Coleman, Kelly (English)

Advanced Placement Literature and Composition 

Ms. Coleman 

Nine Week Plan 

Kelly.Coleman@lcps.org 

As noted by Ovid, “[n]othing, unless it is difficult, is worthwhile”.  This statement is meant to elicit a variety of responses.  Responses, thought, analysis, writing, decision making, problem solving, and interpretation are the backbone of the AP English course.  This class relies on discussion, your discussion of the texts we read.  Discussion is required of all students in the class, and discussion must always move forwards, must always respond to what the other class members have said, must not repeat or restate, and must bring out your ideas, convictions and analyses.  

Your goal in AP English is to own the works of literature which we have studied and discussed and form your own understanding of these works.  To be very successful in this class, you must go beyond the discussion to your own understanding.  Achieving this goal requires time and effort in addition to that spent on class assignments.   

Class Conduct 

·                Attendance will be taken each morning as students come into the classroom.  You must arrive to class on time. 

·                After the first day, you will have assigned seats.  As the school year goes on, that may change.  

·                Unless I state otherwise, there is a strict no cell phone policy.  

·                Be prepared to participate.  In order to participate, you need to keep up with the reading and assignments. 

·                You will need to bring your textbook to class more often in the first quarter than any other quarter.  I will let you know when you need to bring your book. 

·                Homework and papers are due at the start of class. As this is a college level class, I expect assignments to be turned in on time.  There will be a deduction of 10% for every day an assignment is late. 

First Day 

Please bring a 3 ring binder, loose leaf, Doctor Faustus, and your summer assignment.   

Required Texts 

In order to read critically, it is important that you annotate your texts.  Please locate copies of the following texts.  If you are having difficulties locating a text, please let me know. 

Note:  If you want me to look over a college essay, please have it ready for the first week of class.  For two years, I worked in the Admissions Department of the University of Pittsburgh reading college essays.  I would be happy to provide constructive criticism on how to strengthen your essays. 

On two separate occasions, you will need to plan to stay after school in second semester in order to take a full practice test of the AP Literature Exam.  Dates will be picked in January