Course Syllabus

Cindy Honeycutt

AP Language Syllabus, 2019

Walhalla High School

(Credit 1—Prerequisite:  English 3 Honors)

Email: choneycutt@g.oconee.k12.sc.us

Extra Help Times:  After school by appointment

AP Language Exam:  Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Course Overview: 

Students who take this course will read and carefully analyze a broad and challenging range of nonfiction prose selections while deepening their awareness of rhetoric and how language works.  Through close reading and frequent writing, students will develop their ability work with language and text with a greater awareness of purpose and strategy, and strengthen their own composing abilities.  Course readings feature expository, analytical, personal, and argumentative texts from a variety of authors and historical contexts arranged in thematic units.  Students will examine essays, letters, speeches, images, and imaginative literature through close reading and by engaging in thorough class discussion.  Students will write a variety of in and out of class writing assignments and will participate in peer editing activities. Summer reading and writing is required. 

Students will prepare for the AP English Language and Composition Exam and may receive college credit if a score of three or higher is achieved.  The class receives AP weight on the uniform grading scale for the South Carolina State Department of Education.

Course reading and writing assignments not only prepare our students to sit for a three-hour exam but will also prepare them for the rigor of college course work. Students will become more alert to the author’s purpose, recognize the importance of writing for a specific audience, and understand the abundance of language resources at hand; therefore, regardless of the university or college credit they earn, they will be prepared for their college English courses.  When fiction selections are included in the syllabus, the works are evaluated on the basis its subject, tone, occasion, and how language contributes to the overall purpose of the work.

Students will write in a variety of ways both in and out of class.  Students will write using a prompt or journal activity.  Out of class essays will go through several drafting stages, and students will have the opportunity to edit their papers with a peer.  Particular attention will be given to the development of organization, the appropriate use of rhetorical devices, and the development of varied sentences and paragraphs.  In short, the goal of this class is to develop fluent, college-level writers.

The course is constructed in accordance with the guidelines described in the AP English Course Description.

Teaching Strategies and Major Course Components in each quarter:

• Class discussion incorporating various small and large group methods
• The study of RHETORIC and the elements of argumentation, including techniques such as SOAPSTone, prose analysis, the modes of discourse, and how to appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos
• Vocabulary, including rhetorical and literary terminology
• Essay development, focusing on analysis, synthesis, and argument
• Peer review
• The completion of an online Writer’s Notebook/Portfolio which will include the organization of all reading journal materials, returned essays, practice tests, close reading, and any other class assignments
• Major Analytical Essays (two per nine weeks)
• Major research assignment
• In Class AP Practice Tests, both multiple choice and essay
• Unit Tests using an AP test prompt

Student Textbook:

The Language of Composition.   Bedford St. Martin’s

Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop, by Jerome Shostak

 

Supplemental Materials:

The Informed Argument, by Robert P. Yagelski and Robert K. Miller

Everything’s an Argument.   Bedford St. Martins

The Norton Reader.   Norton

Writing America: Language and Composition in Context.   Pearson

They Say I Say, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein

Cracking the AP Language Test. The Princeton Review

Required Materials: Students are required to have the following:

• An organized way for you to keep up with anything I return. I expect you to keep up with graded materials each nine weeks. Keep everything until the end of each nine weeks in a binder to use for cumulative study, reviews, and just in case there is a grade book discrepancy.  (I am only human, you know.)  Much is changing since the advent of Canvas and online grading, but some work will be on paper. 
• Plenty of notebook paper
• Pencils
• Blue or black pens (all in-class essays MUST be written in a blue or black pen—No exceptions!)
• Colored pens or pencils (for peer editing—NOT for writing your papers or for work that you turn in to me!! Please do not choose neon colors—they are hard to see and blue pens are not colored. Turquoise is colored.  Regular blue is not.  Don’t be silly when it is time to peer edit. J)
• A sweater or sweatshirt that you can easily take on and off in my classroom. Layers are the best way to assure your comfort.

