AP English IV - Literature and Composition

Fall 20XX
“The weft and weave of fate guides… um… how did that poem go again?” - Kindred, League of
Legends

Teacher Contact Information

Mx. Sam C. Poliarco
Phone: 214-XXX-XXXX
Email: scp180005@utdallas.edu
Tutoring Hours: Tues-Thurs 4:00-6:00 PM or by appointment.
Tutoring will be held in the classroom, but if online
accommodation is required, please let me know beforehand.

Course Description
This course combines studies of language, rhetoric, and literature designed for students in the
advanced placement program. Students will focus on reason and analysis within composition
through extensive practice in explaining others’ ideas as well as expressing our own. In the
literature aspect, we will be reading both contemporary and classical works and keep in mind the
philosophical views of the past and present.

Texts
The following texts we will read together as a whole class:
- Lord of the Flies by William Goulding [summer reading]
- Grendel by John Gardner [we will go over Beowulf together beforehand, no stress]
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
- “A Modest Proposal” by Johnathan Smith

In addition to Lord of the Flies, you will also be required to read one novel of your choosing
from the list on the last page of this syllabus for your summer assignment. You are welcome to
make another selection, though you will need to email me for approval. We will also have
literature circles based on these genres: Shakespearean drama, gothic fiction, and absurdism. To
assign these books we will have book “tastings” in class (we will not actually be eating the
books, but it will be fun, I promise), where students will get to sample 3-5 different texts and cast
their votes as to which literature circle they would be a part of based on the piece of work they
wish to focus on for the unit. Should these selections change, I will inform you, but may include
the following:
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by
Tom Stoppard
- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
- The Stranger by Albert Camus
- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf
- Hamlet
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Othello
- King Lear
- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Beloved by Toni Morrison

Course Objectives
In this course, students will:
- demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate works in the context of culture and history
- communicate their understanding of the relationship between textual structure and their
contextual meaning through analysis
- explain how features in text create specific, meaningful messages

Participation
Please do, that’s all. Thanks.

The worst feeling in the world is when you have to present and you receive zero engagement
from your audience. Let’s save not just me but all our classmates from this awkward situation by
fully cooperating and participating during class discussions and activities. It will be a more
enjoyable experience for all of us. I value all and every background, experience, and/or opinion
you would like to share, but please stay mindful of how our comments may affect our peers. If it
gets you banned in a public Discord server or subreddit, maybe don’t say it outloud in class
either. Secondly, your performance in this class, and subsequently your AP Lit. & Comp. exam
score will greatly suffer if you neglect the readings and assignments. No reading means no
commentary or feedback which means a painfully awkward silent hour and a half. Thus, when it
comes to our literature circles, it is crucial that you join a literature circle of a piece of work you
are genuinely interested in. Reading is much more fun when you care about what you’re reading
about.

In addition, I ask that you please adhere to the following rules:

- Respect others, including respecting my and your classmates’ boundaries, time,
and space. Keep our conversations school appropriate and polite (yes, even if you
heartily disagree with your shoulder partner).
- Be mindful of the classroom space, neither you, me, nor the class across the hall
want a headache to plague our day, especially not at school. So, please refrain
from speaking over others during discussion, and when working individually or in
 small groups, please maintain a low volume. This includes the volume of your
earphones during independent work.
- Be honest in your work both in and outside of the classroom. Surprisingly, I also
have access to the internet, and will be able to tell if you pulled your responses
from Chegg, or worse, from each other.
- Come prepared. A lot of our work will be done in groups or with the use of
technology with resources that I will provide. The only thing you need to walk in
with is perhaps something to write with, the reading assignment done, and a
positive attitude.

Ideally, we don’t have to discuss what will occur following bouts of disrespect, but I ought to put
it here anyway. Depending on the issue, you will be given a warning to stop, and we may discuss
the issue at hand after class, followed by a reduction in your participation grade for the day if the
issue continues. Further misconduct will result in disciplinary action involving either a parent or
the office. It should go without saying but this progression may not occur exactly if let’s say you
decide to throw a textbook at a classmate. Let us never find out how that works.

