Syllabus for AP English (literature)

English Literature and Composition Course Syllabus 2014-2015

Mr. Vilbig—Midwood High School

Areas of Focus

New York State Common Core ELA Standards

This course will align with the New York State Common Core Standards, which detail skills you’ll be expected to master as preparation for college. We will focus on the following:


Reading Standards for Literature

1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

2. Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.

3. 
Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)



Writing Standards

1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Explore and inquire into areas of interest to formulate an argument.

a. Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.

c. Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.

d. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.

e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.


Speaking and Listening Standards

1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

2. Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.

3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.

4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.

5. Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Language Standards

1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.


5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.


6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Course Introduction

Advanced Placement English is an annual class taught to only the best English students in lieu of another senior English class. In both degree of difficulty and in quantity of material read, the course will be among the most challenging you’ve experienced at Midwood. Students taking the course will be expected to interpret the nuances of language in order to achieve comprehension, to learn to see how symbol, metaphor, tone, setting, and point of view create meaning. In this class, the focus will be on how language creates meaning, and students will be asked to think about that meaning in more complex ways.

Advanced Placement English is challenging and rewarding. Students taking the course should not be primarily interested in achieving college placement or credit (although this may happen for some of them), but instead in the rewards of careful and rigorous study to produce the skills needed to develop a widened background and a deepened sense of the value and purposes of literature and how it applies to our lives. For you information, the AP Literature and Composition Exam will take place on Wednesday, May 6, at 8 a.m.

Deconstruction notes

Deconstruction

Il y a toujours un qui baise et un qui tend la joue.

Il n’y a pas hors de texte.

Some ways that deconstruction ‘thinks’ about a text: 1) examining binaries or oppositions (if the concept of love is being discussed in a text, the concept of hate is often lurking there for the reader keen enough to see it); the concept of absence (what is present in the text is important; but what is left out or marginalized in the text is often extremely important and interesting); the concept of privilege (whose narrative or ideology is given special standing in the text, whose is shunted aside); the concept of trace (if some idea or concept is not discussed or is left to the side, how does it leave a trace or mark in the text).


Opening paragraph:

Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. They were coming toward where the flag was and I was along the fence. Luster was hunting in the grass by the flower tree. They took the flag out, and they were hitting. Then they put the flag back and they went to the table, and he hit and the other hit. Then they went on, and I went along the fence. Luster came away from the flower tree and we went along the fence and they stopped and I looked through the fence while Luster was hunting in the grass.

Deconstructive response to the first paragraph of The Sound and the Fury:

The opening paragraph creates an opposition between nature (flower tree space, flower trees) and the manicured space of the golf course, divided by the boundary of the fence. The text clearly asks the reader to view this binary through the lens of the superiority and greater aesthetic quality of nature. The manicured space is further structured by the opposition of the “they” versus the “I” and “we” of the flower space, and is presented as the space where “hitting” takes place and flags

Reading for Tuesday

Please go to this link and read the short essay by Martha Nussbaum. (The essay begins beneath the photograph of Nussbaum as a college student.) For a bit more about Nussbaum go this link. Come to class ready to discuss Nussbaum's contention about the importance of an inner life.

Practicing using literary terminology ...

Identify the meter and verse form of the following passage:

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt

Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd

His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!

How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, (135)

Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,

That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature

Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two: (140)

So excellent a king; that was, to this ...

[from Hamlet, meter = iambic pentameter/ verse form = blank verse]

Do the same for the following passage:

A noiseless patient spider,

I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,

Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,

Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

[Walt Whitman/ verse form = free verse

Lit terms:

Identify the following: Fane would I follow Friedrich faintly and fantastic.

[alliteration repetition at close intervals of initial consonant words]

Long lost lovers loathe lone hours.

[assonance repetition at close intervals of vowel sounds]

I will miss the mill where Will did thrill

[consonance repetition at close intervals of final consonant sounds]

I will die 'ere she shall grieve

[from Emily Dickinson/ consonance – ll sound. Note too how the consonance emphasizes the words that indicate willing and desiring: will and shall.]

