AP EnGlish Language and Composition
Course Overview
AP Language and Composition is an introductory college-level course devoted to the study of language, argument, and rhetoric. The standards of instruction for this class are based on the AP Language and Composition Course Requirements, created by the College Board. In this class, students will read a variety of nonfiction texts and analyze what the author says, how he or she says it, and how effective the writing is in accomplishing the text’s purpose. In studying the writing of successful authors and analyzing the techniques those authors use, students will strengthen their own writing by practicing and implementing those same strategies.
Course Structure
The course is designed to progressively build toward increasing complexity. It is also patterned after the three essays that students will be required to write on the AP Language and Composition Exam.
The first unit of study that students will complete will be a focus on rhetorical analysis. This unit will encompass a broad range of prose readings, including texts by Presidents Lincoln, Kennedy, and Roosevelt, historical figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and writers such as Jonathan Swift and Sherman Alexie. Students will read these texts, analyze the rhetorical strategies an author uses, and analyze the effectiveness of the author’s writing in achieving his or her purpose. Doing this will familiarize students with what strong, clear, effective writing looks like, which will in turn help them improve their own writing. It will strengthen their vocabularies, sentence structure and variety, organization within written texts, balance of details, and use of rhetoric.
They will study the elements of rhetorical analysis, such as an author’s use of rhetorical appeals, the importance of an author’s diction and tone, and the significance of the audience and purpose for a text. Then, they will write rhetorical analysis of the texts they read in a variety of forms: in class ‘quick writes,’ timed writings, and two major papers. Among others, rhetorical analyses that students will write include an analysis of Rachel Carson’s diction in her text, “The Obligation to Endure,” and an analysis of Queen Elizabeth I’s use of rhetorical appeals in her text, “Speech to the Troops at Tilbury.”
After studying others’ arguments, students will begin to create their own arguments in the second unit. This will allow them to take the skills they observed and learned in the rhetorical analysis unit and apply them to their own writing. In this argument unit, it is important that students have a vast frame of reference from which to draw the basis for their arguments. Therefore, there will likely be more outside reading assignments in this unit, along with an expectation that students stay informed on current events and world issues.
Students will write original arguments in a range of contexts, as they did in the rhetorical analysis unit. They will write expository arguments in this unit, such as a definitional argument, where they will define a subject and explain its significance. Additionally, they will write argumentative responses to the ideas of others, such as the difference in the truth or subjectivity of morality discussed in Joan Didion’s “On Morality.” During this unit, we will also discuss how visual images, like political cartoons, can be used to convey, support, or refute an argument. As a whole, their writing assignments for this unit will include in class ‘quick writes,’ timed writings, several major papers.
Finally, in the last unit of study prior to the AP exam, students will learn how to write a synthesis paper. A synthesis essay requires students to use and analyze other writers’ texts as support for their own original arguments. Therefore, they will be utilizing both of the skill sets they developed from the two earlier units of study. They will be required to read and analyze others’ points of view before determining if that point of view supports or refutes their own original arguments. Additionally, in this unit, they will “read” visual images, such as graphs, tables, and charts, as possible support for their own positions. Sample AP synthesis prompts, such as the 2018 AP synthesis prompt, will be used to help students practice using visual texts as support for their own original arguments. The synthesis unit is saved for the end of the year because it is a culmination of the two preceding ones. Furthermore, the synthesis essay most closely resembles the type of essay students will be required to write in college, so it is important to make sure that they are confident in their abilities with this kind of writing.
The synthesis unit will have students write varying kinds of synthesis papers: timed writings, extended writings, and a final research paper. In the final research paper, students will choose topics about which they are passionate. Then, they will research to find arguable issues related to those topics. Through a synthesis of several primary and secondary sources, they will create their own positions on the arguable issues related to their topics and support their positions with credible evidence. All evidence used in this paper will be documented in accordance with Modern Language Association (MLA) standards. Throughout the research process, we will address how to properly cite various kinds of sources, including online articles, books, and visual sources. We will discuss in-text citations, parenthetical citations, Works Cited lists, and students will receive information from the Purdue Online Writing Library (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/) to further supplement their knowledge of these skills.
