Syllabus

**Purpose of the Course:** An intensive expository writing course for college-bound seniors designed to develop advanced writing skills and analytical thinking skills. The student will write and revise themes similar to those required in freshman college composition courses. Through the process of reading and writing, students will become skilled in composing for different audiences and purposes and will learn to understand/appreciate the diverse ways authors make meaning in oral, written, and visual texts. Students will identify literary structures and conventions and effectively use them in their own writing. The will identify, evaluate, and discuss the choices they have made in the composition process and enhance their revision skills. College Board Advanced Placement exam will be offered to those who successfully complete the course.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
 * Course Objectives: **
 * Analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques ** (//RI.12.1)(RI.12.5)(L.12.4)(SL.12.3)// **
 * Apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing **// (W.12.1)(L.12.3) //**
 * Create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience ** (//W.12.1) (W.12.3)(SL.12.1)// **
 * Demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in their own writing **// (RI.12.6)(W.12.2)(L.12.3) //**
 * Write for a variety of purposes **// (W.12.1) (W.12.2) (W.12.3)(L.12.1)(SL.12.6) //**
 * Produce expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary source material, cogent explanations, and clear transitions ** (//W.12.1)(W.12.2) (W.12.9)// ****// (L.12.4) //**
 * Demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary source material ** (//W.12.9)(L.12.3)(SL.12.2)// **
 * Move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing and review ** (//W.12.5)(L.12.2)// **
 * Write thoughtfully about their own process of composition ** (//W.12.10)(L.12.1)// **
 * Revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience ** (//W.12.10)(L.12.4)(SL.12.6)// **
 * Analyze image as text ** (//RI.12.7)// **
 * Evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers ** (//W.12.7) (W.12.8) (W.12.9)(L.12.3)// **
 * // * Correlation with Common Core State Standards in parentheses //**


 * COURSE CONTENT: **


 * __ AP Language Binder Information __**


 * __ Voice Lessons: __** Daily ** exercises focusing on analysis of diction, detail, imagery, syntax, and tone will be available upon entry to class. These completed worksheets will be kept in your AP binder under a section labeled “Rhetorical Strategies.” In the first trimester, the text will be provided for you; in the second trimester, you will present sentences/passages found in books, articles, blogs, movies, songs, images, etc. Include title, source, a one sentence summary, and a question or focus for the analysis of a sentence or short passage.


 * __ Vocabulary: __ Each **Monday** a list of high frequency SAT vocabulary words will be introduced. Copy the words, their definitions and their links to keep in you binder in a section labeled “Vocabulary.” Quizzes will be cumulative throughout the course and given on **Fridays**.


 * __ Grammar/Writer’s Handbook __ : We will practice ACT grammar **daily** and in the context of whatever we are reading. There will be a grammar midterm and final separate from the final exam. These completed notes and worksheets will be kept in your AP binder under a section labeled “Grammar/Writing Handbook” and should be consulted when studying for quizzes and writing assignments.


 * __ Current Events: __ You will create your own blog based on a theme of your choice, and each Friday after the vocabulary quiz you will have a few minutes to add a new resource (article, editorial, picture, video, your own commentary, experiences, etc.) to your blog. The purpose of the blog is to build a database of resources to use for argumentative writing, so choose a theme that is sufficiently broad and that you care about. Blog collections may also be used for a student-created documentary (group or individual project).


 * __ AP Words of Distinction __ : As new or particularly delicious words or helpful foreign phrases come up in reading or discussions and are listed on the board, you are to record the new word or phrase, definition, and use in a sentence. These words and phrases, including ones describing tone, diction, and style in general should be employed in writing and discussions. Random quizzes will be given over these words throughout the course, some for credit and some for extra credit. Keep these words/phrases in your binder in a section labeled “AP Words of Distinction.”


 * __ Outside Reading __ : We will read 4 nonfiction novels in the course-- two novels as a class and **two novels you may choose from the provided reading lists**. You may choose to read a novel which is not on the list if it is of appropriate literary quality and content for the class, such as a Pulitzer or Booker Award winner, __and pre-approved by me__. As you read your novels, you will write analytical entries which will be kept in your AP binder under a section labeled “Reading Rhetorical Analyses (RRA).” On the days RRAs are due, you will bring them to class for peer analysis and comment. A formal writing project will follow each of the novels.


