Ap In English
English III AP - AP( English Language and Composition
Course Overview
The English III AP (or AP( English Language and Composition) course objectives are to help students become “skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts” and to help students become “skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes” (The College Board, AP( English Course Description, May 2007, May 2008, p. 6). Students are expected to read critically, think analytically, and communicate clearly both in writing and speech, which form the “basis for academic and professional communication.” The purpose of this course is to emphasize “expository, analytical, and argumentative writing” based on selected readings …show more content…
within the textbook and other resources listed at the end of this syllabus.
Course Organization
The course is organized by units of study.
The goal for each unit is for students to enrich and use rich vocabulary, to employ standard English grammar, and to understand the importance of diction and syntax in an author’s style and to analyze how an author’s rhetorical strategies reveal the author’s purpose or meaning.
In well developed essays, students will demonstrate a wide range of vocabulary which they use effectively and appropriately, employ a variety of sentence structures including appropriate use of subordination and coordination, organize compositions logically coherently, and use transitions appropriate for fluency and emphasis.
Students will balance generalizations with specific illustrative details. Students will demonstrate an effective use of rhetoric including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure (College Board AP( English Course Description, May 2007, May 2008, p. …show more content…
8).
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 message: rhetorical mode, rhetorical devices always including diction and syntax)
Grading System
The course year consists of Fall Semester and Spring Semester. Each semester contains three six weeks grading periods. A minimum total of eleven grades must be reported with at least nine Minor Grades and three Major Grades. One Minor Grade may be dropped.
Major Grades (75% of student’s grade average) These grades include essays, projects, presentations, and tests.
Essays are mostly written during class time and graded as rough drafts using the nine point AP( rubric. Rough drafts are self-edited and peer-edited before students type the final copies. Rough drafts and editing assignments are part of the daily or minor grade assessments which are 25 percent of the student’s six weeks’ grade.
Projects may include cultural art works on an assigned theme. Students self select from categories of literature, photography, visual arts, performing arts, and musical compositions.
Presentations include both group activities and individual assignments. Presentations are oral speeches and often require a visual aid which may be a chart, a symbol, a drawing, or a power point.
Tests consist of multiple-choice questions based on rhetorical devices and their function in given passages. Some passages are from text read and studied in class, but some passages are from new material that students analyze for the first time.
Minor Grades (25% of student’s grade average)
Quizzes used in this course are primarily to check for reading and basic understanding of a text. Each unit has at leas one quiz on vocabulary from the readings. In addition each unit has at least one quiz on grammatical and mechanical concepts reviewed in daily tasks as well as from discussions and/or annotations of syntax from a variety of readings.
Daily assignments include a variety of activities, some of which involve individual steps leading to a larger product, such as prewriting, rough drafts, revision, and editing for an essay. Other daily tasks incorporate grammar exercises, vocabulary reviews, annotating texts, and writing for fluency.
Many instructional periods begin with vocabulary and fluency writing activities. These may also focus on grammatical objectives that relate to reading assignments. Sources for these tasks include: Various quotations from well-known authors and speakers, The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT, ScoreWrite: A Guide to Preparing for the New SAT Essay, and Glencoe Grammar and Composition Handbook.
Syllabus: English III AP
Fall Semester
This semester emphasizes developing fluency in writing, introducing critical thinking strategies in both reading and writing, reviewing major themes in reading and writing, enriching vocabulary, and analyzing syntactical structures.
Student essays include argumentation, classification, personal reflection (narrative), AP( timed writings, and the research paper.
Students receive instruction in the SOAPSTone strategy developed by Tommy Boley and included in the College Board works shop “Pre-AP(: Interdisciplinary Strategies for English and Social Studies” for use in analyzing prose and visual texts. In addition, students study rhetorical strategies and methods from selected chapters in The Bedford Reader (X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000).
On going classroom activities are mini-lessons in grammar, focus activities on rhetorical strategies, writing tasks for fluency, and vocabulary writing for enrichment. Sources for these activities are the SAT( Vocabulary Hit List, The Official SAT( Study Guide: For the New SAT(, Glencoe Grammar Workbook, and SOAPStone
Strategies.
