AP Language and Composition
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
Who are you?
-Oscar Wilde
Who are you?
-Oscar Wilde
AP Language and Composition Summer Reading and Assignment
Please read the book by Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America and complete the assignment. All responses must include evidence from the text, accurately cited using MLA format. Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Nickeled and Dimed Assignment Nickel Analysis Current Events Assignment Frustration in Ferguson |
Books we will read this year!
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner Freakonomics: Assignment Silent Spring Silent Spring Assignment Silent Spring The Language of Composition Scarlet Letter |
Course Overview
An AP English Language and Composition course cultivates the reading and writing skills that students need for college success and for intellectually responsible civic engagement. The course guides students in becoming curious, critical, and responsive readers of diverse texts, and becoming flexible, reflective writers of texts addressed to diverse audiences for diverse purposes. The reading and writing students do in the course should deepen and expand their understanding of how written language functions rhetorically: to communicate writers’ intentions and elicit readers’ responses in particular situations. The course cultivates the rhetorical understanding and use of written language by directing students’ attention to writer/reader interactions in their reading and writing of various formal and informal genres (e.g., memos, letters, advertisements, political satires, personal narratives, scientific arguments, cultural critiques, research reports).
Reading and writing activities in the course also deepen students’ knowledge and control of formal conventions of written language (e.g., vocabulary, diction, syntax, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, genre). The course helps students understand that formal conventions of the English language in its many written and spoken dialects are historically, culturally, and socially produced; that the use of these conventions may intentionally or unintentionally contribute to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of a piece of writing in a particular rhetorical context; and that a particular set of language conventions defines Standard Written English, the preferred dialect for academic discourse.
An AP English Language and Composition course cultivates the reading and writing skills that students need for college success and for intellectually responsible civic engagement. The course guides students in becoming curious, critical, and responsive readers of diverse texts, and becoming flexible, reflective writers of texts addressed to diverse audiences for diverse purposes. The reading and writing students do in the course should deepen and expand their understanding of how written language functions rhetorically: to communicate writers’ intentions and elicit readers’ responses in particular situations. The course cultivates the rhetorical understanding and use of written language by directing students’ attention to writer/reader interactions in their reading and writing of various formal and informal genres (e.g., memos, letters, advertisements, political satires, personal narratives, scientific arguments, cultural critiques, research reports).
Reading and writing activities in the course also deepen students’ knowledge and control of formal conventions of written language (e.g., vocabulary, diction, syntax, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, genre). The course helps students understand that formal conventions of the English language in its many written and spoken dialects are historically, culturally, and socially produced; that the use of these conventions may intentionally or unintentionally contribute to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of a piece of writing in a particular rhetorical context; and that a particular set of language conventions defines Standard Written English, the preferred dialect for academic discourse.
Education, Reading, and Writing Central Question: To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true education? Reading: The Language of Composition 1. “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie 2. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read” by Francine Prose 3. “Studying Islam, Strengthening the Nation” by Berkowitz and McFaul 4. “A Talk to Teachers” by James Baldwin 5. “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood” by Leon Botstein 6. Spirit of Education by Norman Rockwell (Painting) 7. “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins (Poetry) 8. “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros (Short Story) 9. From “Native Speaker” by Chang-Rae Lee (Fiction) 10. "Best in Class" by Margaret Talbot 11. "Learning by Degrees" by Rebecca Mead 12. "Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong" Kristina Rizga Writing: 1. Analysis Essays (In and Out of Class) Creative Writing Invitations Politics Central Question: What is the nature of the relationship between the citizen and the state? Reading: The Language of Composition 1. “On Seeing England for the First Time” by Jamaica Kincaid 1a. Shooting an Elephant- George Orwell 2. “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift 3. “National Prejudices” by Oliver Goldsmith 4. “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau 5. “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien (Fiction) 6. Guernica by Pablo Picasso (Painting) 7. “The New Colossus" Emma Lazarus (Poetry) 8. Clinton Trump Debate I and Clinton/Trump SNL 9. The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln 10 Thoughts on Peace in Air Raid by Virginia Woolf Writing: 1. Analysis Essays (In and Out of Class) 2. Argument Essays (In and Out of Class) a. Research Paper on Debate Topic Gender Central Question: What is the impact of gender roles that society creates and enforces? Reading: Language of Composition 1.“Professions for Women” by Virginia Woolf 2.“The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Name Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer 3.“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy (Poetry) 4.“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston (Fiction) 5.“Ain’t I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth 6.“Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Writing: 1.In Class Synthesis Essay 2.In Class Argument Essay In Class Analysis Essay |
Community
Central Question: What is the relationship between the individual and the community? Reading: The Language of Composition 1. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from Clergy 2. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” by Henry David Thoreau 3. “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” by Peter Singer Analogy and AP 4. “Commencement Speech” by Anna Quindlen 5. “New York Day Women” by Edwidge Danticat (Fiction) 6. “Child of the Americas” by Aurora Morales (Poetry) 7. Minority Report by Philip K Dick (Science Fiction) Questions 8. "Blind and Graying, Dragon Boat Paddlers ‘Challenge the Impossible'" Russell Goldman and Angie Chan 9. AP Lang Scoring Rubric and Student Responses 10. "Stability in Motion" by Marina Keegan 11. "Why We Care About Whales" by Marina Keegan Writing: 1. Analysis Essays (In and Out of Class) Creative Writing Invitations Race Central Question: What is the impact of racial stereotypes that society creates and enforces? What is the impact of racism on our society? Reading: Language of Composition 1.“The Atlanta Exposition Address” by Booker T. Washington Mirror on America 1. “Do I Look Like Public Enemy Number One?” by Lorraine Ali 2. “Tyler Perry’s Money Machine” by Eugene Robinson 3. “Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde 4. “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X 5. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston Writing: 1. Synthesis Essay: Community Service 2. Analysis Essay (In and Out of Class) 3. In Class Argument Essay Popular Culture and This I Believe Central Question: To what extent does pop culture reflect our society’s values and beliefs? What do I value and what do I believe? Reading: This I Believe: Collections from NPR Language of Composition 1.From “Show and Tell” by Scott McCloud (Graphic Essay) 2.“High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies” by David Denby 3.“Dreaming America” by Danyel Smith 4.“Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven” by Hans Ostrom (Poetry) 5.“Shake the Dust” by Anis Mojgani (Poetry) 6.“Curbing Nature’s Paparazzi” by Bill McKibben Mirror on America 1.“On Sale at Old Navy: Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies!” by Damien Cave 2.“Why We Crave Horror Movies” by Stephen King 3.“Exploring the Undead: University of Baltimore to Offer English Class on Zombies” by Daniel de Vise Writing: 1.In Class Synthesis Essay 2.This I Believe Paper 3.College Essays |
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Crucible Overview Enemies from Within McCarthy on Disloyalty Good Night and Good Luck- Reaction Paper Good Night and Good Luck- Movie “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathon Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”- Full text |
"Arm Wrestling My Father" by Brad Manning
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Vocabs
American Heritage Dictionaries
AP Lit Vocab List AP Literature & Language List Vocabulary List SAT Vocab 9 SAT Vocab 10 |
SAT Vocab 11
SAT Vocab 12 SAT Vocab 13 SAT Vocab 14 SAT Vocab 15 |
SAT Vocab 16
SAT Vocab 17 SAT Vocab 18 SAT Vocab 19 SAT Vocab 20 |
Helpful Links
AP Language and Composition Documents
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