Class Readings
In this class, students will read a wide variety of nonfiction texts. The majority of the texts are personal essays, speeches, and letters. Each piece has been recognized as having significance and as worthy of study. Most of the personal essays come from the third edition of the book 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology, by Samuel Cohen. Many of the speeches used in the class are in the public domain, as most are given by former presidents. These speeches, in addition to those by historical figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., can be found at www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html. Finally, some of the texts students will read will be accessed through the AP Language and Composition free response items. These will be the texts that students analyze in the in class timed writings.
Some of the texts that students will read, among others, include:
Writing Expectations
This class will be heavily based in writing and, because of this, will require students to complete numerous writing assignments. The instructions for writing assignments may differ based on the individual writing task, but in general, students will be expected to complete three different types of writing assignments.
At times, students will be asked to complete in class ‘quick writes.’ These will primarily be in the form of bell ringers or introductory writing pieces. They will be used to get students engaged in new materials or concepts, or to have students reflect on what they’ve learned from previous class discussions or lessons. Sometimes the prompts will be argumentative, such as, “Discuss and defend your personal stance on the so-called “Muslim Travel Ban,” and sometimes the prompts will be narrative, such as, “Describe a time in your life that you overcame a great obstacle.” The subject of these ‘quick write’ prompts and the type of writing they require (argumentative, narrative, expository, etc.) will depend largely on the text we’ll be reading. I will study the text of study for the day and determine what type of writing will get the students the most engaged to prepare them for the content of that text. These will mostly be ungraded assignments to simply give students practice writing.
Additionally, students will complete many timed writing assignments throughout each unit of study. These timed writings serve two main purposes. First, they will be used as formative assessments for each new skill the students learn. They will give the students a chance to showcase their writing abilities and prove that they have mastered the skills they’ve been practicing in class. Secondly, these timed writings will familiarize students with the AP Language and Composition Exam format. By using actual prompts from previous AP Language and Composition Exams and requiring students to write during the actual time limit mandated during the exam, they will feel more confident going into the exam and be better prepared to successfully complete the timed writing portion.
Finally, in this course, students will complete multiple full-length papers, approximately one per unit of study. These papers will be extended writing assignments, intended to give students a further opportunity to showcase their mastery of the skills they’ve been practicing. Major papers should be typed, double-spaced, with 12 point font. Page length requirements for these papers will vary depending on the individual assignment, but in general, it is understood that a minimum of two pages is expected. These papers are more formal than the ‘quick writes’ and timed writings; therefore, students should take care to use correct spelling and grammar. There may be some class time for students to work on writing these major papers; however, much of the work will have to be completed outside of class.
For many of the writing assignments, students will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit their work. They should take advantage of this as much as possible, as it has the potential to considerably help their grades. Additionally, all students will have the chance to meet with me individually to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their writing. These writing conferences are crucial in improving students’ writing abilities. The conferences allow for the chance to focus specifically on what the individual student needs.
For example, during a writing conference, I might discuss with a student how to improve his or her word choice to more clearly articulate his or her point, thus strengthening the student’s vocabulary. Another student might need help with sentence structure, so during his or her conference, we would address how to vary sentence lengths within a paper to more effectively communicate a message. Some students may struggle with organizational structure in their papers and need help during the writing conferences on how to use transition words to make their papers flow better. Some students may have trouble finding specific details or evidence to support their positions; this is another topic that could be discussed in an individual writing conference. Together, we can work through errors the student typically makes and ways to correct those errors.
However, it is the student’s responsibility to schedule these conferences. All students will have the opportunity to schedule a conference, and all students are encouraged to do so, but they must make individual appointments with me to discuss their writing. I will hold office hours for them to do this before school and after school. Before school office hours will be approximately thirty minutes long, from 7:20-7:50. After school office hours will be approximately one hour long, from 2:50-3:50.
