AP Language and Composition

2012 - 2013

Brief Description of Course
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, film, and imaginative literature. Students also will write essays of the preceding types in
multiple drafts. The course is organized according to the requirements and guidelines of the current
AP English Course Description, and, therefore, students are expected to read critically, think
analytically, and communicate clearly both in writing and speech. Students will be taught to document
sources using the MLA guidelines; students will implement those guidelines in their essays
incorporating suggestions from peers and the teacher in their multiple essay drafts. The teacher will
instruct students in sentence structures, organization, use of detail, tone, voice, and diction. Informal
writings also will be required as responses to assigned readings, pop culture, and personal experiences.
Research will be in-depth combination of primary and secondary sources and presentation with an
emphasis on argumentation and synthesis of credible sources. Vocabulary gained will range from
challenging words found in the texts being read to SAT words. Students will also learn and use content
specific words from the workbook 5 Steps to a 5 by Rankin and Murphy.

Unit Information
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Quarter One: Course Foundation and Essential Building Blocks
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will:
*view and decipher examples of past AP Language and Composition exam essays for examples of
synthesis, analysis, and argumentation from 2007 released exam materials and the 2010 released exam
materials
*complete weekly test practice of multiple choice questions and explore answer strategies
*practice close reading using strategies in The Language of Composition
*extend vocabulary on an ongoing basis using 5 steps to a 5 and SAT vocabulary
*analyze visual images using SOAPStone and OPTIC
*Learn methods of appeal including logos, pathos, and ethos detailed in Everything ’s An Argument
*compose multiple drafts of analysis, expository, and persuasive essays based on personal experiences
and summer reading assignments with guidance from peers and the teacher
*submit the dialectical journal and SOAPStone assignments given for the summer reading
requirement
*participate in and apply knowledge from mini-lessons on transitions, introductions, thesis writing,
and organization

Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Summer reading assignment: Based on the three novels read in the summer, Three Cups of Tea, Their
Eyes Were Watching God, and The Color of Water, students will select one novel and compose an
essay on the following prompt: "Based on your knowledge of the selected novel, analyze the authors’
style, purpose, and audience and their functions in the text."

Exposition prompt (before writing, students have read Chapters 1-4 of Everything ’s An Argument):
"You want to attend a rock concert in Louisville on a school night. Your parents are very conservative.
Convince Mom and Dad you are worthy of their trust." After writing their essay, students annotate in
the margins their strategies of argument, including faulty logic. In this manner, students recognize how
they use emotional, ethical, and logical appeals in their everyday lives. Students become aware of their
persuasive techniques they probably did not know they employed. I will write notes concerning
grammar issues and sentence structure.

Examples of primary and secondary sources: Students will read Hampton Sides’ foreword to Dee
Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. They will then decipher how Sides encompasses
primary and secondary sources in his writing. Excerpts of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee will also
be read to show style, diction, and sentence structures employed by Brown.

Close reading: Students will read chapter 2 of The Language of Composition. Using their dialectical
journals from their summer assignment, students will write a narrative based on one of the important
quotes listed in their journal. The prompt will read, "Based on your dialectical journal from your
summer reading, select a quote that is meaningful to you. Compose a narrative exhibiting how that one
quote is important to you and give exact details how that quote is applicable to your life."

Visual literacy: Prior to this assignment, students have read chapters 14 and 15 of Everything’s An
Argument and are familiar with SOAPStone and OPTIC. Students will view selected pictures or
cartoons without captions. Using SOAPStone and OPTIC, students will write an argumentation essay
defending their interpretation of the image.

Vocabulary: Students will construct sentences, offer complete definition, create synonyms, antonyms,
analogies, or draw visual representations without captions for their words.

Unit Name or Timeframe:
Quarter Two: Rhetoric of Revolution and War
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will:
*analyze of speeches and letters by John Adams, Thomas Paine, Patick Henry, Benjamin Franklin,
Abraham Lincoln, Dwight David Eishenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George H.W. Bush
*employ OPTIC and SOAPStone to decipher political cartoons
*complete argumentation research project using MLA style to take a stance on a current war (on
drugs, on obesity, on terror, etc.) using five sources and synthesizing that information
*closely read and journal keep on The Prince by Niccolo Machievelli
*closely read and essay write on The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
*compose a narrative response to July 4th Time magazine cover story "Does It Still Matter" and
rebuttal from local news media editorial page
*learning and application of sentence structures including simple, compound, complex,
compound-complex, periodic, and loose sentences.
*complete quick-writes on the satirical essays by Dave Berry and David Sedaris to focus on tone and
diction

Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Informal writing: Students will write based on The Things They Carried a journal entry detailing what
biases, judgements, and prejudices they carry, a letter to the character of Kiowa, and an imitation
writing of O’Brien’s style.

After reading speeches concerning war by Lincoln, Eishenhower, Bush, and Obama, students write an
essay describing the rhetorical devices used in each and their effectiveness in the overall speech.
Visual images: Students will view a political cartoon and write an essay explaining why the image is
more powerful than the words one would use to describe it.

