AP Language and Composition

Advanced Placement 

Language and Composition 

Course Description: 

This advanced language and composition course will engage students in careful reading and analysis of 

prose written in a variety of rhetorical contexts. Students will become skilled and diverse in their writing. 

They will become aware of the writer's purpose, expectations, and subjects, as well as the conventions 

and language used to make a writer's work effective. 

The focus of the course will be on intensive reading and discussion of prose, as well as an intensive focus 

on expository writing. Emphasis will be placed on the composition process. Students will explore ideas, 

reconsider and take risks in their writing, and revise their work. Writing will be informal and formal, 

personal and reflective. Grammatical conventions and language in prose will be studied and applied, as 

well as research and the citation process using MLA format. Both primary and secondary sources will be 

studied and read as a guide for writing. The course is intended to provide students with an academic 

experience parallel to that of a college level literature course. This course will also include a writing 

component that focuses on expository, analytical and argumentative writing about the literature through 

both discussion and essay format. Students are expected to be active readers as they analyze and 

interpret textual detail, establish connections among their observations, and draw logical inferences 

leading toward an interpretive conclusion. 

This course also prepares students who do all the coursework for the Advanced Placement Language 

and Composition Exam administered each May. Students will read, write and discuss prose at an 

advanced college level while using online resources to develop skills including sophisticated use of 

literary elements and terminology, close readings of various texts, creating, drafting, and editing collegelevel 

analytical essays, preparing and writing timed essays, and advanced use and mastery of standard 

English. 

Throughout the course, students will be provided instruction and feedback on writing assignments, both 

before and after the revision of their work that helps them develop: 

• A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination. 

• Logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, 

transitions, and emphasis. 

• A balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail. 

• An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and 

achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure. 

Learning Outcomes (comprehensive): 

At the completion of Language and Composition, the student will be able to: 

• Write about a variety of subjects from a variety of disciplines. 

• Demonstrate an awareness of audience and purpose. 

• Enable students to write effectively and confidently in college level courses across the curriculum 

and in their personal and professional lives. 

• Understand that expository, analytical, and argumentative writing forms the basis of academic 

and professional communication. 

• Understand that personal and reflective writing fosters the development of writing facility in any 

context. 

Phone: 858.642.8850 | Fax: 858.642.8750 | Web: www.nuvhs.org



• Understand that the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing done in college is based on 

reading as well as personal experience and observation. 

• Read primary and secondary sources carefully to synthesize material from those texts in student 

compositions. 

• Cite sources using conventions recommended by professional organizations. 

• Enable students to read complex texts with understanding. 

• Write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers. 

• Place emphasis on content, purpose and audience and to follow this focus to guide the 

organization of student writing. 

• Be aware of his/her own composing process. 

• Understand how they explore ideas, reconsider strategies and revise work. 

• Write essays that proceed through several stages or drafts, with revision aided by teacher and 

peers. 

• Become more self-aware and flexible writers. 

• Identify writer’s strategies and practice them themselves. 

• Study language itself. 

• Understand the difference between oral and written discourse, formal and informal language, 

historical changes in speech and writing. 

• Participate in imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing and in-class responses. 

• Use research materials and synthesize varied sources—evaluate, use, and cite. 

• Take up projects that call on students to synthesize and evaluate sources. 

• Write a researched argument paper. 

• Be able to form a varied and informed argument. 

• Consider texts as a source written for particular audience and purpose. 

• Sort through disparate interpretations to analyze, reflect upon, and write about a topic. 

• Practice reinforcing writing conventions 

• Sharpen grammar and style. 

• Use grammatical conventions appropriately and to develop stylistic maturity in prose. 

• Develop a wide range of vocabulary and use it appropriately and effectively. 

• Use a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination. 

• Formulate logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as 

repetition, transitions, and emphasis. 

• Balance generalized and specialized illustrative detail. 

• Use rhetoric effectively by controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving 

appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure. 

• Be aware of how stylistic effects are achieved by writer’s linguistic choices. 

• Analyze and interpret samples of good writing. 

• Identify and explain an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques. 

• Apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing. 

• Create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and / or personal experience. 

• Write for a variety of purposes. 

• Produce expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central 

idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and / or secondary sources, 

cogent explanations, and clear transitions. 

• Demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity 

in their own writings. 

• Demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and secondary sources. 




• Move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to inquiry and 

research, drafting, revising, editing, and review. 

• Write thoughtfully about their own process of composition. 

• Revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience. 

• Analyze image as text. 

• Evaluate and incorporate reference documents into research papers. 

• Answer multiple-choice questions similar to those on the Language and Composition exam, and 

use computer technology and the Internet to complement an understanding of literature. 

Throughout the course, students will be provided instruction and feedback on writing assignments, 

document based essays, and free response essays both before and after the revision of their work. 

Content Standards: 

This Advanced Placement Language and Composition course is written to the content standards outlined 

by the College Board’s AP Language and Composition Guidelines. 

Prerequisites: 

At least a B in most recent English courses and appropriate writing skills. 