Grading Policies
The majority of students’ grades will come from writing assignments. These writing assignments will be graded using the 9-point AP Language and Composition rubrics. During the rhetorical analysis unit, students will be evaluated based on the AP Language and Composition rhetorical analysis rubric. Similarly, during the argument unit, they’ll be evaluated based on the AP Language and Composition argument rubric, and during the synthesis unit, they’ll be evaluated based on the AP Language and Composition synthesis rubric.
These rubrics vary slightly in the skills they emphasize; however, in general, the breakdowns of these rubrics can be interpreted as follows:
Of the three kinds of writing assignments that students will be expected to complete, the in class ‘quick writes’ will be ungraded, but timed writings and major papers will be graded. Timed writings and smaller papers will be worth less points than the major papers. In general, smaller writing assignments will be graded out of fifty points, and larger writing assignments will be graded out of one hundred. This may vary occasionally for a specific assignment, but overall, this grading scale will be the main one used.
For many of their assignments, students will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit their work, particularly if their first submissions didn’t showcase their best effort. In this situation, the re-submitted assignment will be evaluated using the same rubric from the original assignment, and if a student’s score improves, his or her new grade will replace the old one. If, for some reason, the score goes down on the second attempt, the higher grade will remain, and I will meet with the student privately to discuss what issues occurred in their writing to cause the grade to go down.
In addition to writing assignments, students may receive grades for other items, such as participation in a discussion, submission of a prewriting outline, or other things of that nature. In general, these grades will be mostly on a completion or participation basis. Their primary and most important grades will come from their pieces of writing.
Assessments
Every writing assignment that students complete will essentially be an assessment of their progress in the class. However, some of their writing assignments will be more specifically geared toward assessing their mastery of a particular skill. These are called formative assessments. For each skill we study, students will complete approximately 1-2 writing pieces that will allow them to practice mastering that skill. Then, most often through an AP timed writing prompt, students will complete a third writing assignment that will be used to determine whether or not they’ve mastered the skill they’ve practiced in the previous two assignments.
If a student has mastered that skill, he or she is deemed ready to move on to learn new material. Ideally, all students will have mastered each skill after practicing it several times. However, this is not always the case. For those students who don’t succeed on the formative assessments, intervention must take place to ensure that they do master the skill. I will hold individual conferences during my office hours with students who struggled on a previous assessment to determine where their weaknesses are. Then, we will develop a plan together to help them overcome those weaknesses. They will be given the chance to rewrite their papers, and, after discussing how to improve their writing with me, they will hopefully have mastered the skill. If for some reason they still struggle even after a second draft, we will continue to work together independently and come up with a new plan to help them succeed until they have mastered it.
Occasionally, there may be a skill that the entire class simply just doesn’t grasp. If that’s the case, I will make time to reteach that skill during my instruction and present it to the students in a new way. If all students do poorly on an assessment because of this, all of them will be given the opportunity to rewrite their papers after I’ve went over the skill again.
In addition to using AP timed writing prompts for formative assessments, students will complete a number of practice AP multiple choice items. These will not be graded, but they will be considered assessments. The AP multiple choice questions ask students to look at texts in a way that the writing prompts do not; therefore, it is essential that we practice them before the students take the AP exam in May. After going over the answers to the practice multiple choice items, I will look at students’ results to determine if there is an area or question that the whole class seemed to struggle with. Then, we will spend some time looking at the question and the skill that it tested. When we take the next practice multiple choice test, I’ll find a question that tests the same skill as the previous one did and compare the students’ results between the two. In this way, the multiple choice passages can be considered ungraded assessments.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is absolutely not tolerated. It is, in essence, stealing. There are two forms of plagiarism: indirect and direct. Indirect plagiarism is stealing an idea from someone else. Though a student may not have directly taken another person’s words, taking that person’s ideas without giving that person proper credit is still considered plagiarism. It is still considered cheating. Direct plagiarism is perhaps what a person more commonly thinks of when they think of plagiarism: directly stealing another person’s words and claiming them as one’s own. This includes copying something from the internet or from another student. Anytime that a student uses someone else’s words and attempts to pass them as his or her own words, that is cheating.
