COURSE SYLLABUS

Teacher: Mr. Steinke Room: 306 Email: jsteink@schools.nyc.gov

Course: AP Literature and Composition

Conference Time: 2:00-2:20

Course Description: Overview

The AP English Literature and Composition course can be characterized by intense

writing, reading, and discussion consistent with a typical undergraduate English class. The

course is designed to enhance a student’s close reading skills and the writing of interpretive,

explanatory and argumentative essays. I want the class to be fun and enjoyable but expect

students to work hard. My goal for this class is to create an environment where students can

grow academically, hopefully making them lifelong readers. The necessary goal of this class,

however, is the preparation for the AP Literature and Composition Exam in the Spring.

All students in this class will be expected to pay for and take the exam. A student may

or may not receive college credit for this class according to the test grade received and the

guidelines of the student’s future college. Remember, it is a privilege to take this class, and

unfair to the deserving students who weren’t chosen if you fail to take the exam.

The organizational sequence outlined below is not set in stone but will vary year to year

according to time constraints, availability of books, current events and the students’ input,

academic needs and aptitudes. The course is organized into units by thematic essential

questions that will allow for the substitution and /or addition of books and readings as seen fit

by the instructor. This will allow the instruction of the class to grow and remove any hint of

staleness. Again, do not worry, every book and secondary reading listed will not be assigned

every year.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the academic year, students will be able to:

--Produce college-level academic research papers properly formatted in the MLA style.

--Develop approaches for reading, understanding and analyzing works of literature.

--Listen and take effective, organized notes during lectures, class discussions and readings.

--Utilize notes to prepare outlines that in turn will be used to prepare writing assignments.

--Identify and analyze the use of major literary devices.

--Write effective interpretative essays that use contextualized evidence and make clear

reference to either structure, style, or theme.

--Write effective argumentative essays, that use contextualized evidence and make clear

reference to either figurative language, imagery, tone or symbolism.

--Compose explanatory and exploratory writing assignments using supporting evidence drawn

from various texts.

*Remote learning course students will be expected to engage online with multiple texts and videos (informational/ non-fiction, fiction, and poetry). Students will interact with one another in online discussions about the materials on google classroom and the PowerPoints provided for each lesson. Course work will emphasize a wide breadth of English Language Arts Skills but will particularly focus on the following educational standards:

RL 5: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

RI 6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.

RL 9: Demonstrate knowledge of foundational works, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.

RL10: Read and comprehend literature and complex texts proficiently with scaffoldings as needed at the high end of the range.

Course Requirements: This course will require students to critically read, listen to, think about, discuss, and analyze literature from diverse sources including but not limited to- memoirs, non-fiction, historical fiction, literary canon pieces, poetry, plays, and realistic fiction.

Types of Assignments / Activities and Assessments: Beyond the AP Literature and Composition Test Prep…

Weekly Essay Tests: Test questions will either be taken from old AP tests, generated by

students or inspired by the instructor. The essays will either be interpretive with clear

references to structure, style or theme or argumentative with clear references to figurative

language, imagery, tone or symbolism. But both styles of essay will be based on social, cultural

or historic values encountered during our reading.

The test will either be take-home or in-class taken under the same test conditions the

students will encounter on the AP test. Once an essay has been submitted (it is important that

original submission are on time), it will be commented upon during alternating teacher

conferences and/or peer reviews, returned to the student for revision and then re-submitted

for a final grade. There is a window of one week for this re-submission.

Teacher’s conferences will be held in-class during group work activities or during after-

school tutoring (Monday-Thursday; room to be determined…) The peer review classes will

begin with a discussion of recurring style, structural or grammatical problems, accompanied by

lessons with such topics as sentence structure and variation, transitions--words or phrases,

picking the right quote, the interior logic of body paragraphs, MLA style and writing styles in

which they will articulate their own. The actual peer review will include an overall commentary

on the essay as a whole and single paragraph evaluations on different component paragraphs.

Class Work and Participation: Students will be given a grade based on their participation in

class--work, listening, behavior, taking notes and taking part in class discussions. The

assessment will also include participation in group work activities based on thematic concerns

that require close reading. All students will be required to make brief presentations in groups

based on their group’s findings or individually, based on interpretive content or some social,

historical or cultural value inherent in the text being read or under discussion. For example,

before our discussion of The Scarlet Letter students will be asked to present topics such as

famous puritan women or the Salem Witch Trials. The assessment for all presentations will be

based on a rubric that will be reviewed at a later date.

