Course Number and Title: Advanced Placement Literature and Composition

Academic Credits: 1 credit

Course Delivery Format: In person (AIS)

Teacher: Mr. Duane Jones

Teacher Summary:

16 years teaching experience, all at STHS.  Bachelor’s Degree from California University of PA and Master’s from Wilkes University. 

Current Classes: AP Literature and Composition, Honors English 12, WHIP, Mass Media, Yearbook

Teacher Room Number: 110

Teacher Phone: 717-657-5117 and extension

Teacher Email: djones@hannasd.org

Office Hours: By appointment only; please email to schedule an appointment.

 

Course Description:

The Advanced Placement Literature course will emphasize critical reading and effective writing. Extensive reading assignments from World, British, and English literature will explore different styles and purpose in writing. Students will examine literary elements as well as produce in-depth analysis compositions that will be comparable to work in a college level English course. The study of literature will help students to gain an understanding of the principles of effective writing. Their writing skills will be developed by both various pre-assigned compositions and frequent in-class writing assignments in the same style as college assessments and AP Exam essays. This course is structured around a discussion based learning environment requiring students to daily offer personal insights and understandings in order to shape their individual analytic skills. Students who successfully pass the Advanced Placement examination may be awarded college credit in English upon entrance to most universities.

 

Prerequisites:

Successful Completion of Honors English 10, 11, or AP Composition, and/or Teacher Recommendation

 

 

 

Required Texts and Materials:

Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking. Second Edition

 

Recommended Texts and Materials:

Units of Study/Pace of Course:

Unit	Major Topics	Standards Addressed	Approximate Length of Unit	Assignments/ Assessments
Summer Reading	Frankenstein		2 weeks	Summer assignment
Introductionto Poetry	Poetic Devices		5 weeks	Journals, In class writings, essay of interpretation
19th Century Novel	The Awakening		4 weeks	Essay writing, Writing Workshop,
Prose Fiction	The Great Gatsby		7 weeks	Student led discussions, Major Essay
Drama	Hamlet, Importance of Being Earnest		6 weeks	Performances, Shorter writing assignments, Major Essay
Poetry Refresher	Contemporary Poets		3 weeks	Audio/video project, Research Project
Review of the Year	Everything		3 weeks	Review of readings, Practice AP sessions, Full scale practice session

 

Procedures for Late Assignment:

·   On or before due date (11:59 submission for online items, end of day for handwritten items): Full credit (up to 100%)

·   One day/class meeting late (11:59 submission for online items, end of day for handwritten items): 10% deduction from earned score

·   Two days/class meetings late (11:59 submission for online items, end of day for handwritten items): 25% deduction from earned score ·   Three-Five days/class meetings late (11:59 submission for online items, end of day for handwritten items): 50% deduction from earned score ·   Any later than five days/class meetings late (11:59 submission for online items, end of day for handwritten items): ZERO

 

Procedures for Redo Work:

Per teacher discretion.

 

Procedure for Extra Credit:

No extra credit opportunities will be provided.

 

 

Calculation of Final Grade:

CATEGORY	PERCENT (%) OF GRADE
Assessments	70%
Classwork	20%
Homework	10%
Total:	100%

 

 

Grading Scale:

·       A    -  90% - 100%

·       B    -  80% - 89%

·       C    -  70% - 79%

·       D   -   60% - 69%

·       F    -    0% - 59%

SOAR in the Classroom:

 

Class Attendance Policy:

Click HERE for the board approved attendance policy.

 

Cell Phone Policy:

Click HERE for the board approved electronic device policy.

 

Academic Integrity Policy:

Click HERE for the board approved academic integrity policy.

 

Pass Policy:

All students must use e-hall pass to sign out of class.

 

Academic Assistance Program (AAP):

Need additional assistance in the class? Come to AAP after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and/or Thursdays from 2:37-4:30pm in the library. A certified teacher will be on staff to help with any work or questions you may have. Students may ride the 4:30pm late bus home from AAP.

 

 

Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Syllabus 2023-2024

 

Format of Course

 

This course follows the style of a college level discussion class. A question or prompt will often be posted on the board (more info to come) that will provoke thought and carry the discussion of the text for the remainder of the class. The primary focus of this class is not what the instructor thinks about a work (although that might come up, especially near the beginning of a unit), but how the student can understand the text and how the group can strengthen that. The role of the instructor is to facilitate and guide an exchange of ideas about a particular text. Students will take notes based on what one’s classmates share and ideas the individual produces. Any ideas in class are potential ideas for including in essays.