In order to avoid plagiarism, a student must give the original author credit for the words or ideas that the student is using in his or her paper. With proper citation of sources, any question of plagiarism can easily be avoided. In class, we will go over the correct way to cite sources using the MLA format, which is the standard format of college English classes. Students will also receive resources that can guide them through this sometimes tricky process. In general, if a student is unsure whether or not a citation is needed, it is always better to cite the source, just to be safe.
If a student is caught plagiarizing, they will be punished. The first time a student is caught plagiarizing, he or she will receive a zero for that assignment, and we will discuss why they received that grade privately. For the first offense, students will have the chance to rewrite that assignment for partial credit. If they choose not to rewrite their assignment within a specified time frame, that offer will no longer stand. They may not rewrite the assignment and submit it after the deadline that we previously agreed upon. If they do this, their assignment will not be graded, and their grade will remain a zero from the original assignment. If a student plagiarizes a second time, he or she will receive an automatic zero, and they will not have the opportunity to resubmit the work. Further conferences with parents or administrators can be held to discuss the issue as necessary.
Late Work
During the school year, students will undoubtedly miss some assignments due to absences caused by illness, school-related functions, or other reasons. Outlined below is my late work policy. I will strictly adhere to it.
If a student is unexpectedly absent, due to illness, a family emergency, or other things like that, he or she should contact me as soon as possible to let me know of the absence. Then, he or she will have the same number of class days to complete the make up work as the number of class days missed. Assignments will be due by midnight on the extended deadline.
That means, if a student wakes up sick and misses two days of class, he or she will have two days to make up that work. With block scheduling, here is what that scenario would look like: if he or she missed Monday and Wednesday, he or she will have Friday and Tuesday (of the following week) to make that work up. The work would be expected by midnight on Tuesday. If a student misses one day, a Tuesday for example, they will have one class day, Thursday, to make that up. The work would be expected by midnight on Thursday. If students do not turn in their late work by their midnight on their new extended deadline, any later submissions will not be accepted.
If a student misses class for some reason that he or she was aware of ahead of time, such as a school function, it is his or her responsibility to collect the missing assignments before he or she leaves. That work will be due by midnight on the same day that it will be due for students who were not absent. For example, if a student misses a day of class for a student council field trip on Wednesday, he or she is responsible for collecting that missing work. If the assignment’s original deadline was at the beginning of the next class meeting, on Friday, the absent student’s deadline would be by midnight on Friday.
If a student misses class for an extended school function, such as a state tournament for a sport, other arrangements can be made for that missing work. As those field trips are typically several days long, most likely what will happen is that I will give the student a list of everything he or she will miss during the multiple absences and simply give them one deadline for turning in all of that work.
If a student is not absent for any reason, but simply does not finish his or her work on time, a different procedure will be followed. That student will have until midnight the following night to turn the assignment in for partial credit. After that, it will not be accepted. So, this means that if a student was in class on Tuesday but simply didn’t finish the assignment, he or she will have until midnight on Wednesday to submit it for partial credit. After that, the work will not be accepted.
For extenuating circumstances, this policy can be adapted, but in general, I will follow it closely. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please feel free to email me or set up an appointment during my office hours.
Closing
I am so looking forward to teaching your child this year. I hope that together, we can do all we can to help your student succeed. If you have questions or need to contact me, please email me at [email protected]. If you would prefer to meet in person, please email me to set up an appointment during my office hours or at another time that is convenient. I am here to help your student grow and become the best he or she can be.
AP Language and Composition is an introductory college-level course devoted to the study of language, argument, and rhetoric. The standards of instruction for this class are based on the AP Language and Composition Course Requirements, created by the College Board. In this class, students will read a variety of nonfiction texts and analyze what the author says, how he or she says it, and how effective the writing is in accomplishing the text’s purpose. In studying the writing of successful authors and analyzing the techniques those authors use, students will strengthen their own writing by practicing and implementing those same strategies.
