syllabus
Listed on this page are some highlights from the AP Language and Composition syllabus. For a copy of the complete syllabus please download the PDF below.
weathersbee_ap_language_and_composition_syllabus_2020-21.pdf |
COVID-19 ADDENDUMS:
-Your submitted digital work on the days when you are “virtual” will not only be a coursework grade for you, but will also suffice as your course attendance for that day. Thus, due dates are more important than ever this year to ensure you meet the seat time requirements as dictated by SC law.
-Students will need to keep their masks on at all times and maintain social distancing even when working in small groups. I’m sorry. I know this is uncomfortable and awkward for all of us, but it’s necessary to slow the spread of this virus. Please don’t make this an issue.
Course Overview
An Advanced Placement course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.
Equivalent to a college-level composition course, which is taught significantly above grade level, this course is designed for students who have demonstrated superior ability in communication, reading, research, and writing skills. The focus of the course is an in-depth reading of non-fiction as well as literature in order to improve both analysis and writing ability. Writing ranges from informal, reflective journals to formal, critical papers, with an emphasis on narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative writing, along with research papers. Students will also be exposed to synthesis research and writing. There will be many opportunities during this course to provide peer-peer feedback, teacher-student feedback, and revision of papers. Students will be encouraged to work with online writing tutorials to address specific areas. Students will also be expected to perform impromptu writing based on readings, significant quotes, and virtual media. The overarching goal is for students to discover their strengths in writing and to build on these as well as discover weaknesses in order to improve these areas.
In addition to writing students will also participate in a variety of discussion modes: Socratic seminars, small group and large group. While an understanding of standard English grammar is presumed students will also be expected to become more mature writers by employing varied sentence structure, parallelism, proper modifiers etc. based on a study of models by published authors. Similarly, since annotated papers in are required, students are expected to be acquainted with the Modern Language Association's guidelines for writing and citations, both direct and indirect. Students will also be required to have a working knowledge of APA (American Psychological Association) format.
The course overview, goals, and objectives for this class are taken from the AP English Course Description published by the College Board. Many of the texts and authors used in this course have been chosen based on the representative list that is also included in this publication. In addition many of the assignments implemented in this course are derived from The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English which is also published by the College Board. A complete list of publication information for these sources and others can be found in the student resources and teacher resources sections of this syllabus.
Course Objectives:
Advanced Placement Language and Composition provides opportunities for students to
Resources for Students
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
online writing lab
http://www.usd.edu/engl/resources_ac.html
links to online writing labs, Thesaurus, dictionaries, research tips, and timed writing tips
http://www.bartleby.com/141/
Strunk and White’s Elements of Style
http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm
best site for documentation guidelines, includes APA , MLA , and other citation styles
includes guidelines for incorporating documentation into an essay
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
grammar review for specific areas of language usage
allows for individualized instruction on grammar usage
http://www.wordcounter.com/
students can type in a paper. The software will analyze the paper for overused words.
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/about.html
information for students and parents about AP courses and testing / college information
http://www.loc.gov/index.html
access to primary sources such as letters, documents, political cartoon, photographs, etc.
http://www.scdiscus.org/school.html
allows student to research a wide variety of topics including literary criticism, author biographies, and websites that have been deemed academically sound
http://scholar.google.com/
allows students to perform academic research that is deemed sound
Grading
Student progress is determined through both formative and summative assessments. Although all assessments will be evaluated, not all formative assessments will figure into the student’s overall course grades. Graded assignments will fall into two categories, major assignments and minor assignments. A particular assignment’s category will be determined based on complexity, amount of time required, and overall assessment of the course standards. Formative assignments may include but are not limited to quizzes (vocabulary, reading, skill-based), informal writing assignments, general class work and homework. Summative assignments may include but are not limited to tests, formal writing, research-based products, and culminating products. While students will have fewer major assignments than minor assignments per grading period, the major assignments will comprise a greater percentage of the average. In this class, grades will be determined by a weighted system. Major assignments will be weighted 60% of a student’s average; minor assignments will be weighted 40% of a student’s average. Individual assignments within these weighted categories will be scored by total points.
Technology Expectations
Please be certain to have your mobile device with you and charged for every class. All course information, including your gmail calendar with assignment due dates, will be housed on my website. You will need to reference this site frequently. The web address is www.dawnweathersbeeclass.weebly.com. Further technology expectations will be discussed in class.
Testing Expectation
In accordance with Board Policy IHCD-R, all students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses must take The College Board administered examination. Refusal to participate in the AP exam will result in the course weight dropping from AP weight to honors weight in addition to taking a teacher created final course exam.
-Your submitted digital work on the days when you are “virtual” will not only be a coursework grade for you, but will also suffice as your course attendance for that day. Thus, due dates are more important than ever this year to ensure you meet the seat time requirements as dictated by SC law.
