LA 3 - AP English Language and Composition (Period 5, 6)

This course serves to help students write effectively and read critically in courses across the curriculum and in their future personal and professional lives.  The course is organized according to the requirements and guidelines of the current AP English Course Description, and, therefore, students are expected to read, write, and speak rhetorically by identifying and applying the devices and elements of writing learned in this class.  Additionally, this course is designed to allow students to explore their own voice in writing and will, therefore, focus on practicing an array of writing styles (expository, argumentative narrative).  The literature in the course is organized by themes.  Most of the reading will be non-fiction and taken from the class text The Language of Composition (second ed.), along with other sources.  However, in some units, pieces of fiction that follow a similar theme will be integrated to build cultural and literacy awareness. Within each thematic unit, students will be exposed to various rhetorical devices and are expected to both identify and apply them. There will also be some generally grammar review and vocabulary enhancement activities incorporated into the class along with some principles for living - Thoughts of the Week - which will also be a partial component of your grade.