 * __ Timed Writing: __ In-class exercises include weekly review of and/or response to released essay prompts. Keep the prompts and your writing in your AP binder under a section labeled “AP/Timed Writing.” Practice essays will sometimes be discussed orally in whole group, written or planned in small group, or written individually. Some will focus on a particular rhetorical strategy, conventions of mode, thesis development, ideas for elaboration/support, introductions, conclusions, or actually completion of the entire essay. Formal individual writing of complete essays will take place quarterly.


 * __ Collaborative Writing __ : In groups, you will participate in collaborative efforts designed to help you evaluate and demonstrate the five canons of rhetoric. Close reading, analysis, discussion, debate, critique, and composition will take place in your group.


 * __ Course Outline __**

**Grammar: Diagnostic Quiz** Syllabus/Outline Review of AP Exam Reasons to Take AP Exam **College Assignment [5]** Quizlet for AP Language Terms Five Canons of Rhetoric: Clinton Speech (Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, Delivery) Looking In/Looking Out Chart Viewing Art Photo Essay Extra Credit Opportunity // Voice Lessons // //Hamlet// Voice Practice Reading List: **Novel One: __Freakonomics: A Rouge Economist Explores the__ __Hidden Side of Everything__ by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner** Freakonomics Radio // I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar // (Which forum? Name contest) Current Events: “Citizen of the World” Blog, Set up Blog “About Me” Entry (draft on paper, including photo/icon)
 * Week 1: **__ Introduction to AP course __
 * Writing Reflection/Standards Review [50] **

Coca-Cola Letters AP Prompt How to Write an Essay: Visual Organizer Thesis Statement/Universal Truth/Verb List Intro to Rhetoric: __Everyday Use__—Chapter 1, Rhetorical Triangle Discussion of Genre and Mode: Types of Passages--Handout // How to Write a Letter // by Garrison Keillor // Letter from the Smithsonian // // Letters from a Nut // by Ted L. Nancy Youtube: Hot Dog and Bun (Groups: thesis statement)
 * Week 2: **__ Genre Focus: Letters __
 * Grammar: ** HHH: Commas (Ch. 12)
 * Student Letter Assignment and Exemplars [50] **
 * Friday: Vocabulary Quiz 1 **
 * John Downe Letter AP Prompt: Essay Practice [10] **

“On First Seeing England” Jamaica Kincaid //Shooting an Elephant// George Orwell pg. 68 RR //Once More to the Lake E.B. Whtie pg. 124 FOM// //Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self// Alice Walker pg. 130 FOM (Groups: thesis, evidence, introduction and conclusion—Group read: Pick favorite sentences)
 * Week 3: **__ Narration: Strategies for Analysis of Narrative Writing __
 * Grammar: ** HHH: Unnecessary Commas (Ch. 13)
 * Rhetorical Modes and Rhetorical Terminology: Group Presentations [50] **
 * Thursday: Rhetorical Term Test **
 * Friday: Vocabulary Quiz 2 **
 * “The Pie”—Gary Soto AP Prompt: Essay Practice **

Austin/Dickens (AP prompt discussion) //Impedigogy// // When Harry Met Tony St. Arbucks // Comparative Writing Practice: Concrete, Abstract, Proper Nouns—Titanpad Comparative Analysis: Group Presentation Comparison and Contrast Reading/Writing Exercise: Compare and Contrast Rodin’s “The Kiss” with Brancusi’s “The Kiss” pg. 294 FOM (Groups: thesis, evidence, introduction)
 * Week 4: **__ Comparative Analysis __
 * Grammar: ** HHH: Semicolon (Ch. 14)
 * Novel One Project: //Freakonomics// Harkness Discussion [100] **
 * Novel Two: Reader’s Choice: Book Review Review Project **
 * Reading Rhetorical Analysis: Directions, Sample, Rubric **
 * Friday: Vocabulary Quiz 3 **
 * “Okefenokee Swamp” AP Prompt: Essay Practice **

The Nature of Description pg. 76-80 FOM // Moments of Being // Virginia Woolf pg. 82 FOM (find most impenetrable sentence) // On Not Looking at Pictures // E.M. Forster pg. 99 FOM Descriptive Writing pg. 103 or 104 FOM George Bernard Shaw AP prompt/ Discussion (Groups: thesis, evidence, rewrite prompt to make if more fun to answer)
 * Week 5: **__Description: Strategies for Conveying Ideas __
 * Grammar: ** HHH: Apostrophe (Ch. 15)
 * Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 4 **
 * Sontag” //On Photography” (2001)// AP Prompt: Essay Practice **

