AP English Literature and Composition

Course Description

Both semesters of AP English Literature and Composition have been designed to challenge students to read and interpret a wide range of literary works. This course allows students to explore a variety of genres and literary periods and to write clearly about the literature that they encounter. By the end of the second semester, the student will be well prepared for the AP examination and will have acquired analytical skills that will be used throughout life. The first semester of this course focuses on the elements of fiction. The student will spend a considerable amount of time reading and analyzing a variety of short stories and novels. The student will evaluate how the elements of plot analysis, characterization, theme, point of view, symbolism, allegory, irony, and humor work together to create a story or novel that is worthy of literary acclaim. In addition to reading, the student will complete a wide variety of writing pieces in order to develop better writing skills in the following areas: narrative, exploratory, expository, and argumentative.

Goals and Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• Analyze and interpret samples of good writing in a variety of genres, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques.
• Apply effective strategies and techniques in his or her own writing.
• Create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience.
• Demonstrate an understanding and a mastery of standard written English as well as stylist maturity by using:

• a wide-ranging vocabulary with denotative accuracy and connotative resourcefulness.
• a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordinate and coordinate constructions.
• logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques of coherence such as repetition, transition, and emphasis.
• a balance of generalization with specific illustrative detail.
• effective rhetoric, consistent voice, and emphasis through parallelism, and antithesis.

• Write in a variety of genres and contexts, both formal and informal, employing the appropriate conventions.
• Produce expository and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate, specific evidence, convincing explanations, and clear transitions.
• Move effectively through the stages of the writing process with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review.

Requirements

Grade Level
12

*Materials

Primary Textbook:
Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Eleventh Edition. Arp,Thomas R. and Greg Johnson.Boston: Thompson Wadsworth, 2011.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Students are required to read this novel before the start of the course.

The textbook below is required to purchase for Semester B (Jan–May):

Cracking the AP English Literature & Composition Exam, 2017 Edition

ISBN-13: 978-1101919910
ISBN-10: 1101919914

­­­­­­­­
Additional Novels:

Native Son by Richard Wright

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

*Materials listed should be acquired by the student prior to beginning work in the course.

Duration
2 Semesters

Prerequisites
Successful completion of ELA 11 and a teacher's recommendation

Technology Skills

• Internet Access
• Word Processor
• Email Access