AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION COURSE SYLLABUS 2024.docx

AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION COURSE SYLLABUS 2024-2025 Mrs. Wade Planning: 2nd COURSE DESCRIPTION In Advanced Placement English Language and Composition, you are a reader and writer, honing your skills on 3 fronts: rhetorical analysis, argumentation, and synthesizing sources. These 3 approaches h...

AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION COURSE SYLLABUS 2024-2025 Mrs. Wade Planning: 2nd COURSE DESCRIPTION In Advanced Placement English Language and Composition, you are a reader and writer, honing your skills on 3 fronts: rhetorical analysis, argumentation, and synthesizing sources. These 3 approaches help you think deeply about how ideas are crafted into writing, and about the people and purposes behind those ideas. As a critical reader, you analyze how an author deliberately plans and arranges their work---using rhetorical choices like diction, syntax, figurative language, etc.---to shape the text's meaning and purpose. You read from a wide range of mostly non-fiction works because non-fiction has high stakes in real society: persuasion, legislation, justice, culture, and so on. Genres include long-form essays, speeches, historical documents, journalistic articles and editorials, visual compositions, advertising, etc. As a writer, you combine insight and course information from readings, lecture, and class discussion---including numerous questions from previous AP exams---to frame essay responses that analyze the rhetoric and arguments of others. You also practice crafting your own arguments about a variety of topics. COURSE OBJECTIVES This course focuses on: - The rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts - The development and revision of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing - The decisions writers make as they compose and revise Students in this course will: - Evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments - Read and analyze rhetorical elements and their effects in nonfiction texts---including images as forms of text---from a range of disciplines and historical periods EXAM INFORMATION The AP Exam for English Language and Composition will be on Thursday, May 22, 2025. If you are enrolled in the course, you are required to take the exam. Although your results do not affect your class grade, a passing score indicates that you have capably completed the equivalent of a college-level freshman composition course. The exam consists of multiple-choice section and 3 AP Free Response Questions (FRQs). Responses will be scored using the rubric introduced in 2019 by the College Board. The total points for each FRQ is 6, consisting of three sub-scores: Thesis (1 pt.), Evidence & Commentary (4 pts), and Sophistication (1 pt.). CONTROVERSIAL CONTENT**:** *From the AP English Language and Composition Course and Exam Description, 2019:* Issues that might, from particular social, historical, or cultural viewpoints, be considered controversial, including references to ethnicities, nationalities, religions, races, dialects, gender or class, may be addressed in texts that are appropriate for the AP English Language and Composition course. Fair representation of issues and peoples may occasionally include controversial material. Since AP students have chosen a program that directly involves them in college-level work, participation in this course depends on a level of maturity consistent with the age of high school students who have engaged in thoughtful analyses of a variety of texts. The best response to controversial language or ideas in a text might well be a question about the larger meaning, purpose, or overall effect of the language or idea in context. AP students should have the maturity, skill, and will to seek the larger meaning of a text or issue through thoughtful research. GENERAL GRADING POLICIES Students are expected to be in class every day, fully prepared and well-read. This course has a heavy reading load; students who keep up shouldn't become discouraged. **[Late work will NOT be accepted]**. This is a college course, and I will give you ample notice of due dates. Grades will follow the WHS grade weighting as follows: 40% Major (tests, essays, projects) 35% Accuracy (class assignments, quizzes, exit tickets, etc....) 10% Participation (bell ringers, homework, etc....) 15% End of semester exam (**Mock AP Exam, given on Saturday, April 26**; **THIS IS MANDATORY**) COURSE ORGANIZATION**:** This course is organized thematically, with each unit requiring students to acquire and use insightful vocabulary, to use standard English grammar, and to understand the importance of diction and syntax in an author's style. Therefore, students are expected to develop the following through reading, discussion, and writing assignments: - A wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively - A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination - Logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis - A balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail - An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure For each reading assignment students will identify the following: - Thesis or Claim - Tone or Attitude - Purpose - Audience and Occasion - Evidence or Data - Appeals: Logos, Ethos, Pathos - Assumptions or Warrants - Style (how the author communicates his message---rhetorical mode and rhetorical devices, which always include diction and syntax) - Organizational patterns found in the text (i.e., main idea detail, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, extended definition, problem/solution, etc.) - Use of detail to develop a general idea SUPPLIES NEEDED Composition notebook Sticky notes Blue/black pens Highlighters Pencils Sheet protectors Binder Loose leaf paper Dividers Cell Phone Policy: Per the new state law, cell phones are to be TURNED OFF and kept in your school bag for the duration of the school day. If you are seen with your phone, you will receive a referral. This includes smart watches. In-Class Assignments: When you enter the room, you will have a bell ringer on the board. You should get started immediately. Our time together in class will consist mostly of closely reading, analyzing, and discussing the works that are to be covered. Several of the units will require you to read a novel outside of class. Our time in class will cover discussing the reading and how it relates to the topic we are studying. \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*PLAGIARISM POLICY\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* Plagiarism is the use of another's words or ideas and the presentation of them as though they were one's own. Acts of plagiarism might include, but are not limited to: - Using words or ideas from any source without proper documentation and/or if you were not supposed to use a source. Students may not use any outside sources unless explicitly told to. - Using the work of another student (e.g. copying homework, essay, or project partially or in whole) - Using excessive editing suggestions of another student, teacher, parent, or any other editor. - Using AI generated material and presenting it as your own (this includes using such tools as ChatGPT, Quillbot, Grammarly Paraphrase, etc.). What constitutes "excessive editing"? Students learn to write well by doing just that: writing. Struggling independently through the writing process produces growth (as well as a certain amount of agony) will eventually reveal the student's own style and voice. When well-meaning parents, siblings, friends, tutors, or others contribute their ideas, words, phrases, revisions, etc. to students' writing, student writers miss the opportunity to achieve written self-reliance. So what is the difference between helping and excessive editing? The answer is: questioning and signaling. For example: "Is this word strong enough? Specific enough?" "Can you think of another word that would fit better?" "Does this sentence seem awkward?" "What exactly did you mean when you wrote this?" "I don't understand what you are trying to say here; can you say it more clearly?" These kinds of questions and hints allow the students to think and write ​*independently*​. Students must be allowed to find their own styles and to develop their own writing skills. AP Language & Composition Teacher Name: Ashley Wade Teacher email: Please fill this out and return to me ASAP. \_\_\_\_\_ **We have read the syllabus** for Mrs. Wade's AP English Language & Composition and understand the expectations for the course and classroom policies. \_\_\_\_\_ We know AP students **will have homework**, and we will support our student in making this rigorous academic year a successful one! \_\_\_\_\_ We know that Mrs. Wade will contact us about any concerns or class information via **the information supplied below.** **Student name:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Student signature: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **Parent/guardian name:** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Parent/guardian signature: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **Parent/guardian, please provide two ways for me to contact you:** Parent/guardian email: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Parent/guardian phone number: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_