ADVANCED PLACEMENT LANGUAGE/COMPOSITION B

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  This is a college level course that focuses on critical thinking, reading, and writing through the study and discussion of narrative, expository, analytical, argumentative, and creative writing.  Emphasis will be placed on the student’s organization, personal and creative writing, research skills, discourse, vocabulary, reading, and control of language.  They will become skilled readers of pieces written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts. 

I.         WRITING

A.      Writing process
B.      Stylistic devices
C.      Audience
D.      Modes of discourse

1.       Description
2.       Narration
3.       Exposition
4.       Persuasion/Argumentation
5.       Analysis

E.       Types of Writing

1.       Personal
2.       Social
3.       Academic
4.       Business

II.       READING/LITERATURE

A.      Advanced Reading Strategies

1.       Textual detail

a)       Fact & opinion
b)       Main & subordinate ideas
c)       Conclusions

2.       Advanced Reading Skills

a)       Literal & inferential skills
b)       Logical sequences
c)       Hypothesis and outcomes
d)       Synthesis

B.      Representative contemporary and classical selections which reflect Advanced Placement Exam questions.

 III.     USAGE/GRAMMAR

A.      Sentence Structure
B.      Usage review
C.      Mechanics review

1.       Correct verb forms
2.       Punctuation
3.       Capitalization
4.       Possessives

D.      SAT II in Writing Strategies

 IV.    LANGUAGE/VOCABULARY

A.      Selected words from literary pieces
B.      Sadlier Oxford vocabulary words

1.       Connotation & denotation
2.       Context clues, prefixes, suffixes
3.       Analogies

C.      SAT vocabulary strategies

 V.      RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGY

A.      Research process

1.       Selecting topic
2.       Formulating questions
3.       Identifying key words
4.       Choosing sources
5.       Skimming
6.       Paraphrasing
7.       Note taking
8.       Organizing
9.       Summarizing

10.   Presenting

B.      On-line searches

VI.    SPEAKING/LISTENING

A.      Oral presentations

1.       Appropriate language
2.       Rational conclusions

B.      Class discussions

C.      Listening skills

1.       Note-taking
2.       Speaker’s purpose