Homework

Reading: The core of this class is reading. You must keep up with the assigned readings

by reading daily. Figure out where you read best--in what kind of light, in what kind of position-

-and then READ. Your reading will be assessed with pop quizzes once or twice a week that

asked thematic, detail-orientated or plot-orientated questions.

Written Homework: Beyond the weekly essays and revisions, students will be asked to

complete one or two informal exploratory writing assignments a week. They must be over a

page long and contain one quote from the text under discussion. The assignments will be of a

personal nature, asking students to relate their experience with those of a character. For

example, during our study of The Metamorphosis, students will be asked to articulate their

family’s pecking order and then compare it with the family’s in the story. There is a window of

one week to turn in these homework assignments.

Projects: Each semester students present literary paper of varying lengths. The first marking

period project grade will be based on choosing a topic, honing a thesis statement, research of

primary and secondary sources and the completion of an outline. The second marking period

project grade will be the revised, finished 5-7page paper of this outline formatted in the proper

MLA style. For the third marking period grade, students will take their 5-7page papers and

either lengthen the analysis or enhance the scope of the paper to include another book or

theme. Again this paper will be a revised, finished paper in proper MLA format.

Course Planner/Student Activities

Unit 1 (3-4 weeks) “Reading for Survival”

Essential Question: How is reading still relevant in our technological, highly visual society?

Primary Text:

Reading for Survival by John D. MacDonald

Secondary Readings:

“Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass

“Learning to Read” by Malcolm X

“Listening” by Eudora Welty

“Introduction” found in Fifty Great Essays edited by Robert Diyanni

“Reading the River” by Mark Twain

“Of Smell” by Michel De Montaigne

“How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua

“Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective”

By Leslie Marmon Silko

Excerpts from The Brief Bedford Reader

Articles and Editorials taken from the New York Times

Discussion/Procedure:

The first unit is to get the class up and writing. I want students to not only think about

what they read but how and why they read. Peer reviews will be modeled and started. Writing

styles will be identified and discussed. The art of close reading will be examined using the

introduction of the class’s primary text--Fifty Great Essays edited by Robert Diyanni and

produced by Penguin Academics. The art of taking notes (high-lighting, underlining and

marginalia) will be modeled on the overhead. New York Times articles and editorials will be

introduced and discussed for current events and ideas that can be related to the present text.

(Periodically the Times will be used in this manner and for this purpose in all future units.)

There will be a review of grammar and the standard organization outline will be modeled

during which time the components of an essay will be discussed. A look at style and its

interpretative explication will be followed by a review and identification of the all important

literary elements and terms--rhetoric, structure, style, theme, figurative language, tone diction,

imagery and symbolism. And finally in this unit students will be engaged in expository

activities, learning to explain in writing what they are reading. For instance, in our discussion of

Reading for Survival, students will be asked to explain, point by point, MacDonald’s argument

(based on memory) for reading as the basis for mankind’s continued survival.

Unit 2 (3-4 weeks) “The Freedom of Uncertainty”

Essential Question: What is the danger of being too certain in our perceptions and thoughts

about the world?

Primary Text:

The Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Middle Passage by Charles Johnson

Secondary Readings:

Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

“Allegory of the Cave” by Plato

“The Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus

Articles and editorials from the New York Times

Excerpts from Paul Ricour’s The Symbolism of Evil

Excerpts from Ernest Becker’s Denial of Death

“The Four Fields of Knowledge” taken from A Guide for the Perplexed

by E.F. Schumacher

Discussion/Procedure: The “Law of Reverse Effect” created by Alan Watts is the basis of this

unit. According to the law, when someone attempts to act with too much certainty the result is

usually the opposite effect, that is when you try to sink in water, you float; and when you try to

float; you sink. The goal of this unit is to get the students to start to question the world around

them, especially our image-obsessed society (“The Allegory of the Cave”). My hope is that

students will become cognitive of not only their pre-conceived prejudices (certainty) but how

limiting and dangerous these prejudices can be. I want my students to take ideas not as actions

or finalities but as merely ideas that should be consumed, utilized and used without certainty.

