AP English Language and Composition Syllabus
Introduction
My name is Mr. Washmon. You may call me Mr. Washmon, Mr. W., or Mr. T. Do not call me mister; I will ignore you. I am originally from Corpus Christi, TX. This will be my fifth year as an educator, but only my fourth as an educator in Texas.
I will challenge you in a number of ways this year. If you survive, you will be better for it. If you do not survive, I will give you a great funeral oration (Obviously, I mean this metaphorically because you will all physically survive). I expect you all to work hard, maintain your stamina, and remain engaged in learning throughout each day-all year long. No Limits. No Excuses. Are you ready? Here we go…
Course Overview
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you should be able to:
Course Texts
The primary text for this course is The Language of Composition by Eds. Renee Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. This is supplemented by 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology by Samuel, and a number of independent (i.e. you choose and read these independently or in small groups) texts that are listed by unit on the “Year at a Glance” calendar attached to this syllabus. Additionally, I use texts that I have accumulated from various authors and publications.
Course Materials
Behavioral Expectations
Because this is a college-level class, you should conduct yourself in a manner appropriate to the best universities: careful listening, mutual respect, and extreme courtesy are essential in maintaining a class where all members feel comfortable participating. Guidelines:
Grading and Academic/Personal Accountability
The grading system is very simple; you do the work as well as you possibly can- and you do it all- and I will not have to use the Avada Kadavra spell on you! For those of you who will try to defeat the system anyway, here is the weighting for AP courses:
Late Work
Late work is not accepted. No exceptions.
Each assignment you complete will be assigned a value that fits its weight and breadth in the span of the course. Here is a tentative list of assignments you will complete throughout the year. (See Assignments page)
Year at a Glance
Thematic Overture: Revolution and Protest: The American Legacy
Selected Readings:
Short works:
“Common Sense” by Thomas Paine, excerpt from “Resistance to Civil Government,” Thoreau, "Speech to Gov. William Harrison at Vicennes," Tecumseh, excerpts from "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," "The Feminine Mystique," Friedan, "Women Don't Riot," Castillo, excerpt from "Howl," Ginsberg, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, "Why Are We in Vietnam?" Mailer, "Who Would Jesus Torture?" Fein.
Novels:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Native Son by Richard Wright, Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, As We Are Now by May Sarton, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Seize the Day by Saul Bellow, Call it Sleep by Henry Roth, The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday, Ceremony by Leslie Silko, All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, The Scarlett Latter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis, Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey, A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White.
Non-Fiction:
Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, ’33 Revolutions Per Minute by Dorian Lynskey, The Art of Moral Protest by James Jasper, Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman, Let Fury Have the Hour by Antonio D’Ambrosio, The Feminist Memoir Project by Ann Snitow, Reform of Revolution & Other Writings by Rosa Luxembourg, Exile and Pride by Eli Claire, Racism Without Racists by Eduardo Bonilla Silva, Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher, The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp, Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan Johnson
Ongoing Activities:
My name is Mr. Washmon. You may call me Mr. Washmon, Mr. W., or Mr. T. Do not call me mister; I will ignore you. I am originally from Corpus Christi, TX. This will be my fifth year as an educator, but only my fourth as an educator in Texas.
I will challenge you in a number of ways this year. If you survive, you will be better for it. If you do not survive, I will give you a great funeral oration (Obviously, I mean this metaphorically because you will all physically survive). I expect you all to work hard, maintain your stamina, and remain engaged in learning throughout each day-all year long. No Limits. No Excuses. Are you ready? Here we go…
Course Overview
- This class is a study of language in all forms with the added specificity of a survey of the American School of Thought. We begin with a theme for each six weeks and use it as a guide for the discussion of the elements that an author uses to rhetorically manipulate an audience (tone, syntax, diction, imagery, symbolism, etc), we work to analyze what an author’s purpose is and how to discern what audience they are targeting, and we use these close language studies to improve our own language through emulation and adaptation. The goal is for a student to intelligently analyze and use rhetoric and rhetorical techniques/devices to be able to comprehend, comment on, or recreate any text they come in contact with.
- This class will showcase an intensive writing experience. All students will be required to complete in-class timed essays, out-of-class revised and polished works, reflective writing, journaling, peer and self-edits/revisions, research projects, and a hodgepodge of other written and spoken activities designed to increase their arsenal of rhetorical techniques.
- This class is designed around the end goal of completing the AP English Language Test and mirroring the college experience of English Composition 101. In addition, as it is a college level course, all students enrolling are forewarned both of the immense workload that they will be taking on as well as the end-of-year expectation that they will take the AP English Language Exam.
- The course teaches and requires students to write in several forms (e.g., narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative essays) about a variety of subjects (e.g., public policies, popular culture, personal experiences).
- The course requires students to write essays that proceed through several stages or drafts, with revision aided by teacher and peers.
- The course requires students to write in informal contexts (e.g., imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing, and in-class responses) designed to help them become increasingly aware of themselves as writers and of the techniques employed by the writers they read.
- The course requires expository, analytical, and argumentative writing assignments that are based on readings representing a wide variety of prose styles and genres.
