Course Title:  Advanced Placement Literature and Composition

2 Semesters - 10 Credits - 5 class periods per week
 
Course Description:
 
This course is designed to be a college-level first year course that will prepare the student for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition test.  It is designed to fulfill the requirements of theAdvanced Placement Course Description Literature and Composition as presented by The College Board.
 
Students will be engaged in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature.  Through the close reading of selected texts, students can deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers.  As they read, students should consider a work’s structure, style, and themes, as well as such smaller scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.
 
Students will be expected to read works from several genres and periods from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.  More importantly, students should get to know a few works well.  Students will learn to read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form.  In addition to considering a work’s literary artistry, students should consider the social and historical values it reflects and embodies.  Students will also write critically and analytically about the various themes and topics addressed in the class.   Additionally, students will evaluate views and beliefs presented by authors and examine where these ideas fit within a Christian world view.   Through discussion and in writing, students will incorporate the Core Biblical Truths and consider the consequence of succumbing to humanistic worldviews.
 
Objectives:
                •              Master all phases of essay writing
                •              Evaluate views, beliefs, and assertion made by the author based on biblical worldview
                •              Develop personal voice in writing
                •              Become fluent in literary analysis
                •              Hone “close reading” skills
                •              Build on note taking and annotating skills
                •              Practice test taking strategies in preparation for the AP exam
                •              Identify the devices writers use to achieve his/her purpose
 
Textbook and Materials:
               The Bible
              Norton Anthology of British Literature, 6^th ed.
               Prentice-Hall Literature, The British Tradition
              William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night andHamlet
              Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
              Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
             Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
             Tom Sheppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
             Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
 
 
Summer Reading
 
                George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion and Short Stories
                Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge.
 
Prerequisites:
 
AP Literature is limited to students with jsenior standing; have a B in their previous English course; must have a recommendation from the previous English teacher; and provide a previous writing sample of sufficient depth and breadth to qualify for AP level work.  Students must also complete assigned summer reading.