The themes that will be encountered will be existentialism (The Stranger), what is an “inner

life” and thus what makes an individual (The Scarlet Letter), “consciousness as conflict” and love

as the only remedy (The Middle Passage), the concept of personality shells (Ernest Becker) that

we create to protect our egos and how our desires make us delusional by creating a schism

between our expectations and reality (The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism). In this unit,

students will do a lot of exploratory writing in class and for homework. The first writing

assignments will be personal essays to get students to understand their place as readers and

interpreters of the world and the literature that they read.

Unit 3 (4-5 weeks) “Poetry”

Essential Question: How does empathy fuel understanding in poetry?

Primary Text:

Six Centuries of Great Poetry edited by Robert Penn Warren and Albert Erskine

Secondary Reading:

“On Compassion “ by Barbara Layear Ascher

Articles and editorials found in The New York Times

Discussion/Procedure: The students use Six Centuries of Great Poetry for nightly reading

assignments but I supply a healthy dose of modern poetry photocopied and collected after six

years of teaching this class. (Throughout the course this collections of selected poems will be

incorporated in our studies as secondary readings.) The unit is based on “The Four Steps to

Understanding a Poem,” that is--read it, determine who the speaker is for point of view and

most importantly empathy, look to the title for significance and finally re-read (analyze) line by

line, being hyper-sensitive to punctuation. Once the steps are models and used, the second

step will be emphasized. There is no better way to teach interpretative skills than through the

lens of empathy. The interpretive analysis of poems will start in groups of two. The groups’

results will either be presented in performances or in a straight-forward analytic fashion. At

this point interpretative essays are modeled and the group efforts turn into solitary efforts.

With careful observation of textual details the students produce their first interpretative essay

with clear references to one or more of the literary elements that have been discussed.

Unit 4 (5-6 weeks) “Evil”

Essential Question: How does man posit evil into the world?

Primary Text:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

Secondary Reading:

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor

“Sisterhood of the Night” by

“To Shoot an Elephant” by George Orwell

Excerpts from Escape from Evil by Ernest Becker

Articles and editorials found in The New York Times

Selected poems

Movies: Apocalypse Now

In Cold Blood

Discussion/Procedure: This unit will be based on the premise that man posits evil into the

world in a variety of forms because of his innate insecurity. In his attempt to protect his fragile

ego, in conjunction with his fear of death, man unleashes evil usually with the perception that

he is doing right (certainty). The variant forms of evils under our interpretative microscopes

will be the evil that is unleashed when good and evil are seen as separate entities and not two

sides of the same coin (Dr. Jerkyll and Mr. Hyde and The Power and the Glory); the evil that is

unleashed by our delusions in name of love and our need for security and importance (The Turn

of the Screw and In Cold Blood); the banality of evil in the name of a “great idea” (The Heart of

Darkness); and the evil found in the dysfunction of family (The Metamorphosis). During this

unit, the argumentative essay will be modeled and students will write essays that convey clear

references to the necessary literary elements. (Once both essays are introduced the students

will, for the remainder of the class, have either one type or other assigned for the weekly essay

test.)

Unit 5 (4-5 weeks) “Naturalism and Evolution”

Essential Questions: What evolutionary mechanisms, such as camouflage and parasitic

relationships, can be revealed in an analysis of character’s motives and actions? And do

naturalistic imperatives like determinism guide human behavior?

Primary Texts:

Maggie: A Girl on the Street by Stephen Crane

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Secondary Reading:

“Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The Flow of the River” by Loren Eiseley

Excerpts from Darwin’s The Origin of Species

Articles and editorials from The New York Times

Selected poems

Discussion/Procedure: Naturalistic fiction is drama about people working out their lives in

blood and ordure, in other words fulfilling their evolutionary directive--survive and procreate.

The goal of this unit is to remind students that Man is an animal, albeit divine (consciousness)

and thus is set upon by the same evolutionary mechanics that can be found in nature. Students

will then question if “survival of the fittest” is a fit agenda for our species as they come to see

how social and psychological limits defeat the characters in these realistic fictions. The novels

under discussion were selected because they cover the spectrum of class. Crane’s Maggie: A

Girl on the Street takes place in a New York City slum; while The House of Mirth reveals the

deterministic social pressures of the wealthy New York elite at around the same time period.

