If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; and if you cannot think well, others will

do your
thinking for you.

George Orwell

AP English Language and Composition

2015-2016
Mrs. Kosiba

From egg to butterfly in one short year, or from high school senior to college
freshman with credit for one entry-level English course because you triumphed on
the Advanced Placement Language and Composition Exam! The AP Language test
will be given at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Taking this test costs $91
but can earn you college credit, depending on your score and the college you will
be attending next year. Taking the AP English Lang. test should definitely be a goal
for you to achieve as a senior at VHS! In a nutshell, taking this class will earn you
knowledge for college! Mrs. K
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition is a rhetoric course (the
art of speaking and writing effectively) that emphasizes the elements of audience,
purpose, and context in texts focusing mainly on nonfiction writing. In this rhetoric
course you will learn to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate nonfiction texts such as
essays, letters, memoirs, biographies, speeches, etc. This is not to exclude fiction
texts entirely, as the summer assignment was to read two novels.
This class begins with the continuation of the summer reading projectreading
1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and writing an
essay about those two dystopian novels. That first paper will begin the important
writing process focusing on thesis statements, topic sentences, and peer revision,
among other areas of writingwith an emphasis on developing college writing
skills. Rhetorical situation and contextpurpose, audience, and strategieswill be
another focus as students learn close reading. APE students will also learn how to
annotate for understanding and use rhetorical devices in their writing.
Participation Expectations
Students are expected to be present, punctual and prepared for class each day.
Participation is very important, so be ready to join in the discussion. Effective time
management is important since there will be homework, and oftentimes reading
and writing assignments will be lengthy and thought provoking. I do realize many
of you participate in extracurricular activities, have jobs, and have other AP
classes; however, this does not exempt you from completing assignments for this
AP class.
Do your best work ALWAYS!
Writing and Reading
Because this class is an equivalent to an introductory college composition class,
writing is a main focus. You will be required to continually reflect and evaluate
your own writing. Process writing is a focus brainstorming, pre-writing, revision,
peer revision, final writing, working in writing groups, conferencing with Mrs. K.
all of this is expected as it will help prepare you for next years college adventures.

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Reading is also an integral part of this course and there will be a variety of types of
assignments. Because this course is based on non-fiction reading and writing, you
will be required to read, critic, analyze, and reflect on speeches, memoirs, and
other forms of non-fiction and fiction.
Carpe Librum Projects
There is also a choice reading project that will be due approximately once a month.
This Carpe Librum Project (translated means Seize the Books!) requires you to
read a book from my selected list and complete a project. The last book will be
your choice entirely, but must still be approved. On the project due dates, I will
randomly select about 10 students to present. The next due date, I will randomly
pick 10 more, until all students have had a chance to present their projects and
then start over. So not everyone will present every time. One of the last reading
projects will be the choice of a dystopian novel read in a Literature Circle group
with a project as the culmination.
The due dates for Carpe Librum Projects are:
1st Quarter
1. Monday, Oct. 26
2nd Quarter
1. Monday, Nov. 30
2. Monday, Jan. 4
rd
3 Quarter
1. Monday, Feb. 1
2. Monday, March 7Literature Circle group presentations due
4th Quarter
1. Monday, April 11
Reading/Writing Notebook
You will be required to keep a notebook to be used for both reading responses and
writing.
Reading - used to record entries on passages or issues from assigned
reading. The journal is a place to react, evaluate, analyze, criticize, and
comment on what was read. These entries should not paraphrase what was
read but to interact with the text questions, thoughts, analysis, etc. These
entries will be used to anchor class discussions and writing prompts. Bring
to class every day.
Writing - most days of the week at the beginning of class will start with a
writing prompt. These writing prompts will routinely be used to reflect on
assigned reading, practice writing skills/techniques, brainstorm writing
ideas, apply rhetorical terminology, react to poetry and create descriptive
writing. The purpose of this journal is to keep you writing regularly on a
variety of topics.
Generally, these journals are ungraded, but there may be times when I will
check them unannounced to make sure they are being kept up to date and
will grade as participation or homework.
Textbook The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric 2nd
Edition by Shea, Scanlon, Aufses
Everything is an Argument with Readings by Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, Walters

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In addition to the requirement of reading one canonical book each month,

students will read one of the following books to participate in literature
circles 2nd semester: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Feed by M.T.
Anderson, The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, Ecotopia by Ernest
Callenbach, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess or The Running Man
by Stephen King

Blog (not a regular assignment)

In addition to journal writing, we may be blogging to further develop your
voice and style as a writer in an informal setting. Ideally, I would like APE students
to be blogging when we are not working on a formal paper, but sometimes we will
be doing both. Blogs will count as participation because the point is to get you
reading, thinking, and connecting with your peers ideas and thoughts, not to
penalize you for not agreeing with or understanding specific prompts. In the
beginning, the prompts will be posted by me, with your response reacting directly
to the prompt or to a response by a peer. As we get into the school year, I will be
asking you to pose a prompt that your APE peers will post on. You will receive a
grade for the quality of your prompt it cant be What do you think about the
quality of the burgers at Five Guys compared to Culvers? Although interesting,
this is certainly not appropriate for an APE blog. I will provide some websites to
give you ideas but generally prompts should address things that go on in our class,
our nation and our world.
Mrs. Kosibas website/blog ckosiba.weebly.co
Course Planner *
First Quarter, 1st Semester Intro to Rhetoric
(September 8 November 5): Course Orientation, Introduction to Close
Reading and Rhetoric, College Writing Instruction, Rhetorical strategies
and analysis
Reading Selections:
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
I Want a Wife by Judy Brady
Roses Thorns: An Idol and a Scoundrel, Pete Perfectly Represents Extremes
by Frank De Ford
How to Say Nothing in 500 Words by Paul McHenry Roberts
The Language of Composition, Chapters 1-2
Skills and Writing Assignments
Revision of summer essays
o Meet your 1st revision groups
o Expect, get used to, learn to love revising ALL papers with peers
after teacher comments!
o Its all about process, process, process!
Reading response explain, model, practice we will be using this a lot in
our readings