First – Third Six Weeks
Unit 1: Multicultural Awareness for Reading and Writing
Reading: Chapter 7, “Classification: Sorting into Kinds” in The Bedford Reader “What Are Friends For?” by Marion Winik Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say
Students are encouraged to review and research their own cultural heritage. I introduce this unit with Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say. We discuss the richness of cultural legacies especially of those represented in the class and proceed to discuss representative contributions to American culture. The melting pot theory is a blending of cultures to form a new culture while in the tossed salad theory the individual cultures retain their separate cultural characteristics within the same country. All student examples related in class discussion become relevant when the metaphorical theories of melting and tossed salad of cultures are defined and drawn. Drawing from personal reading, observation, and/or experience students support one of the theories, usually in a group activity. After collecting many examples, we classify them into main supporting ideas usually, music, theater, holidays, foods, clothing, sports, and dance. Students then draft an essay, revised, and edit their essays.
Student Evaluation: Assessments for this unit include minor grades for quizzes on reading selections, drafts, revision, and editing. Major grade is given for final essay.
Unit 2: Reflective Essay
Readings: Chapter 2, “ Description: Writing with Your Senses” in The Bedford Reader Chapter 3, “Example: Pointing to Instances” in The Bedford Reader “The Knife” by Richard Selzer (personal reflection) “Silent Dancing” by Judith Ortiz Cofer (description) “Homeless” by Anna Quindlen (example) “How She Became Homeless” by Linda Weltner (article) “The Laws of Life” Essay Objectives and Guidelines publication by Longview News Journal Laws of Life 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 publications by Longview News Journal
Subject-Occasion-Audience-Purpose-Speaker-Tone (SOAPSTone)
This is a text analysis strategy as well as a method for initially teaching students how to craft a more thoughtful thesis. It also helps students realize the importance of audience in writing, especially for contests, college applications, college scholarships, and professional assignments. The SOAPSTone strategy was developed by Tommy Boley and is taught in the College Board workshop “Pre-AP: Interdisciplinary Strategies for English and Social Studies”:
• Speaker: the individual or collective voice of the text • Occasion: the event or catalyst causing the writing of the text to occur • Audience: the group of readers to whom the piece is directed • Purpose: the reason behind the text • Subject: the general topic and/or main idea • Tone: the attitude of the author
Description and narration contribute to a well developed, unified, and coherent essay; therefore, students complete readings by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Anna Quindlen, and Linda Weltner. We also read “The Knife” by Richard Selzer in which he reflects on his life’s work. Students then break into collaborative learning groups to analyze Selzer’s syntax and rhetorical strategies. Each group analyzes a separate rhetorical strand that Selzer uses to convey his meaning and purpose. The objective of this unit is to write a personal narrative and reflection focused on a law of life that if practiced by more people would make the world a better place. Each student selects an experience or a role model from his or her life that has brought some personal insight. This essay often becomes a springboard or a focus for their future college and scholarship essays. Students participate in brainstorming and prewriting activities to generate ideas and draw from their experiences. Their essays must convey a lesson of life gained through their personal experience, observation, or influence from an event or a role model.
Student Evaluation: Assessment for this unit consists of minor grades on reading quizzes, drafts, revision, and editing. Major grades for the 1st six weeks are given for final essays, vocabulary test, syntax analysis test, and rhetorical modes and devices terms test.
Unit 3: Research Paper: The Documented Essay
Readings: Selection of Short Stories by American authors (list included in Resources) MLA Handbook
Primary Source: Short Story
Secondary Sources: Critical Essays (3 different sources) Biography of author Historical background of time period
In this unit students read, summarize, analyze, and respond to a short story before researching online and in the library for critical essays about the short story. Students select and read the primary source from a list of short stories by American authors. Researching the biographical background of the author early in this unit helps students to develop critical thinking skills and to recognize connections between the author’s life, historical period, and/or social traditions and the literary work itself. At this stage, students formulate a brief summary of the story, a short analysis that conveys a theme, and their personal response to the story. Students are assigned an oral presentation in which they summarize and analyze the short story for their peers. The oral presentation must include a visual aid, a symbol which they created to represent either a theme or character in the story. A brief student response to the story concludes the presentation.