Research: Students will complete a research paper based on a current war, military or otherwise, in
MLA format for in-text citations and Works Cited page. Through this exercise students will learn how
to assess and choose sources. The paper will center on an original arguable thesis of the student’s
choosing and will go through several revisions and a peer edit. When students have a working thesis,
they will conference with me concerning their topic and the direction they will take with the paper.
Students should use a balance of primary and secondary sources. Topics can include the war on terror,
the war on drugs, the war on obesity, and others based on students’ viewpoints. Students must argue
the thesis based on their knowledge of argumentation in the readings.

Continued vocabulary expansion using SAT words and vocabulary in the contexts of The Prince by
Machievelli and the The Things They Carried by O’Brien

Sentence structure: We examine how changing structures affects tone, purpose, and credibility of the
author/speaker. Students practice writing using various sentence structures and rewrite a section of
The Prince. While maintaining the purpose of the section to rewrite, students must alter the structure.

Continue test practice

Unit Name or Timeframe:
Quarter Three: Transcendentalism and the Resurgence of Modern Day Naturalism
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Students will:
*analyze of works of Emerson, Thoreau, Ghandi, Gore, Carson, Chief Seattle, and others as excerpted
in Chapter 12 of The Language of Composition
*compose and present an argumentation paper completed after reading above works and
environmentalism novel of choice(Silent Spring, Confluence: A River, the Environment, Politics, and
the Fate of Humanity, etc.) concerning the responsibility of citizens to the environment
*review and further practice traditional rhetorical modes
*collate visual imagery project

Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Expository essay: Explain how the idea of the one of the Transcendentalists read in this unit resonates
ideals of the modern day. Research must be included in the MLA format. Teacher will conference with
student after initial thesis is formulated to know the direction the essay will take.

Continue test practice and vocabulary acquisition

Quick-write prompt: "Recycling should be mandatory in the United States as it is in other nations."
Rhetorical modes:After reading essays by Emerson, Thoreau, Ghandi, Gore, Carson, Chief Seattle,
and others as excerpted in Chapter 12 of The Language of Composition, students will select one essay
and explain which rhetorical mode is shown by the author and how that mode serves the purpose of
the piece.

Students will find and synthesize a collection of visual images to prove their stance in the
argumentation research paper concerning responsibility to the environment. Students should choose
from among cartoons, paintings, photographs, documentaries, or the like to build their argument. This
project will be presented. Both primary and secondary sources must be cited in MLA format.

Unit Name or Timeframe:
Quarter Four: Education and Its Arguments
Content and/or Skills Taught:
*analysis of essays in The Language of Composition by Prose, Emerson, Alexie, Talbot, Baldwin,
Mann, Botstein, Broder, Silko, McCourt, and Norris. Visual images by Rockwell, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and The Department of Education will be shown
*compose analysis essay and presentation of ideal high school based on personal experience, readings,
and research of supporters and opponents of student- chosen educational model
*conclude weekly test practice

Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Continued test practice and vocabulary acquisition
After reading Leslie Marmon Silko’s "Language and Literature form a Pueblo Indian Perspective",
students will write on Silko’s use of controlling tone and establishment of voice in the piece. Students
then mimic her tone and voice in their own retelling of the piece.
As a follow through for Alexie’s "Superman and Me", students will learn to use deductive and
inductive reasoning in their writing as Alexie does. The draft will be edited by peers and the teacher in
multiple drafts.

Students will read the first three pages of Chapter 13 in Frank McCourt’s Teacher Man and write an
essay analyzing McCourt’s use of narrative and dialogue to illustrate his desire to become an effective
teacher.

Upon examination of visual images, students will compose an in-class response commenting on the
validity and credibility of the images.

Students will select a film from a bank of titles concerning education and write a formal analysis of the
film. Films include but are not limited to the following titles: "Waiting for Superman", "Stand and
Deliver", "Lean on Me", "Freedom Writers", and"Dangerous Minds".
Research essay and presentation concerning the ideal high school in MLA format. Students will meet
in peer groups to brainstorm ideas. Teacher will meet individually with students for tweaking of thesis
and check of primary and secondary sources. Presentation will follow AP test.

Textbooks
Title:Everything’s an Argument with Readings
Publisher: Bedford/St.Martin’s
Published Date: 2010
Author: Andrea Lunsford
Second Author: John Ruszkiewicz
Description:
introduction to rhetoric and rhetorical styles, includes nonfiction essays

Title:50 Essays: A Portable Anthology
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin’s
Published Date: 2004
Author: Samuel Cohen
Description:
collection of nonfiction essays

Title:The Language of Composition
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin’s
Published Date: 2008
Author: Renee Shea
Second Author: Lawrence Scanlon
Description:
introduction to rhetoric, synthesis, and close reading, includes nonfiction essays

Other Course Materials
Material Type:Other
Description:
5 Steps to a 5 by Estelle Rankin and Barbara L. Murphy published by McGraw Hill, 2010-2011
edition, ISBN 978-0-07-162328-5
Material Type:Other
Description:
A Writer’s Reference by Diana Hacker published in 2003 by Bedford/St. Martin’s