Course Structure
The course is designed to progressively build toward increasing complexity. It is also patterned after the three essays that students will be required to write on the AP Language and Composition Exam.
The first unit of study that students will complete will be a focus on rhetorical analysis. This unit will encompass a broad range of prose readings, including texts by Presidents Lincoln, Kennedy, and Roosevelt, historical figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and writers such as Jonathan Swift and Sherman Alexie. Students will read these texts, analyze the rhetorical strategies an author uses, and analyze the effectiveness of the author’s writing in achieving his or her purpose. Doing this will familiarize students with what strong, clear, effective writing looks like, which will in turn help them improve their own writing. It will strengthen their vocabularies, sentence structure and variety, organization within written texts, balance of details, and use of rhetoric.
They will study the elements of rhetorical analysis, such as an author’s use of rhetorical appeals, the importance of an author’s diction and tone, and the significance of the audience and purpose for a text. Then, they will write rhetorical analysis of the texts they read in a variety of forms: in class ‘quick writes,’ timed writings, and two major papers. Among others, rhetorical analyses that students will write include an analysis of Rachel Carson’s diction in her text, “The Obligation to Endure,” and an analysis of Queen Elizabeth I’s use of rhetorical appeals in her text, “Speech to the Troops at Tilbury.”
After studying others’ arguments, students will begin to create their own arguments in the second unit. This will allow them to take the skills they observed and learned in the rhetorical analysis unit and apply them to their own writing. In this argument unit, it is important that students have a vast frame of reference from which to draw the basis for their arguments. Therefore, there will likely be more outside reading assignments in this unit, along with an expectation that students stay informed on current events and world issues.
Students will write original arguments in a range of contexts, as they did in the rhetorical analysis unit. They will write expository arguments in this unit, such as a definitional argument, where they will define a subject and explain its significance. Additionally, they will write argumentative responses to the ideas of others, such as the difference in the truth or subjectivity of morality discussed in Joan Didion’s “On Morality.” During this unit, we will also discuss how visual images, like political cartoons, can be used to convey, support, or refute an argument. As a whole, their writing assignments for this unit will include in class ‘quick writes,’ timed writings, several major papers.
Finally, in the last unit of study prior to the AP exam, students will learn how to write a synthesis paper. A synthesis essay requires students to use and analyze other writers’ texts as support for their own original arguments. Therefore, they will be utilizing both of the skill sets they developed from the two earlier units of study. They will be required to read and analyze others’ points of view before determining if that point of view supports or refutes their own original arguments. Additionally, in this unit, they will “read” visual images, such as graphs, tables, and charts, as possible support for their own positions. Sample AP synthesis prompts, such as the 2018 AP synthesis prompt, will be used to help students practice using visual texts as support for their own original arguments. The synthesis unit is saved for the end of the year because it is a culmination of the two preceding ones. Furthermore, the synthesis essay most closely resembles the type of essay students will be required to write in college, so it is important to make sure that they are confident in their abilities with this kind of writing.
The synthesis unit will have students write varying kinds of synthesis papers: timed writings, extended writings, and a final research paper. In the final research paper, students will choose topics about which they are passionate. Then, they will research to find arguable issues related to those topics. Through a synthesis of several primary and secondary sources, they will create their own positions on the arguable issues related to their topics and support their positions with credible evidence. All evidence used in this paper will be documented in accordance with Modern Language Association (MLA) standards. Throughout the research process, we will address how to properly cite various kinds of sources, including online articles, books, and visual sources. We will discuss in-text citations, parenthetical citations, Works Cited lists, and students will receive information from the Purdue Online Writing Library (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/) to further supplement their knowledge of these skills.
Class Readings
In this class, students will read a wide variety of nonfiction texts. The majority of the texts are personal essays, speeches, and letters. Each piece has been recognized as having significance and as worthy of study. Most of the personal essays come from the third edition of the book 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology, by Samuel Cohen. Many of the speeches used in the class are in the public domain, as most are given by former presidents. These speeches, in addition to those by historical figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., can be found at www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html. Finally, some of the texts students will read will be accessed through the AP Language and Composition free response items. These will be the texts that students analyze in the in class timed writings.
