concerning Miller’s definition of a tragic figure; examination
(in contrast) of classic tragic figures from Sophocles, Shakespeare, among others.
• Examination of various ancillary materials (e.g., poetry, literary passages,
speeches, essays, film clips, television clips, cartoons and other visual “art” to
complement the literature in an effort to extend scope and provide context
• Extensive discussion and analysis of how to use definition as the organizing
principle of an essay, and how to use both cursory and extended allusions to
substantiate assertions or appeal emotionally in an argument
• Blog posts asking students to debate the events, character motivations, themes
such as righteousness, greed, vengeance, hypocrisy, and self-loathing, and,
perhaps, make personal connections to amplify understanding
• Journal entries challenging students to take critical stances and make personal
connections to the literature
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The Great Gatsby: The Subtleties of Voice, Persona and Tone
(Weeks 16-20)
"Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,
A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:
Those scraps are good deeds past, which are devoured
As fast as they are made, forgot as soon
As done."
-William Shakespeare (Troilus and Cressida)

In his 1992 preface to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Matthew Bruccoli, the
preeminent Fitzgerald scholar, reveals the author’s 1922 declaration: “I want to write
something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately
patterned” (vii). Fitzgerald did just that, juxtaposing generous exposition within a taut
plot line and “passages dealing with ‘wild promise’ and the reality of death” (Lehan 119).
Nick Carraway leads us on a voyeuristic escapade of drunkenness, debauchery, and
deception, witnessing the destruction of a dream.

The intangibility of the moment, the loss an ideal, the vain attempts to recapture our
innocence as individuals and as a nation are the primary themes we’ll examine in Scott
Fitzgerald’s brilliantly sophisticated novel. Particular attention will be paid to the
Gatsby’s intriguing yet elusive narrator, Nick Carraway, an ironically complex character
telling a rather simple story. The manipulation of voice, persona, and tone will transcend
the novel as we examine how writers, through keen awareness of audience, attempt to
establish credibility, make an appeal to ethos if you will, in order to strengthen the
validity of their argument.

Class Activities
• Research and discussion concerning the composition, publication, and critical
reaction through the years to Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (in the form of
literary criticism essays) with particular emphasis on the debate concerning
critics’ various interpretations of the literal and thematic ambiguities of the novel
• Close reading and analysis of the literary techniques used to achieve author’s
purpose in the novel as well as “Gatsby cluster stories” (e.g., “The Sensible
Thing,” “Winter Dreams”)
• Examination of various ancillary materials (e.g., poetry, literary passages,
speeches, essays, film clips, television clips, cartoons and other visual “art” to
complement the literature in an effort to extend scope and provide context
• Extensive discussion and analysis of subtleties of voice, persona, and tone in
persuasive, descriptive, expository, and argumentative writing through
examination of various exemplars and application in extemporaneous in-class
writing exercises
• Blog posts asking students to debate the events, character motivations, themes,
and other ambiguities of the novel, with particular attention afforded to the tone of
their comments
• Journal entries challenging students to take critical stances and make personal
connections to the literature