2011/2012 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
Welcome to AP English Language! I will encourage students in this class to engage themselves in a lifelong study of the relationship between writer, reader, content, and style—specifically, how a writer’s purpose and context, audience expectations, and rhetorical style all contribute to the meaning of a text.
Students in AP Language will be graded on the basis of class participation and discussion, in-class quizzes and tests, in-class essays and AP multiple choice questions, research papers, and a three-hour AP simulation semester examination.
Throughout the year, students will be asked to read and analyze prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical styles. Practice Essays for the examination may be found at the College Board Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Homepage.
TEXTBOOK
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The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric First Edition. Shea, Scanlon, and Aufses. Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2008. |
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS
Students in AP Language will be graded on the basis of class participation and discussion, in-class quizzes and tests, in-class essays and AP multiple choice questions, research papers, and a three-hour AP simulation semester examination.
I. DISCUSSION AND PRESENTATION
As part of the AP Language class, students will be evaluated in ways that simulate real world experiences--problem solving, presenting, "pitching" ideas, debating, discussing, analyzing, synthesizing, and communicating information and ideas to their peers and instructor. Students may be asked to use movie-maker, power point, wikis, and other multi media programs to strengthen their presentations.
II. QUIZZES AND TESTS
Approximately once every other week the class will be given a quiz concerning points brought up in lectures, reading assignments, or class discussion. Every video shown will be the subject of a quiz covering the basic themes and topics of the film. There are no makeup quizzes; a missed quiz is NOT counted for the purposes of the semester average.
Tests on summer and semester reading will each count as 100% and range from essay evaluation to student presentation.
III. IN-CLASS AP ESSAYS AND PRACTICE MULTIPLE CHOICE AP TESTS
Due to the nature of this course, many of the evaluations will be in the form of in-class essays and multiple choice analyses of prose. In-class essay topics will not be discussed in advance and, therefore, cannot be “prepared for” before they are given. These essays will be scored using the 1-9 AP rubric. During the first semester students will have the opportunity to rewrite essays that receive scores below a 5. Rewritten essays are due seven days from the date the original essay is returned and must be turned in WITH the original graded essay. These rewrites count an additional 100 points but do not replace the original grade.
The multiple choice AP prose analyses will count 1 point per question; students will have approximately 100 points of AP simulation multiple choice during each quarter.
IV. PAPERS
Students will be asked to complete several papers throughout the course of the year. Each of these papers should demonstrate the mastery of standard written English, be typed, and adhere to the MLA format. Students will be expected to write expository, analytical, and argumentative responses that incorporate complex, central ideas and ample development with clear, thorough, and appropriate evidence from primary and secondary sources including rhetorical and visual texts, research, and personal experience.
V. SEMESTER EXAM
The semester exam will be a three-hour simulation of the AP Language and Composition exam.