Advanced Placement Language and Composition

Syllabus

Sallye Clark, Instructor

Prerequisites: English 10 Honors

Course Description: Students will become “skilled readers of prose written in a variety
of periods, disciplines and rhetorical contexts and…writers who compose for a variety of
purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the
interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the
way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in
writing.” (“English Language and Composition”, The College Board Advanced
Placement Program Course Description, 2002, p. 7)

Course Outcomes:
 analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an
author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques
 apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing
 create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal
experience
 demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as
stylistic maturity in their own writings
 write in a variety of genres and contexts, both formal and informal, employing
appropriate conventions
 produce expository and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex
central idea and develop it with appropriate, specific evidence, cogent
explanations, and clear transitions
 move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful
attention to inquire and research, drafting, revision, editing and review
(“English Language and Composition”, The College Board Advanced
Placement Program Course Description, 2002, p. 9)

Requirements for the Students:

 Complete out of class readings, including summer reading assignments with
accompanying writings and those assigned throughout the year
 Complete journal for supplemental readings
 Compose three freewrites for each of rhetorical mode assigned
 Engage in class discussion
 Complete Sadlier vocabulary text, Series F
 Complete Elements of Style by Strunk and White; pass test with 90%
accuracy

Attendance Policy: Follow Kanawha County Schools policy

Grading Policy: 90-100 A
80.89 B
70.79 C
60.69 D
0-59 F

Textbook Requirements:
 The Bedford Reader, 10h edition, Kennedy, X.J et al, 2006
 Elements of Style, Strunk, William, Jr, 1999
 Sadlier Vocabulary Workshop, Shostak, Jerome, Level F, 2005
 Various memoirs, biographies, journalistic writings, nature and science writings,
political writings, fiction, and critical analysis to be assigned at the beginning of
the year

Contact Information:
 Sallye Clark
 sclark@kcs.kana.k12.wv.us