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Ms. Miller
lmiller@pierce.k12.ca.us
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 3:15-4:30
Course Description
This course provides students with a first year college level experience; its overview and
objectives are abstracted from the College Boards AP English Course Description. The course
will allow students to study American writers as well as British writers in several genres from the
sixteenth century to contemporary times. The course has been organized historically and
thematically and will introduce several paradigms of literary criticism.
The purpose is to develop your understanding of the ways writers use language to provide
meaning and pleasure; the focus of the course is close critical analysis of imaginative
literature, which includes a study of a works structure, its style, its themes, an authors use of
figurative language, imagery, symbolism, tone, etc.
The course will provide opportunity for students to write and rewrite formal papers, extended
analyses, and timed in-class essays from sample AP questions. Student writings will be of
various types including writing to understand, writing to explain, and writing to evaluate. They
will write essays in which they consider the relationship of the structure, style and theme of a
work, the social and historical values of a work, and the literary elements of the work and how
they combine to produce an effect on the reader.
The course allows for teacher feedback to student writing focusing students on the effective use
of a broad and appropriate vocabulary, organization, sentence structure, use of detail, and use of
rhetoric.
The AP Exam
Each student within this class is expected to take the AP English Literature and Composition
exam in May. Many colleges and universities will award college credit for your successful
completion of the examination (usually a score of a 4 or 5 and rarely a 3 on the 1-5 evaluation
scale). To help you accomplish this goal we will be doing an in-depth study of literary works
throughout the course of the year and help you sharpen your analytic, evaluative, and synthesis
skills.
Course Requirements:
As a student in this course, you will be held at to a collegiate standard. In short, this class is
reading, thinking, and writing intensive. You are expected to be up to date and prepared to
participate at all times.
The Reading objectives are as follows:
1. To understand a works complexity.
2. To absorb its richness of meaning.
3. To analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary forms with careful attention to...
the social and historical values a work reflects
The Writing objectives are as follows: (The writing students produce is to also reinforce the
readings).
1. To discuss how particular literary elements or features contribute to meaning.
2. To discuss relevant features of the text.
3. To develop complexity and sophistication in their writing.
4. In addition, the general writing goals are as follows:
To understand a literary work
Respond and react
Build annotation skills
Frequently practice free-writing and journal writing
To explain a literary work
o Making and explaining judgments
o Focus on analysis
Writing demonstrates
o A wide-ranging vocabulary
o A variety of sentence structures
o Logical Organization
o Use of rhetorical techniques
All assigned work will be graded in points toward a letter grade. Different assignments
require different grading scales. Rigor of response, skill-mastery, and timeliness is
required. ALL assigned reading, writing, or other assignments should be completed in a
timely fashion.
This class grading scale will be divided into two categories: 60% formal writing
assignments, tests, and quizzes. 40% All in-class work and homework.
60% Tests & Quizzes
Formal Papers
Culmination Activities
Tests
Quizzes
Free-read novel culminating paper
Etc.
Student formal essay assignments will be assessed using a 9-point AP English rubric or
some weighted or adapted version per individual assignment at the discretion of your
instructor. A rubric will always be given for all formal writing assignments.
Homework will be assigned on a case-by-case basis. In some cases, homework will be
due the next day. In others, it will be due on a later date. As a college-level course with a
strict schedule, late homework will not be accepted, with the exception of illness or
family event. Sports or extracurricular activities do NOT constitute a due date extension.
Late work will not be accepted.
I will not tolerate being approached between classes or in class itself to discuss your
grade. You may drop in or schedule an appointment during my office hours, listed above.
100-94 = A
90-93 = A89-87 = B+
86-83 = B
80-82 = B79-77 = C+
Grading Scale
76-73 = C
70-72 = C
69-67 = D+
68-63 = D
62-60 = D59+ lower = F
**This High School maintains high academic ethics and integrity. Plagiarism, copying, and
cheating of any kind will not be tolerated and will cause an immediate loss of credit. Any second
offenses will result in an F for the marking period in which the incident occurs.
Required Materials
The following materials are required of every student in this course:
Essay assignment for the theme of Identity and Culture using texts; formal assignment
(Literature and Composition pg. 717)
Exploring the text questions for readings
Use of TP CASTT with poetryexplication technique for poetry that identifies and
analyzes the speakers tone, attitude, and use of figurative language to convey a theme or
idea
Unit 6Art and the ArtistFocus=Figurative Language and Close Reading of Poetry
Objectives:
Students will close read fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and visual text on the theme of
art and the artist.
Students will continue composition instruction, including journal writing, use of graphic
organizers, paragraph writing, in-class timed writing, peer editing, as well as teacher
editing
Students will incorporate literary terms and techniques into their response as they write
about the effects of these techniques on the theme and meanings of the works
Students will analyze sample responses to writings about the readings
Possible readings for this unit will come from the suggestions in Literature and
Composition chapter 9 and include but are not limited to:
o The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by Eliot
o The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman
o Cathedral by Carver
o My last Duchess by Browning
o Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Stevens
o Singapore by Oliver
o Nighthawks (painting) by Hopper
o Hoppers Nighthawks by Sadoff
o Inventing My Parents: After Edward Hoppers Nighthawks by Ludvigson
Assessments:
Test on the appropriate longer work and poem groupings (Eliot)
Essay assignment for the theme of Art and the Artist using texts; formal assignment
(Literature and Composition pg. 1163)
Exploring the text questions for readings
Use of TP CASTT with poetryexplication technique for poetry that identifies and
analyzes the speakers tone, attitude, and use of figurative language to convey a theme or
idea
Unit 7Tradition and ProgressFocus=Syntax
Objectives:
Students will close read fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and visual text on the theme of
tradition and progress.
Students will continue composition instruction, including journal writing, use of graphic
organizers, paragraph writing, in-class timed writing, peer editing, as well as teacher
editing
Students will incorporate literary terms and techniques into their response as they write
about the effects of these techniques on the theme and meanings of the works
Students will analyze sample responses to writings about the readings
Possible readings for this unit will come from the suggestions in Literature and
Composition chapter 10 and include but are not limited to:
o Daisy Miller by James
o Everyday Use by Walker
o Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Gray
o London by Blake
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