wordsmith@EHS

Below are excerpts from the 2015-2016 course outlines/syllabi distributed to students during the first week of class.

 

 

 

 

EHS Gifted & Talented Academy

AP English Language & Composition

Course Outline

 

“It is good to rub and polish your mind against that of others.”

-- Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

 

Course Description

AP English Language and Composition is an advanced level class that prepares students to become skilled readers of various literary genres, writing styles, rhetorical contexts, and time periods. Students will also become skilled writers who understand subject, purpose, and audience, and draw upon a wide range of rhetorical devices to craft mature and scholarly prose. Students will compose essays in the primary modes of discourse, including: cause and effect, definition, description, comparison/contrast, exposition, process analysis, argumentation, analysis, and synthesis. Writing experiences, both formal and informal, will focus on a variety of topics, based on the readings in class. A research project will evolve throughout the year, providing each student with a personal and continuing model of rhetorical strategies and writing excellence. 

 

The course will be divided into three strands: a rhetoric/writing strand (as discussed above), a literature strand, and an AP exam preparation strand. The literature strand is organized to follow the British/Western European historical timeline, and contains pivotal selections from the Western European canon. It is complemented by a companion course, AP European History, thus integrating historical time periods, social conditions, and schools of thought with the literature and art produced. However, some works, especially nonfiction from other places and time periods, will be studied throughout the year, exposing students to a wider variety of rhetorical styles and use of language.

  

This course fulfills the junior year English requirement of the Gifted & Talented Academy at Elgin High School as well as the local school district. It is aligned with Common Core state learning standards.

 

Goals

The goals of the course are threefold: students will read deeply and widely from the Western European canon, write sophisticated essays based on close reading and logic, and prepare for the AP English Language and Composition Exam.

 

Rhetoric Strand

The rhetoric strand of this course is organized around the close study of nonfiction texts representative of different time periods, genres, and cultural/ethnic groups. Throughout the year, the teacher will choose essays, representative of different time periods, ideas, and cultures, for study. Frequently, the teacher will use essays/editorial columns from newspapers and magazines, focusing on current events or problems and topics related to the AP course of study.

 

In addition, students will be issued copies of The Bedford Reader (Kennedy, Kennedy, Aaron), a collection of essays for study, discussion and writing assignments. Other essays, topics for discussion, and writing prompts will be pulled from the following list (among other sources):

 

Current Issues and Enduring Questions -- Barnet, Bedau

Everything's an Argument -- Lunsford, Rusziewicz, Walters

Voice Lessons – Dean

 

Literature Strand

Major works from the Western European canon which will be studied include, but are not limited to:

 

• summer reading: Frankenstein -- Shelley

• Beowulf (excerpt)

• The Canterbury Tales – Chaucer (excerpt)

• The Prince – Machiavelli (excerpt)

• Macbeth – Shakespeare

• Hamlet – Shakespeare

• ”A Modest Proposal” – Swift

• A Doll’s House – Ibsen

• Heart of Darkness – Conrad

• poems, various, but with emphasis on English Romantic poets

• art and music representative of various time periods

 

AP English Language and Composition Exam

The Advanced Placement English Language and Composition exam is an optional three-hour exam consisting of two parts: a multiple-choice section, and a free-response essay section. The multiple-choice section is comprised of approximately fifty questions based on nonfiction reading selections. The free-response section requires students to analyze the rhetoric of differing prose styles and then compose three essays on different topics (generally one essay each of synthesis, argument, and analysis).

 

The AP English Language and Composition exam is administered in the spring, and gives students a chance to showcase all they have learned throughout the year. Most colleges and universities offer college credit for successful completion of the exam. Although completion of the exam is not a course requirement, it is an expectation that students will indeed take the exam.

 

Procedures and Expectations: A Classroom Culture of Readers, Writers, and Thinkers

AP English Language and Composition will follow college-level requirements and will adhere to college-level expectations. Most of the course reading will be done outside of class, with class time reserved for discussion, conferencing, timed writings, quizzes, and tests. Students will read and study complex material and will move away from reliance on formulaic writing (e.g. the five-paragraph essay) and learn to infuse their own unique voice and style into their writing. AP teachers have been trained to stress not only content, purpose, and audience in student writing, but also to allow students to unlock new -- and perhaps more innovative -- approaches to writing.

 

Due to its heavy emphasis on writing, much of this course will be conducted in a modified writing workshop format. Students must be able to work independently and should expect to have several writing (and reading) assignments on their plates at any given time. Process writing will be heavily emphasized in accordance with the workshop format, and will include frequent formal and informal peer reaction and editing, as well as conferences with the teacher. On some occasions, students will be asked to plan but not write a reaction to an AP essay prompt, thus giving students abundant experience and related confidence in their ability to think and respond under time pressure. Often, students will practice timed writings in response to AP-style prompts or questions related to the literature under study. Considerable attention will be given to the refinement of style, tone and voice in student writing. The workshop model also trains students to use auditory perception in developing smoothness of style. Visually, students will use syntax analysis (number of words per sentence, first four words in sentence, verbs, etc.) to promote variety of sentence patterns, strong verbs, and other considerations decided upon by the teacher and/or students. With so many activities underway at one time, organization is paramount to the successful completion of the course.

