AP Language and Composition Overview

Advanced English Placement Program Overview

AP Language and Composition is the fourth course in Racine Unified School District's Advanced Placement English Program.

Students begin in 8th grade by taking Advanced English. Upon entering high school, their next course is Pre-AP I, which is a broad sampling of literature and writing and an introduction to the High School AP English program. As sophomores, AP English students take Pre-AP 2 and are exposed to American Literature. This is the first weighted English Course offered by Racine Unified School District. During their junior year, continuing AP English students take AP Language and Composition, which attempts to focus on both World and British Literatures. This course also prepares students to take the AP Language and Composition Exam in May. Finally, as seniors, students have the opportunity to complete the Advanced Placement English Track by taking our AP Literature and Composition Course that not only provides a strong background for college, but also prepares students for the AP English Literature Exam available in May.

AP Language and Composition Overview

AP Language and Composition is a year-long course divided into two semesters of focus. One semester utilizes Holt, Rhinehart, and Winston's Elements of Literature: World Literature text book. With a possibility of nearly 3,000 years of literature to select from, this segment of the course only briefly introduces students to literature of major authors and world culture's. In my teaching of this course, I have chosen to focus on classic literature rather than contemporary literature in order to provide students with a foundation in works that are alluded to throughout history and our contemporary culture. Of course, I strive to use contemporary materials in order to excite students about the classics.

The next semester focuses on British Literature and limits our selection to a mere 1300 years. At this time we trade in our textbooks for Holt, Rhinehart, and Winston's Elements of Literature: Sixth Course. Some examples of the literature I attempt to expose students to during this semester includes: Beowulf, Geoffery Chaucer, Shakespeare's MacBeth, Gulliver's Travels, Wuthering Heights, and the Romantic Poets.

Throughout the year, we also use 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology to analyze non-fiction works for the rhetorical strategies authors use to present an argument. These essays also allow us to practice multiple-choice questions that follow the format given on the AP Exam. Of course, no composition course would be complete without ample opportunities to develop writing skills. In fact, 50% of the grade in the course is based on students' writing.

AP Language and Composition is flexible

I have been teaching this course since the 1999-2000 school year. In that time, I am constantly evaluating the material in terms of the interests and needs of the students. Some years I have moved through the literature very quickly and other years I have spent more time with each piece. In other words, each year I teach this course, it is a little bit different. While I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of literature and composition skills I have the ability to introduce in class (especially when looking at the AP, ACT, and SAT exams), I am also fortunate enough to have enough material to keep myself fresh.