// The Hoax // John Berendt pg. 353 RR // I Want a Wife // Judy Brady // Rock of Ages // Joan Didion pg. 415 //Just Walk on By// Brent Staples pg. 194 FOM Illustration Reading/Writing Exercise: Pre-Judging Public Space pg. 198 FOM
 * Week 6: **__Definition: Strategies for Conveying Ideas __
 * Grammar: ** HHH: Quotation Marks (Ch. 16)
 * Editing Checklist Exercise **
 * Wednesday: RRA 1 Due **
 * Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 5 **
 * “England Essay”—King Charles **
 * “American Needs its Nerds”—Friedman Essay Practice **
 * Opposing view to Friedman’s essay **

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Rhetorical Strategies Fallacies Wiki Presentations // Letters from Birmingham Jail // Martin Luther King Jr. pg. 570 King Speech/Analysis Chart and Persuasive Essay // Unnatural Killers // John Grisham (handout) //Memo to John Grisham: What’s Next—“A Movie Made Me Do It”?// Oliver Stone (handout) Toulmin Schema (Groups: thesis, evidence, change the tone OR find a visual to add to a synthesis)
 * Week 7: **__ Argumentation and Persuasion: Strategies for Influencing Others __
 * Grammar: Quarter Term Quiz [50] **
 * Argumentation Terminology, Fallacies, and Techniques Quiz ( ** Patterns for College Writing**) [75]**
 * Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 6 **
 * Why We Can’t Wait (King) AP Prompt: Essay Practice **

Group Reading: __Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal__ Excerpts from __The Jungle__ by Upton Sinclair Video clips from documentary //Supersize Me// by Morgan Spurlock //Food Inc.// Review and Analyze Published Reviews **Argument Writing: Dietary Decisions**
 * Week 8: **__ Argumentation and Persuasion: Strategies for Influencing Others __
 * Grammar: ** HHH: Sentence Sense (Ch. 1)
 * Thursday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 7 **
 * Entertainment Has Capacity to Ruin Society”AP Prompt: Essay Practice **

**Grammar:** HHH: Adjectives and Adverbs (Ch. 4) // Grounds for Fiction // Julia Alvarez pg. 125 RR // Arranging a Marriage in India // Serena Nanda pg. 140 RR // Living Like Weasels // Annie Dillard pg. 54 FOM // How to Put Off Doing a Job // Andy Rooney pg. 358 FOM // In the Kitchen // Henry Louis Gates, Jr. pg. 362 FOM
 * Week 9: **__ Process and Directions: Strategies for Explaining How To… __
 * How to…Group Presentation/Rationale Assignment [50] **
 * RRA 2 Due **
 * Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 8 **

**Grammar: Midterm [100]** // Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of the Dinosaurs // Stephen Jay Gould pg. 316 FOM //The Tipping Point// Malcolm Gladwell pg. 334 FOM //Some Big Ideas Wash Up One Bulb at a Time// Andrew C. Revkin pg. 406 RR Cause and Effect Exercise: Propaganda pg. 340-345 FOM //A Fowl Trick to Play on a Tractor// Peter Dexter ST **Novel Two Project Due: Book Review Review**
 * Week 10: **__ Cause and Effect: Strategies for Analyzing Why Things Happen __
 * Friday: Vocabulary Quiz 9 **

**Grammar:** Sentence Fragments (Ch. 2) // Alfred M. Green’s Civil War Speech // Ben Franklin speech Polly Locker room speeches/Marc Antony and Brutus speech/Henry V speech Mariah Stewart “Lecture at Franklin Hall” Speech **Favorite TV/Movie/Song Speech Group Presentation [25]** **Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 10** (Groups: thesis, evidence, write to a different audience)
 * Week 11: **__ Genre Study: Speech __
 * Persuasive Speech [100] **
 * Blog Reflection Due [50] **
 * AP Prompt: //Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address// **** Essay Practice [10] **

// Sis, Boom, Bah Humbug // Rick Reilly Leonard Pitts Kathleen Parker Visual Editorials (Groups: thesis, evidence, rewrite the ending) Excerpts from __Reading Lolita in Tehran__ by Azar Nafisi
 * Week 12: **__ Genre Study: Editorial __
 * Grammar: ** HHH: Comma Splices/Fused Sentences (Ch. 3)
 * Thursday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 11 **
 * //Compulsory Voting// (2006) AP Prompt: Essay Practice [10] **
 * Argument Formal Essay—Dietary Decisions [100] **
 * Novel Three: Banned Book Project **
 * Monday: Extra Credit Photo Essay Due [10] **


