• AP Language and Composition

    This course meets UC/CSU and District graduation requirements for English. It is a one-year course primarily for juniors who have demonstrated excellent academic competence. Students who enroll in the course are required to register for the AdvancedPlacement Language and Composition exam, which is administered in the spring.
     
    The course focuses on composition and literature. Students will demonstrate advanced reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills using an extensive variety of classical and contemporary essays, short stories, poems, drama, and novels, with an emphasis on non-fiction prose in preparation for the AP exam. Students will engage in the analysis of core and extended reading, and essays representing the four modes of discourse: narration, description, exposition, and argumentation. Students will be expected to understand rhetorical structures, devices, and techniques employed by authors. Additionally, students will trace the evolution of American literature while exploring such themes as "The American Dream," "Coming of Age," "Justice and Injustice," "The Pursuit of Happiness," "War and Peace," and "Freedom and Dignity." Students will interact with the literature and the writing on a personal level by using collaborative techniques, visual and written interpretations, and oral presentations. Writing will be taught at the advanced composition level focusing on writing skills and strategies for the college level student, and for the Advanced Placement Language and Composition exam. Students will utilize the writing process to compose formal essays and research projects, and will compose timed essays. Upon successful completion of the national test for AP Language Composition, students MAY also qualify for college credit.
     
    Students are required to take the AP exam. 
     
     
    Semester II Essential Standards
     
    Focus Genres for Composition
    • Literary Analysis
    • Compare-Contrast Analysis
    • Persuasive: DAQ, Evaluation, Original and Synthesis
    • Research Writing
    Core and Supplemental Novel List
    • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    • The Crucible
    • The Great Gatsby
    • Fahrenheit 451
    • The Scarlet Letter
    • Their Eyes Were Watching God
    • The Joy Luck Club
    • A Raisin in the Sun
    • Bless Me, Ultima
    • Slaughterhouse-5
    • A Farewell to Arms
    • Shoeless Joe
    • My Antonia
    • Death of a Salesman
    • The Grapes of Wrath
    • Catcher in the Rye
    • The Life of Frederick Douglas
    • The Color Purple
    • Billy Budd
    • Black Boy
     
Last Modified on March 6, 2009