Procedures and Expectations

I don’t intend on making every class exactly the same, but do expect a loose following of this
structure every class:

- You will have the first 5 minutes after the bell to settle in, run to the restroom if need be.
You don’t need to ask me, just go. If I or another student is presenting, please try to slip
out as quietly as possible. Prepare your materials for the day (pen/paper, chromebook
etc.).
- Type your response to our question of the day. It’s a part of your participation grade for
the day. Questions may be about previous material, a check-in, or an extension of
previous discussions we have held in class.
- Our major activities will take up the rest of class, whether that be presentations, exams,
challenge essays, or general group/independent work.
- Please wait until I dismiss you to leave. You may quietly pack if we are in the middle of
something, but please don’t just run out the door the second our bell rings for next period.

Assignments + Grading Policy

Typically, late work will not be accepted without good reason. If you have a genuine concern
over the timeframe of your assignments, please talk to me well in advance so that we may work
out a solution. If you require make-up work due to an absence, please shoot me a message or
email before 6:00 PM the day you are absent so that I may send you a copy of the work done that
day. Your lowest grade on a short writing/quiz will be dropped given your participation grade
stands above a B. Here is our assignment breakdown:

- Weekly short writings/quizzes 30%

 There will be either a short writing assignment (less than 500 words) or a quiz due on
Sundays at 11:59 PM. These writings may include a response to class discussion or your
reading, and the quizzes may cover technical terms you ought to know for the AP exam
or questions based on your reading.
- Presentations 20%
These will be based on our units. Instructions and deadlines will be given weeks
beforehand.
- Challenge essays 20%
Don’t be alarmed by the name of this assignment. We will have at least 1 per six-week
period. They are in class practice for the written portion of your AP exam. You will be
given a passage which we will read together with the prompt in mind. Following our
guided reading, you will then be given 45 minutes to construct your argument.
- Challenge exams 20%
Again, have no fear. We will have at least 2 per six-week period. They are in class
practice for the multiple choice portion of your AP exam. The exam will include 2
passages with around 7-10 questions per passage, timing will be based on passage length
and amount of questions and will be given to you at the start of class. We will then use
the remainder of class grading our exams. We will grade these exams with a curve similar
to the AP exam. If you get at least 50% of questions correct, that is considered at least a
passing “3” for the exam. For our practice, your grade will be your percentage +20
points. Extra credit will be given if you receive a grade over a 100. Corrections are
allowed.*
- Participation 10%
Includes question-of-the-days, discussions, and general conduct. Basically, show up, do
the work, don’t be rude = easy 100 :)

*These corrections will give you half credit for every missed answer you correct with the
template. The template for how to do these corrections are available to you at the final
page of this syllabus and on the englishwithporofessor website.

Communication
You can contact me via email or through our class Discord server (discord.gg/f4k3c0d3). I will
open a server for each class and send important updates and reminders. Your parents and
guardians can text or email me as well. Please send all communication before 6:00 PM before I
log off. I do, after all, have essays to grade and a multiplayer League of Legends rank to climb.
Summer Reading Self-Selected Novel List
Please research the synopsis of any book before selecting and reading it if you are worried about
offensive subject matter. You must choose a new book you have not already read for any English
class. Books listed have previously shown up on the AP Exam.

- The Blind Assassin (Atwood) - A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini)

- The Color Purple (Walker)
- The Poisonwood Bible (Kingsolver)
- Frankenstein (Shelley)
- Heart of Darkness (Conrad)
- The Joy Luck Club (Tan)
- One Hundred Years of Solitude (Marquez)
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (See)
- Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky)
- The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck)
- Things Fall Apart (Achebe)
- Wuthering Heights (Bronte)
- The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood)
- The Housekeeper and the Professor
(Ogawa)
- The Awakening (Chopin)
- Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller)
- The Things They Carried (O’Brien)
- Cat’s Eye (Atwood)
- The Inheritance of Loss (Desai)
- Obasan (Kogawa)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Kesey)
- Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut)
- The Bluest Eye (Morrison)
- Absalom, Absalom (Faulkner)
- Another Country (Baldwin)
- Dreaming in Cuban (Garcia)
- The Dollmaker (Arnot)
- A Farewell to Arms (Hemingway)
- Go Tell It on the Mountain (Baldwin)
- Native Speaker (Lee)
- The Plague (Camus)
- Wise Blood (O;Connor)