Honors 12/AP Literature Syllabus
The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept everything they are offered.
-Jean Piaget, quoted in ”Education for Democracy, Proceedings from the Cambridge School Conference on Progressive Education”
The semester will encapsulate reading, discussion, writing, grammar, and vocabulary, as well as other disciplines appropriate for an AP literature course. We will use The Bedford Introduction to Literature as our primary textbook.
The first day of class a reading test will be given to ensure that you have thoroughly read your summer reading works.
Prerequisite:
Summer Reading: Light in August, William Faulkner; Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Students must complete assignments over each novel, which is usually due the first day of class or earlier. Tests will be given over each book, and a test will be given the first day of class to check for reading. The more in-depth tests will come after class discussion.
Critical Reading
As you might have guessed, learning to actively read and critically interpret will be foundation of this course. While we are reading a short story for discussion during class time, you will likely be reading a novel or drama outside of class so that you are prepared for discussion over that particular work.
You should consider obtaining personal copies of the required reading for use during the course; however, if you do not choose to purchase the books, they may be checked out from the English department or the library, if available. The following books/plays will be read, but are subject to change, and other texts that are posted on the approved College Board AP list will be considered. Students will be urged to read from the lAP approved list in addition to the assigned texts:
Suggested Text List:
Light in August, Faulkner Life of Pi, Martel
Pride and Prejudice, Austen Antigone, Sophocles
Jane Eyre, Brontë How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster
1984, Orwell Hamlet, Shakespeare
Heart of Darkness, Conrad King Lear, Shakespeare
Catch 22, Heller Invisible Man, Ellison
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Writing, and Thinking
Pearson Common Core Literature Georgia: The British Tradition
Teacher packets [poetry, reference, philosophy, essay] – as described in syllabus.
Style Packet: Strunk and White – The Elements of Style (4th ed). Excerpts
Vocabulary Workshop Books – Editions G and H and AP vocabulary lists each week
Composition
As you might suspect, composition is a crucial part of this course. You will write in various genres as we continue to explore the literature of the world. You will write (primarily) essays, poems, and short stories, and an annotated bibliography. You will write to explain, to understand, and to evaluate. You will maintain a portfolio of all your essays and creative writing tasks in the classroom. We will develop these in the first week of class.
You can expect:
Formal or timed compositions every two weeks, every week during the last five weeks.
Rewrites and corrections on most papers.
Late papers lose ten points a day up to three days. After three days, no papers will be accepted. No revision papers will be accepted late.
Please anticipate technology failure and plan ahead; “my computer crashed” is not an acceptable excuse. I suggest that you buy a flash drive to transport your documents; however, this is not a requirement for the course.
When you are not writing an essay based on a text we are reading in class, you will be working on essays based on past AP prompts, alternating prose and poetry passages. At times, we will review sample essays and score them, so that you can become aware of expectations. You will have a composition in process or in revision at least seventy-five percent of the time. Some compositions will be written as in-class essays; these essays will be scored using the AP scoring rubric (teacher comments will be included). Other essays will be formal essays that must be typed. Regardless of the type of essay, you should always strive to produce the best final product that you can!
You will always receive teacher comments and questions on your returned paper to assist with revisions. Your teacher comments will be based on your organization, argument development, support, sentence structure, grammar, and stylistic concerns. A discussion of rhetoric will take place in the first semester, and papers will also receive comments to help students recognize their rhetorical choices and ways to improve their current appeals. If you have further concerns about a certain assignment, then please schedule an appointment to meet with me. I am available most days after school. All of your essays (after final revisions and your review) will be placed in a portfolio in my classroom. Your papers will always be accessible to you, but the final resting place will be in your folder. You will receive at least two teacher conferences on your writing this year.
Essays will be largely based (especially second semester) on previous AP questions. A mixture of poetry and prose will be used. We will review the rubric for grading essays and for AP scoring at the beginning of the year.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. Plagiarism is when you pass off the ideas of others as your own; it is stealing the ideas and/or the words of others. If you do incorporate the ideas of others (either by direct quotation or by concept), then you must document those sources in MLA format. Plagiarism DOES NOT only happen when you copy something word for word. If you are found to plagiarize on a paper, then you will receive a zero for that day’s work as well as be referred for further discipline by the administration depending on the situation. This is especially appropriate for an AP class; you are one year away from college, and plagiarism on the collegiate level may very well result in expulsion from the school. If these rules are broken, appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken depending upon severity of the situation and frequency.
If you cheat , the appropriate discipline will be administered
Literature
You will be issued literature textbooks, or you will use the book while in the classroom. If a book is issued to you, please keep up with it and bring it to class EVERY DAY. Reading closely and carefully is critical in order to do well on the AP exam.