Required Texts: 

Primary Text: 

Title: Literature for Composition 

Author(s): Barnet, Burto, Cain 

Publisher: Pearson Longman 

Year published: 2005 

ISBN 0-321-28034-2 

Title: Rhetorical Grammar 

Author(s): Kolln, Martha 

Publisher: Allyn and Bacon 


ISBN 0-205-28305-5 

Student Supplements: 

Title: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave 

Author(s): Douglass, Frederick 

Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics 

Year published: Reprint edition 2003 

ISBN 978-1-59308-041-9 

Title: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl 

Author(s): Jacobs, Harriet 

Publisher: Townsend Press 


ISBN 978-1-59194-026-5 




Title: Angela’s Ashes 

Author (s): McCourt, Frank 

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Adult Publishing Group 

Year Published: May 1999 

ISBN-13: 9780684842677 

Title: Naked 

Author (s): David Sedaris 

Publisher: Back Bay Books 

Year Published: 1998 

ISBN-13: 978-0316777735 

Course Methodology: 

This is an inquiry-based course where you will discover and utilize knowledge of English language and 

composition via the textbook, videos, and other readings, along with websites, and synchronous and 

asynchronous discussions with other students and the instructor. 

Acting as a facilitator, your instructor will guide you through the process; however, as the learner, you are 

responsible for actively acquiring and constructing knowledge by completing all assigned readings and 

activities. 

Both formal and informal assessment will be used in evaluating your performance throughout the course. 

Informal assessment will include an evaluation of the quality and timeliness of your participation in class 

activities. Formal assessment will involve multiple-choice quizzes, written essays, timed writings, and a 

final exam. 




Semester One 

Unit Topic Activities 

1 The Reader as 

a Writer 

Unit Goals: 

• Read critically and discussed several short stories. 

• Learned components for the AP exam. 

• Written several dialectical journal entries. 

• Successfully completed an author and theme study. 

• Prepared for a unit quiz. 

• Responded to readings aurally and visually. 

• Studied and completed a full essay assignment covering argument and 

theme. 

• Explored the online lab and Internet resources. 

Lectures: 

• Reading and Responding to Literature 

• How to Read Literature: Dramatic Literature, Epic, Poetry, Prose 

• Study of works by Kate Chopin 

• A Story of an Hour by Chopin 

Study Guide: 

• Self-assessment questions 

• Glossary of terms/individuals/events 

• Additional terms/individuals/events 

• Resources (chapter outlines, flash cards, interactive maps, Web links 

and interactive crossword puzzles) 

Required Reading: 

• Ripe Figs 

• The Reader as Writer 

• Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin 

• The Storm by Kate Chopin 

• The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin 

Required Viewing: 

• Elements of Setting 

• Values and Story of an Hour 

Online Supplements: 

My Literature Lab I and II 




Semester One 


Recommended Reading: 

• MLA Formatting and Style Guide 

• Writing About Literature 

Assignments: 

• Writing response to Ripe Figs by Chopin 

• Literature Lab I- Chopin 

• Theme topics on works by Chopin 

• Point of View chart 

• Essay response to Desiree's Baby or The Storm by Chopin 

• Literature Lab II- Diagnostic Exam on literary elements 

• Dialectical Journal 

• SOAPST one responses to Desiree’s Baby and The Storm by Kate 

Chopin 

• Developing a thesis: Draft and write and argument 

Threaded Discussion Forum Topics: 

• Values and the Story of an Hour 

• Learning Styles Assessment 

Assessment: 

2 Rhetoric Unit Goals: 

• Quiz (20 multiple choice items and one essay question) 

• Timed Writing – Free Response Essay 1: The Storm by Chopin 

• Objective Test: Problematic characters in The Storm 

• Diagnostic Exam of Literary and Critical Terms 

• Familiarized themselves with learn, and discussed basic rhetorical 

terms and grammar. 

• Written several dialectic journal entries. 

• Read and applied the Art of Rhetoric in literature, composition, 

advertising, and communication. 

• Explored the online resources of the class. 

• Reinforced their knowledge of terms through a quiz. 

• Response to readings aurally and visually. 

• Prepared for a timed essay/assessment. 




Semester One 


Lectures: 

• Preface and Introduction to Rhetorical Grammar 

• The Structure of Sentences 

• Sentence Rhythm 

• Rhetorical Triangle 

• Rhetoric of Advertising 

Study Guide: 







Rhetorical Grammar Text: 

• Preface- Pages Viii-X 

• Introduction-Pages 1-4 

• The Structure of Sentences- Pages 5-23 

• Sentence Rhythm- Pages 24-39 

Required Viewing: 

• Rhetorical Practice 



• Center for Media Literacy 

Assignments: 

• Journal for rhetorical devices 

• Rhetorical Grammar Exercises 

• Rhetoric of Advertising- five selections/responses 

• Rhetorical Grammar Exercises 

• Power, Persuasion, and Propaganda Project 

• Revision of Theme Essay from Unit I 




Semester One 



• Identify underlying assumptions in ads, restate the advertisers claim 

and describe your response. 

• Pathos, Logos, Ethos 

Assessment: 


• True/False quiz- rhetorical grammar devices 

• Timed Essay- Traditional Definition of Rhetoric 

3 Reading 

Literature 

Closely 

Unit Goals: 

• Familiarized themselves with and demonstrated effective use of 

essential critical reading and essay evaluation skills 

• Demonstrated effective analysis of a variety of textual genres including 

expository, literary, poetic and essay forms 

• Understood and utilized the essential elements of effective literary 

evaluation and analysis in written form 

• Effectively synthesized material from a variety of texts into their own 

writing 

• Completed a variety of textual analysis activities including expository, 

reflective and critical forms 

• Understood and demonstrated the differences between explicative and 

analytic writing genres 

• Completed timed writings that demonstrate competency in textual 

explicative and analysis 

Lectures: 

• Why value literature: Explication and Explication de Texte 

• Analysis and its Forms: Writing an Effective Literary Analysis 

Study Guide: 










Semester One 


• Reading Literature Closely: Explication 

• Other Kinds of Writing about Literature 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Cohesion 

