AP 11

Syllabus

Course Overview

Students in this introductory college-level course read and carefully analyze a broad and
challenging range of nonfiction prose selections, deepening their awareness of rhetoric and
how language works. Through close reading and frequent writing, students develop their ability
to work with language and text with a greater awareness of purpose and strategy, while
strengthening their own composing abilities. Course readings feature expository, analytical,
personal, and argumentative texts from a variety of authors and historical contexts. Students
examine and work with essays, letters, speeches, images, and imaginative literature. Featured
authors include Annie Dillard, Jill Ker Conway, Eudora Welty, E. B. White, Michel de Montaigne,
Truman Capote, Susan Sontag, Mark Twain, Donald Murray, James Joyce, and William
Shakespeare. Students frequently confer about their writing in Writers Workshop, in class, and
in conferences with the teacher. Summer reading and writing are required. Students prepare for
the AP English Language and Composition Exam and may be granted advanced placement,
college credit, or both as a result of satisfactory performance.

Purpose of the Course: Advanced Placement Language and Composition is designed to

promote divergent thinking and in-depth analysis so that students will write cohesive and
grammatically persuasive essays. The purpose of this course is to develop the necessary skills for
students to pass the National Advanced Placement English Language and Composition
Examination in May in order to receive college credit for the English Language Composition
course. As such, the emphases of this course are those laid out by the College Board.

More generally, the purpose of this course is as stated in the AP English Language and
Composition Workshop Manual 2014 - 2015; ideally, it [AP Lang] equips students to conduct
academically sound inquiry and argumentation and prepares citizens to participate in
intellectually responsible, democratic decision-making. (pg.14)

Central course textbooks include The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric;
One Hundred Great Essays; Edit Yourself; and Conversations in American Literature.

Secondary texts may include: The Elements of Style, Picturing Texts; The Art of Voice: Language
and Composition, and AP Workbooks, i.e. 5 Steps to a 5: AP English Language; Barrons, Cliffs,
The Princeton Review, etc.

Course reading and writing activities should help students gain textual power, making them
more alert to an authors purpose, the needs of an audience, the demands of the subject, and
the resources of language: syntax, word choice, and tone. By early May of the school year,
students will have nearly completed a course in close reading and purposeful writing. The
critical skills that students learn to appreciate through close and continued analysis of a wide
variety of nonfiction texts can serve them in their own writing as they grow increasingly aware
of these skills and their pertinent uses. During the course, a wide variety of texts (prose and
image based) and writing tasks provide the focus for an energetic study of language, rhetoric,
and argument.
As this is a college-level course, performance expectations are appropriately high, and the
workload is challenging. Students are expected to commit to a minimum of five hours of course
work per week outside of class. Often, this work involves long-term writing and reading
assignments, so effective time management is important. Because of the demanding
curriculum, students must bring to the course sufficient command of mechanical conventions
and an ability to read and discuss prose.
The course is constructed in accordance with the guidelines described in the AP English
Course Description.

Course Organization

The course is organized by unit themes. The first semester follows The Language of Composition:
Reading, Writing, Rhetoric closely, giving close study to the first four chapters, building a
foundation of skills to be used throughout the course, then applying these skills in a culminating
unit for the first semester in the fifth chapter of the book, a theme-based unit on Education. (See
syllabus for specific readings.)
Each unit requires students to acquire and use rich vocabulary, standard English grammar, and
to understand the importance of diction and syntax in an authors style. 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; and
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 must 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 messagerhetorical 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

On the philosophy of this course and the choices made regarding curriculum:
The main decision driving the content of this course was the selection of The Language of
Composition: Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric, Second Edition, by Renee H. Shea, Lawrence
Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses as the main text for the course.

The text was designed to be a complete preparatory course for the AP Exam, and as such was
designed with a variety of readings and assessments which build skills in a sequential manner
(Chapters 1 4) and then methodically apply these skills to a series of theme-based units.

Each chapter is designed with interwoven readings and assessments. For example, Chapter 1:
An Introduction to Rhetoric: Using the Available Means, opens with a discussion of Aristotles
rhetorical triangle, uses it to analyze Lou Gehrigs Farewell Speech, then immediately moves
to an Activity in which students find a movie review and use the Rhetorical Triangle to analyze
the review. This pattern of teach, practice, assess is used throughout the textbook.

Additionally, each chapter closes with a Culminating Activity which provides a variety of texts
(always including at least one visual text) and asks students to practice the skills taught in the
chapter in a synthesis exercise. Most often, these are synthesis essays, though for the first two
units, we will conduct a Socratic Seminar first in order to prepare students for the essay.

These synthesis essays run the gamut from straight analysis of technique and effectiveness to
essays in which students are required to take a stand on an issue and use the documents in the
Culminating Activity for support.