 

Connected to the teaching of writing and rhetoric is vocabulary, sentence structure, logical organization, use of general and specific details, research, grammar, and mechanics. Students should expect incremental mini lessons in each of these areas as need is indicated by student writing. Vocabulary instruction will be based on words culled from standardized tests (AP, ACT, SAT, etc.), and related activities will be an ongoing focus of the course. Rather than simply memorizing words for tests, students will be required to use and apply them in various innovative ways, thus fostering both critical and creative thinking skills.  

 

The course includes a first semester written final exam based upon a nonfiction book of the student’s own choosing (A list of nonfiction titles will be provided.). The second semester final exam may be waived if the student completes the AP English Language & Composition exam. If a student does not choose to take the AP exam, a cumulative, written final exam will be administered. Final exams are each worth approximately 15% of the points possible that semester.

 

Assignments include, but are not limited to: holistic grading practice on national writing samples, close reading and analyses of nonfiction and fiction selections, responses to news articles/essays, timed in-class essays, out-of-class drafted essays, synthesis research essay, and creative writing experiences to develop voice, style and tone. Whole class discussion is conducted through Socratic questioning by the teacher, and students are expected to use the Socratic Seminar model in their round table, panel and small group discussions. 

 

Daily attendance, contribution, and participation are necessary for the successful completion of this course.

 

 

 

 

 

EHS Gifted & Talented Academy

Foundations of World Literature

Course Outline

 

“If I have been able to see further than other men,

it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”

-- Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

 

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to attempt to answer the question: What does it mean to be man? To accomplish this, students will study the great ideas of Eastern and Western thought and civilizations, and explore their relevance to the larger cultural and social realm of the twenty-first century. Learning will be organized into thematic units with pieces of literature, nonfiction, drama and poetry each based around a central question. The content of this course will be loosely integrated with students’ study of AP World History.

 

The course will be geared to a pace and complexity that matches the specific needs and abilities of gifted students. Working at the higher levels of thinking, students will actively develop their potential as learners through class discussion, independent study, and authentic products.

 

In addition to the study of literature, a major emphasis will be placed on fine-tuning students’ writing skills. Students will receive intensive writing instruction and will compose a variety of essays focusing on analysis, argumentation, narration, comparison-contrast, and synthesis. Students will learn to uncover complexity within literary texts and use textual evidence to form and support their opinions. These skills will provide students with a solid base from which to build as they move toward AP (Advanced Placement) English in their junior and senior years.

 

Reading widely will also be emphasized. Each quarter, students are required to read one book independent of the texts studied in class. The teacher will provide students with a theme and a list of suggested titles drawn from an AP-recommended book list. Reading will be assessed by means of writing assignments.

 

Course Objectives

Foundations of World Literature fulfills the freshman year English requirement of the EHS Gifted & Talented Academy as well as School District U-46 requirements. This course has several objectives aligned with Common Core state learning standards. This class will require students to:

 

• acquire a broad base of knowledge

• focus on connections between major ideas

• incorporate high level thinking skills into all modes of communication: reading, writing, thinking, speaking, listening

• learn methods of self direction and evaluation

• utilize in-depth research and independent study resulting in high-level products and presentations

 

Major Units of Study

Some of the major units of study students will cover in this course include, but will not be limited to:

 

• What is thought? Thinking? What is questioning?

• What is rhetoric? How does language shape man’s world?

• What are man’s beginnings? His legacy?

• What is duty? Honor? Responsibility?

• What is man’s place in the world?

• What does man’s existence mean?

 

Major texts include, but are not limited to:

 

• Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (summer reading choice)

• Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor (summer reading choice)

• Adiga's The White Tiger (summer reading choice)

• Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”

• The Epic of Gilgamesh (excerpt)

• Homer’s The Iliad (excerpts)

• Sophocles’ Antigone

• Greek Creation Myths (selected)

• Genesis/Exodus (excerpts)

• Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

• Golding’s Lord of the Flies

• The Mahabharata/ Indian literature (excerpts)

• Dante’s The Inferno (excerpts)

• Camus’ “The Myth of Sisyphus”

• poems, various

• art and music representative of various time periods and cultures

 

Classroom Expectations

Life is a time of learning. Students must realize that learning is a participation NOT a spectator sport. Thus, all students are expected to be actively involved in the learning process. Daily attendance, contribution, and participation are necessary for the successful completion of this course.