English IV, APES
Mrs. Kelleher
2011-2012
Syllabus / Classroom Policies
First Quarter: Identity and Culture
Basic grammar and literary tropes review
Allison Joseph: On Being Told I Don’t Speak Like a Black Person
Zora Neal Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God
W. B. Yeats: The Second Coming
Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart
Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest (video)
Individual short prose and poetry explications as time allows
Second Quarter: Tragedy/Fate/Revenge
Edmund Spenser: Sonnet 75
Sir Philip Sidney: Sonnet 31, Sonnet 39
William Shakespeare: Sonnets
Hamlet
Edith Wharton: Ethan Frome
Individual short prose and poetry explications as time allows
Third Quarter: The Creative Mind
John Donne: Holy Sonnet 10, Meditation 17
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ozymandias,
John Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Individual short prose and poetry explications as time allows
Fourth Quarter: Love/War/Friendship
William Butler Yeats: When You Are Old
T.S. Eliot: Preludes
Rupert Brooke: The Soldier
Siegfried Sassoon: Wirers
Wilfred Owen: Anthem for Doomed Youth
Seamus Heaney: Follower
Samuel Becket: Waiting for Godot
Tom Stoppard: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (video)
Individual short prose and poetry explications as time allows
This list represents the core of the curriculum to be covered in class this year. We will be reading all of the works listed, and you will be expected to respond to them in class discussions, writing assignments and formal tests. As time allows, I will add to the above with additional material at my discretion.
You will have many opportunities to practice for the AP test as we work through this year’s curriculum. We will work initially in small groups on practice tests, then with a partner, and eventually as individuals. In this way you will learn from each other how to identify correct answers and eliminate erroneous ones.
In choosing to take on the rigorous curriculum of the AP English Literature and Composition Class, you have made a commitment to work at a college level in both the amount and the depth of work that you will cover this year. You should plan to read every night, and you should come to class prepared to contribute thoughts, reactions, quotes, and outside research. Individual students will be assigned to lead class discussions, but every student must contribute as well.
The Test
This course is specifically designed to prepare students for the AP test in May. We will work as a team to prepare everyone for the test; we will work hard, share strategies, and celebrate our successes. Each student is expected to take the AP test; if you do not, you will take a final exam during the regular exam days at the end of the year. There will be no exemptions based on grades. The final exam will be modeled after the AP test.
The AP English Literature and Composition Test is three hours long and is made up of two sections. Section one asks you to read passages of prose and poetry and to answer 60 multiple-choice questions. This part takes one hour and is worth 45% of your grade. Section two consists of three essays; one is a response to a prose passage, one to a poem, and one is an open-ended response relating to a piece of literature that you select. This part takes two hours and is worth 55% of your grade. Your grade will range from 0-5; some colleges and universities give three college credits for a grade of 3 or above, but some require a 4 or even a 5. It is your responsibility to find out what the requirements are for the schools to which you apply.
Grades will be assigned using a point system, which will be enable you to know where you stand at any given time in the semester. Every assignment will be given a point value in advance. If you divide the number of points you receive on an assignment by the number of points possible you will arrive at a percentage grade. If you total the number of points possible on all assignments given up to a certain point and divide that into the total number of points you have received, you will have your quarter average.
For example:
Test – 49/50 points
Quiz – 20/20 points
Quiz – 18/20 points
Homework – 20/25 points
Class work – 25/25 points
____________________
Total – 127/140 points = 90.71 or 91% x .05 = 96%
Essays will be graded using the AP 9-point scoring guide, which translates as follows:
9=100 4=72
8=96 3=60
7=92 2=50
6=86 1=40
5=80 0=0
Do not ask me for your grades during the quarter; it is your responsibility to keep track of them. They will be posted to the In-Touch system as quickly as time allows. At the very end of each quarter I will show you a print out of my records, which you may compare to yours.
Assignments that are handed in late will lose 10% for one day late and will not be accepted after that. Please, do not test this policy. It is firm. Assignments are given well in advance and you will have time to complete them as scheduled. You should allow yourself ample time for technical problems, such as computer/printer problems, work or game schedules, car repairs, babysitting, family problems, etc. Life is full of unexpected events, so don’t procrastinate and expect that I will excuse you because of an unexpected problem. I have far too many students whose work I need to track and return in a timely fashion to worry about the reason you forgot to bring something to class. Take responsibility for your work and hand it in on time. If you are in school on a day an assignment is due, even if you are not in my class (for example, if you come in late or leave early) you are still responsible to hand in the assignment that day.
You will receive a class participation grade each quarter. In order to receive full credit for class, you must actively participate by contributing to class discussions, reading aloud, and completing homework assignments. This will enable those of you who are responsible students to earn points to help your final grade. The following is an explanation of class participation grading:
40 points – in class, prepared to work, not causing any disruptions
20 points – volunteer answers, participate actively in class discussions
5 points – bring in evidence of outside reading that enhances our understanding
of the text at hand
65 points total per quarter
Format for Writing Assignments:
All assignments must be on 81/2 x 11 paper unless otherwise noted. You are encouraged to print assignments on the back of clean, recycled paper that has nothing personal or objectionable on the other side. If you re-print a paper because you’ve made changes, for example, re-print on the back of the page. Where possible, you will be encouraged to submit papers on-line in order to save you from printing at all.
Note that the computers in the Writer’s Center are set on size 10 font. Check the font before you begin typing.
Each paper must have a heading and a title. The heading goes in the upper left hand corner and should include the following:
Your Name
Mrs. Kelleher
English IV, Honors
6 September 2009
You are encouraged to make use of the Writer’s Center for additional help with writing assignments.
Most of the writing you do this year will be in the form of explication or literary analysis, but there will be opportunities for creative writing as well.
Academic Honesty:
The work that you will do this year, while not necessarily easy, is well within the academic reach of each and every one of you. You will be given opportunities to work with partners and/or groups for some assignments, and will be told to work independently on others.
If you find that you are having major difficulties handling the work, please see me before or after class to arrange additional help. I will do my best to be available when you are, or to help you find a tutor. Remember that the Guidance Dept. offers tutoring services as well. Take advantage of all of the resources available to you so that you have a successful year.
All work that you turn in is to be your own or that of your designated group. If you download assignments from the Internet or copy them from another source, or if you turn in work that has been completed by another person as your own, you will receive a zero grade and will receive a discipline referral to the main office. Your parents will be notified. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in any form.
Students who take the AP Exam are exempt from an in-class final exam. Students who choose not to take the AP Exam will take an in-class final exam of the same format as the AP Exam unless you qualify for the senior exemption by having an average yearly grade of 93%, a 93% attendance rate, and a fourth quarter grade of 93%.
Attendance will be taken every day and may impact a student’s grade. If you are ill, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed in class. You may contact me via e-mail if you need to get an assignment, or go through the guidance office in case of a prolonged absence. Assignments missed due to illness or other legitimate excuse are due one day after an absence of one day, two days after a two-day absence, and will be arranged on an individual basis for longer absences. Remember, it is to your advantage to be in class to hear and participate in class discussions. You can learn as much from your classmates’ questions and comments as you can from your own studying.
If you cut class, you will receive a zero for the day and a zero for any assignment, be it homework, test, or quiz that was due in class that day. In accordance with school policy, students who are assigned to In-School Suspension will be given a 60 minute assignment to be completed that will be counted towards your quarter grade.
It is up to each one of you to take responsibility for your own education. If you participate and have an open mind, you will find much to enjoy in the material we cover this year. We can have interesting class discussions and share some of our personal interests and experiences along with the material we are covering.
I look forward to sharing an interesting and exciting year with all of you.