Moreover, once the basic skills have been covered (Introduction to Rhetoric, Close Reading,
Analyzing Arguments, and Synthesizing Sources), the theme-based units which follow conclude
with a Culminating Conversation which offers a variety of readings on the theme, i.e. Education.
Students read, study and synthesize, then enter the conversation on their own with one of the
suggested writing topics. This requires students to respond to a prompt using a minimum of three
sources from the readings for support.

Thus, the pattern of teach, practice, and assess is woven throughout the textbook with increasing
demands on the students, raising their abilities to a level where they can apply these skills on
their own naturally and intuitively.
Third Quarter provides the challenge of looking at a longer piece; Jon Krakauers Into the Wild.
This provides students a platform upon which to practice their skills of rhetorical analysis.
Students are led into the subject with a series of pieces by Thoreau, Emerson, and more
contemporary writers which introduce them to the basic Transcendental concepts which guided
McCandless (according to Krakauers argument). Students dissect how Krakauer constructs his
argument that Christopher McCandless was a thoughtful young man attempting to live an
authentic life, discovering for themselves the various media Krakauer uses to build his argument.
Students are introduced to the contemporary Alaskan view of McCandless and see how
Krakauers style contributes to his argument through a PowerPoint presentation of photo slides
and maps of The Devils Thumb, then compare and contrast this approach to the one Werner
Herzog takes in the movie Grizzly Man. Using all these media, students write a paper taking a
stand on whether they agree with Krakauers argument.

Final topics to take into consideration:

1) The AP Test. Most practice students get aimed directly at the AP Test for the first four
units revolves around analysis and essay writing. This gives them a solid foundation upon
which to build further skills.
2) After the foundation has been built (Units 1 4), students add multiple choice test-taking
practice. Each of the theme-based units has a series of AP Style Multiple Choice
Questions for at least four readings per unit. Students take these tests and then
deconstruct the questions and answers. This includes a section on building a vocabulary
of rhetorical and other terms for each unit.
3) With the movement into the theme-specific units, the class broadens out to include
specific vocabulary, grammar, and writing skills work. Each theme-based unit concludes
with a student paper which addresses a prompt based on the theme of the unit. Students
analyze this. Part of this analysis is grammar and syntax based: each unit includes a
section of specific instruction based on the analysis of the student essay. For example,
Chapter 5: Education, concludes with a study of appositive phrases.
4) Students begin to use the Writers Workshop model with AP prompts starting with Unit 5.
This allows us to focus on the grammar and syntax targets of the unit in way that
incorporates the theme and rhetorical practice into the writing.
5) By Unit 5, students will be writing the equivalent of an essay a week, through text-
provided writing prompts and questions on the readings. Students will follow a writers
workshop style format on the average of once every two weeks to focus on specific skills
such as paragraphing, sentence structure, revision, etc.
Syllabus: English AP11, Fall Semester
Introduction: AP English Course Description, Syllabus stating rules and responsibilities, grading
system, introduction to major texts and purposes.
Reading:

Shea, Renee H., Scanlon, Lawrence, and Aufses, Robin Dissin The Language of
Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. Chapters 1- 5 (see chapter units below).

DiYanni, Robert J. One Hundred Great Essays, selected essays.

Viewing:
Visual texts included in The Language of Compostion;
Additional visual texts sought out by students;
Video supplements to assigned readings (links to videos provided by the publisher of the
text (Bedford St. Martin); author interviews and reading, historical videos; movie clips
as appropriate and relevant; TV commercials, PSAs, Political ads, etc.).
Assessments:
Quizzes: Students are given a quiz on most readings. These check for
understanding of meaning and strategies.
Quiz: Vocabulary from readings
Grammar log of work on the Bedford St. Martin website (Diagnostic Test leads to a series
of assigned follow-up study. Students are required to work on this at their own pace.)
Test: Definitions of rhetorical modes and devices
Compositions: These follow suggestions in the Language and Composition textbook (see
below). Full Essays will be assessed on two levels: the thoroughness of the writing process
(prewriting work, multiple drafts, revision, editing, etc. (see Rubrics)) and the AP Rubric.
Original Visual: students will be design their own PSAs to raise awareness among fellow
teens about noise-induced hearing loss and enter them in the Listen Carefully contest
sponsored by the Starkey Hearing Foundation.
First Quarter: Course Orientation; Chapters 1 and 2 from The Language of Composition: 1)
An Introduction to Rhetoric: Using the Available Means, 2) Close Reading: The Art and
Craft of Analysis
(September 9November 6)
The course opens with an immediate follow-up on a summer assignment, which consists of
reading one selected work of nonfiction from a list handed out to students in June, and writing an
essay on how the author achieved his purpose with the novel (i.e. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara
Ehrenreich. How does Ehrenreich approach her study on the impact of the Welfare Reform Act?
What conclusions does she reach? Etc.) Students will first read sample AP Essays, score them
using the AP rubric, check their scores against professional AP readers, discuss the scoring
process, then score their own essays. Essays will be saved to be rewritten near the end of the
course.

