AP English Language & Composition Syllabus Overview

AP English Language & Composition Syllabus Overview

The AP English Language & Composition syllabus outlines a comprehensive curriculum designed to enhance students' reading and writing skills. It emphasizes nonfiction and fiction texts, exploring themes of identity, culture, and rhetoric. Students engage in close reading, timed writings, and discussions to develop analytical and composition abilities. The course prepares students for the AP exam through various writing assignments and major papers that focus on expository and argumentative essays. This syllabus is ideal for high school students seeking to deepen their understanding of language and improve their critical thinking skills.

Key Points

  • Focuses on developing reading and writing skills through diverse texts.
  • Includes major papers on expository and argumentative writing.
  • Emphasizes close reading strategies and rhetorical analysis.
  • Prepares students for the AP exam with timed writing exercises.
  • Explores themes of identity, culture, and personal experience.
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AP English Language & Composition Syllabus
Course Overview
The following course design was developed using the guidelines outlined in the AP
English Course Description published by the College Board.
This introductory, college level course is designed to strengthen and deepen students’
reading and writing skills. Throughout the course of the year, students will be exposed to
nonfiction, as well as some fiction, from a variety of periods and written for a variety of
purposes. As they read, they will explore and practice the techniques writers employ in order to
convey and achieve their writing purposes and connect with their audiences. In the course of this
study, students will increase their awareness of rhetoric and how language is crafted to achieve
particular effects. Through close reading and frequent writing assignments, students will develop
their abilities to work with complex and challenging texts while strengthening their composition
skills.
The year opens with a focus on the students developing a stronger identity as a reader and writer
and developing their ability to respond with insight to what is happening in the world around
them, becoming a stronger participant in the larger dialogues occurring in their school, their
community, and their nation. With this in mind, the course was developed with a thematic focus,
encouraging students to explore with more depth their identities as readers and writers and the
concept of identity as informed by personal experience, family, race and culture, and history and
politics. The readings for the course are comprised of a number of nonfiction and a few fiction
works that address these themes from different perspectives and are reflective of the population
of the student body.
Many of these chosen readings are based on the represented author’s list found within the AP
English Course Description with some additions based on the goals of the course and the goals of
the vertical curriculum within the English Department. The course textbooks include Everyday
Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing; Everything’s an Argument and a number of
supplemental essays and texts.
Course Planner
Strategies Used Throughout the Year
Discussion
At the beginning of the year, students will begin practicing developing questions using
the text/personal/world questioning strategy developed by Leila Christenbury and
Patricia Kelly. This strategy will not only give students a format by which to begin
developing strong questions that delve more deeply into the readings that we will discuss, but
also provide a framework through which to discuss the role of the author in relation to his
audience and subject matter. These student-developed questions will initially serve as a
supplement to teacher guided discussions and ultimately provide the basis for discussions of
class texts. Students will also learn the principles of the Socratic seminar, a strategy the class will
implement for some full-class and smaller group discussions.
Close Reading
Throughout the year, various strategies will be used to support students’ close reading of texts.
Annotation, dialectical journals, guided group and class discussions, and says/does analyses will
all be used to assist students in developing their close reading skills.
Timed Writings
Throughout the course of the year, students will complete several timed writings: some
former questions from AP tests, some questions that have been developed based off of
readings completed in class. The goal of the timed writings is to build students’ ability to
respond on demand and in a limited amount of time to the various writing situations they
will encounter on the AP exam.
Vocabulary
In order to help students decipher the difficult texts found on the AP exam, we will slowly
develop our vocabulary with a list of ten words each week. Over the course of the week, four
students will be responsible for demonstrating the use of the vocabulary in context. These
demonstrations will be held every day so that students encounter the vocabulary in a variety of
contexts.
Writing Conferences
Writing conferences will serve as a key element in the students’ development as writers.
For each major paper, they will prepare and participate in conferences regarding the development
of their subject and the crafting of their essay. Depending on the assignment, students will
conference with their peers and/or with the teacher regarding their writing purpose and whether
or not they have effectively achieved that purpose.
Additionally, conferences will focus on the continued development of students’ use of
vocabulary, syntax, structure, support, and rhetorical strategies in order to achieve their writing
purpose. With the assistance of these conferences, students will undergo a thorough self-
evaluation and revision process for each major paper.
Writing Notebooks
Students will begin a writing notebook within the first few weeks of school and retain this
notebook throughout the year. This will serve as a place for students to explore various topics
and strategies through more informal writing experiences (journals, imitation exercises, quote
