Principal Erik Anderson

Assoc. Principal/Dir of Student Services Ryan Fritz

Assoc. Principal/Activities Director Rocky Bennett
Student Services Facilitator Dan DeVore

August 27, 2015

Dear Parent(s),
Your child has enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) Language and Composition course
for the 2015-16 school year. The purpose of this letter is to inform you about the
nature and expectations of the course.
AP Language and Composition is an accelerated course for students who want a more
challenging study of rhetoric and composition than the standard English 11 courses we
offer. The course is designed to model the basic rhetoric and composition courses at
most colleges and universities. At the end of the course, students will be given an
opportunity to take a cumulative exam for college credit.
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, narrative and argumentative texts
from a variety of authors and historical contexts. Students examine and work with
essays, letters, speeches, images, and imaginative literature.
The central course textbook is The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, and
Rhetoric. Supplemental texts will also be used such as Everythings An Argument.
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
Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and take care of Prairie

of the demanding curriculum, students must bring to the course sufficient command of
mechanical conventions and an ability to read and discuss prose.
Since the AP Language and Composition is more demanding, there is an incentive
system built into the grading structure. In order to balance the increased demands of
an AP course with Prairies grading system, a weighted grading system has been
implemented. In a regular class, a student who earns an A would receive 4 points
towards their grade point average; a B would earn 3 points, and so on. For AP courses
however, a student who earns an A would receive 5 points towards their grade point
average, a B would earn 4 points, and so on. It is the schools hope that this grading
system will encourage students to take the more rigorous AP courses the high school
offers with less fear of lowering their grade point average.
Advanced Placement Language and Composition is both a challenging and rewarding
class. Students not only gain a deep understanding of the rhetorical process and how
to both evaluate messages they receive as well as how to improve as communicators
themselves. In addition, students will develop study habits that will aid them in
whatever field of study they pursue. It is my true desire to be as approachable as
possible and so, to that end, I may be reached by phone at 319.848.5340 ext. 2137 or
by email at cklostermann@crprairie.org. Please do not hesitate to contact me with
any questions you may have. I look forward to working with your child this school
year.
Sincerely,

Christopher Klostermann
Advanced Placement Language and Composition Teacher