Sunday, August 7, 2011

SYLLABUS 2011-2012

WORLD LANGUAGE HIGH SCHOOL
COURSE SYLLABUS
2011-2012
ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

Instructor
Mr. Julius
Email: ajulius@cps.edu
Phone: (773) 535-4334
Web Blog: www.juliusaplit.blogspot.com

Supplies Needed

-Each of the following supplies must be brought to class every day. Each item should be for this class only:
o Binder/Folder
o Notebook
o Pen
o book or reading for the day

Course Description and Assignments

Reading

The most important requirement for this course is that students read every assignment. Assignments must be read with care and absolutely on time. Students who are not used to the amount of reading in this course will need to plan ahead, read ahead, and begin assignments will plenty of time. Please do not plan to read novels or even poetry at the last minute. Not having read assignment on time will be a devastating negative move for your grade and your experience in this course. Students should closely follow their reading calendars. The class blog will be another useful tool for students, as it will be updated with reading tips, guiding questions and ideas, and literary links.

Writing

This course is designed to teach college-level writing through the study of works of literary merit, and follows the requirements of the College Board’s AP course description. This class will act as a kind of workshop in which you will study literature through many lenses and produce well thought-out, meaningful literary criticism. We will write several formal pieces per quarter, all of which will target some aspect of writing, such as structure and style. Your writing will be kept in a portfolio which will serve as your own personal collection of close reading and analysis.

The types of writing in the course will include writing to learn, and writing your own critical pieces. All critical writing will ask you to evaluate the effective of a literary piece, and to effectively explain your analysis to a reader audience.

Many of your writing pieces will be revised, some more than once. Each revision will concentrate on a specific aspect of writing style and/or structure, so that they are worthy of a polished AP portfolio. Students will use a variety of feedback from the instructor, such as individual written feedback, whole-class general feedback on common struggles and strengths, collective feedback on an overhead projector, and constructive peer review. All in all, there are high expectations for timely work, careful reading, and participation in discussions and collaborative learning.

Each student will write several short critical papers, analyzing prose, poetry, drama, and literary criticism. Creative writing will involve some short poetry and drama. Students will also use research and criticism to write at least two long papers. All papers will be assigned with a handout description and/or rubric, and most will need to be appropriately typed and formatted, all information of which will be dispersed to students ahead of time. Final drafts of papers are expected on the due date, during the class period.

Quizzes, Exams, In-Class Writings

On occasion, we will have essay and short answer response exams that will ask students to synthesize their understanding and their work. Many will be structured like the AP English Literature exam, which will be taken in May 2010 by all students. Most quizzes will be announced, and will be short in length. Their main purpose is to account for the reading and to engage an idea I will have previously asked you to pay close attention to. In-class writings will mimic the AP English Literature Exam in order to prepare you for the exam. Many of the in-class writings will serve as a quiz grade.

AP English Literature Exam

All students are expected to take the exam, which is a course requirement. The exam is scheduled for Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 8 a.m. Throughout the year, students will be familiarized with the exam structure and what it takes to be successful on the exam. In-class writings will be a frequent strong indicator of student preparedness for the exam.

Class Participation

Because this course is designed as a college-level literature study course, class participation is necessary and will be graded. All students are expected to contribute to discussion. Although some students are more vocal than others, traditionally non-vocal students can still receive a very good grade for class participation if they express something meaningful or insightful when they choose to speak. All students are encouraged to speak in class, and all students are expected to show respect in all literary argument and discussion

Binder and Journal

All students should have a binder and journal for this course exclusively. It is important element of being an organized, successful student in a challenging course.

Tardiness

All students are expected to be on time. As AP students, seniors, and young adults, chronic tardies are unacceptable. Multiple tardies will be result in a negative grade in the participation section below. The proper consequences according to school and campus policy will be followed.

---Tardy Policy:

1. Sign in when you come in late, or when told to do so.
2. After 3 tardies, a call home home will be placed
3. After 3 tardies, your grade will be dropped by up to 15 points in the Class Participation and Policy grade
4. Note: In the last few years, some of my students have failed the class in part because of this. See me after school for details.


Grading Scale

Letter Grade Numerical Average
A 100-90
B 89-80
C 79-70
D 69-60
F 59 & below

Literary Works
-These are some of the works that we will study in this course, although this list is subject to change.

Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Goblin Market, Christina Rossetti
Oedipus the King, Sophocles
Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Paradise Lost, John Milton
The Inferno, Dante
The Piano Lesson, August Wilson
The Stranger, Albert Camus
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett
How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster
Various short stories
Poetry weekly
Various works of visual art, film, and music


 BY BEING IN THE ROOM OR ACCESSING THE BLOG, YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE COURSE OVERVIEW AND STANDARDS IN THIS SYLLABUS.