responses, etc.) than the major papers described below. It will also serve as the place for students
to record their prewriting and self-evaluations for their major papers as well as their reflections
on writing conferences. Since this notebook will be a yearlong project, it will allow the students
a unique opportunity to see and reflect on their development as a writer at the end of the year,
when they will develop a portfolio of their work.
First Quarter: The Development of the Essay and an Introduction to Close Reading and
Rhetoric.
The quarter will start off with an exploration of what it means to be a reader and writer.
Students will read a number of essays including Joan Didion’s “On Keeping a Notebook,”
Eudora Welty’s “One Writer’s Beginnings,” Virginia Wolf’s “Angel in the House”, Francis
Bacon’s “Of Studies,” and Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Language and Literature from a Pueblo
Indian Perspective.” The class will study these essays exploring the relationship between reader
and writer. With each essay students will account for purpose and audience while also being
introduced to various rhetorical strategies and modes. Concurrent with this focus, students will
also explore (in backwards chronological order) American literary periods and contextualize
each text within their literary context.
Throughout the first quarter, students will study rhetorical purpose and language with a
focus on developing a strong understanding of diction, tone, and various syntactical
strategies while being introduced to the five canons of rhetoric. Each week new
rhetorical strategies and rhetorical modes will be introduced and explored through class
readings and then mimicked through various writing activities (journals, individual and
collaborative writing assignments). Students’ study of rhetoric will be supplemented
with activities and readings from Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and
Writing (Chs. 1, 2, 3 and 4). Students will be expected to do a long form analysis of one of their
summer reading books.
Major Paper #1: Expository Essay
During the course of the first few weeks, students will reflect on their own experience as
a reader and writer as they explore the experiences of others through class reading and
discussion. As a part of this ongoing discussion, students will prepare an essay exploring the
following comment by Judith Cofer Ortiz: “Books kept me from going mad. They allowed me to
imagine my circumstances as romantic: some days I was an Indian Princess living in Zenana, a
house of women, keeping myself pure, being trained for a brilliant future. Other days I was a
prisoner: Papillon, preparing myself for my great flight to freedom.” Students will analyze the
role reading and language has played in their own lives, pulling examples from their summer
reading as well as from other books they have read. An initial draft will be completed in class
after a thorough review of the elements of an essay and a discussion of various modes of writing.
Following individual student/teacher conferences on their drafts, students will revise and
complete this expository piece.
The class will continue to emphasize close reading, annotation and the study of rhetorical
purpose and language as we begin reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas. We will
focus on the development of the speaker’s persona while also making a thematic shift from
focusing on the role of reading and writing to studying the development of identity. Students will
practice close reading of various rhetorical strategies through guiding questions that will be
provided and discussed in groups and as a class. Students will account for their individual
reading through various reading logs and development of their own shared inquiry questions. All
these assignments will be completed in their reading journal.
The reading of NOTLOFD will be peppered with a variety of texts focused on the use of
education and literacy as a tool of struggle. Readings include but are not limited to Malcolm X’s
“Learning to Read”, Benjamen Benneker’s “Letter to Thomas Jefferson” and Martin Luther
Kings “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.
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Faqs of AP English Language & Composition Syllabus Overview
What types of texts are included in the AP English syllabus?
The syllabus includes a variety of nonfiction and fiction texts from different periods and purposes. Notable authors featured are Joan Didion, Virginia Woolf, and Leslie Marmon Silko. These texts are selected to encourage discussions around themes of identity, culture, and personal experience, allowing students to analyze how writers convey their messages.
How does the course prepare students for the AP exam?
The course prepares students for the AP exam through a series of timed writings that simulate exam conditions. Students practice responding to prompts based on class readings, developing their ability to articulate arguments and analyses under time constraints. Additionally, major papers and writing conferences provide opportunities for feedback and revision, enhancing their writing skills.
What are the major writing assignments in the course?
Students complete several major writing assignments, including expository and argumentative essays. These assignments require them to analyze their own experiences as readers and writers, as well as engage with texts studied in class. The writing process includes drafting, peer editing, and teacher conferences to refine their work and improve their writing techniques.
What strategies are used to enhance close reading skills?
The syllabus employs various strategies to enhance close reading skills, including annotation, dialectical journals, and guided discussions. Students learn to analyze texts deeply, focusing on rhetorical strategies, diction, and tone. These skills are essential for understanding complex texts and developing critical thinking.
What themes are explored in the AP English Language course?
The course explores themes such as identity, culture, and the role of language in shaping personal and societal narratives. Through readings and discussions, students examine how these themes manifest in different contexts, encouraging them to connect their own experiences with broader societal issues.