• Judgement of Solomon 

• The Parable of the Prodigal Son 

• James Thurber: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 

• Aphra Behn: Song: Love Armed 

• Edgar Allen Poe: The Cask of the Amontillado 

• Guy de Maupassant: The Necklace 

• Katherine Anne Porter: The Jilting of Granny Weatherall 

• Jose’ Armas: El Tonto del Barrio 

• Leslie Marmom Silko: The Man to Send Rain Clouds 

• Robert Frost: Come In 

• Elizabeth Bishop: Filling Station 

• Robert Herrick: To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time 

• Lyn Lifshin: My mother and the Bed by Lyn Lifshin 

• Martin Espada: Bully 


• Explication de Texte 

• MyLiteratureLab 

Assignments: 

• Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing: Sonnet 73 

• Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing: Spellbound by Emile Bronte 

• Explication: The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner 

• Analysis: Poem or Short Story 


• MyLiteratureLab responses to literature 


• Differences between Explication and Analysis 

• Main Points between Writing and Effective Comparison 

Assessment: 


• Timed Writing – Freedom: the Necklace and El Tonto del Barrio 

• Timed Writing- Parallelism and Pedagogical Principles 

4 Narrative of 

the Life of 

Unit Goals: 




Semester One 


Frederick 

Douglass an 

American 

Slave 

• Examined and identified rhetorical strategies utilized in writing focusing 

on specific topical themes 

• Identified and understood effective stylistic writing choices and how they 

influence effective writing strategies to engage readers 

• Completed a variety of writing activities that demonstrate understanding 

of writing strategies and styles 

• Identified and understood historical identifiers in specific written works 

and the evolution of writing strategies over time 

• Read and evaluated secondary essays on their critical analysis of 

historical texts 

• Completed thematic writing activities to demonstrate understanding of 

the rhetorical components of thematic composition 

• Analyzed and understood the effectiveness of point of view in written 

texts 

• Conducted revised writing activities and provided critical feedback on 

other student writing pieces 

Lectures: 

• (Review) Native American Works, the Colonial Period in New England 

and the South, Major Writers and works from the Revolutionary Period, 

the Romantic Period, Transition between Romanticism/Realism (Civil 

War), The Realistic Period 

• The Antebellum South 

• Analyzing the Language of freedom in Frederick Douglass 

• Frederick the Protagonist 

Study Guide: 







• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave 


• Google Books Online: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 

• Reading Douglass’s Rhetoric 

Assignments: 




Semester One 


• Journal of Critical Observations from the text (Dialectical Journal) 

• Study Guide’s for each chapter 

• Critical Analysis: Harriet Beecher Stowe 

• Response: Dehumanization as a Theme 

• Symbolism Through the Use of Characters 

• SOAPST one Questions 

• Response to Reading Douglass’s Rhetoric 


• First Person Narrative: Effective? 

• The Antebellum South 

• Slavery vs. Wage Labor 

Assessment: 


• Timed Essay- Critical Analysis from Douglass Text: Freedom 

5 Reading and 

Writing About 

Visual Culture: 

Your Personal 

Voice 

Unit Goals: 

• Demonstrated understanding of visual and graphical components of 

texts and interpretive or textual analysis 

• Familiarized themselves with the concept of images in a variety of forms 

as textual representatives themselves 

• Demonstrated appropriate analysis methodologies when evaluating 

images as texts 

• Understood and applied appropriate written interpretive and analysis to 

a variety of graphics and images 

• Understood and applied key rhetorical differences and similarities in 

analyzing texts and images 

• Developed appropriate understanding of the narrative components of 

images as texts 

• Completed writing activities that explicate, interpret and analyze images 

as texts 

• Completed assessments including timed writing to demonstrate ability 

to incorporate these methodologies in their own written compositions 

• Revised written assignments based on critical feedback by peers 

Lectures: 

• The Language of Pictures: Critically Reading Images 

• Analyzing Photography: Techniques for Critique of Photos 

Study Guide: 






Semester One 






• Reading and Writing about Visual Culture 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Your Personal Voice 

• Navajo Dancers Entertaining a Tourist Train, June 1963: Durango, 

Colorado 

• Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936 



Assignments: 

• Annie Liebowitz Analysis 


• The Qualities of Good Photograph—Illustrations 


• Short Story 


• Reading Images 

• Analyzing Photography vs. Analyzing Literature 

Assessment: 


• Timed Writing – Photo Analysis 

• Timed Writing—Personal Voice in Analysis 

6 Incidents in the 

Life of a Slave 

Girl written by 

Herself 

Unit Goals: 

• Familiarized and understood connection between stylistic effects in 

writing are influenced by authors’ linguistic and rhetorical choices 

• Understood and applied rhetorical components of compare contrast 

strategy to conduct critical and evaluative analysis of different texts 

within a specific genre or theme 

• Complete writing assignments and analysis activities to demonstrate 

ability to identify differences between texts and explain how rhetorical 

elements effect tone, meaning, and thematic explication 




Semester One 


• Completed timed essays, writing revisions, and unit exam to 

demonstrate understanding of subtle rhetorical differences in similar 

texts 

• Composed analytical writing that compares/contrasts multiple texts 

focused on a specific theme or experience 

• Conducted effective revision strategies on their own writing piece to 

demonstrate understanding of how rhetorical changes effect meaning 

• Completed quiz to reinforce knowledge and learning outcomes 

• Utilized a variety of secondary sources including digital forms to further 

strengthen understanding 

Lectures: 

• Character Development in Incidents 

• Freedom Through Personal Sacrifice 


• Google Books Online: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by 

Herself, by Harriet Jacobs 

• Site Index, Images, Timeline 1808-1897 (Chronicle of Historical Events 

during Jacob’s Life) 