Unit 6 (4-6 weeks) “Drama”

Essential Question: How do character’s delusions generate dramatic tension?

Primary Text:

Medea by Euripides

Oedipus Tyrannus by Sophocles

Antigone by Sophocles

Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Secondary Reading:

“A Woman’s Brain” by Stephen Jay Gould

Excerpts from The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvior

“Four Noble Truths of Buddhism”

Selected poem

“The Myth of Icarus” and “The Myth of Phaeton and Helio” taken from Mythology

by Edith Hamilton

Articles and editorials from The New York Times

Discussion/Procedure: The two inscriptions that appeared upon the Temple of Adelphi--”Know

Thyself” and “Nothing in Excess” will serve as the cornerstones of this unit. Yet the main gist of

this unit is how delusions often are the chief motivation for a character’s actions in literature as

well as real life--the main delusion being arrogance. This leaves us with the eternal question is

a person’s character his fate?

Unit 7 (3-4 weeks) “Test Prep”

Essential Question: How can meta-fiction help inspire a meta-cognitive approach to the AP

exam?

Primary Text: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brian

AP College Board Test Booklet

Discussion/Procedure: These texts might seem like strange bedfellows but they work. In

studying Tim O’Brien’s book the students are introduced to meta-fiction--fiction that is aware of

itself as fiction. In the novel O’Brian is conscious of his role as narrator (“How to tell a true war

story”) and talks about the process in the writing (the interpretation of events) that compose

the book. This adds a solidified third dimension to the interpretative understanding of the text.

I then ask the students to take their understanding of meta-fiction and translate it to a meta-

cognitive approach to test taking--“make sure you take the test and the test doesn’t take you.”

A review of themes that were studied throughout the course then play a role in our

preparation. I ask the students to not only deconstruct and ponder questions asked but

question who wrote the questions and why? How would do you think they would like you to

respond? How will they be assessed? The students use empathy to start to understand the

test meta-cognitively. We’ll discuss the pitfall of overconfidence (Oedipus) and the inability to

make final decisions (Lily Barth). Furthermore, in the vein of “know thyself,“ the students

prepare their own game plan about how they plan to go about taking the test--which essay

question to do first, what multiple choice questions will be fielded first--those on poetry or

prose? Testing taking strategies will also be modeled, especially how to answer multiple choice

questions (eliminate wrong answers, be weary of red herrings). And of course essays from old

AP prompts will be practiced. I find this approach allows the students to have a quiet

confidence as they go about their preparation for and execution of the exam.

Unit 8 (5-6 weeks) Post-exam

“Buddhism as Revolution”

Essential Question: What does it mean that one must “destroy the self to renew the self” to

evolve as a spiritual being?

Primary Texts:

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Roshomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Secondary Reading:

Selected Haiku

Excerpts from Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces

Movies: The Matrix

Finding Nemo

Kunden

Discussion/Procedure: This unit is designed as an introduction to Buddhism and the Mythic

Quest. To introduce the concept of the hero’s quest, I use excerpts from Joseph Campbell’s

Hero with a Thousand Faces and then model two prototypal quests by watching two movie--

The Matrix and Finding Nemo. The students get a kick out of realizing certain mythic elements

like “the meeting with the goddess” or “crossing of the return threshold” that they’ve already

encountered in the books they’ve read over the course of the year. The Buddhist version of the

hero’s quest will be studied with Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. Buddhist thought makes for a

nice exclamation upon the course’s overall emphasis--self-awareness and being. Roshomon will

then be read to introduce the Zen Buddhist twist on reality and illusion. These short stories are

a good summary of the course since they engage the students in such a way that they must

utilize their entire interpretive and argumentative skill set in order to unlock the multiple

narrations, (points-of-view) found in each story. The students are forced to ask themselves

what “really” happened and how and why?

Absences:

Students who are feeling ill are expected to stay at home. Students who are absent due to religious observance or belief will have the opportunity to make up missed work. Students should notify the instructor of any religious observance absence as soon as possible. Absent work may be completed via web based learning at home. In cases where the absent student is unable to complete work at home, the absent student is responsible to make up work they have missed when they return to the classroom- this includes copying missed notes. Due dates will be altered based on the assignment and length of the absence. Excessive absences and lateness may result in lower grades or in extreme cases failure from missing class points and assignments.