Students then begin researching online and in the library for critical essays, collecting data to support mail ideas for their documented research papers. They also learn about evaluating sources for creditability as well as organization and structure. Drafting a thesis, outline, introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion, and works cited are all done in class in Blue Books. Students then type a draft, revise and edit using self and peers, then type final copy. Outside class assignments are to prepare a college application resume and a college application letter.
Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is using another person’s thoughts and accomplishments without proper acknowledgment or documentation. It is an unconscionable offense and a serious breach of the honor code. In keeping with the policy, students will receive a zero for the plagiarized work.
Student Evaluation: Minor grades are given for college application resume, college application letter, biographical data summaries, secondary source summaries, and drafting steps in Blue Book completion. Major grades for the six weeks consist of the oral presentation, the research paper documentation, and mechanics, and the research paper content and structure.
Unit 4: Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Readings: Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift
Students are assigned increments of reading the novel and the essays with class discussions ensuing. Emphasis is on vocabulary and the richness of the text as well as the social issues involving guilt, innocence, man, woman, individual, and society. Students will also consider the context of historical period and connect the historical and sociological significance with the text.
Assignments and topics:
Hawthorne’s Introduction Themes
“Custom House” Summaries and Sources
Chapters 1-4 Character
Chapters 5-8 Pearl
Chapters 9-12 Judgment
Chapters 13-20 Rebellion
Chapters 21-24 Revelation
Students will write a persuasive essay in which they assert which character is the guiltiest or which character is the most moral character in the story.
Student Evaluation: Minor grades will be given on vocabulary quizzes, reading quizzes, mini-lesson responses to quotations from the novel, draft, revision, and editing essay.
Major grades for the third six weeks include two tests over Scarlet Letter and the essay.
Spring Semester
Fourth – Sixth Six Weeks
Unit 1: Argument, Persuasion, and the Synthesis Essay
Readings: Chapter 10: “Argument and Persuasion: Stating Opinions and Proposals” in The Bedford Reader “The Penalty of Death” by H.L. Mencken “The Unquiet Death of Robert Harris” by Michael Kroll “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson “Streets of Gold” The Myth of the model Minority” by Curtis Chang Sample Question (Synthesis) for English Language and Composition from AP( English Language and Composition Course Description, May 2007, May 2008
For this unit students will read and analyze selections listed above. For a class presentation and project, they will select a current social issue, find an article, a comic or cartoon, an art work, and/or musical piece relating the same social issue. Timed Writings will also be given during this unit.
Student Evaluations: Minor grades for reading quizzes and drafting steps. Major grades for oral presentation/project and timed writings.
Unit 2: Huckleberry Finn and Social Injustice
Readings: Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain “On Being the Target of Discrimination” by Ralph Ellison “Being a Chink” by Christine Leong “The Meanings of a Words” by Gloria Naylor “The Insufficiency of Honesty” by Stephen L. Carter “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Speech to the First Women’s Rights Convention “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (speech) “Harlem” by Martin Luther King (poem) “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez “Second Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln (2002 AP English Language and Composition Exam) Excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass (1997 AP English Language and Composition Exam)
Students will read Chapters 1-34 of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and keep a quotation/response journal of their reading. In class mini-lessons will include thematic and persuasive responses to selections from the above essays as well as Huckleberry Finn. Analysis essays will be written on selections from Huckleberry Finn. Students will complete a timed writing on the Excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass.
Student Evaluations: Minor grades include reading analysis quizzes, mini-lessons, and selected quotation/response journal writings. Major grades consist of essays and a Huckleberry Finn test.
Unit 3: Compare and Contrast
Readings: Chapter 4: “Comparison and Contrast: Setting Things Side by Side” in The Bedford Reader “Neat People vs. Sloppy People” by Suzanne Britt “Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out” by Dave Barry “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts” by Bruce Catton “The Black and White Truth About Basketball” by Jeff Greenfield “Birds in Flight” by John James Audubon and Annie Dillard (2003 AP Exam English Language and Composition) “Coca Cola Letters” by Ira C. Herbert and Richard Seaver (1998 AP Exam English Language and Composition) “Battle of Blenheim” by Robert Southey “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson Selected editorials and/or articles from the Longview News Journal and Dallas Morning News
Students will complete the selected readings and, in classroom activities, apply the SOAPStone strategy of analysis to each one. Student assignments include a group project to compare, analyze and explicate the two literary works listed above. To reinforce student analysis of rhetorical strategies, they will complete two timed writings listed above. Students will compare and contrast visual representations (of their own selections and observations) with expository text selections using daily calendar cartoons, newspaper cartoons, newspaper or journal advertisements, art works, and sculptures.
