AP English Literature

Description

Course Description

AP® English Literature and Composition is designed to be a college/university level course, thus this course will provide you with the intellectual challenges and workload consistent with a typical undergraduate university English literature/ Humanities course. As a culmination of the course, you may take the AP English Literature and Composition Exam given in May. A grade of 4 or 5 on this exam is considered equivalent to a 3.3–4.0 for comparable courses at the college or university level. A student who earns a grade of 3 or above on the exam will be granted college credit at most colleges and universities throughout the United States.

 

This course examines poetry and many classic literary works to better understand literary elements and analyze the author’s intention and the broader impact of works written across contexts. Students will write several essays per week, editing, drafting, and revising, working toward a portfolio of essays that show progressively enhanced understanding of the texts analyzed.  As the final AP test is looking for an insightful analysis of several challenging texts, students are required to read daily and extensively, to understand how a variety of literary terms are used effectively to convey a deeper, more obscure meaning, and to be able to write analytically and eloquently about these unique perceptions.  Classes will include close evaluation  of passages and poems, with annotation and writing drills that help students to increase their speed of organizing their ideas, and devising a thesis and supporting points, with textual justification and analysis. Students will learn how to decipher advanced texts using archaic vocabulary, and make connections to their modern lives.  An in-depth study of vocabulary and literary terms will deepen students’ ability to understand the texts, discuss the literary elements of the piece, and write eloquently about its literary merit. The course will teach many English Language Learning strategies to bridge the second language gap from proficiency to fluency, and students will begin to acquire the skills necessary to read and write at an AP level.

COURSE PLAN

• Test taking tips and TricksShort Story and Narrative 
  • Connotations and the Influence of Language on Narrative in Short Stories
  • Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and the line between fiction & non-fiction
• Poetry Part 1: for Diction, Rhythm, Organization, Analysis
• Poetry Part 2: Poetry Structure & Form
• Theater, Drama & Comedy
  • Shakespeare & A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Literary Theories
  • Learn Various Literary Approaches & Applications in Writing 
• The Human Condition & Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Mastering the AP Exam 
  • Princeton Review: AP Language and Composition (Workbook)

Students will be able to:

• Carefully read, annotate, and critically analyze imaginative literature.
• Understand the way writers use language to provide meaning and pleasure, and analyze effects on the audience.
• Consider a work’s structure, style, and themes as well as such smaller scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone, and analyze effects on the audience.
• Recognize representative works from various genres and periods (from the sixteenth to the twentieth century) and to know a few works extremely well.
• Understand a work’s complexity, absorb richness of its meaning, and analyze how meaning is embodied in literary form.
• Consider the social and historical values a work reflects and embodies, and synthesize this context with the author’s approach to his audience and purpose.
• Write complex and varied essay-types, focusing on critical analysis of literature, including expository, analytical, and argumentative essays, as well as creative writing, sharpening an understanding of writers’ accomplishments and deepening an appreciation for literary artistry.
• Become aware of, through speaking, listening, reading, and writing, the resources of language: connotation, metaphor, irony, syntax, and tone, and recognize both effects on an audience and how to employ these devices in their own work.

About the Teacher

Lara Rankin has taught English for fifteen years in different countries around the world. After getting her BA in Sociology and Photography at the University of California, San Diego, she worked with students with special needs for several years, trying to understand every kind of learner and diverse modalities of helping students to utilize their strengths and access learning from their own points of view.  She has taught in Honduras and Hungary, as well as many kinds of schools around the US.  After teaching English, Science, Art, and Music to 2nd, 6th, 10th and 11th grade students in the Caribbean, she came back to the US, and got her teaching credential at California State Monterey Bay.  Following this, she taught at a small high school in Santa Cruz, CA for twelve years, where she instructed 9-12th grade English, Art, Digital Photography, and History as well as Advanced Placement classes for 5 years. In 2012, she took a hiatus to complete a year as a Fulbright exchange teacher in Budapest, where she taught ESL and was an ambassador for the US. She was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2015, and received a commendation for her work in 2018.  She now tutors students in many subjects, while being a student herself, pursuing another degree. She enjoys working with students and learning from them, and finding new ways to communicate and understand the world around us.