Course Title:  Advanced Placement Language and Composition 

2 Semesters -10 Credits -5 Class Periods per Week
 
Course Description:
 
In this course students will explore both fictional and non fictional literary works and traditions from a variety of writers and from several perspectives. Through close readings and rhetorical analysis students will learn to consider viewpoints and traditions as critical thinkers and writers and through discussion, students will develop skills for self-examination and reflection of personal faith. Students will also develop the skills to read, analyze, and write college levels essays recognizing and utilizing rhetorical strategies. Students will come to understand how culture and tradition and personal and political bias influence behavior and consequences. In keeping pace with the 11^th grade curriculum, the course will provide students with an overview genres, major writers, and literary movements that are unique to the development of the American experience. The main objective of this course is to teach students to use critical thinking skills in order to express themselves in a variety of academically accepted formats including exemplification, process, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, and argumentation formats.
 
In addition, this course seeks to prepare the students for successful completion of the AP Language and Composition exam offered nationwide in May.  In preparation, this course will provide students with the intellectual challenges and workload consistent with a typical first year undergraduate university English course. Preparation will include examination of several released copies of previous AP exams, including practice responding to the analysis, argumentative, and synthesis essays. Students will be expected to procure a personal copy of 5 Steps to a 5 by Barbara L. Murphy. This course is designed to comply with the curricular requirements described in the AP English language Course Description.
 
Textbooks/Materials
The Bible
Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Boston MA. Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2004.
 
Prentice-Hall Literature: The American Experience. 4^th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1996.
 
Shae, Renee H.  et. Al.: The Language of Composition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.
                Martin’s, 2008.
 
Shae, Renee, H., and Lawrence Scanlon: Teaching Non-Fiction in AP English: A Guide      to Accompany 50 Essays.  Boston, MA: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2005.
 
Supplemental Resources:
Kisner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Patterns for College Writing. 10^th ed. Boston,  MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.
 
Lawrence, Tracey D. ed. The Greatest Sermons Ever Preached. Nashville, Tenn: W. Publishing Group,     2005.
 
Peterson, Linda H. and John C. Brereton. The Norton Reader. 12^th ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton           Company, 2008.
 
Lunsford, Andrea A. and Ruszkiewicz. Everything’s an Argument.4^th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.             Martin’s, 2007.
               
Thompson, Linwood. “Early American History: Native Americans through the Forty Niners.” Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company, 2008. Video.
 
 
Schaffer, Jane C., Teaching Style Analysis To Advanced Placement English Students. 2  ed. San Diego, CA: Jane Scaffer Publications. 1999.
 
Zarefsky, David. “Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning.” 2^nd ed. Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company. 2008. Video.