Student Evaluations: Minor grades include reading analysis quizzes, mini-lessons, and classroom projects. Major grades consist of timed writings and a group project.
Unit 4: The Scarlet and the Black
Visual Presentation: The Scarlet and the Black video (1983)
After the AP( English Language and Composition Exam in May, we have about three weeks left. I use this time to view The Scarlet and the Black, a video based on The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, a true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a courageous Irish priest working in the Vatican during the German occupation. The biography of Hugh O’Flaherty’s life, The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican by J. P. Gallagher, is now a rare and out-of-print book. The biography title implies a comparison and a source with The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy. Both Scarlet Pimpernels depict heroic tradition in Western Civilization. This last unit of comparison, thematic, and characterization studies provide a valuable transition and preparation for AP( English Literature and Composition.
Resources
Course Text
Kennedy, X. J., Dorothy Kennedy, and Jane Eaton. The Bedford Reader. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2000.
Novels
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Research Paper – American Short Stories as Primary Source
Hawthorne, Nathaniel Steinbeck, John “Rappaccini’s Daughter” “Flight” “The Minister’s Black Veil” Capote, Truman “The Birthmark” “A Chrismas Memory”
Fitzgerald, F. Scott Roth, Philip
“Babylon Revisited” “Defender of the Faith” “A Diamond as Big as the Ritz” Camus, Albert “The Last of the Belles” “The Guest”
Cather, Willa Anderson, Sherwood “The Sculptor’s Funeral” “I’m a Fool” “A Death in the Desert “The Egg” “A Wagner Matinee” Wolfe, Thomas
O’Connor, Flannery “The Child by Tiger” “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Porter, Katherine Anne “Greenleaf” “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” “Good Country People” Walker, Alice
Faulkner, William “Everyday Use” “Barn Burning” Irving, Washington “A Rose for Emily” “The Devil and Tom Walker”
Twain, Mark Malamud, Bernard “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of “The Magic Barrel” Calaveras County” Updike, John
Welty, Eudora “The Christian Roommate”
“Why I Live at the P.O.” Chopin, Kate
“A Worn Path” “The Story of An Hour”
Hart, Brett “A Pair of Silk Stockings”
“The Luck of Roaring Camp”` “Desiree’s Baby” “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”
Hemingway, Ernest Crane, Stephen
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” “The Open Boat”
“The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber” “The Blue Hotel”
“The Undefeated” “In Another Country” Jackson, Shirley
Poe, Edgar Allan “The Lottery” “Ligeia”
“The Black Cat”
“The Fall of the House of The House of Usher”
Other Resources
Barnett, Sylvan, ed., et.al. Literature for Composition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 4th ed. NY: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1996.
College Board. AP English Course Description. NY: The College Board, 2006.
College Board. AP English Language & Composition Released Exams. 1997-2006.
College Board. Teacher’s Guide: AP( English Language and Composition. NY: The College Board, 1998.
College Board. The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT. NY: The College Board, 2004.
College Board. ScoreWrite: A Guide to Preparing for the New SAT Essay. NY: The College Board, 2004.
Dallas Morning News.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. NY: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
Greene, Dr. Jay E., and Murray Bromberg. World-Wide Essays. NY: Globe Book Co., 1963.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to literature. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.
Longview News Journal.
McCuen, Jo Ray, and Anthony Winkler. Readings for Writers. 9th ed. Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.
Miler, Robert K. The Informed Argument: A Multidisciplinary Reader and Guide. 5th ed. Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.Safire, William. On Language. NY: New York Times Book Co., Inc., 1980.
Strunk, William, Jr. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. NY: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1979.
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. 2nd ed. NY: Harper & Row, 1980.