 

Reading and Writing Assignments

 

·        Assigned Readings — A critical component of the class and of the student’s learning is preparation. Students must come to classes prepared by having read the assigned texts, as these form the basis for all discussion, writing, and thinking in the class. Students should have read the texts interactively and have evidence of such interaction—annotations, journal entries, graphic organizers, etc. Students are responsible for prioritizing their efforts in this regard. Generally, students will have ample notice to be able to plan for completing these readings as due. Longer works such as novels demand special attention in this regard. Be prepared!

·        Opening Prompts — At the beginning of most periods, students will be writing in response to a question, topic, or more detailed instructions posted on the board. Responses should always rely on students’ understanding of the given text and be accompanied by supporting evidence.

·        Quizzes — Periodically, a short quiz will be administered for vocabulary and reading checks.

·        In-Class Essays — Students will be assigned at least one AP-style essay for each major work or group of works read in this course (approximately every two weeks). These essay prompts will be taken from or designed according to previously administered AP Exams and will relate to the current unit we are studying. They are timed and must be completed within one class period. They will be hand-written as are the essays on the AP Exam. After receiving initial feedback from the instructor, students will revise these writings (with peer input) and re-submit. As the year progresses, students will rely less and less on the feedback from the instructor to improve their own writing. The goal is to give students practice at examining their own writing critically and incorporate feedback from other sources. [SC 5] [SC11]

·        Homework Essays — Students will be assigned at least one major essay per work or group of works read (for a total of no fewer than four major essays). Homework analysis essays will usually focus on a topic discussed in class and will vary in length. Initially, students will receive feedback on these essays from the instructor (either verbal or written), but as the year progresses (and with guidance from the instructor), students will also rely on peer feedback for revision of their essays. Once these essays have been revised, students will re-submit. [SC6] [SC11]

·        Creative Projects — Several times throughout the course a creative piece or writing or project will be required. Not everyone is a poet, but all students can learn through giving their best effort and prove apply learning creatively.

·        Independent Reading Assignments — Each quarter, students will complete an independent reading assignment.  A list of works will be provided at the beginning of each quarter and the specific writing assignment to go with that quarter’s independent reading.  This is a chance to read a new work and expand one’s personal library to increase one’s breadth of possible works from which to draw for the Exam. It might also be an enjoyable and personally enriching endeavor! 

·        Writing Workshops — These sessions will allow students to receive and incorporate feedback on essay drafts from both the instructor and peers. The major foci will be unity, coherence, style, and content but will not be limited to these areas. [SC 11—15]

·        Other assignments — Assignments other than those listed may be required throughout the year at the discretion of the instructor.

·        Midterm and Final Examinations — All students will take a midterm and a final examination.

 

 

Reading and Writing Schedule

 

Weeks 1–2: Course Introduction 

•                  Summer reading: Frankenstein

•                  Discussions

•                  Brief writing assignments

•                  Major essay (with revisions)

 

Weeks 3–7: An Introduction to Poetry

Essential Questions: How does the poet construct meaning (theme) in his/her works? What specific devices (diction, tone, figurative language, irony) contribute to the author’s message? How effectively does the author convey that message?

•     Close focus on Romantic and Metaphysical poetry [SC1]

1.      Wordsworth: “Mutability” and “The World Is Too Much With Us”

2.      Coleridge: “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Youth and Age”

3.      Byron: “Love and Death” and “She Walks in Beauty”

4.      Keats: “La Belle Dame sans Merci” and “Ode on a Grecian Urn”

5.      Emerson: “Ode to Beauty” and “Days”

6.      Whitman: “A Noiseless Patient Spider” and “I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing”

7.      Donne: “Death, be not proud,” “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” and “The Flea”

8.      Marvell: “To His Coy Mistress”

9.      Herrick: “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

a.      Survey of poetry through the Twentieth Century [SC1]

10.   Sassoon: “The General”

11.   Stevens: “Peter Quince at the Clavier” and “The Emperor of Ice Cream”

12.   Pound: “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” and “In a Station of the Metro”

13.   Williams: “Spring and All” and “The Red Wheelbarrow”

14.   Eliot: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Hollow Men” and “Journey of the Magi”

15.   Yeats: “Sailing to Byzantium” and “The Second Coming”

16.   Auden: “Musee des Beaux Arts” and “The Unknown Citizen”

•     Close reading exercises

•     In-class writings [SC5]