Study Guide: 







• Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by herself by Harriet Jacobs 

Assignments: 

• Compare/Contrast: Analysis of Jacob’s text and Douglass text 

• Revision: Compare/Contrast Analysis 

• Study Guide’s for each chapter 

• Journal of Critical Observations from the text (Dialectical Journal) 

• SOAPST one Questions 

• Critical Analysis: Argument on one of the major themes: The Corrupting 

Power of Slavery, Domesticity as Paradise or Prison, The Psychological 

Abuses of Slavery 




Semester One 



• Types of Slavery: Jacob’s vs. Douglass 

• The Corrupting Power of the Institution of Slavery 

Assessment: 


• Timed Essay- Symbolism Through Jacob’s Characters 

7 Critical 

Thinking: 

Asking 

Questions and 

Making 

Comparisons, 

Reading and 

Writing About 

Essays, 

Rhetorical 

Grammar: 

Long and 

Short 

Sentences 

Unit Goals: 

• Familiarized themselves and demonstrated effective critical evaluation 

techniques on literature 

• Demonstrated ability to effectively analyze a variety of textual genres, 

specifically poetry, through written responses 

• Familiarized themselves with techniques for analyzing and evaluating 

both primary and secondary evidence within written texts 

• Understood and demonstrated ability to identify and incorporate 

rhetorical strategies to effect voice and tone within their own written 

work 

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate legitimacy and purpose of evidence 

and sources within writing 

• Demonstrated ability to use compare / contrast strategies in evaluating 

and writing about literary texts 

• Complete timed writings and quiz to demonstrate understanding of 

effective literary analysis 

• Understand key concepts of rhetorical grammar in writing and revision 

process of their own written works 

• Demonstrated understanding of sentence structure in textual analysis 

and written strategies 

Lectures: 

• Critical Thinking: Compare/Contrast, Asking and Answering Questions, 

Analyzing and Evaluating Evidence 

• Critical Reading Essays: Persona, Voice, and Tone 



Study Guide: 






Semester One 






• Critical Thinking: Asking Questions and Making Comparisons 

• Reading and Writing About Essays 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Long and Short Sentences 

• e.e. Cummings: Buffalo Bills 

• Emily Dickinson: I felt a Funeral, in my Brain 

• Emily Dickinson: I felt a Cleaving in my Mind 

• Emily Dickinson: The Dust behind I strove to join 

• William Butler Yeats: The Wild Swans at Coole 

• Gwendolyn Brooks: We Real Cool 

• Andrew Hudgins: The Wild Swans Skip School 

• Anonymous: The Silver Swan 

• Brent Staples: Black Men and Public Space 

• Langston Hughes: Salvation 

• Laura Vanderkam: Hookups Starve the Soul 

• Amy Tan: fish cheeks 

Assignments: 

• Essay Review: Essayist David Sedaris 

• Persona, Voice, and Tone: Critical Analysis 

• Poetry: Six Critical Questions-Compare/Contrast/Analyze/Evaluate 

• Long and Short Sentence Exercises 




• Critiquing a Work of Literature 

• Thinking Critically When reading: Identifying an Essayist 

• Critical Thinking Outside Academia 

Assessment: 


• Timed Essay- Critical Analysis: Essay 

• Objective Test: Revising an Essay: Rhetorical Grammar: Long and 

Short Sentences 


Writing about 

Unit Goals: 




Semester One 


Fiction, 

Thinking and 

Writing 

Critically, 

Fiction into 

Film 

• Familiarized and demonstrated understanding of literary analysis 

strategies for understanding, evaluating and analyzing fiction 

• Demonstrated critical thinking and evaluative writing responses on short 

stories 

• Demonstrated understanding of film as text and the associated 

strategies for evaluating film as text 

• Understood and demonstrated critical analysis of narrative and sub-text 

components of film as literature 

• Completed a variety of writing activities that demonstrate an awareness 

of audience and purpose 

• Accomplished effective film analysis as text and demonstrated 

understanding of rhetorical components of visual literary works 

• Completed revision process of student written text based on feedback 

from teacher and peers in class 

• Completed timed writing essays and exam to demonstrate 

understanding of analysis of fiction and film as narrative 

Lectures: 

• Short Story Analysis through the Author’s Flannery O’Connor and John 

Updike 

• Thinking and Writing about Film 

Study Guide: 







• Reading and Writing about Fiction 

• Thinking and Writing Critically about Short Stories: Two Case Studies 

• Fiction into Film 

• Flannery O’ Connor: A Good Man is Hard to Find 

• Flannery O’ Connor: Revelation 

• John Updike’s: A & P, Pygmalion, The Rumor, Oliver’s Evolution 



• Collegeboard.com 

Assignments: 




Semester One 


• Critical Analysis: Film and Technique 

• MyLiteratureLab responses to Literature 

• Critique a Film Now Playing in Theatres 

• Review Collegeboard.com Sample Examinations 


• Essay: Compare/Contrast any two theme focuses from this course of 

study with a freedom emphasis: Example: Douglass/Jacbos, 

Chopin/Jacobs, El Tonto Del Barrio/The Necklace 

• Essay Revision: Theme Focus 


• Short Story: A Powerful Genre of Literature 

• What does the Title of Updike’s Pygmalion evoke? 

• Writing about Film: Different than Literature or Photography? 