Work then begins in the Language of Composition textbook.

Unit 1: An Introduction to Rhetoric: Using the Available Means

Readings and Viewings:
Lou GEHRIG, Farewell Speech
ALBERT EINSTEIN, Dear Phyllis, January 24, 1936
GEORGE W. BUSH, 9/11 Speech
KING GEORGE VI, The King's Speech (September 3,1939)
JUDITH ORTIZ COFER, from The Myth of the Latin Woman
ALICE WATERS, from Slow Food Nation
ACLU, The Man on the Left (advertisement)
RUTH MARCUS, from Crackberry Congress
TONI MORRISON, Dear Senator Obama
TOM TOLES, Rosa Parks (cartoon)
JANE AUSTEN, from Pride and Prejudice
PETA, Feeding Kids Meat Is Child Abuse (advertisement)
ANNE APPLEBAUM, If the Japanese Can't Build a Safe Reactor, Who Can?

Assessments:
ACTIVITY Analyzing a Rhetorical Situation
SOAPS
ACTIVITY GEORGE WILL, from King Coal: Reigning in China
RICHARD NIXON, from The Checkers Speech
ACTIVITY DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, Order of the Day
ACTIVITY WORLD WILDLIFE FUND, Protecting the Future of Nature (advertisement)
ACTIVITY TAMAR DEMBY, Alarmist or Alarming Rhetoric? (student essay)
ACTIVITY FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, Stop for Pedestrians (advertisement)

CULMINATING ACTIVITY:
THE TIMES, Man Takes First Steps on the Moon
WILLIAM SAFIRE, In Event of Moon Disaster
AYN RAND, The July 16, 1969, Launch: A Symbol of Man's Greatness
HERB LOCK, Transported (cartoon)

The assessments in this unit establish the year-long practice of teach, practice, assess in a
spiraling cycle of complexity. The first assessment is an application of the Rhetorical Triangle to
a movie review the students bring in. The final assessment (Culminating Activity) asks students
to analyze the rhetorical methods used in a newspaper article, a speech, an essay, and an editorial
cartoon. Students participate in a Socratic Seminar in which they share their analyses of these
pieces, and then finally write an essay in which they agree or disagree with Ayn Rands piece.
Students then look at a comparable AP essay with student samples, use the AP Rubric for to
score the essays, compare their scores to the scores AP Readers assigned the essays, and finally
score their own essays.

Unit concludes with a self-reflection piece students write about the essay and in which they plan
next steps to help them improve their writing and understanding.

Unit 2: Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Analysis

Readings:
QUEEN ELIZABETH, Speech to the Troops at Tilbury
WINSTON CHURCHILL, Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat
RALPH ELLISON, from On Bird, Bird-Watching and Jazz
JOAN DIDION, The Santa Ana Winds
GROUCHO MARX, Dear Warner Brothers
DODGE, It's a Big Fat Juicy Cheeseburger in a Land of Tofu (advertisement)

Assesssments:
ACTIVITY RALPH ELLISON, from On Bird, Bird- Watching and Jazz
ACTIVITY VIRGINIA WOOLF, The Death of the Moth
ACTIVITY CHRISTOPHER MORLEY, On Laziness
ACTIVITY GIRL SCOUTS, What Did You Do Today? (advertisement)

CULMINATING ACTIVITY
JOHN F. KENNEDY, Inaugural Address, January 20,1961
ELEANOR CLIFT, Inside Kennedy's Inauguration, 50 Years On
UNITED STATES ARMY SIGNAL CORPS, Inauguration of John F. Kennedy (photo)

The use of the teach, practice, and assess model continues. The unit begins with an analysis of
syntax and diction and how these work (along with the building of ethos, logos, and pathos) to
build tone in Queen Elizabeths Speech to the Troops at Tilbury. After presenting a careful
analysis, the book has students do a similar task with Churchills Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat
speech.

Students then learn specific annotating skills and are shown an effective method of using graphic
organizers through the teach, practice, assess model of the readings given. Particularly effective
is the careful deconstruction of Didions piece.
Like the unit before, this concludes with a Culminating Activity where students are asked to
analyze the three pieces given. These analyses are gone over in class discussion, and students are
taken through a process to write an essay which compares and contrasts the styles of the three
documents in how each creates tone and uses this tone to then convey the legacy of John F.
Kennedy.

Students then look at a comparable AP essay with student samples, use the AP Rubric for to
score the essays, compare their scores to the scores AP Readers assigned the essays, and finally
score their own essays.

Unit concludes with a self-reflection piece students write about the essay and in which they plan
next steps to help them improve their writing and understanding.

