Welcome to AP Literature and Composition!

Course Philosophy

As an AP course, this is a rigorous college-level course.  The reading is challenging; the writing is frequent and requires an independent mind.  We will function as a community of learners.  If you are committed to the work as well as to listening and learning from each other, this class will ultimately become one in which we are all teachers and students.  Each member of the class will have a voice.  We will learn from each other, share our writing, work collaboratively on revisions, and share our thoughts, ideas and observations with one another.  

Course Expectations

1. Behavior: I expect that students will show respect, not only to me but to fellow classmates as well.  As a senior I expect that you have learned how to behave in the classroom.  For specific policies please read your student handbook.

2. Attendance: I realize that many of you are involved in a variety of activities that will take you away from the classroom.  It is your responsibility to keep up!  Classroom participation is a major part of your grade, and, obviously, if you are not here you cannot participate.  There are ways of making up participation points for excused absences.  Students who are unexcused will not be able to make up participation points.  If you are falling behind due to attendance (excused or unexcused), please meet with me to discuss the dilemma. 

3. Tardies:  I expect you all to be on time to class.  Late students disrupt the class.

4. Assignments:  Late work is unacceptable!  If you are absent, it is mandatory that you come to see me the day before the next class meeting.  There is also a class website that will have the assignments.   I have done all that I can to ensure that you are prepared for the next class meeting; respect your fellow classmates and me by doing the same.

5. Test/Quizzes:  If you are in attendance on the day of a test you must take the test unless arrangements have been made the day before.  If you are absent the day of a test or quiz you have two school days after the date of the excused absence to make it up.  Failure to make up the test/quiz within two days will result in a zero.

6. Reading Journals: In order to participate in the class discussions you must have your reading journals up-to-date, with you, and open.  This will be part of your participation grade.

7. Research Project:  You will be working independently on a research project that will span the year.  If you do not complete the paper and presentation you will not receive a grade higher than a D in the class.

8. The ‘A’:  I realize that most of you have received A’s throughout most of your high school career.  This class, however, is different from any other AP English class you have taken.  If you expect to get an A, you must fulfill the ‘A’ definition- above expectations.  Remember a B is above average; to get an A you must go beyond that.

9. Cheating:  Cheating in inexcusable.  If caught cheating you will receive a zero on the assignment.  The school policy states that the penalty for cheating is 3 days out of school suspension.  This policy will be enforced.  Plagiarism is a form of cheating.  It is the act of passing off someone else’s ideas, inventions, writings, etc as one’s own.

 

Course Overview (what we will be doing):

 

1. Vocabulary study: You will study ten words per week to be quizzed on at the end of the week.  Quizzes will be as follows: I will pronounce a word and you will spell it correctly, define it, and use it in a sentence with contextual clues that help define it further.  I suggest you know the part of speech; if the word functions equally as two parts of speech (a noun and a verb, for example) know the meanings for each.  When you write your sentences, you may use various forms of the word: adjective, adverb, or any verb tense, provided you use the form correctly.  The quizzes are worth 20 points each. 

2. Literature study: We will immerse ourselves in several different works and authors.  Before we study each work we will look at the time period in which the work was written and the author.  During the reading we will discuss the methods and devices the author used to create meaning.  After the reading we will look at, discuss, and write about criticism on the work.  While discussing the text I will be sharing with you popular themes, symbols, and motifs found with in the work.  It is imperative that instead of arguing the validity, you discuss how these are revealed.  I promise that I obtain my information from very reliable sources.  The works that will be studied as individual units this year are:

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder (summer)

Mythology by Edith Hamilton (summer)

Oedipus Rex by Sophicles

Antigone by Sophicles

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

A Shakespeare Comedy and History

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

                In addition to these units there will be a short fiction unit and a poetry unit.

3. Composition study: You will hand in at least one essay a week.  These essays will usually be done in class to practice a technique.  We will begin at the most basic part of an essay- the paragraph- and move on to the entire essay.  I realize that most of you know how to write an essay, but I am going to help you write an analysis essay for college English.

4. Literature and Composition Terms study:  We will focus on specific literary and composition terms or devices throughout the year.  These terms will be the practiced through a variety of classroom exercises and assessed through the study of the above works and assessment essays.

5. AP Literature and Composition Exam study:  The main purpose of this class is to prepare you for college English (yes, you will have to take at least 2 semesters of English).  As an added benefit, in May you can take an exam for which you may earn college credit.  Each activity done throughout the year will prepare you for this test.   

 

Final Grades:

1^st Semester 35%=

                                1^st Quarter: 40%

                                2^nd Quarter: 40%

                                Semester Test 20%

 

2^nd Semester 35%=

                                3^rd Quarter: 40%

                                4^th Quarter: 40%

                                Semester Test 20%

 

Research Project 30%

 

The Website:

 

http://jm129.k12.sd.us

 

I maintain a website for all of my classes.  The purpose of the site is to provide information about the class and assignments.  If you do not see me after an absence I expect that you have visited the website or spoken to a fellow classmate and will be prepared upon return.  In addition to assignment information, the site provides other tools and information that may be of use to you.