Course Overview
The English III AP (or AP( English Language and Composition) course objectives are to help students become “skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts” and to help students become “skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes” (The College Board, AP( English Course Description, May 2007, May 2008, p. 6). Students are expected to read critically, think analytically, and communicate clearly both in writing and speech, which form the “basis for academic and professional communication.” The purpose of this course is to emphasize “expository, analytical, and argumentative writing” based on selected readings …show more content…
within the textbook and other resources listed at the end of this syllabus.
Course Organization
The course is organized by units of study.
The goal for each unit is for students to enrich and use rich vocabulary, to employ standard English grammar, and to understand the importance of diction and syntax in an author’s style and to analyze how an author’s rhetorical strategies reveal the author’s purpose or meaning.
In well developed essays, students will demonstrate a wide range of vocabulary which they use effectively and appropriately, employ a variety of sentence structures including appropriate use of subordination and coordination, organize compositions logically coherently, and use transitions appropriate for fluency and emphasis.
Students will balance generalizations with specific illustrative details. Students will demonstrate an effective use of rhetoric including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure (College Board AP( English Course Description, May 2007, May 2008, p. …show more content…
8).
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 message: rhetorical mode, rhetorical devices always including diction and syntax)
Grading System
The course year consists of Fall Semester and Spring Semester. Each semester contains three six weeks grading periods. A minimum total of eleven grades must be reported with at least nine Minor Grades and three Major Grades. One Minor Grade may be dropped.
Major Grades (75% of student’s grade average) These grades include essays, projects, presentations, and tests.
Essays are mostly written during class time and graded as rough drafts using the nine point AP( rubric. Rough drafts are self-edited and peer-edited before students type the final copies. Rough drafts and editing assignments are part of the daily or minor grade assessments which are 25 percent of the student’s six weeks’ grade.
Projects may include cultural art works on an assigned theme. Students self select from categories of literature, photography, visual arts, performing arts, and musical compositions.
Presentations include both group activities and individual assignments. Presentations are oral speeches and often require a visual aid which may be a chart, a symbol, a drawing, or a power point.
Tests consist of multiple-choice questions based on rhetorical devices and their function in given passages. Some passages are from text read and studied in class, but some passages are from new material that students analyze for the first time.
Minor Grades (25% of student’s grade average)
Quizzes used in this course are primarily to check for reading and basic understanding of a text. Each unit has at leas one quiz on vocabulary from the readings. In addition each unit has at least one quiz on grammatical and mechanical concepts reviewed in daily tasks as well as from discussions and/or annotations of syntax from a variety of readings.
Daily assignments include a variety of activities, some of which involve individual steps leading to a larger product, such as prewriting, rough drafts, revision, and editing for an essay. Other daily tasks incorporate grammar exercises, vocabulary reviews, annotating texts, and writing for fluency.
Many instructional periods begin with vocabulary and fluency writing activities. These may also focus on grammatical objectives that relate to reading assignments. Sources for these tasks include: Various quotations from well-known authors and speakers, The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT, ScoreWrite: A Guide to Preparing for the New SAT Essay, and Glencoe Grammar and Composition Handbook.
Syllabus: English III AP
Fall Semester
This semester emphasizes developing fluency in writing, introducing critical thinking strategies in both reading and writing, reviewing major themes in reading and writing, enriching vocabulary, and analyzing syntactical structures.
Student essays include argumentation, classification, personal reflection (narrative), AP( timed writings, and the research paper.
Students receive instruction in the SOAPSTone strategy developed by Tommy Boley and included in the College Board works shop “Pre-AP(: Interdisciplinary Strategies for English and Social Studies” for use in analyzing prose and visual texts. In addition, students study rhetorical strategies and methods from selected chapters in The Bedford Reader (X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000).
On going classroom activities are mini-lessons in grammar, focus activities on rhetorical strategies, writing tasks for fluency, and vocabulary writing for enrichment. Sources for these activities are the SAT( Vocabulary Hit List, The Official SAT( Study Guide: For the New SAT(, Glencoe Grammar Workbook, and SOAPStone
Strategies.