 * *Final Exam for AP Language A mandatory **

End of Trimester One*****

Week 13: **__ Review of AP Language A __** Grammar: ** HHH: Pronouns and Case (Ch. 5) ** Documentary Review/Production Assignment Book Review Podcast: Global Collaborative Project (Pairs) Novel Three: Banned Book Project “//The Medusa and the Snail// “(2002B) AP Prompt: Essay Practice or “//The Future of Life”// (2009)
 * Argument Mode Genre **
 * Rhetorical Triangle Terminology **
 * Ken Burns on Documentaries: [] **
 * (Groups: thesis, evidence, write with introductory sentence provided) **

Week 14: **__ Visual Rhetoric __** Grammar: ** HHH: Agreement (Ch. 6) ** Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 1 RRA 3 Due Make Argument for Your Topic—Form Doc Groups Documentary Plan—Formal Outline [25] “//King Lear”// (2000) AP Prompt: Essay Practice
 * Visual Rhetoric: Frames of Mind (Chapter, Drawing) **
 * Description in Advertising: Sell Cigarettes and Slide Wheels (Mad Men and advertisement clips) **
 * (Groups: thesis, evidence, who, what, when, where, why, and how?) **

Week 15: **__ Synthesis Writing __** Grammar: **HHH: Verbs (Ch. 7)** Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 2 AP Prompt: Essay Practice [10]
 * Synthesis: Synthesis: Images in the Media (//Everything’s an Argument//) Seminar—Evaluation of sources and integration into class discussion and writing **
 * Write synthesis question based on contents of blogs—Write synthesis essays using those others’ questions and blogs **
 * (Groups: thesis, evidence, select the prettiest sentence in the essay) **

Week 16: **__ Synthesis Project __** Grammar: **HHH: Subordination/Coordination (Ch. 24)** RRA 4 Due Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 3

Week 17: **__ Multiple-Choice Testing Strategies __** Grammar: Midterm [50] Novel Four Project: Reader’s Choice: Multiple Choice Question Creation Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 4 “Testaments Betrayed” //(//2002//)//AP Prompt: Essay Practice
 * Multiple Choice: Student Created Tests from AP Passages **
 * ACT, SAT, AP Multiple Choice Practice/Strategies **
 * Synthesis: Who Owns the Body and Its Parts? Who Owns Life? **
 * Lord Chesterfield Letter AP Essay Prompt and Reader Notes **
 * (Groups: thesis, evidence, identify best argument/idea) **

Week 18: **__ Expository Writing: Skills Review __** Grammar: **HHH:Capitals/Italics (Ch. 9, 10)** Monday: Banned Book Project Due [100] Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 5 Postman’s Orwell/Huxley Essay AP Prompt: Essay Practice or Audubon/Dillard “Birds”
 * // Two Views of the River // Mark Twain pg. 174 RR **
 * // Shakespeare in the Bush // Laura Bohannan pg. 214 RR **
 * //Two Classes of Women// Margaret Sanger FOM CD **
 * //Two Family Portraits: The Pearles and the Bellellis// John Canaday **
 * pg. 289 FOM **
 * (Groups: thesis, evidence, add another source for comparison) **

Week 19: **__ Satire/Irony __** Grammar: **HHH: Misplaced Modifiers (Ch. 25)** // The Importance of Being Ernest //** by Oscar Wilde ** Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 6 “MagnaSoles” AP Prompt: Essay Practice
 * // Of Mice and Men // Cliff Notes Article **
 * Satire: Horatian vs. Juvenalian/Identify Target and Satirical Devices **
 * Daryl Cagle Political Cartoons: Divergent Treatment of Subjects **
 * (Groups: thesis, evidence, add another satirical example) **

Week 20: **__ Continue Satire/Irony __** Grammar: ** HHH: Parallelism (Ch. 26) ** “The Company Man” AP Prompt: Essay Practice Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 7
 * Group Discussion/Writing/Presentation: (essay intro, thesis, support) **
 * Advertising: The Most Interesting Man in the World… **
 * “You Are Not Special” and Rodney Dangerfield “Back To School” **

Week 21: **__ Documentary Analysis/Production __** Grammar: **HHH: Consistency (Ch. 27)** Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 8

Week 22: **__ Mock Exam __** Grammar: ** HHH: Emphasis (Ch. 29) Variety (Ch. 30) ** Wednesday: Novel Four Project Due: Multiple-Choice Test Creation [100] Friday: Vocabulary Unit Quiz 9 //Rising// Tide (2005B) AP Prompt: Essay Practice
 * (Groups: thesis, evidence, identify most effective strategy) **

Week 23: **__ Documentary Week __** Documentary Presentation/Rationale [100] Formal Argument Essay [100]