Second Quarter: Chapters 3 - 5 from The Language of Composition: 3) Analyzing Arguments:

From Reading to Writing; 4) Synthesizing Sources: Entering the Conversation; 5) Education
(November 9January 28)

Unit 3: Analyzing Arguments: From Reading to Writing

Readings:
TOM TOLES, Crazed Rhetoric (cartoon)
AMY DOMINI, Why Investing in Fast Food May Be a Good Thing
ROGER EBERT, Star Wars
ANNA QUINDLEN, from The C Word in the Hallways
JENNIFER OLADIPO, Why Can't Environmentalism Be Colorblind?
FABIOLA SANTIAGO, In College, These American Citizens Are Not Created Equal
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR AND Roy ROMER, Not by Math Alone
MALCOLM GLADWELL, from Outliers
THOMAS JEFFERSON, The Declaration of Independence
POLYP, Rat Race (cartoon)
ALFRED STIEGLITZ, The Steerage (photo)

Assessments:
ACTIVITY Finding Common Ground
Essay in Progress: Selecting a Topic
ACTIVITY Identifying Arguable Statements
ACTIVITY Analyzing a Review
ACTIVITY NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD, Felons and the Right to Vote
Essay in Progress: Staking a Claim
ACTIVITY Developing Thesis Statements
Essay in Progress: Developing a Thesis
ACTIVITY Identifying Logical Fallacies
ACTIVITY DANA THOMAS, Terror's Purse Strings
Essay in Progress: Using Evidence
Essay in Progress: Shaping an Argument
ACTIVITY ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, The Declaration of Sentiments
ACTIVITY Identifying Assumptions
ACTIVITY Using Argument Templates
ACTIVITY U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, The Heroes of2001 (stamp)
Essay in Progress: Using Visual Evidence

CULMINATING ACTIVITY
TOM TOLES, Heavy Medal (cartoon)
MICHAEL BINYON, Comment: Absurd Decision on Obama Makes a Mockery of the Nobel
Peace Prize
Essay in Progress: First Draft

This unit focuses on argument, and starts off by defining what we mean by argument. The unit
begins with the analyses of a Toles editorial cartoon and the argument he makes, then moves
to various readings. This unit covers types of claims, presenting evidence, types of evidence,
logical fallacies, how to shape arguments (classical oration, induction and deduction, the
Toulmin Model), and includes a detailed section on analyzing visual texts as arguments.

The Culminating Activity for this unit requires students to use the appropriate analytical tools
from the chapter to analyze the two texts, comparing and contrasting the arguments to discuss
their effectiveness. These are given as group presentations and scored with the use of a rubric
designed to assess students use of evidence in the analysis and the thoroughness of the
analysis itself.

Interwoven with the lessons in this unit are a series of assignments which prepare students to
write their first original argument essay: Developing a thesis, using evidence, shaping an
argument, and using visual evidence. Students then put this all together and follow the full
writing process to create an essay which is then scored using the AP rubric.

To conclude students look at a comparable AP essay with student samples, use the AP Rubric
for to score the essays, compare their scores to the scores AP Readers assigned the essays, and
finally score their own essays.

Unit concludes with a self-reflection piece students write about the essay and in which they plan
next steps to help them improve their writing and understanding.

Unit 4: Synthesizing Sources: Entering the Conversation

Readings:

LAURA HILLENBRAND, from Seabiscuit

GERALD EARLY, from A Level Playing Pield
STEVEN PINKER, from Words Don't Mean What They Mean
STEVEN PINKER, from The Stuff of Thought
STEVEN PINKER, from The Evolutionary Social Psychology of Off-Record Indirect Speech
Acts
NEIL HOWE AND WILLIAM STRAUSS, from Millennials Rising
THE DALTON SCHOOL, Community Service Mission Statement
DETROIT NEWS, Volunteering Opens Teen's Eyes to Nursing
DENNIS CHAPTMAN, Study: "Resume Padding" Prevalent in College-Bound Students Who
Volunteer
ARTHUR STUKAS, MARK SNYDER, AND E. GIL CLARY,
from The Effects of "Mandatory Volunteerism" on Intentions to Volunteer
MARK HUGO LOPEZ, from Youth Attitudes toward Civic Education and Community Service
Requirements
Assessments:
ACTIVITY Examining a Columnist
ACTIVITY Supporting a Thesis, Framing Quotations, Integrating Quotations
ACTIVITY Using Sources Effectively, Citing Sources. A Sample Synthesis
Essay
SYNTHESIS ESSAY

CULMINATING CONVERSATION THE DUMBEST GENERATION?

1. MARK BAUERLEIN, The Dumbest Generation
2. SHARON BEGLEY, The Dumbest Generation? Don't Be Dumb
3. MIZUKO ITO ET AL., Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of
Findings
from the Digital Youth Project
4. NICHOLAS CARR, Is Google Making Us Stupid?
5. R. SMITH SIMPSON, Are We Getting Our Share of the Best?
6. STEVEN JOHNSON, Your Brain on Video Games'
 7. CLIVE THOMPSON, The New Literacy
8. Roz CHAST, Shelved (cartoon)

Using the teach, practice, and assess method, students follow up

this look at incorporating sources with a look at Conversation,
a typical synthesis essay prompt and the six provided sources.
Students are taught how to analyze the sources, practice
analyzing some on their own, and then consider how to approach
the essay prompt through a guided series of exercises. This
section of the unit concludes with the analysis of a student essay
which answers the prompt.