First – Third Six Weeks
Unit 1: Multicultural Awareness for Reading and Writing
Reading: Chapter 7, “Classification: Sorting into Kinds” in The Bedford Reader “What Are Friends For?” by Marion Winik Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say
Students are encouraged to review and research their own cultural heritage. I introduce this unit with Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say. We discuss the richness of cultural legacies especially of those represented in the class and proceed to discuss representative contributions to American culture. The melting pot theory is a blending of cultures to form a new culture while in the tossed salad theory the individual cultures retain their separate cultural characteristics within the same country. All student examples related in class discussion become relevant when the metaphorical theories of melting and tossed salad of cultures are defined and drawn. Drawing from personal reading, observation, and/or experience students support one of the theories, usually in a group activity. After collecting many examples, we classify them into main supporting ideas usually, music, theater, holidays, foods, clothing, sports, and dance. Students then draft an essay, revised, and edit their essays.
Student Evaluation: Assessments for this unit include minor grades for quizzes on reading selections, drafts, revision, and editing. Major grade is given for final essay.
Unit 2: Reflective Essay
Readings: Chapter 2, “ Description: Writing with Your Senses” in The Bedford Reader Chapter 3, “Example: Pointing to Instances” in The Bedford Reader “The Knife” by Richard Selzer (personal reflection) “Silent Dancing” by Judith Ortiz Cofer (description) “Homeless” by Anna Quindlen (example) “How She Became Homeless” by Linda Weltner (article) “The Laws of Life” Essay Objectives and Guidelines publication by Longview News Journal Laws of Life 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 publications by Longview News Journal
Subject-Occasion-Audience-Purpose-Speaker-Tone (SOAPSTone)
This is a text analysis strategy as well as a method for initially teaching students how to craft a more thoughtful thesis. It also helps students realize the importance of audience in writing, especially for contests, college applications, college scholarships, and professional assignments. The SOAPSTone strategy was developed by Tommy Boley and is taught in the College Board workshop “Pre-AP: Interdisciplinary Strategies for English and Social Studies”:
• Speaker: the individual or collective voice of the text • Occasion: the event or catalyst causing the writing of the text to occur • Audience: the group of readers to whom the piece is directed • Purpose: the reason behind the text • Subject: the general topic and/or main idea • Tone: the attitude of the author
Description and narration contribute to a well developed, unified, and coherent essay; therefore, students complete readings by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Anna Quindlen, and Linda Weltner. We also read “The Knife” by Richard Selzer in which he reflects on his life’s work. Students then break into collaborative learning groups to analyze Selzer’s syntax and rhetorical strategies. Each group analyzes a separate rhetorical strand that Selzer uses to convey his meaning and purpose. The objective of this unit is to write a personal narrative and reflection focused on a law of life that if practiced by more people would make the world a better place. Each student selects an experience or a role model from his or her life that has brought some personal insight. This essay often becomes a springboard or a focus for their future college and scholarship essays. Students participate in brainstorming and prewriting activities to generate ideas and draw from their experiences. Their essays must convey a lesson of life gained through their personal experience, observation, or influence from an event or a role model.
Student Evaluation: Assessment for this unit consists of minor grades on reading quizzes, drafts, revision, and editing. Major grades for the 1st six weeks are given for final essays, vocabulary test, syntax analysis test, and rhetorical modes and devices terms test.
Unit 3: Research Paper: The Documented Essay
Readings: Selection of Short Stories by American authors (list included in Resources) MLA Handbook
Primary Source: Short Story
Secondary Sources: Critical Essays (3 different sources) Biography of author Historical background of time period
In this unit students read, summarize, analyze, and respond to a short story before researching online and in the library for critical essays about the short story. Students select and read the primary source from a list of short stories by American authors. Researching the biographical background of the author early in this unit helps students to develop critical thinking skills and to recognize connections between the author’s life, historical period, and/or social traditions and the literary work itself. At this stage, students formulate a brief summary of the story, a short analysis that conveys a theme, and their personal response to the story. Students are assigned an oral presentation in which they summarize and analyze the short story for their peers. The oral presentation must include a visual aid, a symbol which they created to represent either a theme or character in the story. A brief student response to the story concludes the presentation.