Week 24: **__ Reflection in Writing __** Grammar: Final
 * Reflective Writing/E Anthology Assignment **
 * Eudora Welty AP Essay Prompt **
 * Review for Final Exam **


 * *Grammar Units are aligned with the **ACT’s Standards for Transition


 * *__Research/synthesis papers, documentary review, formal book review, banned book argumentative paper, and comparative analysis presentation__ require student to utilize research skills, evaluate, and cite source materials using MLA format. **

Student Texts:
 * __ Frames of Mind: A Rhetorical Reader with Occasions for Writing __ __Hodges’ Harbrace Handbook__ **
 * DiYanni, Robert and Pat C. Hoy II Fifteenth Edition **
 * Thomson Wadsworth, Boston, 2005 Glenn, Cheryl, Robert Keith Miller, **
 * Suzanne Strobeck Webb, Loretta **
 * __ Everything’s An Argument with Readings __ Gray and John Hodges **
 * Third Edition Thomson, United States, 2004 **
 * Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters **
 * Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston, 2004 __Vocabulary Cartoons: Building__ **
 * __an Educated Vocabulary with__ **
 * __ The Riverside Reader __ __Visual Mnemonics__ **
 * Eighth Edition Burchers, Sam, Max and Brian **
 * Peterson, Raj., Joseph Trimmer and Maxine Hairston New Monic Book, Inc., **
 * Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 2005 Punta Gorda, FL, 1997 **

Reference Texts (Instructor):
 * __ Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing __ __The Elements of Style__ **
 * AP Edition Fourth Edition **
 * Roskelly, Hephzibah and David A. Jolliffe Strunk, Jr., William and EB White **
 * Pearson, New York, 2005 Longman, New York, 2000 **


 * __ Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide __ __A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms__ **
 * Ninth Edition Second Edition **
 * Mandell, Stephen R. and Laurie G. Kirszner Lanham, Richard A. **
 * Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston, 2003 University of California Press, **
 * Berkeley, CA, 1991 **
 * __ Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student __**
 * Fourth Edition __Short Takes__ **
 * Corbett, Edward P.J. and Robert J. Connors Model Essays for Composition **
 * Oxford University Press, New York, 1999 Tenth Edition **
 * Penfield, Elizabeth **
 * Pearson, New York, 2010 **

Grading Scale: ** The course will follow the Daviess County Board of Education mandated scale. Each project, paper, quiz, etc. is assigned to demonstrate or refine a skill that is necessary for college-bound students. **Turn your assignments in complete and on time**. Late work will only be accepted one day late and given a score of no more than 50% of the original grade.


 * 100-90 || A ||  || ** Distribution of Grades ** ||
 * 89-80 || B ||  || Tests/Projects/Essays 70% ||
 * 79-70 || C ||  || Daily/Homework/Quizzes 30% ||
 * 69-65 || D ||  ||   ||

v Be respectful of me and each other. v Enter the room on time and with all required materials including books, assignments, pen, etc. v You may email EVERY assignment to me unless specifically instructed not to do so. If you print your assignments, print out all assignments BEFORE coming to class. v Turn in assignments on due date. v Take care of personal business (grooming, restroom, phone calls) during breaks or lunch time. v Food, drinks, and gum are fine until the FIRST time I have to clean up after you. v Profanity will not be tolerated. v And woe be unto you if you decide to cheat. Refer to the student agenda regarding policy. If I catch you, you will be subject to punishment. If I don’t catch you, you could be missing out on something that will help you in life! There is a certain amount of factual information you must learn, however, I am much more interested in your original interpretation of the ideas in the text. Cheating defeats the whole purpose.
 * Expectations: **


 * Policy for Make Up Work: ** Tests and long quizzes will be sent to the testing center to be completed before or after school. The center will be available on Monday and Wednesday afternoons as well as Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Short quizzes and homework assignments will be placed in the appropriate tray on my desk. You have __five days__ to make up assignments. **It is your responsibility to inquire about missed assignments**.


 * Tardy Policy: ** You are considered tardy if you are not in the room when the bell rings. The first tardy will result in a warning, the second in a DM, and the third in a detention issued by administration. See agenda book for details.


 * Room Exit Policy: ** No exits from the room will be allowed without **YOUR OWN** agenda book initialed by me. Take care of business during breaks because our class time is so precious.


 * Class Dismissal Policy: ** Stay seated until the bell sounds. Standing in a clump in the doorway is a fire hazard and if I die in a fire because you clogged to doorways, I will come back and haunt you.

To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics… to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! --Ralph Waldo