AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
2009-2010
Welcome to Mr. Fare's AP Language and Composition. Below, you can find a variety of information. The syllabus and contract given to you from the first day of class are provided in the "Downloads" Section. Also, you will find your homework daily, due dates, and other necessary information for your success in this class. Please check this website frequently as it will be updated daily. Both parents and students are encouraged to contact me often.
Our AP Language & Composition reading list will include: Fast Food Nation, Nickel & Dimed, Bedford Reader, On Writing Well, Secret Life of Bees, Color of Water, In Cold Blood, Devil in the White City, Macbeth, Frankenstein, and Perks of Being a Wallflower, amongst a variety of other texts and non-print texts.
Keep in mind the importance of writing throughout each and every assignment. Please refer to the introductory sheets closely examined on the first day of school and please note, the writing process will be ongoing throughout this course.
COURSE OVERVIEW - AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION
The goals of an AP English Language and Composition course are diverse because the college composition course is one of the most varied in the curriculum. The college course provides students with opportunities to write about a variety of subjects and to demonstrate an awareness of audience and purpose. But the overarching objective in most first-year writing courses is to enable students to write effectively and confidently in their college courses across the curriculum and in their professional and personal lives. Therefore, most composition courses emphasize the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing that forms the basis of academic and professional communication, as well as the personal and reflective writing that fosters the development of writingfacility in any context.
In addition, most composition courses teach students that the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing they must do in college is based on reading, not solely on personal experience and observation. Composition courses, therefore, teach students to read primary and secondary sources carefully, to synthesize material from these texts in their own compositions, and to cite sources using conventions recommended by professional organizations such as the Modern Language Association (MLA), the University of Chicago Press (The Chicago Manual of Style), and the American Psychological Association (APA).
The AP English Language and Composition course follows this emphasis. As in the college course, its purpose is to enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers. An AP English Language and Composition course should help students move beyond such programmatic responses as the five-paragraph essay that provides an introduction with a thesis and three reasons, body paragraphs on each reason, and a conclusion that restates the thesis. Although such formulaic approaches may provide minimal organization, they often encourage unnecessary repetition and fail to engage the reader. Students should be encouraged to place their emphasis on content, purpose, and audience and to allow this focus to guide the organization of their writing.