No examples for the following, but focus on them:

connotation what a word suggests beyond its surface definition

denotation basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word

diction choice of words for effect

syntax word order or grammatical appropriateness

And make sure you know these:

tone writer's attitude toward the audience or subject, implied or related directly

mood the atmosphere suggested by the structure and style of the poem

Review the following:

cacophony harsh, non-melodic, unpleasant sounding arrangement of words

euphony pleasant, easy to articulate words

onomatopoeia use of words which mimic their meaning in sound

sibilance hissing sounds represented by s, z, sh

allegory characters are symbols, has a moral

didactic poetry poetry with the primary purpose of teaching or preaching

dramatic monologue character "speaks" through the poem; a character study

elegy poem which expresses sorrow over a death of someone for whom the poet cared, or on another solemn theme

sonnet 14 line poem, fixed rhyme scheme, fixed meter (usually 10 syllables per line)

blank verse unrhymed iambic pentameter

caesura a natural pause in the middle of a line, sometimes coinciding with punctuation

couplet two successive lines which rhyme, usually at the end of a work

enjambment describes a line of poetry in which the sense and grammatical construction continues on to the next line

  

free verse no fixed meter or rhyme

iambic pentameter: syllables per line, following an order of unaccented-accented syllables

internal rhyme repetition of sounds within a line (but not at the end of the line)

meter regularized rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables; accents occur at approx. equal intervals of time

refrain repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines in a pattern

rhyme repetition of end sounds

rhythm wave-like recurrence of sound

stanza group of lines

structure internal organization of a poem's content

allusion a reference to something in literature of history

anaphora repetition of the same word or words at the start of two or more lines

archetype a character or personality type found in every society

conceit an extended witty, paradoxical, or startling metaphor

hyperbole exaggeration, overstatement

imagery representation through language of a sensory experience

irony incongruity or discrepancy between the implied and expected; verbal, dramatic, situational

metaphor implied or direct comparison

metonymy symbolism; one thing is used as a substitute for another with which it is closely identified (the White House)

oxymoron compact paradox in which two successive words contradict each other

pace tempo or rate implied by the structure and style of the poem

paradox statement or situation containing seemingly contradictory elements

parallelism presents coordinating ideas in a coordinating manner

persona assumed speaker of the poem; typically used synonymously with 'speaker'

personification giving a non-human the characteristics of a human

simile comparison using 'like' or 'as'

style an author's combined use of these ideas into a recurring pattern of usage

symbolism something (object, person, situation, etc.) means more than what it is

synecdoche symbolism; the part signifies the whole, or the whole the part (all hands on board)

theme central idea

Friday Reading Assignment

Please read to page 41 in Cold Mountain for tomorrow.

Syllabus for Spring Term

English Literature and Composition Course Syllabus Spring 2014

Mr. Vilbig—Midwood High School

Class Schedule

Unit 1 – Completion of poetry unit. Poetry paper due Tuesday, February 11

Unit 2 – Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain. After initial discussions of the civil war setting and the story of Odysseus, we begin a process in which students are asked to initiate all lessons. Their homework sheet begins this way: For all reading assignments, you will note examples of language you believe are rich in imagery, metaphor, or symbolism and further conclude how these devices may be related to themes in the novel, either those we have already noted or new ones. At least once during the reading of the novel you will be expected to prepare a brief explication of a chapter, or section of a chapter. You will then lead a class discussion on the examples of language use you’ve selected, and how language develops theme, character, and other important elements of the narrative. (three weeks)

Unit 3 - Song of Solomon. This unit focuses on the metaphors and symbols Morrison uses to write a novel that addresses issues of race, gender, class, and family dynamics. We supplement our reading by watching Episode One of the Eyes on the Prize television series, reading Gwendolyn Brooks’ “Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till,” viewing stunning photographs of the Birmingham demonstrations of 1963, and reading Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From A Birmingham Jail.” We often read aloud pages of the book that capture the entertaining diction of several of the characters. When we have completed the novel, we read the “Song of Solomon” from the Old Testament and discuss its relevance, as well as the biblical origins of most of the novel’s names. (three weeks)

At this point we spend a week on intensive AP Test review, using past AP essay questions and short answers from the course description book.

Unit 4 - The Great Gatsby. This one-week unit features close examination of the obvious symbols such as the green light, the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg, the houses of Gatsby and the Buchanans, and the more detailed metaphoric description of both people and places. (one week)

Unit 5 - The Poisonwood Bible. Students will examine the novels take on Africa. This also opens up discussion of imperialism as a political darkness in human nature. The way Kingsolver is able to tell her story through five distinct narrative voices is compared with the multiple narrations of The Sound and the Fury. Students prepare for the lessons by selecting language which illustrates the character of each narrator. Often the girls are talking symbolically without knowing it, though both Adah and Orleana are intentionally rnetaphoric. Political issues about the history of Africa, the Congo in particular, are addressed by readings from Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost and by lessons on Cold War politics. (four weeks)

Unit 6 – A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan. For the course’s final unit, we will read Egan’s 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning novel. In our work, we’ll continue our discussion of multiple narrative viewpoints addressed already in Kingsolver and Faulkner, and we’ll examine closely the novel’s complex structure of time shifts, comparing Egan’s approach with that found in Faulkner, Frazier, and Morrison, among others. This discussion of time shifts will lead us to examine how the novel’s time structure plays a role in developing its thematic commentary on time itself, and the role that loss, nostalgia, and change play in the lives of the characters. Students will also read selected passages from the opening section of Proust’s Swann’s Way—an important influence on Egan and her novel.