Students then move on to another synthesis prompt and apply the

skills they have learned in crafting, drafting, and finishing the
synthesis essay prompt given in the Culminating Conversation.

This essay is corrected by the teacher and given two scores: one for the
thoroughness with which the students follow the full writing process (a
process which has been emphasized from the first writings in this course), and
a grade based on the AP rubric. Students meet in conference with the
instructor to discuss their essays and how they might improve them. These
conversations are structured by the methods suggested by Peter Elbow in his
Responding to Student Writing essay.

Unit 5: Education

Readings:
CENTRAL ESSAY:
FRANCINE PROSE, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read
CLASSIC ESSAY
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, from
Education OTHER VOICES:
JAMES BALDWIN, A Talk to Teachers
KYOKO MORI, School
SHERMAN ALEXIE, Superman and Me
DAVID SEDARIS, Me Talk Pretty One Day
MARGARET TALBOT, Best in Class
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant
Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
SANDRA CISNEROS, Eleven
NORMAN ROCKWELL, The Spirit of Education (painting)
Roz CHAST, What I Learned: A Sentimental Education from Nursery School through
Twelfth Grade (cartoon)
CONVERSATION: THE AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL
1. HORACE MANN, from Report of the Massachusetts Board of
Education
2. TODD GITLIN, The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut
3. LEON BOTSTEIN, Let Teenagers Try Adulthood
4. EDWARD KOREN, Two Scoreboards (cartoon)
5. DIANE RAVITCH, Stop the Madness
6. ERIC A. HANUSHEK ET AL., from U.S. Math Performance in Global
Perspective (tables)
7. DAVID BARBOZA, from Shanghai Schools' Approach Pushes Students

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WRITING ARGUMENT: USING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

AS EVIDENCE
As the first theme-based unit, the organization and methodology of this unit is different than
those before.
The unit is centered around a central essay and a classic essay. These essays work together to
raise questions about what Education is, what its goals are, and the best to achieve these goals.
Both Discussion Questions and Questions on Rhetoric and Style accompany these selections.
Additionally, there are AP-Style Multiple Choice Questions which accompany a total of four
readings per theme-based unit.
Students are assigned the essays and questions as homework, and class time is devoted to taking
and deconstructing the Multiple Choice Questions, discussing the Discussion Questions, and
going over the Questions on Rhetoric and Style as a class. This allows students to work together
with the teacher to reach a deeper understanding of not only the texts, but the methods used to
construct the texts, for example, how syntax and diction build a tone that helps the author
achieve a persuasive message.
These essays are followed by a series of more contemporary essays. Two of these essays also
have AP-Style Multiple-Choice questions, and all have Exploring the Text questions which
analyze message, rhetorical style, syntax and diction, and ask students to consider how the texts
touch on issues in their own lives.
The unit includes a Conversation, a concept introduced in the Synthesis chapter: a series of
texts which discuss an issue from different perspectives. The selection of texts for Conversation
always includes a visual text as well. The Conversation portion asks students to analyze each of
the texts and then use this analysis to construct a synthesis essay which uses at least three of
the sources in the conversation.
One possible follow up to this unit is to conclude with a role play in which students speak in the
role of a few chosen writers from the series of texts about contemporary questions.
Several writing prompts bring this unit to a close as students choose one to write an AP Essay.
These are again scored for 1) the thoroughness with which the students follow the full writing
process (a process which has been emphasized from the first writings in this course), and 2)
using the AP rubric. Students meet in conference with the instructor to discuss their essays and
how they might improve them. These conversations are structured by the methods suggested by
Peter Elbow in his Responding to Student Writing essay.
English AP11, Spring Semester
Third Quarter: Chapter 6 from The Language of Composition: 6) Community; Excerpt Unit
from Chapter 7 in Conversations in American Literature: Language, Rhetoric, Culture (The Legacy of
Henry David Thoreau); Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer (the Krakauer unit spills over into Fourth
Quarter).
(February 1April 1)

Unit 6: Community
Readings:
CENTRAL ESSAY:
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., Letter from Birmingham Jail
CLASSIC ESSAY
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For
OTHER VOICES
RICHARD RODRIGUEZ, Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood
ELLEN GOODMAN, The Family That Stretches (Together)
LORI ARVISO ALVORD, Walking the Path between Worlds
ROBERT D. PUTNAM, Health and Happiness
DINAW MENGESTU, Home at Last
SCOTT BROWN, Facebook Friendonomics
MALCOLM GLADWELL, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
POETRY
AURORA LEVINS MORALES, Child of the Americas
PAIRED VISUAL TEXTS
NORMAN ROCKWELL, Freedom from Want (painting)
Roz CHAST, The Last Thanksgiving (cartoon)
NISSAN MOTOR COMPANY, The Black Experience Is Everywhere (advertisement)