Some of the texts that students will read, among others, include:
- “Presidential Inaugural Address,” by President John F. Kennedy
- “Second Presidential Inaugural Address,” by President Abraham Lincoln
- “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation,” by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “I Have a Dream,” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Speech to the Troops at TIlbury,” by Queen Elizabeth I
- “The Perils of Indifference,” by Elie Wiesel
- “Once More to the Lake,” by E.B. White
- “A Modest Proposal,” by Jonathan Swift
- “Learning to Read and Write,” by Frederick Douglass
- “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” by Zora Neale Hurston
- “Superman and Me,” by Sherman Alexie
- “On Morality,” by Joan Didion
- “The Obligation to Endure,” by Rachel Carson
Writing Expectations
This class will be heavily based in writing and, because of this, will require students to complete numerous writing assignments. The instructions for writing assignments may differ based on the individual writing task, but in general, students will be expected to complete three different types of writing assignments.
At times, students will be asked to complete in class ‘quick writes.’ These will primarily be in the form of bell ringers or introductory writing pieces. They will be used to get students engaged in new materials or concepts, or to have students reflect on what they’ve learned from previous class discussions or lessons. Sometimes the prompts will be argumentative, such as, “Discuss and defend your personal stance on the so-called “Muslim Travel Ban,” and sometimes the prompts will be narrative, such as, “Describe a time in your life that you overcame a great obstacle.” The subject of these ‘quick write’ prompts and the type of writing they require (argumentative, narrative, expository, etc.) will depend largely on the text we’ll be reading. I will study the text of study for the day and determine what type of writing will get the students the most engaged to prepare them for the content of that text. These will mostly be ungraded assignments to simply give students practice writing.
Additionally, students will complete many timed writing assignments throughout each unit of study. These timed writings serve two main purposes. First, they will be used as formative assessments for each new skill the students learn. They will give the students a chance to showcase their writing abilities and prove that they have mastered the skills they’ve been practicing in class. Secondly, these timed writings will familiarize students with the AP Language and Composition Exam format. By using actual prompts from previous AP Language and Composition Exams and requiring students to write during the actual time limit mandated during the exam, they will feel more confident going into the exam and be better prepared to successfully complete the timed writing portion.
Finally, in this course, students will complete multiple full-length papers, approximately one per unit of study. These papers will be extended writing assignments, intended to give students a further opportunity to showcase their mastery of the skills they’ve been practicing. Major papers should be typed, double-spaced, with 12 point font. Page length requirements for these papers will vary depending on the individual assignment, but in general, it is understood that a minimum of two pages is expected. These papers are more formal than the ‘quick writes’ and timed writings; therefore, students should take care to use correct spelling and grammar. There may be some class time for students to work on writing these major papers; however, much of the work will have to be completed outside of class.
For many of the writing assignments, students will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit their work. They should take advantage of this as much as possible, as it has the potential to considerably help their grades. Additionally, all students will have the chance to meet with me individually to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their writing. These writing conferences are crucial in improving students’ writing abilities. The conferences allow for the chance to focus specifically on what the individual student needs.
For example, during a writing conference, I might discuss with a student how to improve his or her word choice to more clearly articulate his or her point, thus strengthening the student’s vocabulary. Another student might need help with sentence structure, so during his or her conference, we would address how to vary sentence lengths within a paper to more effectively communicate a message. Some students may struggle with organizational structure in their papers and need help during the writing conferences on how to use transition words to make their papers flow better. Some students may have trouble finding specific details or evidence to support their positions; this is another topic that could be discussed in an individual writing conference. Together, we can work through errors the student typically makes and ways to correct those errors.
However, it is the student’s responsibility to schedule these conferences. All students will have the opportunity to schedule a conference, and all students are encouraged to do so, but they must make individual appointments with me to discuss their writing. I will hold office hours for them to do this before school and after school. Before school office hours will be approximately thirty minutes long, from 7:20-7:50. After school office hours will be approximately one hour long, from 2:50-3:50.