In addition, we’ll examine how Egan uses language to reinforce the novel’s theme of authenticity and its relationship to pop culture, and how music, used as a symbol, plays a role in the development of that theme. We will further discuss how Egan’s efforts to make sense of the emerging socially fractured world, shaped by the Internet and social media, compares to the efforts of earlier writers we studied to address important moral and social issues in their times. We’ll further note how Egan’s use of new communication technologies as narrative devices in her novel raises questions about the author’s and the text’s ambivalence about such technologies. (four weeks)

Housekeeping Matters:

Grades will be based on the following:

Tests, essays, writing projects :  70 percent

Classwork, quizzes, homework, participation:  30 percent

Total: 100 percent

IMPORTANT: Grades are cumulative. That means the grades you make now count as much as the grades later in the semester. So it's important to work hard from the very beginning and not dig yourself into a hole in the first weeks of our class. We will use Skedula, an online grading system in this class. I’ll give you information shortly about how to register. You’ll have your own account, where I’ll post grades. Your parents or guardians should be given access to your account.

Responsibility: It is the student’s responsibility to make up work. If you’re absent, you must find out from a fellow student what work was done in class or for homework and get the work to me the following day. No late homework or classwork will be accepted! If you miss a test, it is your responsibility to let me know and arrange for a make-up.

Attendance: You’re expected to arrive on time for class every day. Absent notes are required if you are absent due to illness or family necessity. 

Electronic devices: 

Keep them in your pockets or bags. No use of electronic devices.

Honor Policy—Cheating and Plagiarism:  

If you do the work of this class on your own, you’ll develop skills that will serve you well for the rest of your life. If you cheat, you’ll get no such benefits, and you’ll receive a 0 on the work in question. Your parents/guardian will be informed of your actions. THIS IS MY CHEATING POLICY AND HOLDS FOR A FIRST TIME VIOLATION. In addition, Midwood has a series of consequences for cheating that you should be aware of, which will occur in addition to my own response noted above. Cheating will expose you to the Midwood consequences too. By cheating you'll also violate my trust in you, and you’ll lose my respect.

Plagiarism: This is a particular form of cheating that requires a special note due to its ubiquity. When you take other people’s work and hold it out to be your own (whether another student’s work or something taken from the Internet), you are engaging in theft. Plagiarism won’t be tolerated. Plagiarism will result in a 0 on the work in question. The consequences enumerated in the Midwood plagiarism code will also be enforced.

IMPORTANT: If you place work on blogs/fan sites, etc., you must not submit that work for class assignments, prior to turning it in for class credit.

Class Communications and Contacting Mr. Vilbig:

Class blog: The class will use a blog to communicate assignments and other important matters. It can be accessed at www.vilbigap.blogspot.com. I highly suggest that you register for the blog and ‘follow’ it, since this will result in your receiving an email notification when new posts are made.

Contact information: The best way to contact me is at pvilbig@schools.nyc.gov. I can also be reached through Skedula. Or by phone: 718 724-8560.

Poetry Project

Select an English language poet from the list (or check with me about a poet not on the list). Choose six major poems of the poet (or five if one of the poems is especially long—several pages), reproducing the entire text of the poems. For each of the poems, you will:

1. Explicate thoroughly, paying attention to both denotation and connotation.

2. Identify the meter and rhyme scheme, if applicable. Are meanings and senses of the poem end-stopped or enjambed?

3. How does the poet make use of sounds? Notice repetition, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia.

4. What are the key symbols and images in the poem? Has the poet made use of simile, metaphor, personification, allusion, synecdoche, and metonymy? Make sure any of these devices are detailed and explained fully.

5. Does the poet write in a recognizable form? Does she/he write sonnets, ballads, or odes? Are the poems epic (heroic stories of a people) or narrative in form?

6. What is the relationship of the content of 2-5 to the meaning, theme, and tone of the poem?

7. Do the poems resemble one another in form and/or theme? Speculate on the principal ideas and approach of the poet based on your study of the poems.

The paper should be thoughtful and based totally on your individual reading. Do not consult critics or study guides. The papers should be technically perfect and proofread; use The No-No List as a guide. All papers must be typed in standard format.