Students then begin researching online and in the library for critical essays, collecting data to support mail ideas for their documented research papers. They also learn about evaluating sources for creditability as well as organization and structure. Drafting a thesis, outline, introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion, and works cited are all done in class in Blue Books. Students then type a draft, revise and edit using self and peers, then type final copy. Outside class assignments are to prepare a college application resume and a college application letter.
Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is using another person’s thoughts and accomplishments without proper acknowledgment or documentation. It is an unconscionable offense and a serious breach of the honor code. In keeping with the policy, students will receive a zero for the plagiarized work.
Student Evaluation: Minor grades are given for college application resume, college application letter, biographical data summaries, secondary source summaries, and drafting steps in Blue Book completion. Major grades for the six weeks consist of the oral presentation, the research paper documentation, and mechanics, and the research paper content and structure.
Unit 4: Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Readings: Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift
Students are assigned increments of reading the novel and the essays with class discussions ensuing. Emphasis is on vocabulary and the richness of the text as well as the social issues involving guilt, innocence, man, woman, individual, and society. Students will also consider the context of historical period and connect the historical and sociological significance with the text.
Assignments and topics:
Hawthorne’s Introduction Themes
“Custom House” Summaries and Sources
Chapters 1-4 Character
Chapters 5-8 Pearl
Chapters 9-12 Judgment
Chapters 13-20 Rebellion
Chapters 21-24 Revelation
Students will write a persuasive essay in which they assert which character is the guiltiest or which character is the most moral character in the story.
Student Evaluation: Minor grades will be given on vocabulary quizzes, reading quizzes, mini-lesson responses to quotations from the novel, draft, revision, and editing essay.
Major grades for the third six weeks include two tests over Scarlet Letter and the essay.
Spring Semester
Fourth – Sixth Six Weeks
Unit 1: Argument, Persuasion, and the Synthesis Essay
Readings: Chapter 10: “Argument and Persuasion: Stating Opinions and Proposals” in The Bedford Reader “The Penalty of Death” by H.L. Mencken “The Unquiet Death of Robert Harris” by Michael Kroll “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson “Streets of Gold” The Myth of the model Minority” by Curtis Chang Sample Question (Synthesis) for English Language and Composition from AP( English Language and Composition Course Description, May 2007, May 2008
For this unit students will read and analyze selections listed above. For a class presentation and project, they will select a current social issue, find an article, a comic or cartoon, an art work, and/or musical piece relating the same social issue. Timed Writings will also be given during this unit.
Student Evaluations: Minor grades for reading quizzes and drafting steps. Major grades for oral presentation/project and timed writings.
Unit 2: Huckleberry Finn and Social Injustice
Readings: Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain “On Being the Target of Discrimination” by Ralph Ellison “Being a Chink” by Christine Leong “The Meanings of a Words” by Gloria Naylor “The Insufficiency of Honesty” by Stephen L. Carter “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Speech to the First Women’s Rights Convention “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (speech) “Harlem” by Martin Luther King (poem) “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez “Second Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln (2002 AP English Language and Composition Exam) Excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass (1997 AP English Language and Composition Exam)
Students will read Chapters 1-34 of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and keep a quotation/response journal of their reading. In class mini-lessons will include thematic and persuasive responses to selections from the above essays as well as Huckleberry Finn. Analysis essays will be written on selections from Huckleberry Finn. Students will complete a timed writing on the Excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass.
Student Evaluations: Minor grades include reading analysis quizzes, mini-lessons, and selected quotation/response journal writings. Major grades consist of essays and a Huckleberry Finn test.
Unit 3: Compare and Contrast
Readings: Chapter 4: “Comparison and Contrast: Setting Things Side by Side” in The Bedford Reader “Neat People vs. Sloppy People” by Suzanne Britt “Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out” by Dave Barry “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts” by Bruce Catton “The Black and White Truth About Basketball” by Jeff Greenfield “Birds in Flight” by John James Audubon and Annie Dillard (2003 AP Exam English Language and Composition) “Coca Cola Letters” by Ira C. Herbert and Richard Seaver (1998 AP Exam English Language and Composition) “Battle of Blenheim” by Robert Southey “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson Selected editorials and/or articles from the Longview News Journal and Dallas Morning News
Students will complete the selected readings and, in classroom activities, apply the SOAPStone strategy of analysis to each one. Student assignments include a group project to compare, analyze and explicate the two literary works listed above. To reinforce student analysis of rhetorical strategies, they will complete two timed writings listed above. Students will compare and contrast visual representations (of their own selections and observations) with expository text selections using daily calendar cartoons, newspaper cartoons, newspaper or journal advertisements, art works, and sculptures.