- The course requires nonfiction readings (e.g., essays, journalism, political writing, science writing, nature writing, autobiographies/biographies, diaries, history, criticism) that are selected to give students opportunities to identify and explain an author's use of rhetorical strategies and techniques. If fiction and poetry are also assigned, their main purpose should be to help students understand how various effects are achieved by writers' linguistic and rhetorical choices. (Note: The College Board does not mandate any particular authors or reading list, but representative authors are cited in the AP English Course Description.)
- The course teaches students to analyze how graphics and visual images both relate to written texts and serve as alternative forms of text themselves.
- The course teaches research skills, and in particular, the ability to evaluate, use, and cite primary and secondary sources. The course assigns projects such as the researched argument paper, which goes beyond the parameters of a traditional research paper by asking students to present an argument of their own that includes the analysis and synthesis of ideas from an array of sources.
- The course teaches students how to cite sources using a recognized editorial style (e.g., Modern Language Association, The Chicago Manual of Style, etc.).
- A wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively
- A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination
- Logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis
- A balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail
- An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you 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 your own writing;
- create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience;
- demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in your own writing;
- write in a variety of genres and contexts, both formal and informal, employing appropriate conventions;
- produce expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary source material, cogent explanations, and clear transitions;
- demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary source material
- 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; and
- evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers.
Course Texts
The primary text for this course is The Language of Composition by Eds. Renee Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. This is supplemented by 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology by Samuel, and a number of independent (i.e. you choose and read these independently or in small groups) texts that are listed by unit on the “Year at a Glance” calendar attached to this syllabus. Additionally, I use texts that I have accumulated from various authors and publications.
Course Materials
- iPads and selected iPad apps including: Notability, Subtext, Schoology, NearPod, ClassDojo, Prezi, and any others we discover throughout the year
- Composition notebooks-please steer away from spiral notebooks
- Blue or black ink pens-no gellies
- Highlighters
- Pencils for annotation only-don't write essays with these
- Your own copy of each book we read this year-you will be given plenty of time to get these-if you have financial difficulty, please see me after class
- Students are expected to write a great number of essays through the course of the year. All of the outside-of-class, long-term, essays are expected to be revised and polished works. To this end some class time will be devoted to student-teacher and student-student conferences. Feedback on rough and final drafts, which have been turned into the instructor, will be received through live conferences, video conferences, or via pre-recorded and annotated reviews of the work (using Notability® app on iPad).
- For all essay assignments students will receive a rubric. This rubric will express the central guidelines/goals of the activity and is the same rubric used by the CollegeBoard for rating essays on the AP test. Students should use it as a guide to focus the majority of their energy. All rubrics will include elements about the strength of writing, and for this reason students should constantly seek to identify and improve personal, structural, and grammatical weaknesses.
- Essays that students have returned after grading will have notations made on them to help guide the students toward fixing problem areas and all students are encouraged to revise and resubmit essays. As an absolute minimum, students are expected to review these comments and use them as an additional strategy to improve language, structuring, and rhetorical skills. As the tasks become more complex and the expectations more demanding, students who fail to self-reflect during the course suffer academically.
Behavioral Expectations
Because this is a college-level class, you should conduct yourself in a manner appropriate to the best universities: careful listening, mutual respect, and extreme courtesy are essential in maintaining a class where all members feel comfortable participating. Guidelines:
- Be here, on time, and prepared.
- Participate.
- Respect yourself, others, and property.
- You will also adhere to all the rules and procedures outlines in the CHS student handbook and the academies handbook.
Grading and Academic/Personal Accountability
The grading system is very simple; you do the work as well as you possibly can- and you do it all- and I will not have to use the Avada Kadavra spell on you! For those of you who will try to defeat the system anyway, here is the weighting for AP courses:
- 100 points per six weeks based on projects
Late Work
Late work is not accepted. No exceptions.
Each assignment you complete will be assigned a value that fits its weight and breadth in the span of the course. Here is a tentative list of assignments you will complete throughout the year. (See Assignments page)
Year at a Glance
Thematic Overture: Revolution and Protest: The American Legacy
Selected Readings:
Short works:
“Common Sense” by Thomas Paine, excerpt from “Resistance to Civil Government,” Thoreau, "Speech to Gov. William Harrison at Vicennes," Tecumseh, excerpts from "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," "The Feminine Mystique," Friedan, "Women Don't Riot," Castillo, excerpt from "Howl," Ginsberg, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, "Why Are We in Vietnam?" Mailer, "Who Would Jesus Torture?" Fein.
Novels:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Native Son by Richard Wright, Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, As We Are Now by May Sarton, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Seize the Day by Saul Bellow, Call it Sleep by Henry Roth, The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday, Ceremony by Leslie Silko, All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, The Scarlett Latter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis, Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey, A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White.
Non-Fiction:
Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, ’33 Revolutions Per Minute by Dorian Lynskey, The Art of Moral Protest by James Jasper, Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman, Let Fury Have the Hour by Antonio D’Ambrosio, The Feminist Memoir Project by Ann Snitow, Reform of Revolution & Other Writings by Rosa Luxembourg, Exile and Pride by Eli Claire, Racism Without Racists by Eduardo Bonilla Silva, Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher, The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp, Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan Johnson
Ongoing Activities:
- Our Daily Words...
- Weekly Editorial Response
- Timed Writing/Internalizing the Rubric
- SSR Project
- Protest as Argument