AP English Language and Composition (Melcher) - Maranacook ...

Maranacook Community High School English Department
AP English Language and Composition 2013-2014- Instructor: Melcher
Course Description:
Welcome to AP Language and Composition, a course designed to be the equivalent in rigor of a college
course in rhetoric, literary studies, and composition. The focus of AP Language and Composition is
intensive analysis of literature – fiction, poetry, drama, and most significantly, nonfiction. This focus on
nonfiction will require students to recognize, assess, and critique rhetorical, stylistic, and literary devices
and strategies that can be used to enhance their own reading comprehension, academic writing, and
methods of argumentation. Special attention in this course will be devoted to preparing students for the
AP Language and Composition examination, which tests students’ reading and writing abilities by asking
them to recognize and analyze how an author shapes a piece of writing to serve the overall purpose or
themes.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Completion of summer reading assignments on deadline is mandatory for all
AP Language and Composition students. You will not be allowed to proceed with the course if you do
not submit assignments by August 19th, 2013. You may mail hard copies postmarked 8/19 or attach a
document to an email, or share via Google Docs.
sue_melcher@maranacook.com
MCHS c/o Melcher
2250 Millard Harrison Drive
Readfield, Me 04355
Your summer reading assignment is very intensive, and should be completed in increments throughout the
summer involves the following:
Read The Way Out by Craig Childs
In your reading and writing, you will be exploring the ways in which the narrator/author structures a text
utilizing a variety of literary and rhetorical devices, as well as organization, presentation, tone, character,
action, landscape, thought, language, perception, observation, and memory to create a holistic text in
which all elements are actively cooperating to create meaning, impact, and import. The structure of a
text can work to create and reflect meaning that may not be explicitly evident, but is enshrouded within.
You will complete the following:
1. A 4-6 page essay on the assigned text
2. Six close readings from the assigned text
3. 20 vocabulary words
4. “Room for Debate” analysis and argumentation (2 different topics)

I. ESSAY: You will write a formal, focused essay structured around ONE of the following concepts ( I
have provided possible subtopics within each main area, which you may use singularly or in combination
to create a thesis.) -
TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF ESSAY:
a. 11 font TNR or similar font/1.5 spacing
b. 4-6 pages, paginated
c. MLA format
d. thesis-driven
e. use of quote nuggets & analysis to substantiate thesis
f. submit a database of quotes taken from throughout the text, along with your own notes, to show the
work behind the scenes of your essay (minimum of 20 quotes, although not all have to be used in your
essay)
CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING TOPICS TO CRAFT A THESIS:
THE ROLE OF LANDSCAPE
As a storytelling device, as active “character,” as metaphor and analogy, as conveyor of character, as
concealer/revealer of truths, as sensory experience, trigger of memory, a gendered aspect of the physical
world, as creator of tone/mood, personification of abstract values, as place where the past is present, as a
reflection of inner landscape and values, as repository of cultural values
THE ROLE AND NATURE OF STORIES/LANGUAGE
Stories as structural devices for the text, use as metaphor/allegory/symbol, illustration of the relationship
between land/story and self, illustration of connection between present and past, provision of historical
context, exploration of the relationship between memory, self, truth, and story; explanation of the way in
which meaning is layered within story and landscape; why stories need to be remembered/shared; the
importance and nature of memory; the presence of the past within memory and landscape, the interplay
between perception, memory, and tone; the relationship between journey and stories; how landscape itself
is language and memory
THE FUNCTION OF CONTRASTS
Juxtaposition of Dirk/Craig; oppositional forces in nature; self vs. self; oppositional forces between people;
paradoxical elements within one entity (police officer who reads poetry); urban/desert; known/unknown;
tame/wild; storm/quiet; rational/irrational; fear/confidence; chaos/order; police/journalist; readable
landscape/inscrutable landscape; desire/contentment; past/present; nature/non-natural; male/female –
how these contrasts function with the story, are used as metaphors, symbols, philosophical forays, narrative
devices, representation of past, ideals, ideologies…