CONVERSATION THE INDIVIDUAL'S RESPONSIBILITY TO THE COMMUNITY

1. ANDREW CARNEGIE, from The Gospel of Wealth
2. BERTRAND RUSSELL, The Happy Life
3. GARRETT HARDIN, from Lifeboat Ethics
 4. PETER SINGER, from The Singer Solution to World Poverty
5. Zapiro (Jonathan Shapiro), World Economic Forum (cartoon)
6. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR EDITORIAL BOARD, Warren Buffett,
Bill Gates, and the Billionaire Challenge
7. DER SPIEGEL ONLINE, Negative Reaction to Charity Campaign

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WRITING SYNTHESIS: INCORPORATING SOURCES

INTO A REVISION
The unit is again centered around a central essay and a classic essay. These essays work together
to raise questions about what Community is, what its goals are, and the best to achieve these
goals. Both Discussion Questions and Questions on Rhetoric and Style accompany these
selections. Additionally, there are AP-Style Multiple Choice Questions which accompany a total
of four readings per theme-based unit.
Students are assigned the essays and questions as homework, and class time is devoted to taking
and deconstructing the Multiple Choice Questions, discussing the Discussion Questions, and
going over the Questions on Rhetoric and Style as a class. This allows students to work together
with the teacher to reach a deeper understanding of not only the texts, but the methods used to
construct the texts, for example, how syntax and diction build a tone that helps the author
achieve a persuasive message.
These essays are followed by a series of more contemporary essays. Two of these essays also
have AP-Style Multiple-Choice questions, and all have Exploring the Text questions which
analyze message, rhetorical style, syntax and diction, and ask students to consider how the texts
touch on issues in their own lives.
The unit includes a Conversation, a concept introduced in the Synthesis chapter: a series of
texts which discuss an issue from different perspectives. The selection of texts for Conversation
always includes a visual text as well. The Conversation portion asks students to analyze each of
the texts and then use this analysis to construct a synthesis essay which uses at least three of
the sources in the conversation.
A possible follow up to this unit is to conclude with a careful look at the two main essays:
MLKs Letter from Birmingham Jail, and Thoreaus Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.
Students construct SOAPS of each of the tests, identify passages from the readings for support,
then have a class discussion comparing and contrasting the two pieces. From this discussion,
students will construct a comparison and contrast essay.
Several writing prompts bring this unit to a close as students choose one to write an AP Essay.
These are again scored for 1) the thoroughness with which the students follow the full writing
process (a process which has been emphasized from the first writings in this course), and 2)
using the AP rubric. Students meet in conference with the instructor to discuss their essays and
how they might improve them. These conversations are structured by the methods suggested by
Peter Elbow in his Responding to Student Writing essay.

Unit 7: The Legacy of Henry David Thoreau

Readings and Visual Texts:
BILL McKIBBEN, from Walden: Living Deliberately (2008)
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, from Walden (1854)
E. B. WHITE, from Walden (1939)
ROBERT CRUMB, A Short History of America (cartoon, 1979)
ANNIE DILLARD, Living like Weasels (1982)
E. O. WILSON, from The Future of Life (2002)
SUE MONK KIDD, Doing Nothing (2008)
WILLIAM POWERS, from Hamlet's BlackBerry (2010)
CRISPIN SARTWELL, My Walden, My Walmart (2012)
KEN ILGUNAS, from Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to
Freedom (2013)

GRAMMAR AS RHETORIC AND STYLE CUMULATIVE, PERIODIC, AND

INVERTED SENTENCES
Assessment:
The unit is again centered around a classic work: Thoreaus Walden. A series of
essays work together to raise questions about what it means Thoreau means and
how his ideas are relevant (or not). Each essay specifically addresses concepts
Thoreau raises and refers to the essay explicitly.
A series of questions guide students through a thoughtful analysis of each of the
essays and how the essay questions, probes, and ultimately comes to a conclusion
on Thoreaus ideas.
The unit then offers students a chance to consider how the texts talk to one
another, i.e. In two different places in her essay, Dillard deliberately evokes
Thoreaus Walden. Identify the passages and discuss their effect on her meaning.
The unit concludes by giving the students a chance to enter the conversation:
Students are allowed to choose from a series of prompts which are calculated to
force students into thinking deeply about the ideas raised in the unit. Each prompt
requires students support their positions with appropriate evidence, including at
least three of the sources in this unit.
Final note on this unit: since this unit sets up the nexta different view of
Thoreaus take on life, activities will be carefully scaffolded to ensure each student
has a solid understanding of the basic concepts, of how texts talk to one another,
how to analyze this, and how to take these various viewpoints, come to ones own
conclusions, and use source material as support for that conclusion/position. This
scaffolding will include: full-class discussion; group-work; Socratic seminar; free
writes; response papers; and, finally, an essay.