Grading Policies
The majority of students’ grades will come from writing assignments. These writing assignments will be graded using the 9-point AP Language and Composition rubrics. During the rhetorical analysis unit, students will be evaluated based on the AP Language and Composition rhetorical analysis rubric. Similarly, during the argument unit, they’ll be evaluated based on the AP Language and Composition argument rubric, and during the synthesis unit, they’ll be evaluated based on the AP Language and Composition synthesis rubric.
These rubrics vary slightly in the skills they emphasize; however, in general, the breakdowns of these rubrics can be interpreted as follows:
- 9--100% A +
- 8--95% A
- 7--90% A -
- 6--85% B
- 5--80% B -
- 4--75% C
- 3--70% C -
- 2--65% D
- 1--60% D -
- 0--55% F
Of the three kinds of writing assignments that students will be expected to complete, the in class ‘quick writes’ will be ungraded, but timed writings and major papers will be graded. Timed writings and smaller papers will be worth less points than the major papers. In general, smaller writing assignments will be graded out of fifty points, and larger writing assignments will be graded out of one hundred. This may vary occasionally for a specific assignment, but overall, this grading scale will be the main one used.
For many of their assignments, students will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit their work, particularly if their first submissions didn’t showcase their best effort. In this situation, the re-submitted assignment will be evaluated using the same rubric from the original assignment, and if a student’s score improves, his or her new grade will replace the old one. If, for some reason, the score goes down on the second attempt, the higher grade will remain, and I will meet with the student privately to discuss what issues occurred in their writing to cause the grade to go down.
In addition to writing assignments, students may receive grades for other items, such as participation in a discussion, submission of a prewriting outline, or other things of that nature. In general, these grades will be mostly on a completion or participation basis. Their primary and most important grades will come from their pieces of writing.
Assessments
Every writing assignment that students complete will essentially be an assessment of their progress in the class. However, some of their writing assignments will be more specifically geared toward assessing their mastery of a particular skill. These are called formative assessments. For each skill we study, students will complete approximately 1-2 writing pieces that will allow them to practice mastering that skill. Then, most often through an AP timed writing prompt, students will complete a third writing assignment that will be used to determine whether or not they’ve mastered the skill they’ve practiced in the previous two assignments.
If a student has mastered that skill, he or she is deemed ready to move on to learn new material. Ideally, all students will have mastered each skill after practicing it several times. However, this is not always the case. For those students who don’t succeed on the formative assessments, intervention must take place to ensure that they do master the skill. I will hold individual conferences during my office hours with students who struggled on a previous assessment to determine where their weaknesses are. Then, we will develop a plan together to help them overcome those weaknesses. They will be given the chance to rewrite their papers, and, after discussing how to improve their writing with me, they will hopefully have mastered the skill. If for some reason they still struggle even after a second draft, we will continue to work together independently and come up with a new plan to help them succeed until they have mastered it.
Occasionally, there may be a skill that the entire class simply just doesn’t grasp. If that’s the case, I will make time to reteach that skill during my instruction and present it to the students in a new way. If all students do poorly on an assessment because of this, all of them will be given the opportunity to rewrite their papers after I’ve went over the skill again.
In addition to using AP timed writing prompts for formative assessments, students will complete a number of practice AP multiple choice items. These will not be graded, but they will be considered assessments. The AP multiple choice questions ask students to look at texts in a way that the writing prompts do not; therefore, it is essential that we practice them before the students take the AP exam in May. After going over the answers to the practice multiple choice items, I will look at students’ results to determine if there is an area or question that the whole class seemed to struggle with. Then, we will spend some time looking at the question and the skill that it tested. When we take the next practice multiple choice test, I’ll find a question that tests the same skill as the previous one did and compare the students’ results between the two. In this way, the multiple choice passages can be considered ungraded assessments.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is absolutely not tolerated. It is, in essence, stealing. There are two forms of plagiarism: indirect and direct. Indirect plagiarism is stealing an idea from someone else. Though a student may not have directly taken another person’s words, taking that person’s ideas without giving that person proper credit is still considered plagiarism. It is still considered cheating. Direct plagiarism is perhaps what a person more commonly thinks of when they think of plagiarism: directly stealing another person’s words and claiming them as one’s own. This includes copying something from the internet or from another student. Anytime that a student uses someone else’s words and attempts to pass them as his or her own words, that is cheating.
