English I AC is a comprehensive introduction to the study of English designed and paced for the accelerated student. The course focuses on (1) the reading, discussion, and analysis of literature, including poems, short stories, novels, plays, and speeches, (2) the development of skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening, research, and critical and creative thinking, and (3) the building of vocabulary.
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Week of 10/26
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Ongoing assignment / read, research, write, and present
Now that you have completed reading and annotating your novel, research it as shown in the Gale Reference Library. A test grade will be given for the following three-part activity:
(1) Write a paragraph beginning with the following topic sentence: The Gale article provides new and interesting information about .... (Fill in the title of your novel.) The paragraph should be about one page and explain at least five ideas about the novel, its characters, its meaning, or its style that you learned by reading the article, ideas you would otherwise not have had you not read the article.
(2) Your "book club" should select sections of the novel to be read aloud to the class. These excerpts--one per person--must be introduced and last about two to three minutes.
(3) On your own, select poetry (one or more poems) to read aloud to the class. Include a one-sentence introduction for a reading that should also be anywhere from two to three minutes.
Be prepared to submit the paragraph and present the readings on Friday, 10/30.
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Vocabulary / Lesson 3
Words will be reviewed in class with exercises for homework each night and checked and reviewed the following day. Lesson 3 will be followed by a vocabulary test this week on Lessons 1, 2, and 3. You will need a pencil for part of this test.
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Poetry
Essay test on Monday, 10/26
Short-answer test on Tuesday, 10/27
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Advanced Placement English Language and Composition is essentially a course in critical reading and effective writing. Students will grow increasingly adept at reading and discussing literary texts written in a variety of periods and styles, with particular attention to nonfiction. Students will also become increasingly skillful in writing three types of papers: an essay of close textual analysis, which will determine a given selection’s purpose, audience, and use of rhetorical devices; an open-ended argument, which will support, challenge, or qualify a given assertion; and a documented essay, which will synthesize and identify outside sources used to strengthen one’s own case.
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Richard Lederer begins his book The Miracle of Language with this claim: “It is only through the gift of language that the child acquires reason, the complexity of thought that sets him or her apart from the other creatures who share this planet. The birth of language is the dawn of humanity; in our beginning was the word.” This gift of language–in its many forms–is the heart and soul of this course.
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Week of 10/26
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An assignment due 10/26
In The Bedford Reader, read, for a change of pace, four short and meant-to-be amusing essays: (1) "Neat People vs. Sloppy People" on page 239, (2) "Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out" on page 245, (3) "The Plot Against People" on page 384, and (4) perhaps the not-so-amusing "Modest Proposal" on page 674. Then create a chart similar to the "focused analysis charts" you used for the poems. In Column 1 state in your own words the purpose or thesis of each essay. In Column 2 identify one rhetorical device that creates humor. (Be sure to name a different device for each essay; in other words, don't use hyperbole or exaggeration more than once.) Then copy two examples of each device from each essay. In Column 3 answer these questions: Does the humor detract from or contribute to the effectiveness of the essay? Why? We will discuss these essays and your responses one day next week. The assignment has the value of a quiz.
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Classwork
Quiz, vocabulary of tone, on Wednesday.
Outline, AP passage, due Wednesday
Bring The Bedford Reader to class this week.
The bloody world of Macbeth will follow. How appropriate that we may meet the Witches on Halloween.