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Rhetorical devices so many kinds, so little time identifying, naming, using

Rhetorical devices and speech assignment
Carpe Librum projects
College application essays
Intro to AP writing prompts concentrated practice test/timed writing
Summer Essay final revision
Persuasive Essay Dead Poets Society letter to the school board using
rhetorical devices

Writers Notebook/Readers Response Journal we will write several times a

week for different reasons creative, reader response, quickwrites, etc. Think,
Write, Share, Enjoy!
Carpe Librum Projects start in October. This is mostly an outside choice reading
assignment that you will complete with a project due once a month.
Movie
Dead Poets Society
Second Quarter- Language, Synthesizing sources, Politics relationship
between citizen and state, Orwell/Huxley focus on language
(November 9 January 29):
Reading Selections: from the Language of Composition, Chapters 3,4,10 and
other sources
Politics and the English Language by George Orwell
Words and Behavior by Aldous Huxley
Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
How It Feels To Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston
Slang in America by Walt Whitman
The F Word by Firoozeh Dumas
In Plain English: Lets Make It Official by Charles Krauthammer

Skills and Writing Assignments:

Orwell/Huxley Argument Comparison and Defense Essay, mandatory
conference with Mrs. K
American Rhetoric Prezi Project
Visual and Documentary film rhetoric
Carpe Librum project
Third Quarter, 2nd Semester- Understanding and developing focus in
argument, justice, education, gender
(February 1 March 30):

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Reading Selections: from The Language of Composition Chapters 5, 8, 13

and other sources
Literature circles to use with 6 utopian/dystopian novels
o Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
o Feed by M.T. Anderson
o The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
o Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach
o A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
o The Running Man by Stephen King
Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincolon (2002 AP English Language
and Composition Exam
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick
Douglass
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist by Laura Blumenfeld

Skills and Writing Assignments:

Synthesis Essay Prompt Project researching and writing your own
synthesis prompt and essay
Literature circles project each book group will teach the class about
their book and how that ties in with our utopian/dystopian theme. Students
will be given the choice to do a PowerPoint, Prezi, act, monologues, YouTube
video, digital story, graphic novel, a blog, a website, etc. Creativity is
encouraged!
Carpe Librum project
Fourth Quarter- AP test prep, synthesis paper, narrative/memoir writing
(April 11 May 26): Focus this last quarter is on practice for the AP exam
timed writing prompts, synthesis essays, and multiple choice portions of
the 3 hour and 15 minute exam. Students will also be writing and
researching their own synthesis prompt and essay.
Reading Selections: from The Language of Composition Chapter 9 and other
sources
The Silent Season of a Hero by Gay Talese
The Four Horsemen by Grantland Rice
The Cruelest Sport by Joyce Carol Oates
Offensive Play: How different Are Dogfighting and Football? by Malcolm
Gladwell
Skills and Writing Assignments:
Carpe Librum project
The Personal Narrative and Memoir
On Not Flying to Hawaii by Alison Luterman copy change, parallel
structure fun

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The Stranger in the Photo is Me by Donald Murray write your own memoir

Readings/Activities throughout the year:

Various homework assignments from the readings.
Assorted rhetoric selections from Current Issues and Enduring Questions,
The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches edited by Brian
MacArthur, A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers by Lee
A Jacobus, Mirror on America: Essays and Images from Popular Culture by
Joan T. Mims and Elizabeth M. Nollen,
Tone/Diction exercises from Nancy Deans Voice Lessons
Sentence variety from The Art of Styling Sentences by Ann Longknife, Ph.D
and K.D. Sullivan, and
It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of
sentences by June Casagrande
Other grammar and punctuation lessons as needed
*This syllabus is an estimate of the coursework; various assignments, readings,
and writings, may be added/subtracted/moved as the year progresses.
AP Tests
Practice AP free response timed essays
Practice AP multiple choice tests
Please read all assignments given to you. Your ability to do well on the AP
exam and in writing is directly impacted by your reading comprehension
ability.
Practice makes you better prepared to take the AP Language and Composition
Exam in May 2016!
Grades/Responsibility/Attendance/Participation
Your work will be graded in the following way: 80% writing, tests/quizzes,
and 20% responsibility, participation, and homework.
You will receive responsibility points for most assignments in AP English
Lang5 for homework and usually 15-20 for major papers. For example: you
receive 20 points for the summer essay if turned in on your designated due
date. If your paper is late, for whatever reason, your responsibility points
will be reduced. So remember for future assignments get them in on time
(the beginning of class!) or you will suffer the reduction of a grade due to
loss of responsibility points.
Turning in a paper on the due date means this: Your paper is printed,
stapled, and ready to turn in at the beginning of your class period. If you
come to class with your paper on a flash drive yet to be printed, you will lose
5 responsibility points. Being prepared is having your paper in your hand so
you can put it in mine! If you turn in your paper at another time during the
day, it still loses 5 responsibility points.
Your positive involvement in classroom activities will enhance the learning
environment and increase the amount of fun that can be shared. Lets go
APE!
Attendance is important! Because we are usually covering several things at
once, attendance in class is a priority. But do NOT come to school if you are
truly sick, we dont want others to get sick.

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Tardies seniors are notorious for being late. Please come to class on time
or I WILL mark you tardy. (1st hour this means YOU!) I follow the school
rules for tardy consequences so PLEASE BE ON TIME!

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