AP Language and Composition

Language Cluster
What it means to READ: Unless otherwise specified, reading means READ 3 XS. 1st reading is for 1st impressions, things that really stand out. 2nd reading is for deeper annotation, using Aristotles triangle as a guide. 3rd reading is for yet another level of understanding and is done in conjunction with your rhetorical analysis sheet. What it means to WRITE: The expectation for all written assignments accompanying readings is 250500 words. Your answers should be thoughtful and complete, making specific reference back to the text as appropriate. Cite your references within your responses. In addition, create an annotated bibliography entry for each text. Annotated bibliography: Base Text Information (youll need to add specific authors and titles for each essay): Language Awareness, Essays for College Writers, 7th Edition. Editors: Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, Virginia Clark. New York: St. Martins Press, 1997. Follow this citation information up with 2-6 sentences that succinctly summarize the focus and function of the essay no need to repeat the author or title. This preserves a record of your interaction with the text whats important about it for a later essay assignment. Put a space between citation info and annotation. Prepare these as we finish each reading, adding each new entry alphabetically by authors last name, and finalize them before turning them in alongside your essay at the end of the unit.

For 9/3 READ Writing for an Audience, Linda Flower (46), Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing: Chapter 1 WRITE: Identify the intended audience for your movie review. Choose a different, focused (potentially comical) audience for your review. After taking into account the knowledge, attitudes, and needs of this group, rewrite the review for your new audience. Identify your audience clearly. For 9/5 READ: The Language of Composition: Appeals to Ethos, Logos, Pathos 4 Levels of Discourse Readings WRITE: Do the activities on pages 10 and 20 For 9/9 (11) AND READ: Coming to an Awareness of Language, Malcolm X

The Day Language Came into My Life, Helen Keller (16) AND The Meanings of a Word, Gloria Naylor (237) WRITE: Isolate a specific moment in which you remember language (written or oral) being specifically distinctive, instructive, memorable, or life changing. Record the details of that moment, focusing on the small and focused effect language has had in your own life. For 9/11 READ: Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language, Birk and Birk (177) WRITE: Option One - Selection: Review the paragraphs on Toddy the dog (180182). Choose a subject known to you and write three different paragraphs one a balanced representation, one a negatively slanted representation and one a positively slanted representation. Remember, the slant in this case depends on the selection of facts and not the use of charged language. OR Option Two Charged Words: Review the paragraphs on Corlyn (183184). Choose a subject and write two different paragraphs one negatively slanted, one positively slanted. Remember, the slant in this case depends on the use of charged language; all of the facts used need to be the same in both of your paragraphs. For 9/13 READ: Giving Things Names, S.I.Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa (108) AND Tongue-Tied, Maxine Hong Kingston (photocopy) WRITE: Write a response hypothesizing how the Hayakawas would respond to Kingstons understanding of her role as a Chinese girl and how Kingston would regard the Hayakawas explanation of the system of classification. For 9/17 READ: Politics and the English Language, George Orwell (199)

and The World of Doublespeak, William Lutz (187) WRITE: Orwell wrote this essay in 1946. Using examples from modern usages of language familiar to you, discuss whether or not the outcomes Orwell feared have come to pass. For 9/19 READ: Weasel Words, William Lutz (347) and Propaganda: How Not to be Bamboozled, Donna Woolfolk Cross (285) WRITE: Find an example of political propaganda in the print or online media that features several of the propaganda techniques highlighted in Crosss essay. Explain the use of propaganda in the text and its intended purpose. For 9/23 Annotated bibliography due. Plan for essay; presentation on synthesis writing For 9/26 For 9/27 In-class work time Language essay due

Language Essay Topics Choose one of the statements below or suggest a similarly meaty alternative. Think about the deeper implications of this statement and how it relates to the broad spectrum of our discussions. Write an essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies this statement. Use specific, appropriate evidence from multiple texts as well as your own personal observations to support your position. Your goal is to synthesize multiple sources of information (including your relevant personal experiences or observations ) for a thoughtful, sophisticated response to the statement. Language is the key to identity. Our understanding of reality is controlled through language. To understand our humanity, we must understand the language that defines that humanity. For an idea to exist, we must have words to express it. Life and thought shapes language OR Language shapes life and thought. Language is power.

The Death of English (LOL), by Lily Huang (NW) Be Specific, by Natalie Goldberg (SS100) English is a Crazy Language, by Richard Lederer (NS110) In Praise of the Humble Comma, by Pico Iyer (NS 254) (NS) The Norton Sampler, Short Essays from Composition, 6th edition, Edited by Thomas Cooley, W. W. Norton & Company, New York. 2003 (SS) Subject and Strategies, a Writers Reader, 9th edition. Editors, Paul Eschholz and Alfred Rosa. Bedford Press, Boston. 2002 (NW) Newsweek August 11, 2008

Scoring guide for essay

9 Essays meet the criteria for those that are scored an 8 and, in addition, are especially sophisticated in their argument and synthesis of sources, or impressive in their control of language. 8 EFFECTIVE These successful essays effectively synthesize multiple sources of information for a thorough, sophisticated development of a position on language. The argument is convincing, and the sources effectively support the students position. The writing demonstrates stylistic maturity by an effective command of sentence structure, diction, and organization. The paper is carefully prepared and reveals the writers ability to choose from and control a wide range of the elements of effective writing but is not necessarily flawless. 7 Essays meet the criteria for those that are scored a 6 but are distinguished by more complete or more purposeful argumentation and synthesis of sources, or a more mature prose style. 6 ADEQUATE These adequate essays synthesize multiple sources of information to develop a position on language. The argument is generally convincing, and the sources generally support the students position, but the argument is less developed or less cogent than the arguments of essays earning higher scores. Although occasional lapses in syntax and diction may be present, the writing demonstrates sufficient control of the elements of composition to present the writers ideas clearly. The paper has been prepared with necessary attention to the demands of the assignment. 5 These essays support their position by synthesizing sources, but their argument and their use of sources are somewhat limited, inconsistent, or uneven. The argument is generally clear, and the sources generally support the students position, but the links between the sources and the argument may be strained. The writing may contain lapses in diction or syntax, but it usually conveys the students ideas adequately. 4 and lower INADEQUATE These unsuccessful papers inadequately develop a position on language. They attempt to present an argument and support their position but they may misunderstand, misrepresent, or oversimplify either their own argument or the sources they include. Some sound observations may be made but support, when cited, is not suitably developed or the link between the argument and the sources is weak. The prose of essays may suggest immature control of writing. 2 and lower LITTLE SUCCESS These ineffective papers demonstrate little success in developing a position about the significance of language. These papers may be poorly written on several counts, featuring problems such as thin development, insufficient elaboration, or incoherence. Finally, these essays often reveal weaknesses in writing, such as lack of development or

organization, grammatical problems, or a lack of control.