Assessment: 

• Diagnostic Examination: Language and Composition (Multiple Choice) 

• Timed Writing – Free Response Essay 2 

• Timed Writing: Compare/Contrast O’Connor and Updike 

Semester Two 

Unit Topics Activities 


Writing about 

Drama, 

Thinking 

Critically 

about Drama 

Unit Goals: 

• Familiarized and demonstrated understanding of critical strategies and 

approaches to understanding, evaluating and questioning drama as 

literature 

• Demonstrated understanding of the dramatic structure, dramatic 

elements and rhetorical base of various accepted works of drama 

• Understood historical changes in rhetorical and stylistic dramatic devices 

in pieces of drama through analysis of drama from different historical 

periods 

• Demonstrated ability to successfully alter writing strategies and focus 

based on different analytic lenses 

• Completed analysis of a variety of secondary critical essays pertaining to 

drama as literature 

• Demonstrated understanding of various elements of drama including, 

character analysis, dramatic structure, plot and narrative 




Semester Two 


• Continued familiarization with a variety of effective rhetorical components 

including active/passive voice, and grammar 

• Completed revision of their own writing based on teacher feedback and 

focused peer review 

Lectures: 

• Critically Reading Drama 

• Overview of Tennessee Williams and Works 

• Ancient Greece and Rome 

Study Guide: 




• Resources (chapter outlines, flash cards, interactive maps, Web links and 

interactive crossword puzzles) 


• Reading and Writing about Drama 

• Thinking Critically about Drama 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Choosing Verbs 

• Sophocles: Antigone 

• August Wilson: Fences 

• Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie 

Assignments: 

• Chart of Elements of Drama: Play 

• Character Analysis: Note Taking 

• Chart of Dramatic Elements: The Glass Menagerie 

• Character Analysis 

• Critical Analysis of Freedom: (Laura, Amanda, and Tom) 

• Critical Analysis: Revision 

• Verbs and Grammar 

• Passive/Active Voice 

• The Abstract Subject 



• Differences between Tragedy and Pathos 

• Discuss the rising action, climax, and falling action in The Glass 

Menagerie 




Semester Two 


Assessment: 


• Timed Writing – Dramatic Elements: Antigone 

• Timed Writing- Character Analysis: Troy 


Writing about 

Poetry 

Unit Goals: 

• Familiarized themselves with the rhetorical elements of poetry and 

consider strategies to effectively evaluate and respond to literary poetic 

works 

• Understood figurative and literal structural elements of poetic devices and 

the poetic form and completed multiple analysis of these rhetorical 

elements 

• Read and evaluated a variety of poems from across multiple historical 

periods, thematic groups and structural elements 

• Considered and demonstrated understanding of the changes in structural 

and symbolic elements of poetry and their effects on meaning, tone, 

symbolism and the audience 

• Understood and demonstrated ability to cite appropriately according to 

MLA guidelines including quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing and 

bibliographies 

• Completed a variety of writing assignments demonstrating ability to 

effectively analyze and evaluate poetry 

• Completed timed writings and quizzes to demonstrate mastery of 

knowledge of poems, poetic devices and rhetorical structures and ability 

to write logic and cohesive poetry analyses 

Lectures: 

• Elements of Poetry 

• Figurative Language, Imagery, and Symbolism 

• Religion: The Impact of Christianity 

Study Guide: 







• Reading and Writing about Poetry 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Choosing Adverbials 




Semester Two 


• Emily Dickinson: I’m Nobody! Who are you? 

• Emily Dickinson: Wild Nights-Wild Nights 

• Shakespeare: Sonnet 130 and 146 

• Robert Frost: The Telephone and The Hardship of Accounting 

• Anonymous: Thirty Days hath September 

• Dan Gioia: Money 

• Edmund Waller: Song (Go lovely rose) 

• William Blake: The Sick Rose 

• Linda Pastan: Jump Cabling 

• Robert Herrick: Upon Julia’s Clothes 

• Christina Rosetti: In An Artist’s Studio 

• William Butler Yeats: The Balloon of the Mind 

• William Butler Yeats: Sailing to Byzantium 

• Billy Collins: Sonnet 

• Robert Browning: My Last Duchess 

• e.e. Cummings: anyone lived in a pretty how town 

• Sylvia Plath: Daddy 

• Louise Erdrich: Indian Boarding Schools: The Runaways 

• Etheridge Knight: For Malcolm a Year After 

• Basho: An Old Pond 

• Thomas Hardy: Neutral Jones 

• James Wright: Living in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine 

Island, Minnesota 

• Anonymous: Deep River 

• William Carlos Williams: The Red Wheelbarrow 

• Walt Whitman: A Noiseless Patient Spider 

• Thomas Hardy: The Photograph 


• MLA Formatting and Style Guide 



Assignments: 



• Glossary of Terms 

• Byzantine Gallery of Art 

• Explanation: The Red Wheelbarrow - from Thomson-Gale's Poet's Corner 

• On the Red Wheelbarrow - from Modern American Poetry 




Semester Two 


• Elements of Poetry 

• Explication of a poem 

• MyLiteratureLab response to literature 

• Adverbials 

• SOAPSTone questions: Two stories of choice 

• Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing 



• Symbolism: William Blake: The Sick Rose 

• Not a Haiku Masterpiece? Basho’s: An Old Pond 

Assessment: 


• Timed Essay-Main Argument: Robert Frost’s: The Telephone 

3 Thinking 

Critically 

about Poetry, 

Writing about 

Literature 

Unit Goals: 