These essays are again scored for 1) the thoroughness with which the students follow the full
writing process (a process which has been emphasized from the first writings in this course),
and 2) using the AP rubric. Students meet in conference with the instructor to discuss their
essays and how they might improve them. These conversations are structured by the methods
suggested by Peter Elbow in his Responding to Student Writing essay.
Unit 8: Krakauer, Emerson, and Herzog on The Authentic Life
Readings and Visual Texts:
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, from Walden (1854) (review)
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, from Self-Reliance (1841) 590
BENJAMIN ANASTAS, The Foul Reign of Emerson's "Self-Reliance" (2011) 602
JON KRAKAUER, Into the Wild
WERNER HERZOG, Grizzly Man (film)
PETER WHITE, The Devils Thumb, (visual text: PPT Presentation of photos)
PETER WHITE, Bear Charge: Porcupine River (video)

Assessments:
This unit begins with a short review of the excerpt from Thoreaus Walden. Students analyze
Thoreaus claims and support, then move to the excerpt from Emersons Self-Reliance and
Anastas attack, again analyzing each authors craft and use of rhetoric to achieve his aim.
Students write a position paper on the subject, then read Krakauers Into the Wild. Each chapter
is analyzed for its argument and methods used to support warrants and claims. After completing
Chapter 14: The Stikine Ice Cap, students view The Devils Thumb PPT and analyze
Krakauers self-effacing style and how this effects his overall argument on the authenticity of
Christopher McCandless journey.
Upon completion of the novel, students view Herzogs Grizzly Man to determine what Herzogs
central argument is and how he achieves it.
The unit culminates with as essay which takes a position as to whether Christopher McCandless
lived an authentic life, and compares and contrasts Krakauers methods with Herzogs in
establishing in his argument. The essay must include material from all sources.
These essays are again scored for 1) the thoroughness with which the students follow the full
writing process (a process which has been emphasized from the first writings in this course),
and 2) using the AP rubric. Students meet in conference with the instructor to discuss their
essays and how they might improve them. These conversations are structured by the methods
suggested by Peter Elbow in his Responding to Student Writing essay.

Fourth Quarter:
(April 4June23)
Unit 9: Popular Culture
Readings and Visual Texts:
CENTRAL ESSAY
JAMES McBRIDE, Hip Hop Planet
CLASSIC ESSAY
MARK TWAIN, Corn-Pone Opinions
SCOTT MCCLOUD, from Show and Tell (graphic essay)
DAVID DENBY, High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies
ROBIN GIVHAN, An Image a Little Too Carefully Coordinated
.
STEVEN JOHNSON, Watching TV Makes You Smarter
DANIEL HARRIS, Celebrity Bodies
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN, My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Peels Rather Undead
POETRY
HANS OSTROM, Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven
VISUAL TEXT
ANDY WARHOL, Myths (painting)
VISUAL TEXT
MARK TANSEY, The Innocent Eye Test (painting)

Assessments:
CONVERSATION
EXPORTING AMERICAN POP CULTURE
1. THOMAS FRIEDMAN, The Revolution Is U.S.
2. HEATHER HAVRILESKY, Besieged by "Priends"
3. DEIRDRE STRAUGHAN, Cultural Hegemony: Who's Dominating Whom?
4. KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH, from The Case for Contamination
5. JOSEF JOFFE, The Perils of Soft Power
6. JOSEPH S. NYE JR., The U.S. Can Reclaim "Smart Power"
7. HASSAN AM MAR, Slovakian Soccer Fan at 2010 World Cup in South Africa
(photo)
ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WRITING RHETORICAL ANALYSIS: ANALYZING
SATIRE
The unit is again centered around a central essay and a classic essay. These essays work together
to raise questions about what Community is, what its goals are, and the best to achieve these
goals. Both Discussion Questions and Questions on Rhetoric and Style accompany these
selections. Additionally, there are AP-Style Multiple Choice Questions which accompany a total
of four readings per theme-based unit.
Students are assigned the essays and questions as homework, and class time is devoted to taking
and deconstructing the Multiple Choice Questions, discussing the Discussion Questions, and
going over the Questions on Rhetoric and Style as a class. This allows students to work together
with the teacher to reach a deeper understanding of not only the texts, but the methods used to
construct the texts, for example, how syntax and diction build a tone that helps the author
achieve a persuasive message.
These essays are followed by a series of more contemporary essays. Two of these essays also
have AP-Style Multiple-Choice questions, and all have Exploring the Text questions which
analyze message, rhetorical style, syntax and diction, and ask students to consider how the texts
touch on issues in their own lives.
The unit includes a Conversation, a concept introduced in the Synthesis chapter: a series of
texts which discuss an issue from different perspectives. The selection of texts for Conversation
always includes a visual text as well. The Conversation portion asks students to analyze each of
the texts and then use this analysis to construct a synthesis essay which uses at least three of
the sources in the conversation.
A possible follow up to this unit is to conclude with a careful look at the two main essays:
McBrides Hip Hop Planet, and Twains Corn-Pone Opinions. Students perform an
interrupted reading of each text: four or five shorter passages of no more than twenty lines are
selected from each text and each passage is copied to a page or PowerPoint slide. Students take
turns reading each passage, and all respond to each passage in writing: in any way they wish.
Students may free-associate, critique, note technique, write down phrases or sentences, draw
connections, etc. Discussion is reserved until all have had time to respond in writing. These
responses can be used to mine for essays about the passages.
Several writing prompts bring this unit to a close as students choose one to write an AP Essay.
These are again scored for 1) the thoroughness with which the students follow the full writing
process (a process which has been emphasized from the first writings in this course), and 2)
using the AP rubric. Students meet in conference with the instructor to discuss their essays and
how they might improve them. These conversations are structured by the methods suggested by
Peter Elbow in his Responding to Student Writing essay.