*Remote Learning Activities in Google Classroom: Students who are conducting class via remote learning will participate in the same activities as the class [in-person] are. The powerpoints (following the nearpod/peardeck format) will be used for both remote and in-person lessons included with voice memos, videos, and additional differentiation tools for students who will not be in the building during the lesson. Students who also happen to be absent that day will be able to refer back to the lessons as well so they will be able to stay on track with the lessons. Student Expectations: Students are expected to give their best effort in class, on assignments and on their assessments. Students are also responsible for bringing a writing utensil, journal and any out of class work or projects we are working on, to each class meeting. Since we will be discussing the literary traditions of many different cultures it is also imperative that students are

respectful of all cultures, their peers, and the content that we cover. Work and behavior must be at the highest level at all times. No exceptions.

Plagiarism / Academic dishonesty: Plagiarism is the intentional theft of another person’s intellectual work and an attempt to pass it off as your own. Copying from the internet, your friend, or even your own past work (without proper citation) can be plagiarism. If you are unsure whether you are plagiarizing, speak with your instructor prior to submission of work. Academic dishonesty includes plagiarism and any form of cheating – copying a test or homework, having a friend or family. Academically dishonest or plagiarized work will receive a zero (0%) that cannot be made up. Further disciplinary action may also result.

Synchronous Learning Vs Asynchronous Learning

Synchronous Asynchronous

These are online classes which require both teachers and students to be online at the same time (scheduled)

This learning occurs through online

channel without live interaction

Teachers deliver live instructions Teachers provide materials, recorded instructions, and assignments that can be accessed at any time by the students

Students are engaged in live discussions

and presentations at a specific time (scheduled)

Students will be given a time frame (one

week) during which teachers will connect and monitor students.

All students in the specific class must be

online at that specific time to participate. All students are expected to be in contact

with their teachers and submit assignments at the due dates.

Blended/Hybrid Learning In the blended/hybrid learning, some of the instruction is taught by a blended learning on-site teacher.

Full Remote Students who are engaged in full remote learning, the instruction is taught remotely using synchronous and asynchronous instruction. Students will be able to participate in a remote class from home.

INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES (ONLINE AND IN-PERSON)

Student-led questioning and Discussion (Students create questions, ask clarifying questions, explain and make comments) Online Discussion Tools:

Chat Room,

Padlet

Flipgrid

NearPod

Stream

PowerPoint

Google Forms

Upper Level DOK questions of focus

ELA Mastery Grading Policy

Score Credit The Work Is Shown

0 (0) Is Blank; is totally incorrect; lacks understanding of the concept.

1 Not Yet (NY) (55-64)

Is incomplete or not correct; has multiple grammatical errors; indicates some understanding of the text, but lacks clear analysis.

2 Developing Mastery (DM) (65-74)

Is undeveloped and not clear; lacks textual evidence; the analysis is missing.

3 Approaching Mastery (AM) (75-84)

The explanation is not clear, incomplete or undeveloped; insufficient textual evidence; the analysis is present but not concise.

4 Meeting Mastery (MM) (85-94)

The explanation is present and well-reasoned; clear analysis; sufficient, strong, and relevant textual evidence.

5 Exceeding Mastery (EM) (95-100)

The explanation is present, well-reasoned and fully developed; clear and concise analysis; sufficient, relevant, and strong textual evidence.

Resources

● Additional help is available during Office Hours or by appointment

General Information: If you are having trouble with this class, immediately go to the teacher (Mr. Steinke.) If you wait till the end of the marking period, it will be TOO LATE. The teacher is available to help you understand so you can be successful in this class.

By signing this syllabus you agree with the expectations set for the class, and will work to meet the expectations.

Parents / Guardians please sign below so that I know you have read and understand the guidelines of the course. I look forward to working with you and your student this year!

Student Name:_____________________________________Signature:_________________________ Parent Name:________________________________Signature:______________________________ What is the best phone number to reach you? ________________________________________

Email address (for contact and google classroom): _____________________________________________________

*Parents will also be invited to the google classroom to receive regular weekly progress reports via email.