We will be covering much of the literature we read in class. I will be reading it with you, and I will do my best to explain what you do not understand. HOWEVER, be advised that if you are given a homework assignment, you will not do very well on the quizzes I give you over homework if you haven’t done the homework in the first place (and I WILL give you quizzes). These quiz grades will count once in my grade book. Sometimes you will also have post-reading quizzes; infrequently you will work with a partner on these (I will decide when you can and when you cannot; don’t whine). At the end of each unit of study you will have a major test covering that unit. These grades will count following standard English Department percentages.
AP Multiple Choice passages and questions will be given on a regular basis to aid with comprehension and analysis strategies.
Novels
When novels are assigned, we will not be sitting in class silently reading for days. Much of the reading will be done outside of class, and we will use our time together to explain and discuss. If you do not complete the assigned reading, then your role in the class will be arbitrary. Be prepared. However, always have your novel with you. If we have a few spare minutes after an exam or task, reading is your option!
NOVEL requirements and tests are subject to change, so each class will be informed of reading requirements! All novels/plays read will be assessed either by a test or by a method explained by the teacher.
You will be given a listing of the most repeated novels used on the AP exam. I highly suggest that you supplement your assigned reading with as many as you can from the listing. All novels/plays read should be on the AP approved list.
Vocabulary
You will be issued a vocabulary packet one in each semester (Vocabulary Workshop, Levels G and H) and AP vocabulary lists. BRING THESE TO CLASS EVERY DAY as we will be completing exercises in them EVERY DAY. DO NOT WORK AHEAD ON THESE EXERCISES. I want to be able to see you complete your work in class (Options for vocabulary may vary with each class).
Almost every day you will be given an opportunity to earn bonus points by doing some kind of vocabulary exercise. You will receive a 100 daily check grade. This helps your average, and it also helps you learn the vocabulary.
****EVERY THURSDAY (DAY may vary) YOU WILL HAVE A CUMULATIVE VOCABULARY TEST THAT COVERS ALL UNITS STUDIED UP TO THAT POINT (You will receive a list from me each week). I will provide you with the definitions for the words; you must write in the words (spelled correctly). This sounds really difficult, but after we have reviewed the words over and over for bonus points, they’re fairly easy to remember. No word banks will be provided. Grades on these will count once. We will use AP vocabulary lists instead of the regular vocabulary book for most of the cumulative quizzes. The cumulative quizzes will begin near the end of the first nine weeks.
****EVERY FRIDAY YOU WILL HAVE THE USUAL VOCABULARY TEST OVER THE UNIT WE ARE STUDYING THAT WEEK. Remember, this quiz covers parts of speech, spelling, synonyms, antonyms, and sentence usages. Grades on these quizzes will count once.
Grammar
Each week you will be given a sentence to analyze, as per the Daily Grammar Practice program. Subjects covered relative to each sentence will be parts of speech, how to diagram it, how to identify and correct errors in it, and any other material in any way relative to what the sentence says and how it is constructed. This is a practical way to hone your editing skills and to make you aware of mistakes in your own writing. Other grammar exercises will be incorporated as well.
Semester One: British Literature (Honors) and AP Strategies and Tips
Course Introduction:
Introduction to the course; summer reading objective tests – begin summer novel
discussion (Socratic Seminar); workshops over critical understanding of prose and poetry;
workshops over how to write a critical essay/in-class essay; MLA citation workshop.
Read Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”: What can this work mean to you? What is the true
value of education? What are the responsibilities that come along with it?
An initial AP multiple choice test will be given; these practice questions will be given on a
regular basis throughout the rest of the year, at least once or twice every two weeks. We will review the correct answers and discuss the rationale for
the correct responses.
DURING THE SEMESTER
Introductions to the time periods in British Literature, as well as assignments from the text and online
Analysis of Literature and Poetry
Writing Workshops
Essay Writing
Literary Elements
Practice Tests
Group Projects
Assigned novels/plays and student chosen novels (from AP list)
Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) Test (count as exam)
Semester Two: AP English
Critical Theories: The Lenses through which we Read
Introduction of the various literary theories used for analysis (formalism, structuralism, feminism, culturalism, reader response, Marxism, deconstruction) – Teacher packet: Excerpts from the English Studies Book and Louise Rosenblatt’s Exploration of Literature
Modernism and Postmodernism: What discerns these two classifications of texts? How has history impacted the new views expressed/new literary techniques presented?
Discussion of differences in interpretation and how to adequately support assertions. You make promises to the reader – fulfill those promises!
We will complete several in-class activities where you will apply the theories studied to a new text; first you will examine texts and write critical response papers as partners (receiving teacher feedback on your efforts), then you will write individual responses based on another text.
During the Semester:
Novels/plays
Critical Analysis
Practice Tests
Essays from AP prompts
literary elements
Grammar (usage and mechanics)
Vocabulary (context and lists)
Group Projects
**Syllabus content and times subject to change at the teacher’s discretion.