II. CLOSE READING (See example and use a similar format)
Find SIX sections throughout the text that differ from one another in tone, and do the following.
a. record the page number and provide a brief context for the passage
b. analyze carefully for diction, syntax, imagery, tone
Diction - specific word choice - note the following:
a. Words that stand out, seem perfect, add rhythm, or a specific denotation, spark up the sentence, add
allure, or somehow seems to be remarkable. Foreign terms, vernacular, scientific lexicon, colloquial, or
other terms of note.
b. Take note of words that refer to abstract ideas in relation to words that refer to concrete elements.
How does the ratio affect the passage? Is it overwhelmingly about ideas, generalizations, and
suggestions, or is it rooted in a world of concrete, specific things?
c. Are the important words formal multisyllabic and Latinate, or simpler and more common? What is
the effect?
Syntax - sentence structure: take note of the following:
a. Length of sentences, use of fragments
b. Order of the parts of the sentence (subject, verb, object, or inverted) - do sentences begin with
adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases?
c. What are the sentences like? Are main clauses placed at the beginning, middle, or end?
d. Use of punctuation - dashes, colons, semi-colons, multiple commas, questions
e. How are sentences and ideas connected? Transitions, conjunctions, lack of conjunctions
Imagery - appeals to the five senses: take note of the following:
a. use of metaphor, simile, description, analogy
b. Unusual or interesting use of words to conjure up images
c. References to culture, music,
d. Use of color to convey emotion
e. the way language words on the subconscious to generate images
Tone - author’s attitude and way of creating mood, atmosphere
Use adjectives to describe tone - reverent, nostalgic, angry, jealous, objective, whimsical (there
are many!)

III. “Room For Debate”
The New York Times website has a feature called “Room for Debate.” (www.nytimes/roomfordebate. When
you pull up this webpage, a series of discussions is displayed. Each “discussion” features five or more
opinion articles. Select TWO different debate topics and do the following for each debate topic:
1. Create an MLA citation (works cited entry) for each debater’s article. Use the entry information
for an article from an online newswire or newspaper (see the Purdue OWL)
2. Summarize each debater’s argument in 2-3 sentences.
3. Analyze each argument for validity and method. How is the author supporting and substantiating the
position? (opinion, facts, statistics, anecdotes, hypothetical situations, analogy, personal experience,
empirical evidence). Is the argumentation valid? Explain. Is the author credible? Explain.
4. Craft your own argumentation, using third person, in “letter to the editor” format, in approximately
300 words.
IV. VOCABULARY - context, denotation, etymological relatives, if discovered
Find 20 words within any of your summer reading texts for any class or that you have read for your own
amusement or enlightenment, and do the following:
a. Copy out the sentence in which the word appears in your reading.
b. Identify its part of speech, and any other parts of speech that word can be shaped into.
c. Provide a denotation.
d. Research and record its etymological roots, and record any related words that you find.
e. Write your own sentence using the word literally.
f. Write your own sentence using the word metaphorically.
SAMPLE VOCABULARY:
cloister - transitive verb - to seclude or close in, as if in a monastery,
(also as a noun, a covered walk appearing in a monastery)
Context: He spoke to me in the tone of a cloistered monk. (used as a participle)
My sentences:
I cloistered myself in my room, which was up in the stuffy attic, on the final day of summer, working steadfastly on
my summer reading, an endeavor that provided me with so much fulfillment that I knew I should have begun it
earlier.
My thoughts cloistered themselves in the top shelves of my brain, busily multiplying and magnifying themselves in
a self-aggrandizing manner, planning to burst out of hiding at some inopportune time, such as when I am plagued
with insomnia.
Etymology: Middle English (in the sense [place of religious seclusion] ): from Old French cloistre, from Latin
claustrum, clostrum ‘lock, enclosed place,’ from claudere ‘to close.’ This word is related to “claustrophobia”