 

Grading Policy:

AP English requires a high level of commitment and a strong work ethic.  The course is comparable to freshman level college work.  AP students are expected to keep up with all assignments and come to class prepared to discuss the assigned reading and are expected to take notes during class; participate openly and honestly in all class activities and discussion; and prepare for class as they would for a college English class.  If you are given out of class assignments or incremental assignments, you are expected to arrive in class with them completed on time and ready to use in class discussion.  Because this is a college level course, late work is not accepted, and retests are not offered. At times, major writing assignments will be offered for editing, review, and rewrite. Major writing assignments will also be allowed a one-day late penalty.  After one day, late papers are not accepted.

 

TOTAL POINTS are used to calculate grades

 

Assessment & Grading Procedures: (see WHS Teacher Handbook and SDOC Grading Policy)

 

Major Grades = 60%                                       Minor Grades = 40%

Tests                                                                 Homework (15 or less)

Major Projects                                                   Quizzes

Major Essays                                                     Daily Grades

                                                                            Reading            Journal/SOAPStone or DIDLs analysis

 

Communication Plan:  

Unit plans and daily lesson plans and other communications for each class will be located on Canvas, and my email address is at the top of this page.  Parents may call the school and leave a message for me at any time.  Please feel free to email at any time as well.  I will return your call or email as soon as possible.

 

School-wide/Classroom Behavior Expectations and Consequences:

Students will be expected to follow ALL school and district rules listed in the student handbook in addition to the following classroom expectations:

 

Basically, my behavior policy all boils down to, “Don’t be rude.”

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Honeycutt’s Cell Phone Policy, 2016-2017

 

Please Note when YOUR class meets:

Block 1:  8:45-10:10

Block 2:  10:15-11:45

Lunches: 11:45-12:45

Block 3:   12:45-2:10

Block 4:     2:45-3:45

 

Parents and students:

 

I have finally reached the end of my rope. I am weary of constantly asking students to put up their phones during class, competing with text messaging (Yes, even texting from parents!), videos, snapchats, games, or any other phone related activity that is not related to my classroom.  Cell phones have become constant a disruption to my class and, quite frankly, I long for the olden days when I had to ask students to stop talking to each other instead of using their phones.  Even when we are shifting activities in class or collaborating on projects students should be socializing with each other or beginning their assignments for the next class rather than immediately taking out their phones to message or play a game until the bell rings.  

 

I believe this constant “phone checking” is unhealthy for classroom rapport and unity.  With this said, my classroom will be “Cell Phone Free from Bell to Bell.”   I will not plan class activities that involve the cell phone (Kahoot, quizzes, etc.) and students will not be allowed to listen to music on phones while completing individual class activities. (Actually, I found that students spent more time searching on their phones for an appropriate song than actually listening to the music anyway.) I have compiled several playlists of appropriate instrumental music for study time during class that will be played from my classroom computer.

 

My cell phone policy is:

 

1. Upon entering the classroom, students will place their phones in the appropriate “pocket” at the front of the classroom.
2. Phones may not be removed until the bell rings unless specifically requested to do so by the teacher or unless the student is signed out of school from my classroom.
3. Students may not take cell phones to the restroom, guidance, or for a trip to the office if they will be returning to class.
4. PARENTS: Please note the time of our class at the top of this page, and do not text your student or expect them to reply to your text during my class.  There is a five-minute break before and after class if you need to get in touch with your student. In the case of an emergency, call the front office and ask that a message is delivered to your student. If your message requires that your student phone you, I will send him/her to the office with a note and his/her phone to use.
5. Students must make “old fashioned” arrangements to take down assignments, take notes, and keep paper and pencil/pens on their desk because phones with not be taken out to photograph the board at any time. Part of the learning process in high school is learning to take notes efficiently and keep up with assignments.

 

Number 5 is of utmost importance.  I have found that students also no longer take notes in class.  They often depend on their phone to “take a picture” of the board, PowerPoint, or even the written assignment rather than writing it down.  Your student will be required to take notes during my class this year. Please make sure that they have the supplies listed on this syllabus.  My hope is to help your student prepare for the next level of learning and also become a true scholar.  In my communications with college professors, many have shared that they also have barred cell phone use in their classrooms, and cell phones are often not allowed in the workplace, so this policy also prepares your student for life in the real world.

 

Most Sincerely,

 

Cindy Honeycutt

 

 

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