• Identified and understood various poetic genres and evaluate rhetorical 

composition of various genres against each other 

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate, analyze and explicate poetry and poetic 

devices through written analysis 

• Incorporated a variety of writing strategies including dialectical journals, 

timed writings, and essay analysis to demonstrate understanding of the 

poetic genre and associative structural elements 

• Complete revision of students’ own work through guided teacher 

feedback and focused peer review 

• Demonstrated understanding of imagery, tone and how words or 

linguistic choices effect poetic structure 

• Completed timed essay demonstrating ability to write comparative 

analysis of two poems or poetic forms identifying the differences and/or 

similarities 

• Demonstrated understanding of music and musical lyrics as poetic text 

• Applied strategies for analysis of music as poetic text 

Lectures: 

• A Closer Look: Emily Dickinson, American Blues, and Literary Visions 

• Ekphrastic Poetry- Emily Dickinson 

• Literary Criticism: Techniques 

Study Guide: 







Semester Two 





• Thinking Critically about Poetry 

• Writing about Literature 

• Anthology: Chapter 18 

• Various Works by Emily Dickinson 

• W.C. Handy: St. Louis Blues 

• Bessie Smith: Thinking Blues 

• Robert Johnson: Walkin Blues 

• Paul Laurence Dunbar: Blue 

• W.H. Auden: Funeral Blues 

• Langston Hughes: Too Blue 

• Johnny Cash: Folsom Prison Blues 

• Merle Haggard: Working Man Blues 

• Linda Pastan: Mini Blues 

• Allen Ginsberg: Father Death Blues 

• Charles Wright: Laguna Blues 

• Sherman Alexie: Reservation Blues 

• Jane Flanders: Van Gogh’s Bed 

• William Carlos Williams: The Great Figure 

• Adrienne Rich: Morning Picture 

• Cathy Song: Beauty and Sadness 

• Mary Jo Salter: The Rebirth of Jesus 

• Anne Sexton: The Starry Night 

• John Updike: Before the Mirror 



• I heard a fly buzz when I died – Bartleby.com 

• The soul selects her own society – Bartlby.com 

Recommended Listening: 

• Johnny Cash: Folsom Prison Blues 

• Merle Haggard: Working Man Blues 

• The Beat Generation: Allen Ginsberg 

Assignments: 

• Literary Movements: Interpretation 




Semester Two 


• Literary Techniques and Critiques: Poetry 



• Interpreting Poetry vs. Literature 

• TPCASTT Analysis of two poems 

• Lyrics Essay 

• Lyrics Essay Revision 


• Differences in a song vs. poem 

• How do words paint images? 

Assessment: 


• Timed Writing – Comparative Analysis 

4 Literature of 

Journeys and 

Themes of 

Love and 

Hate 

Unit Goals: 

• Familiarized themselves with thematic focus on literature including 

themes of love and hate and journey literature 

• Demonstrated ability to compose evaluative essays that approach critical 

analysis of a variety of literary forms centered on specific themes 

• Demonstrated understanding of the various conventions of citing primary 

and secondary sources 

• Completed writing assignments such as dialectical journal to demonstrate 

thoughtful consideration of their own evaluative and composition process 

• Complete timed writing and quiz to demonstrate understanding of 

rhetorical composition of themes in literature 

• Completed literary analysis using evidence and reasoning and 

appropriate secondary sources 

• Completed revision of students’ own work based on teacher feedback 

and focused student peer responses 

Lectures: 

• Literature of Journeys 

• Themes of Love and Hate in Literature 

• Symbolism in Poetry 

Study Guide: 








Semester Two 




• Literature of Journeys 

• Themes of Love and Hate 

• Joan Didion "On Going Home" 

• Montesquieu "Persian Letters" 

• Tony Cade Bambara "The Lesson" 

• Bobbie Ann Mason "Shiloh" 

• Anonymous "The Mountain-Climber" 

• John Keats "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" 

• Percy Byshhe Shelley "Ozymandias" 

• Alfred, Lordy Tennyson "Ulysses" 

• Carl Sandburg "Limited" 

• Countee Cullen "Incident" 

• William Stafford "Traveling Through the Dark" 

• Robert Frost "The Pasture" 

• Wendell Berry "Stay Home" 

• Adrienne Rich "Diving into the Wreck" 

• Derek Walcott "A Far Cry from Africa" 

• Sherman Alexie "On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City" 

• Christina Rossetti "Uphill" 

• Emily Dickinson "Because I could not stop for Death" 

• Judith Ortiz Cofer, " I Fell in Love, My Hormones Awakened" 

• Ernest Hemingway, " Cat in the Rain" 

• William Faulkner, " A Rose for Emily" 

• Zora Neale Hurston, "Sweat" 

• Bel Kaufman, "Sunday in the Park" 

• Christopher Marlowe, "Come Live with Me and Be My Love" 

• John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" 

• Kitty Tsui, "A Chinese Banquet" 

• Terrence McNally, "Andre's Mother" 

Assignments: 

• Critical Analysis: Travel in Literature (Film, Narrative, Poetry) 




• TPCASST Analysis of two poems 

• Use of Imagery in Poetry 


• Ekphrastic Poetry-Keats 




Semester Two 



• Whom does the soul choose? 

• Significance of the title: Sweat 

Assessment: 


• Timed Essay-Ekphrastic Poetry: “The Pasture” by Frost 

• Timed Essay-Freedom through Travel 

5 Angela’s 

Ashes by 

Frank 

McCourt 

Unit Goals: 

• Demonstrated understanding of the rhetorical elements of the memoir 

genre employed in various literary forms 

• Understood character study in literature 

• Familiarized themselves with point of view and focus in literature and its 

effect on meaning and audience perspective 

• Employed a variety of external secondary sources in alternative formats 

such as online, and images to further analyze and evaluate rhetorical 

elements of the required readings 

• Completed a variety of writing assignments such as journals and free 

responses to provide evaluative feedback 

• Complete timed writing and quiz to demonstrate understanding of terms, 

events, and elements of memoir literature 

Lectures: 

• The Genre of Memoir 

• Frank McCourt: Works 

• Immigration and Industrialization 

Study Guide: 







• Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt 





Semester Two 


• Google Books Online: Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt 

Assignments: 

• Dialectical Journal: Character Study 

• Journal of Critical Observations from the Text (Dialectical Journal) 

• SOAPStone responses 

• Study guides for each chapter 

• Point of View 


• Author’s Perspective 

• Songs and Stories: Effective? 