In order to avoid plagiarism, a student must give the original author credit for the words or ideas that the student is using in his or her paper. With proper citation of sources, any question of plagiarism can easily be avoided. In class, we will go over the correct way to cite sources using the MLA format, which is the standard format of college English classes. Students will also receive resources that can guide them through this sometimes tricky process. In general, if a student is unsure whether or not a citation is needed, it is always better to cite the source, just to be safe.
If a student is caught plagiarizing, they will be punished. The first time a student is caught plagiarizing, he or she will receive a zero for that assignment, and we will discuss why they received that grade privately. For the first offense, students will have the chance to rewrite that assignment for partial credit. If they choose not to rewrite their assignment within a specified time frame, that offer will no longer stand. They may not rewrite the assignment and submit it after the deadline that we previously agreed upon. If they do this, their assignment will not be graded, and their grade will remain a zero from the original assignment. If a student plagiarizes a second time, he or she will receive an automatic zero, and they will not have the opportunity to resubmit the work. Further conferences with parents or administrators can be held to discuss the issue as necessary.
Late Work
During the school year, students will undoubtedly miss some assignments due to absences caused by illness, school-related functions, or other reasons. Outlined below is my late work policy. I will strictly adhere to it.
If a student is unexpectedly absent, due to illness, a family emergency, or other things like that, he or she should contact me as soon as possible to let me know of the absence. Then, he or she will have the same number of class days to complete the make up work as the number of class days missed. Assignments will be due by midnight on the extended deadline.
That means, if a student wakes up sick and misses two days of class, he or she will have two days to make up that work. With block scheduling, here is what that scenario would look like: if he or she missed Monday and Wednesday, he or she will have Friday and Tuesday (of the following week) to make that work up. The work would be expected by midnight on Tuesday. If a student misses one day, a Tuesday for example, they will have one class day, Thursday, to make that up. The work would be expected by midnight on Thursday. If students do not turn in their late work by their midnight on their new extended deadline, any later submissions will not be accepted.
If a student misses class for some reason that he or she was aware of ahead of time, such as a school function, it is his or her responsibility to collect the missing assignments before he or she leaves. That work will be due by midnight on the same day that it will be due for students who were not absent. For example, if a student misses a day of class for a student council field trip on Wednesday, he or she is responsible for collecting that missing work. If the assignment’s original deadline was at the beginning of the next class meeting, on Friday, the absent student’s deadline would be by midnight on Friday.
If a student misses class for an extended school function, such as a state tournament for a sport, other arrangements can be made for that missing work. As those field trips are typically several days long, most likely what will happen is that I will give the student a list of everything he or she will miss during the multiple absences and simply give them one deadline for turning in all of that work.
If a student is not absent for any reason, but simply does not finish his or her work on time, a different procedure will be followed. That student will have until midnight the following night to turn the assignment in for partial credit. After that, it will not be accepted. So, this means that if a student was in class on Tuesday but simply didn’t finish the assignment, he or she will have until midnight on Wednesday to submit it for partial credit. After that, the work will not be accepted.
For extenuating circumstances, this policy can be adapted, but in general, I will follow it closely. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please feel free to email me or set up an appointment during my office hours.
Closing
I am so looking forward to teaching your child this year. I hope that together, we can do all we can to help your student succeed. If you have questions or need to contact me, please email me at [email protected]. If you would prefer to meet in person, please email me to set up an appointment during my office hours or at another time that is convenient. I am here to help your student grow and become the best he or she can be.