Advanced Placement English

1
Advanced Placement English

• The Basics

2
What does Advanced Placement mean?

• You study the subject in greater depth.
• You develop more sophisticated critical thinking
  and expression skills.
• You receive college level preparation.
• You have an advantage on college applications.

3
About the exam

• The exam gives you an opportunity to get
  internationally recognized college credit for the
  class.
• Possible credit is a BONUS. The skills were
  developing will help you in college regardless of
  your major.
• Well cover the exam in greater depth later.

4
The three levels of literature

• Beach and airport reading
• These books have no distinctive value. Their
  plots follow essentially the same pattern and one
  is very like another. Many romances, westerns,
  and fantasy novels fall into this category.

5
2. Best Sellers

• Most reading falls into this category. This is
  what we read for pleasure, and a lot of it is
  extremely well-written but not quite literary.
• This is where youll find Stephen King, Dean
  Koontz, Jim Butcher, Jodi Picoult, J.K. Rowling,
  etc.

6
3. Literary Merit

• The essential difference between a best seller
  and a book with literary merit is that the latter
  allows for many layers of interpretation. A work
  of literature can be argued about and seen in
  many different waysand all of those opinions can
  be supported from the text.

7
Student Performance Expectations

• Independent deep reading skills
• Clear, effective writing
• Critical and creative thinking
• Confident, interactive discussion

8
Your Portfolio

• A very sturdy binder
• Where most of your classwork/homework will be
  gathered
• Where your in-class essays will be kept
• Where everything MUST be in order
• which is 45 of your grade

9
Your reading assignments

• Will usually require a written response in
  various formats
• Should NOT involve reading someone elses
  analysis (i.e., dont read what Sparknotes says
  about symbolism until youve come up with your
  OWN thoughts)

10
Your essays

• Some will be timed, in-class writings
• Some will be more formal essays
• ALL are important, and only ONE will be accepted
  late (And yes, Im actually sticking to that this
  year)

11
Your tests

• Will be many and varied, from a 5-point reading
  quiz or a long test over a major work to AP
  question sets. Theres also a literary terms
  test

12
Your projects

• Research over various topics
• Rewriting certain works in different genres
• Tests, projects, and out-of-class essays make up
  45 of your grade.