• Freedom from Mother Country: Ireland? 

Assessment: 


• Timed Writing – The Role of Women in McCourt’s Memoir 

• Timed Writing-McCourt’s Primary Motivation for the Memoir 

6 Women and 

Men and 

Literature: 

Subjects and 

Objects, 

Naked by 

David 

Sedaris, 

Rhetorical 

Grammar: 

Choosing 

Adjectivals 

Unit Goals: 

• Familiarized themselves with the concept of gender and literature as well 

as its effects on thematic, stylistic and other rhetorical elements 

• Continued understanding of various elements of rhetorical grammar 

employed in writing from the perspective of author and audience 

• Demonstrated understanding of the thematic topics of feminism and 

sexuality as major topics in a variety of literary genres 

• Completed critical comparative essay analyzing two major literary works 

that demonstrates logical understanding of topic, structure of argument 

and use of appropriate evidence and citations 

• Completed variety of alternative writing assignments including journal 

writing to further explore and evaluate thematic elements of gender and 

literature 

• Completed timed writings and exam to demonstrate competency of unit 

outcomes 

• Completed short essay evaluating film as text with thematic approach to 

analysis of gender 

Lectures: 

• Women and Men and Literature 

• The Genre of Autobiography 

• David Sedaris: Background 




Semester Two 


Study Guide: 







• Women and Men and Literature: Subjects and Objects 

• David Sedaris, “Naked” 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Choosing Adjectivals 

• Steven Doloff, "The Opposite Sex" 

• Gretel Ehrlich "About Men" 

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" 

• Richard Wright, "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" 

• Gloria Naylor, "The Two" 

• Alice Munro, "Boys and Girls" 

• Dorothy Parker, "General Review of the Sex Situation” 

• Frank O'Hara, "Homosexuality" 

• Julia Alvarez, "Woman's Work" 

• Henrik Ibsen, " A Doll's House" 



Assignments: 

• Gender and Literature/Film (Short Essay) 

• Critical Analysis: Your Turn (2 Works to Compare) 

• Theme Study: Gender, Innocence, American Life 



• Rhetorical Grammar: Making Choices 


• Differences between Gender and Sex 

• Feminism Today 

Assessment: 


• Timed Essay- Comparative Analysis: Two of Sedaris’ Works (Your 

Choice) 




Semester Two 


7 Studying 

America in 

Crisis, 

Identity in 

America, 

Rhetorical 

Grammar: 

Making 

Stylistic 

Choices and 

Word 

Classes 

Unit Goals: 

• Familiarized themselves with literary texts associated with specific 

historical events or time periods and their associative rhetorical qualities 

and elements 

• Demonstrated ability to identify and explicate these differences in 

cohesive, complete, and thoughtful essays. 

• Focused on evaluative and comparative approach of literary texts 

through thematic lens of crisis in America 

• Focused on rhetorical grammatical elements of stylistic choice and word 

classes in grammar and its relation to focus, purpose, theme, tone and 

audience 

• Demonstrated mastery of written English and maturity of style in 

student’s own writing 

• Completed variety of writing assignments including journal writing and 

academically sound, structured arguments provoking thoughtful 

discussion of the theme of crisis in America 

• Completed timed writings and exam that demonstrates competency in 

understanding and use of rhetorical elements of writing 

Lectures: 

• Brief History Review: the Civil War, the Great Depression, the Vietnam 

War, September 11, 2001 

• Studying America in Crisis: Literature 

• What does it mean to be American? 


• Studying America in Crisis: Responding to Literature of the Civil War, the 

Great Depression, the Vietnam War, and September 11, 2001 

• Identity in America 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Making Stylistic Choices 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Word Classes 

• Jefferson Davis, "Inaugural Address of Jefferson Davis " 

• Abraham Lincoln, "Address at the Dedication of the Gettysburg National 

Cemetery" Stephen Crane, "An Episode of War" 

• Herman Melville "The March into Virginia," "Shiloh" 

• Ben Shahn "Untitled Photographs" 

• Tillie Olsen "I Stand Here Ironing" 

• E.Y. Harburg, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" 

• David Wagoner, "Hooverville" 

• Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried" 

• Yusef Komunyakaa, "Facing It" 




Semester Two 


• John Updike, "Talk of the Town: September 11, 2001" 

• Catharine R. Stimpson, "Staffing" 

• Deborah Garrison "September Poem" 

• Thomas Jefferson, "The Declaration of Independence" 

• Anna Lisa Raya, "It's Hard Enough Being Me" 

• Amy Tan, "Two Kinds" 

• Alice Walker, "Everyday Use" 

• Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus" 

• Aurora Levins Morales, "Child of Americas" 

• Jimmy Santiago Baca, "So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans" 

• Pat Parker, "For the white person who wants to know how to be my 

friend" 

• Luis Valdez, "Los Vendidos" 




• Characteristics of the Chinese American Family: Amy Tan 

• September 11, 2001: Your Experience 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Words are Powerful 

Assignments: 