Student Evaluations: Minor grades include reading analysis quizzes, mini-lessons, and classroom projects. Major grades consist of timed writings and a group project.
Unit 4: The Scarlet and the Black
Visual Presentation: The Scarlet and the Black video (1983)
After the AP( English Language and Composition Exam in May, we have about three weeks left. I use this time to view The Scarlet and the Black, a video based on The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, a true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a courageous Irish priest working in the Vatican during the German occupation. The biography of Hugh O’Flaherty’s life, The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican by J. P. Gallagher, is now a rare and out-of-print book. The biography title implies a comparison and a source with The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy. Both Scarlet Pimpernels depict heroic tradition in Western Civilization. This last unit of comparison, thematic, and characterization studies provide a valuable transition and preparation for AP( English Literature and Composition.
Resources
Course Text
Kennedy, X. J., Dorothy Kennedy, and Jane Eaton. The Bedford Reader. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2000.
Novels
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Research Paper – American Short Stories as Primary Source
Hawthorne, Nathaniel Steinbeck, John “Rappaccini’s Daughter” “Flight” “The Minister’s Black Veil” Capote, Truman “The Birthmark” “A Chrismas Memory”
Fitzgerald, F. Scott Roth, Philip
“Babylon Revisited” “Defender of the Faith” “A Diamond as Big as the Ritz” Camus, Albert “The Last of the Belles” “The Guest”
Cather, Willa Anderson, Sherwood “The Sculptor’s Funeral” “I’m a Fool” “A Death in the Desert “The Egg” “A Wagner Matinee” Wolfe, Thomas
O’Connor, Flannery “The Child by Tiger” “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Porter, Katherine Anne “Greenleaf” “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” “Good Country People” Walker, Alice
Faulkner, William “Everyday Use” “Barn Burning” Irving, Washington “A Rose for Emily” “The Devil and Tom Walker”
Twain, Mark Malamud, Bernard “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of “The Magic Barrel” Calaveras County” Updike, John
Welty, Eudora “The Christian Roommate”
“Why I Live at the P.O.” Chopin, Kate
“A Worn Path” “The Story of An Hour”
Hart, Brett “A Pair of Silk Stockings”
“The Luck of Roaring Camp”` “Desiree’s Baby” “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”
Hemingway, Ernest Crane, Stephen
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” “The Open Boat”
“The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber” “The Blue Hotel”
“The Undefeated” “In Another Country” Jackson, Shirley
Poe, Edgar Allan “The Lottery” “Ligeia”
“The Black Cat”
“The Fall of the House of The House of Usher”
Other Resources
Barnett, Sylvan, ed., et.al. Literature for Composition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 4th ed. NY: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1996.
College Board. AP English Course Description. NY: The College Board, 2006.
College Board. AP English Language & Composition Released Exams. 1997-2006.
College Board. Teacher’s Guide: AP( English Language and Composition. NY: The College Board, 1998.
College Board. The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT. NY: The College Board, 2004.
College Board. ScoreWrite: A Guide to Preparing for the New SAT Essay. NY: The College Board, 2004.
Dallas Morning News.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. NY: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
Greene, Dr. Jay E., and Murray Bromberg. World-Wide Essays. NY: Globe Book Co., 1963.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to literature. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.
Longview News Journal.
McCuen, Jo Ray, and Anthony Winkler. Readings for Writers. 9th ed. Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.
Miler, Robert K. The Informed Argument: A Multidisciplinary Reader and Guide. 5th ed. Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.Safire, William. On Language. NY: New York Times Book Co., Inc., 1980.
Strunk, William, Jr. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. NY: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1979.
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. 2nd ed. NY: Harper & Row, 1980.