-Students will need to keep their masks on at all times and maintain social distancing even when working in small groups. I’m sorry. I know this is uncomfortable and awkward for all of us, but it’s necessary to slow the spread of this virus. Please don’t make this an issue.
Course Overview
An Advanced Placement course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.
Equivalent to a college-level composition course, which is taught significantly above grade level, this course is designed for students who have demonstrated superior ability in communication, reading, research, and writing skills. The focus of the course is an in-depth reading of non-fiction as well as literature in order to improve both analysis and writing ability. Writing ranges from informal, reflective journals to formal, critical papers, with an emphasis on narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative writing, along with research papers. Students will also be exposed to synthesis research and writing. There will be many opportunities during this course to provide peer-peer feedback, teacher-student feedback, and revision of papers. Students will be encouraged to work with online writing tutorials to address specific areas. Students will also be expected to perform impromptu writing based on readings, significant quotes, and virtual media. The overarching goal is for students to discover their strengths in writing and to build on these as well as discover weaknesses in order to improve these areas.
In addition to writing students will also participate in a variety of discussion modes: Socratic seminars, small group and large group. While an understanding of standard English grammar is presumed students will also be expected to become more mature writers by employing varied sentence structure, parallelism, proper modifiers etc. based on a study of models by published authors. Similarly, since annotated papers in are required, students are expected to be acquainted with the Modern Language Association's guidelines for writing and citations, both direct and indirect. Students will also be required to have a working knowledge of APA (American Psychological Association) format.
The course overview, goals, and objectives for this class are taken from the AP English Course Description published by the College Board. Many of the texts and authors used in this course have been chosen based on the representative list that is also included in this publication. In addition many of the assignments implemented in this course are derived from The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English which is also published by the College Board. A complete list of publication information for these sources and others can be found in the student resources and teacher resources sections of this syllabus.
Course Objectives:
Advanced Placement Language and Composition provides opportunities for students to
- analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques to include diction, tone, syntax, and audience;
- apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing;
- create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience;
- write for a variety of purposes;
- produce expository, analytical, narrative and argumentative composition that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary sources, cogent explanations, and clear transitions;
- demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in their own writings to include basic grammar and usage with a focus on sentence structure such as subordination/coordination, parallelism, sentence combining, and other sentence strategies;
- demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary sources;
- move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review as well as using teacher and peer review;
- write thoughtfully about their own process of composition;
- revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience;
- analyze media such as photos, cartoons, film, advertisements, art work, etc.; and
- evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers.
Resources for Students
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
online writing lab
http://www.usd.edu/engl/resources_ac.html
links to online writing labs, Thesaurus, dictionaries, research tips, and timed writing tips
http://www.bartleby.com/141/
Strunk and White’s Elements of Style
http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm
best site for documentation guidelines, includes APA , MLA , and other citation styles
includes guidelines for incorporating documentation into an essay
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
grammar review for specific areas of language usage
allows for individualized instruction on grammar usage
http://www.wordcounter.com/
students can type in a paper. The software will analyze the paper for overused words.
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/about.html
information for students and parents about AP courses and testing / college information
http://www.loc.gov/index.html
access to primary sources such as letters, documents, political cartoon, photographs, etc.
http://www.scdiscus.org/school.html
allows student to research a wide variety of topics including literary criticism, author biographies, and websites that have been deemed academically sound
http://scholar.google.com/
allows students to perform academic research that is deemed sound
Grading
Student progress is determined through both formative and summative assessments. Although all assessments will be evaluated, not all formative assessments will figure into the student’s overall course grades. Graded assignments will fall into two categories, major assignments and minor assignments. A particular assignment’s category will be determined based on complexity, amount of time required, and overall assessment of the course standards. Formative assignments may include but are not limited to quizzes (vocabulary, reading, skill-based), informal writing assignments, general class work and homework. Summative assignments may include but are not limited to tests, formal writing, research-based products, and culminating products. While students will have fewer major assignments than minor assignments per grading period, the major assignments will comprise a greater percentage of the average. In this class, grades will be determined by a weighted system. Major assignments will be weighted 60% of a student’s average; minor assignments will be weighted 40% of a student’s average. Individual assignments within these weighted categories will be scored by total points.
Technology Expectations
Please be certain to have your mobile device with you and charged for every class. All course information, including your gmail calendar with assignment due dates, will be housed on my website. You will need to reference this site frequently. The web address is www.dawnweathersbeeclass.weebly.com. Further technology expectations will be discussed in class.
Testing Expectation
In accordance with Board Policy IHCD-R, all students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses must take The College Board administered examination. Refusal to participate in the AP exam will result in the course weight dropping from AP weight to honors weight in addition to taking a teacher created final course exam.