• Explication de Texte: Crisis 



• Soapstone responses 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Stylistic Choices 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Word Classes 

• Point of View 

Assessment: 


• Timed Essay-Relevance of the Declaration of Independence 

• Timed Essay-An American Definition of Freedom 

8 

Law and 

Disorder, 

Rhetorical 

Grammar: 

Pronouns 

and 

Unit Goals: 

• Demonstrated understanding and utilization of punctuation, purposes, 

hierarchy, and rhetorical effects in their own individual essays and writing 

projects 

• Completed comparison essay demonstrating understanding and ability to 




Semester Two 


Punctuation: 

Purposes, 

Hierarchy, 

and 

Rhetorical 

Effects 

produce compositions that explore a complex central idea, coupled with 

appropriate evidence and reasoning drawn from both primary and 

secondary texts 

• Demonstrated ability to utilize appropriate MLA citation in written text and 

provide cogent explanations 

• Completed post-assessment diagnostic exam and activities to prepare for 

final exam 

• Completed a variety of writing assignment such as dialectical journal 

writing to demonstrate ability to utilize a variety of rhetorical strategies in 

the writing process 

• Completed revision activity in conjunction with focused feedback from 

teacher and peer revision 


• Law and Disorder 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Pronouns 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Punctuation, Purposes, Hierarchy, and Rhetorical 

Effects 

• Henry David Thoreau, From "Civil Disobedience" 

• Martin Luther King Jr. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" 

• Franz Kafka, "Before the Law" 

• Elizabeth Bishop, "The Hanging of the Mouse" 

• Ursula K LeGuin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" 

• Ralph Ellison, "Battle Royal," pgs.1271-1281 and "Life in Oklahoma City" 

• A.E. Housman, "The Carpenter's Son," "Eight O'Clock," "Oh who is that 

young sinner" 

• Jimmy Santiago Baca, "Cloudy Day" 

• Susan Glaspell, "Trifels" 

Lecture: 

• The Need for Order and Law through Writing 



• Slavery In Massachusetts 1854: Thoreau 

• A Plea for John Brown 1859, 1860: Thoreau 

• Collegeboard.com 


• Ellison: Battle Royal: Two Chief Meanings 

• Do Law and Order Contradict Freedom 




Semester Two 


Assignments: 

• Critical Analysis: Violence as a Form of Social and Political Protest 


• Dialectial Journal (Final Submission) 

• MyLiteratureLab response to literature 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Pronouns 

• Rhetorical Grammar: Punctuation, Purposes, Hierarchy, and Rhetorical 

Effects 

• Essay: Compare/Contrast any two theme focuses from this course of 

study with a freedom emphasis 

• Essay Revision: Theme Focus: Freedom 

Assessment: 

• Diagnostic Exam-Language and Composition 

• Timed Essay-Free Response Essay 

• Timed Essay- MLK Jr. Injustice 

Activity 

Assignments (52) 

Project (1) 

Threaded Discussion Forums (19) 

Quizzes/Tests (11) 

Timed Writings – DBQ/FRE (12) 

Essay Revisions (2) 

Synchronous Discussions 

Assessment: 

Semester One 

Points 

Points Possible: 2230 

10 points each assignment 

30 points (1 project) 

10 points each 

Units 1-7 – 25 points each 

Unit 8 – 75 points 



Instructor determined 

Activity 

Semester Two 

Points 




Assignments (49) 

Threaded Discussion Forums (18) 

Quizzes (8) 

Timed Writings – DBQ/FRE (13) 

Essay Revisions (5) 

Synchronous Discussions 

Letter Grade 

Points Possible: 1645 

Grading Scale: 



Units 1-7 – 25 points each 

Unit 8 – 75 points 



Percentage Earned 

A 90% - 100% 

B 80% - 89% 

C 70% - 79% 

D 60% - 69% 

Student’s Role and Responsibilities in this Course 

F 

59% and lower 

Instructor determined 

Expectations: 

Students are expected to conduct themselves in a responsible manner that reflects sound ethics, honor, 

and good citizenship. It is the student’s responsibility to maintain academic honesty and integrity and to 

manifest their commitment to the goals of NUVHS through their conduct and behavior. Students are 

expected to abide by all NUVHS policies and regulations. Any form of academic dishonesty, or 

inappropriate conduct by students or applicants may result in penalties ranging from warning to dismissal, 

as deemed appropriate by NUVHS. 

Communication: 

Throughout this course students will need to be in close contact with their instructor and fellow students. 

Students are expected to communicate via email and electronic discussion boards. Therefore, students 

should plan on checking email at least three times a week and participate in the discussion boards during 

the weeks they are live. 

Instructors strongly encourage and welcome open communication. Clear, consistent, and proactive 

communication will ensure a successful experience in this course. It is the student’s responsibility to notify 

the instructor immediately if and when a personal situation occurs that affects your performance in this 

class. Being proactive with communication will result in a quick solution to any problems that may occur. 

Technical Support is offered through Spectrum Pacific Learning Company (SPLC). Should a student 

need any technical assistance, he/she should email the Help Desk as soon as possible at 

helpdesk@myonlinelogin.com or call 1-877-252-7715. SPLC will help resolve technical problems and 

walk through the solution with students. If a problem persists for more than 48 hours, the student must 

also notify their teacher and NUVHS. 




Time Required For This Course: 

To complete this course in eight weeks, students should plan to allocate at least 12-15 hours a week on 

assigned readings, assignments, discussions (asynchronous and synchronous), quizzes, and exams. 

NUVHS wishes every student great success in their online class. Please contact us at 1.866.366.8847 if 

any questions arise.

AP Language and Composition

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