AP English Literature and Composition/Honors English 12 2009-10

Mrs. Edelman
nancy.edelman@tabc.org
Turnitin Class ID: 2821436/Password: kafka

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to comply with the curricular requirements described in the AP English
Course Description. To that end, it will be the equivalent of an introductory college literature
course. You will be required to read widely and deeply. We will ask two major questions of each
work we study: What is the author trying to say, and how does he or she say it? Keep these
questions in mind as we deal with theme (the “what”) and style (the “how”). We will learn how
diction, syntax, imagery, and detail work together to create tone, and all those words work to
express theme. Our syllabus will include works from the 16th to the 21st centuries. As you
studied British Literature from Chaucer to Golding in 10th grade and American Literature from
Hawthorne to Miller in 11th grade, in this course we will pay particular attention to the concerns
of 20th century authors and poets from around the world, at a time when both theme and style
were affected by drastic and rapid change.

Please keep up with your reading! We will hold frequent “Socratic Seminars” in which you will
each have a chance to lead the class in a discussion, and of course you must come to class
prepared for the discussion. I will also ask you to continue the class discussion on the TABC Wiki,
as well as to create your own project pages on our class Wiki.

Those of you who will have the “A.P.” designation on your transcript will meet an extra period a
week to discuss the supplementary AP reading assignment and to write additional in-class
essays.

I will use a generic version of the College Board’s 1-9 AP rubric for scoring all essays. Please
familiarize yourself with all aspects of it. We will read sample essays in class to get an idea of
what a “9” essay looks like, and will have frequent peer-review workshops in class. I will make
time to schedule writing conferences with each of you over the course of the year.

THE EXAM
The AP English Literature and Composition Exam is three hours long and consists of two
sections. In Section I, students are given one hour to answer 55 multiple-choice questions; in
Section II, they must answer three free-response questions within two hours. One free response
question is in response to a poem or two poems, one is in response to a prose passage, and the
last asks a question that students apply to a work of their choice. The multiple-choice questions
test students' ability to read analytically prose and poetry from several periods. The free-response
questions require students to write critical essays on literary texts.

SYLLABUS
September: Life of Pi; Short Story Boot Camp
October: Short Story Boot Camp
November: Hamlet (AP: Invisible Man)
December/January: The Metamorphosis; The Stranger
January/February: Heart of Darkness (AP: The Poisonwood Bible)
March/April: Poetry Boot Camp (AP: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)