Unit 10: Politics

Readings and Visual Texts:
CENTRAL ESSAY
JAMAICA KINCAID, On Seeing England for the First
CLASSIC ESSAY
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
OTHER VOICES
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, The Gettysburg Address
VIRGINIA WOOLF, Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid
CHRIS HEDGES, The Destruction of Culture
LAURA BLUMENFELD, The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist
SARAH VOWELL, The Partly Cloudy Patriot
MARJANE SATRAPI, The Veil (graphic memoir)
FICTION
TIM O'BRIEN, On the Rainy River
VISUAL TEXTS
PABLO PICASSO, Guernica (painting)
NEW YORKER, March 17,2003 (cover)
HARPER'S, April 2003 (cover) 1090
Assessments:
CONVERSATION COLONIALISM 1091
1. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Letter to King Ferdinand of Spain
2. KING FERDINAND, The Requerimiento
3. RED JACKET, Defense of Native American Religion
4. GEORGE ORWELL, Shooting an Elephant
5. FRANTZ FANON, from Concerning Violence
6. EAVAN BOLAND, In Which the Ancient History I Learn Is Not My Own (poem)
7. CHINUA ACHEBE, from The Empire Fights Back
8. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, Christiansted: Official Map and Guide (brochure) 1115
ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WRITING SYNTHESIS: RESPONDING TO A QUOTATION
The unit is again centered around a central essay and a classic essay. These essays work together
to raise questions about what Community is, what its goals are, and the best to achieve these
goals. Both Discussion Questions and Questions on Rhetoric and Style accompany these
selections. Additionally, there are AP-Style Multiple Choice Questions which accompany a total
of four readings per theme-based unit.
Students are assigned the essays and questions as homework, and class time is devoted to taking
and deconstructing the Multiple Choice Questions, discussing the Discussion Questions, and
going over the Questions on Rhetoric and Style as a class. This allows students to work together
with the teacher to reach a deeper understanding of not only the texts, but the methods used to
construct the texts, for example, how syntax and diction build a tone that helps the author
achieve a persuasive message.
These essays are followed by a series of more contemporary essays. Two of these essays also
have AP-Style Multiple-Choice questions, and all have Exploring the Text questions which
analyze message, rhetorical style, syntax and diction, and ask students to consider how the texts
touch on issues in their own lives.
The unit includes a Conversation, a concept introduced in the Synthesis chapter: a series of
texts which discuss an issue from different perspectives. The selection of texts for Conversation
always includes a visual text as well. The Conversation portion asks students to analyze each of
the texts and then use this analysis to construct a synthesis essay which uses at least three of
the sources in the conversation.
A possible follow up to this unit is to conclude with a careful look at another classic essay,
Orwells Shooting an Elephant. Students again perform an interrupted reading, this time
focusing on features such as diction, voice, tone, irony, and selection of detail. The class works
through the reading paragraph by paragraph this way, writing leading to discussion. For this
work, the teacher will draw students attention to specific features such as qualifiers in the
second paragraph, etc. This reading is followed by a careful look at the diction of the piece,
followed by a close look at how syntax and diction work together. This section of the unit
concludes with a class discussion using Tony Earleys concept that a good story is about the
thing, and the other thing. The second thing looks like the first thing, but its something else.
Students then write a response piece to the text.
Several writing prompts bring this unit to a close as students choose one to write an AP Essay.
These are again scored for 1) the thoroughness with which the students follow the full writing
process (a process which has been emphasized from the first writings in this course), and 2)
using the AP rubric. Students meet in conference with the instructor to discuss their essays and
how they might improve them. These conversations are structured by the methods suggested by
Peter Elbow in his Responding to Student Writing essay.