AP English Language and Composition
Handy Resources:
Lesson Plans - See below. A link to the course syllabus is located at the top of the linked plans.
- College Board Site for Checking College AP Score Policies: Don't just listen to what your friends say about how colleges provide credit for AP test scores. Check for YOURSELF using this link; you can search most colleges on this site. Do this EARLY in the school year!
- UW-System Placement Test Information
Lesson Plans - See below. A link to the course syllabus is located at the top of the linked plans.
Course Description
In AP Language and Composition, students develop their ability to write in a variety of forms, with an emphasis on forms required and valued in college courses: analytical, persuasive, expository, and narrative essays. Students are expected to develop research topics, integrate their understanding of multiple perspectives on texts they read and issues they research, and make purposeful choices as writers. Students write in informal contexts in order to explore and develop the concepts they study, producing mini-essays, online discussions, personal reflections on readings, and initial drafts of longer writing projects. In addition, students work on several extended projects that require substantial revision, peer and teacher feedback, and critical reflection. Students develop a research project requiring the study and analysis of a current social debate, in which they select, analyze, and synthesize appropriate sources in an argument of their own and use MLA citation practices. Nearly all writing for this course is used for full-class learning, which means that students’ work is shared (often anonymously) in class discussions, online discussions, writing groups, and writing conferences with the instructor.
In order to develop sophistication as writers and critical thinkers, students read several works of nonfiction and fiction ranging from classical to contemporary. They study the style, rhetorical techniques, and organization of the works, as well as analyze and interpret central arguments. Because this course aims to allow students the opportunity to earn college credit through the AP test, readings are challenging, not only in terms of their style and language use, but also in terms of their subject matter. These texts are intended to help students develop a critical consideration of how various social/political/historical systems of thought affect people’s language use and social positions. Students also examine how graphics and visual images – such as advertisements, political cartoons, campaign commercials, and films – operate rhetorically and serve as texts in our increasingly visually oriented society. Assignments require close and critical reading, as well as active participation in full-class, group, and online discussions. Students study vocabulary (quizzed on a cumulative basis) throughout the year to gain sophistication in both reading and writing.
As writers, students in this class learn to consider how a variety of approaches can be used to make and communicate ideas; learning this assists students in understanding that they have agency in their writing and that the contexts in which they read and write greatly influence what will count as “good writing.” Students regularly receive detailed feedback on their writing from their teacher and from other students. Feedback maintains specific attention to a set of criteria used throughout the year on all analysis and argument essays; areas needing improvement are marked on the rubric for each essay, and students periodically reflect on whether and how they are improving in these areas. As students study uses of grammatical structures in texts they read, they perform imitations and begin applying such techniques in their writing. A variety of students’ writings are used as examples of how multiple approaches may be taken when responding to an assigned task. With any set of sample student papers, students critically assess the strengths and limitations of these approaches and reflect upon the success of the approaches they ultimately choose.
In AP Language and Composition, students develop their ability to write in a variety of forms, with an emphasis on forms required and valued in college courses: analytical, persuasive, expository, and narrative essays. Students are expected to develop research topics, integrate their understanding of multiple perspectives on texts they read and issues they research, and make purposeful choices as writers. Students write in informal contexts in order to explore and develop the concepts they study, producing mini-essays, online discussions, personal reflections on readings, and initial drafts of longer writing projects. In addition, students work on several extended projects that require substantial revision, peer and teacher feedback, and critical reflection. Students develop a research project requiring the study and analysis of a current social debate, in which they select, analyze, and synthesize appropriate sources in an argument of their own and use MLA citation practices. Nearly all writing for this course is used for full-class learning, which means that students’ work is shared (often anonymously) in class discussions, online discussions, writing groups, and writing conferences with the instructor.
In order to develop sophistication as writers and critical thinkers, students read several works of nonfiction and fiction ranging from classical to contemporary. They study the style, rhetorical techniques, and organization of the works, as well as analyze and interpret central arguments. Because this course aims to allow students the opportunity to earn college credit through the AP test, readings are challenging, not only in terms of their style and language use, but also in terms of their subject matter. These texts are intended to help students develop a critical consideration of how various social/political/historical systems of thought affect people’s language use and social positions. Students also examine how graphics and visual images – such as advertisements, political cartoons, campaign commercials, and films – operate rhetorically and serve as texts in our increasingly visually oriented society. Assignments require close and critical reading, as well as active participation in full-class, group, and online discussions. Students study vocabulary (quizzed on a cumulative basis) throughout the year to gain sophistication in both reading and writing.
As writers, students in this class learn to consider how a variety of approaches can be used to make and communicate ideas; learning this assists students in understanding that they have agency in their writing and that the contexts in which they read and write greatly influence what will count as “good writing.” Students regularly receive detailed feedback on their writing from their teacher and from other students. Feedback maintains specific attention to a set of criteria used throughout the year on all analysis and argument essays; areas needing improvement are marked on the rubric for each essay, and students periodically reflect on whether and how they are improving in these areas. As students study uses of grammatical structures in texts they read, they perform imitations and begin applying such techniques in their writing. A variety of students’ writings are used as examples of how multiple approaches may be taken when responding to an assigned task. With any set of sample student papers, students critically assess the strengths and limitations of these approaches and reflect upon the success of the approaches they ultimately choose.