•     Journal entries [SC7]

•     Student presentations

•     Essay of interpretation (Yeats’ “The Second Coming”): Evaluate how the poet’s use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone enhance the work’s quality and reflect the poet’s artistry. [SC2] [SC9]

•     Writing Workshop: Focus on sentence structures [SC12]

 

Weeks 8–11: Nineteenth-Century Novel

•     Melville: Billy Budd [SC1]

•     Chopin: The Awakening [SC1]

•     Several short writing exercises

•     Major essay (writing workshop): Evaluate how references in the text to social, cultural and/or historical values enhance the reader’s understanding of the author’s underlying message. [SC4] [SC10]

•     Writing Workshop: Focus on organization, unity, coherence [SC13]

 

Weeks 12–18: Prose Fiction

•     20th-century Novel: The Great Gatsby [SC1]

•     Choice of other novel (from among Morrison’s Sula, Plath’s The Bell Jar, or Martel’s Life of Pi) [SC1]

•     Selected short stories [SC1]

1.   Hawthorne: “Young Goodman Brown”

2.   Poe: “William Wilson”

3.   Joyce: “Araby”

4.   Faulkner: “A Rose for Emily”

5.   O’Connor: “A Good Man is Hard to Find”

6.   Oates: “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

•     Journal writing [SC 7]

•     In-Class writing: Evaluate and compare the effectiveness of the use of irony in two works [SC9]

•     Student-led discussions

•     Major essay (writing workshop): Focus on Structure, Style, and Themes [SC3]

•     Writing Workshop: Focus on effective use of detail [SC14]

 

Weeks 19–24: Drama [SC1]

•     Shakespeare: Hamlet

•     Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest

•     Williams: The Glass Menagerie

•     Performances (scene and monologue)

•     Shorter writing assignments based on close reading

•     Major essay (writing workshop): Evaluate how the playwright’s use of irony or characterization (tragic versus comic figure) enhance the reader’s/viewer’s understanding of the underlying theme[s]. [SC8]

•     Writing Workshop: Focus effective use of rhetoric [SC15]

 

Weeks 25–27: Poetry Refresher

•     Student group presentations on contemporary poets (Students select from among the following poets: Baraka, Brooks, Collins, Dove, Dylan, Ginsberg, Giovanni, Kennedy, Komunyakaa, Plath, Randall, Rich, Sexton).

•     Audio/video project

•     Research project on the poet each student has chosen (writing workshop). [SC10]

 

Weeks 28–30: Review of the Year

•     Student-led review of readings

•     Three practice sessions for multiple-choice questions

•     One full-scale practice examination

 

Grading

 

Grades will be assigned according to the student’s preparation, effort, and improvement in the areas outlined in the syllabus for writing, and quality of contributions to the class discussions. Largely, students who display the commitment to learning and a concern for improvement will attain the highest grades, regardless of percentage grades on individual assignments. However, this commitment and concern often coincides with students’ performance on assigned tasks.

Timeliness matters.  Lateness on assignments is a reflection on your overall commitment to the process of learning.  Assignments submitted late without prior (reasonable) notice or reasons provided will reflect on the student’s grade. If a student knows ahead of time he/she will have trouble completing a specific assignment by the given deadline, it is that student’s responsibility to inform the instructor.  Do not attempt to inform the instructor on the day before or day of the deadline.

 

Academic Integrity

 

Each student will be asked to review and sign Susquehanna Township School District’s Academic Honesty Policy.  This policy will be strictly enforced in this class with support from plagiarism check technology provided by Turnitin.com. Please note the term, “Integrity.” One should be honest AT ALL TIMES about the sources of information that one shares that did not originate with him/her/they. This is a personal responsibility that reflects the quality of one’s character.

 

 

Absent Work

 

It is your responsibility to find out what you missed during the time you were absent.  When possible please inform the teacher that you will be out if it is a planned absence so that you can get your work ahead of time.  I do understand that illnesses happen, and should it happen to you, check the agenda/Canvas/Teams. Long-term projects/assignments are given well in advance and are due on the date due.

 

 

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:

1. The syllabus is subject to change at any time throughout the course of the year at the discretion of the teacher.
2. No cell phones are to used in class unless at the discretion of the teacher.
3. My door is always open. If there is a problem or an issue, please come speak with me. Also, feel free to email me, Mr. Jones, anytime at djones@hannasd.org.