AP Literature and Composition A
LA.12.APLiteraturev2.Bnet4copy
In this AP English Literature and Composition course students are engaged in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style, and themes, as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.
Enduring Understanding
The student will understand:
- Readers come to a text predisposed with certain perceptions, limitations, and expectations.
- Reading needs to be deliberate and thorough, taking time to understand a work’s complexity and meaning as it is embodied in its literary form.
- Readers must reflect on the personal, social, and historical values of the text.
- Texts must be read actively through experience of literature, interpretation of literature, and evaluation of literature.
- Readers must make careful observations of textual detail, establish connections among their observations, and draw conclusions about a text’s meaning and value.
- Writing reflects the culture of its day and the author’s perception of that culture.
- Writers have the ability to change the world.
Essential Questions
- How does the study of literature shape our perceptions of history and enhance our view of the world?
- Who is Man and how does literature help to define him?
- How are a reader’s perceptions of people and characters influenced?
- How do symbols help readers understand their literary past, present, and future?
- How does the study of literature reinforce or weaken a reader’s personal, social, and historical values?
- How do writers have the ability to change the world?
Additional Resources Needed
Textbooks
The major text is Roberts and Jacobs, Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 8th ed. This covers all of the genre except novel and nonfiction. In the back of the book there is a CD for the students. This is used in the design of the course. There are also additional free online sources for the teacher once you receive your access pass from the publisher, Pearson: Prentice Hall. This is free for the instructor once the books are purchased.
Also included for this course is an AP review manual, The Best Test Preparation For the AP Examination in English Literature and Composition, (Research and Education Association). Many assignments are given using this book.
The following longer fictional works are needed for this course: Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky), Night (Weisel), The Metamorphosis (Kafka), Frankenstein (Shelley), Heart of Darkness (Conrad), A Farewell to Arms (Heminway) and Song of Solomon (Morrison). When available a weblink has been provided; otherwise, it is understood that students may purchase these books or borrow them from the library
Content Topics
Unit 1
Active Reading Process
Unit 2
Reading and Writing about Fiction
Unit 3
Suffering is Redemptive or Not?
Unit 4
Alienation or Acceptance, the Choice is Yours
Unit 5
Who is Man?
Key Skills
- Read actively
- Analyze literature & all literary elements
- Synthesize information & relate to real life experiences
- Read & respond to a variety of literary forms through critique, discussion, questioning, and argumentation
- Write for a variety of purposes
Assessments
- Journals / Active Reading Logs
- Wikis
- Blogs (Journals)
- Graphic Organizers
- Timed Writing from "AP" Prompts
- Writing Response/Reaction Papers
- Focused Writing Analysis Papers on Literary Conventions
- Writing Evaluative Papers that Make Judgments on Artistry, Values, and Interpretation
- Discussion Boards
- Projects
- Quizzes
- Tests
- GRASPS
- Graded Project Based Assessment
- Homework Independent Work
Standards Alignment:
- Students read a wide range of literature to build an understanding of the many dimensions of human experience.
Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. - Students use a variety of technological and information resources to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
- Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
Students demonstrate, after reading, understanding and interpretation of both fiction and nonfiction text - Students analyze the relationships, uses, and effectiveness of literary elements used by one or more authors in similar genres.
- Students write with a sharp, distinct focus, with controlled and/or subtle organization, and with a command of the stylistic aspects of composition.
