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Advanced Placement Literature and Composition English 11
TITLE
Advanced Placement Literature and Composition English 11
TEXTBOOKS
Adventures in American Literature, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, Athena Edition, 1996
Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition (5th Course), Warriner, Harcourt,
Brace,
Jovanovich, Franklin, 1982
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
The Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
My Antonia, Willa Cather
Black Elk Speaks, John Neihardt
Native Son, Richard Wright
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
DESCRIPTION
This course will include both reading and analysis of a variety of literature
and the study of the writing process—from the discovery of the topic to the
preliminary draft to the final showcase piece. Students will engage in careful
reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close
reading of selected texts, students should deepen their understanding of the
ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their
readers. As they read, students should consider a work’s structure, style, and
themes as well as figurative language, imagery, symbolism, tone and theme.
Students will study examples of prose from various fields and periods that will
serve as models of effective styles, and the course will offer a variety of
writing assignments calling for the use of different styles. The texts used in
this course represent pieces that are of an advanced maturity. Preparation for
college writing and literature classes is achieved through intensive practice of
expository, analytical, and argumentative styles, as well as some creative
writing exercised. Students will be required to do extensive reading and
critical analyses as well as take tests in the same format as the AP English
exam, which is offered in May. Students will also be required to access the
internet to acquire various assignments, notes, exam practice materials, and
coursework.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. The students will read, reflect on, analyze, and discuss literature from 1600
to the present. (12.1.1, 12.1.5)
2. The students will read, reflect on, analyze, and discuss a variety of
non-fiction texts. (12.1.8)
3. The students will relate history’s influence to the literature of the time.
(12.1.1, 12.1.3, 12.1.8)
4. The students will write and speak using correct English grammar. (12.2.1)
4. The students will improve reading comprehension. (12.1.8)
5. The students will write critical analyses of the novels and some short
stories and poems. (12.2.2)
6. The students will develop creative writing skills in poetry. (12.2.4)
8. The students will use the six-trait method of analytical writing. (12.2.1,
12.2.2, 12.2.3, 12.2.4)
9. The students will formulate self-generated questions. (12.2.5)
10. The students will apply research and reporting techniques for a variety of
assignments (12.1.2, 12.2.5)
11. The students will effectively collaborate for a variety of academic
purposes.
12. The students will participate in discussions and presentations. (12.3.1,
12.3.2)
13. The students will be introduced to the format, rhetorical strategies, and
style of the language and literature of the AP curriculum.
WRITING ACTIVITIES
1. Students will practice note-taking/outlining.
2. Students will practice critical analyses of novels, plays, poetry, and
literature anthology selections.
3. Students will write journal-style, informal essays based on writing
activities.
4. The students will explore narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive
writing modes.
MULTICULTURAL ACTIVITIES
* Authors of various backgrounds and experiences are studied throughout the
year.
1. The students will read journals, poems, and sermons from the early colonists,
including the Puritans.
2. The students will read transcendental philosophy.
3. The students will read Huckleberry Finn and Native Son, investigating the
various race issues with each text.
4. The students will read about settling the prairie in My Antonia.
5. The students will read 20th century poetry of the Harlem Renaissance.
6. The students will read selections by Southern short story writers.
7. The students will read selections by New England poets.
