Advanced Placement EnglishInformation for Sophomores

Which course is for me?

Which Do I Choose?English 11 Honors AP Language & Composition

GPA: 0.5 bump GPA: 1.0 bump

Credit: HS credit only (no opportunity for college credit)

Credit: opportunity for college credit or courses exemption

Focus:• American Literature• Argumentative writing• Some prep for SOL• Read and write frequently• Some independent learning

Focus:• Nonfiction• Argumentative & analysis writing• Develop writing & critical

thinking skills• Read and write frequently• Independent learning

Rigor: • Honors Common Assessment • English 11 Writing SOL• English 11 Reading SOL

Rigor:• College-level syllabus• AP exam-style assessments• English 11 Writing SOL• English 11 Reading SOL

Cost: none Cost: $86 per AP exam

Other ConsiderationsEnglish 11 Honors AP Language & Composition

• demonstrate strong performance for “A” grade

• balance extra-curricular with Honors course load

• absences somewhat impact content retention

• demonstrate superior performance for “A” grade

• balance extra-curricular with AP course load

• absences impact content retention

What about my long term plan?

Long Term Planning: AP Track

AP Literature & Composition AP Language & Composition

Skills:• careful reading and critical

analysis of imaginative literature• close reading of selected texts• explore how writers use language

to provide both meaning & pleasure for their readers

• consider a work's structure, style, and themes

Skills:• examine writer's purposes and

subjects• consider audience expectations• explore how generic conventions

and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing

• analyze the integration of multiple texts

• examine current events and historical impacts

Focus:• Fiction• Analytical writing

Focus:• Nonfiction• Rhetoric

Equivalent: College Introductory Literature Course

Equivalent: College Introductory Composition Course

Long Term Planning: AP Track

AP Literature & Composition AP Language & Composition

Read 1 novel each month outside of class Read 2 novels and 1 novella

Many short stories and poems read in class and outside of class

Many nonfiction articles (magazine articles from Time, Newsweek, Esquire, Shape,

Men’s Health, New Yorker, etc.) with emphasis on nonfiction analysis

Extensive practice in test-taking and writing

Analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an

author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques

At least 5 major essays per semester At least 8 major essays per semester

Many quizzes and projects Many quizzes and projects

College-level expectations (literature selection, independent work, analysis and

work product)

College-level expectations (article selection, independent work, analysis and

work product)

Nightly homework in addition to the novels Textbook readings nightly

Develop a wide-ranging vocabulary to appropriately and effectively write prose

Develop a wide-ranging vocabulary to appropriately and effectively write prose

Long Term Planning: AP Track

AP Literature & Composition AP Language & Composition

Reading Sample:

• Othello (William Shakespare)• Atonement (Ian McEwan)• Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen)• Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)• Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)• Life of Pi (Yann Martel)• A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)• Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller)• The Stranger (Albert Camus)• Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

(Tom Stoppard)• Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison)• Billy Budd (Herman Melville)• Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut)

Reading Sample:

• “No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch” (Ann Hodgman)

• “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” (Winston Churchill)

• “Learning to Read” (Malcolm X)• “Barbie Doll” (Marge Piercy)• “Being A Man” (Paul Theroux)• “High School Confidential: Notes on

Teen Movies” (David Denby)• “The Death of the Moth” (Virginia

Woolf)• “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain”

(Jessica Mitford)• Into the Wild (John Krakauer)• Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)• In Cold Blood (Truman Capote)