CLOSE READING EXAMPLE:
Pg. 24
Context: Childs is canoeing in the floodwaters of a huge storm through an inundated neighborhood - in
his father’s canoe
Diction: Childs lets loose a flurry of angry, energetic, volatile words that denote and connote destruction
and devastation with a malevolent purpose: demolish, impaling, fists, betraying, gunfire, shotgun, revolver, drown,
slammed, band-and-clash. These jarring, harsh words explode off the page, illustrating the fiery, angry,
subversive nature of his father’s personality. A few words, such as pillow, applause, neighbors, that would
normally have positive connotations, are propped up here and there with anger, so as to be somewhat
subverted themselves, just as Craig is now being subversive, as was his father.
Syntax: “I will play loud, unbearable music. I will not sleep at appropriate hours. I will take your
canoe...” - Each successive sentence begins exactly alike, enforcing the negative will of Craig and his
father, their obstinacy, and their incorrigible selfishness. The “I will” in the first sentence is altered in the
next two sentences by addition of the negative. The repetitive subject/verb alters with the third sentence,
with a compound sentence “I will take your canoe and throw it into a flood,” which is then followed by an
adjective phrase, “never to be seen again.” The repetitive syntax emphasizes the stubborn unwillingness,
along with simple syntax, as if a child is speaking. Childs has reverted to childhood.
Imagery: One fascinating image that creates the paradoxical nature of the father is the “bang-and-clash
Mussorgsky symphony impaled (my italics) - a man who uses a gun and revolver to demolish a shed is
listening to classical music, albeit loud and powerful Russian music. This paradoxical nature of people is
a constant throughout Childs’ writing - for everything, there is an oppositional force continually tugging,
as if there cannot be yin without yang. Additionally, use of the word impaled is disturbing: being impaled
upon something is an extremely disconcerting image. The music played by a disturbed man does not float
from windows, but impales the neighborhood, thus emphasizing the anger of this man, and his blatant
refusal to comply with societal mores.
Tone - angry, defiant
GRADING
1. All aspects of the assignment prompts (II, III, IV) have been adhered to (1-25)
2. Work evinces sophisticated depth of thought and meaningful engagement (1-50)
3. Work is well ordered, structured, edited, and evinces pride of ownership (1-25)

AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION – THESIS PAPER RUBRIC
Name: Date:
Title:
STRUCTURE – Logical format with clear introduction, thesis, analysis and conclusion,
and sophisticated, fluent movement from textual evidence to analysis; strategically adept
placement of quotes and examples. Introduction clearly and specifically sets up the essay
and thesis, and the conclusion provides a creative clincher, closure. The structure of the
piece enhances meaning and purpose. (25)
INTENT/PURPOSE – The thesis is clearly and skillfully stated and supported, and
consistently serves as the crux of the essay; is evident in all paragraph topics and quotes.
The momentum and energy of the essay is derived from the thesis. Thesis is thoughtprovoking
and original. Thesis is viable and arguable, not merely a statement of fact; nor
is it highly subjective and unsubstantiated. (75)
EXEMPLIFICATION/DETAIL – The piece consistently uses anecdotes, examples,
specifics, concrete images, details, facts, quotes (properly cited) to set up discussions and
analysis. Quotes are deftly woven into the prose; evocative rhetoric writing enhances and
clarifies the information; your prose is free from clichés, ambiguities, stale metaphors,
generalized and vague language. Examples are not hypothetical or overly assumptive. You,
the author, have not merely consulted the Internet, but have engaged in a meaningful and
compelling manner with your topic. (50)
ANALYSIS/COMMENTARY – The analysis is consistently and clearly evident, beyond
mere observation or statement; all analysis is equally astute and perceptive. Consistent
evidence of connections, juxtapositions, parallels, argumentation, original thoughts,
philosophical commentary, creative ideas. (100)
PROCESS – Evidence of steady, high quality work in the form of thoughtful, meaningful
changes from preliminary drafts. No errors in grammar, spelling, usage, punctuation.
(only relevant for multi-draft papers) (50)