Seventh Grade
Language Arts
Grammar
Capitalization rules
Punctuation rules
Kinds of sentences and diagraming
Eight parts of speech and their uses
Diagraming eight parts of speech
Sentence structure
Composition
The writing process
Outlining
The library
Summaries
Book reports
Research paper
Writing style
Letter writing
Vocabulary, Spelling, Poetry:
Vocabulary lessons
Weekly spelling lessons
Eight poems memorized
Literature
Reading for enjoyment stories and poems by such authors as Frost, Dickinson, Kipling, Bunyan, Alcott, Luther, Dickens, Defoe
Eighth Grade
Language Arts
Grammar
Capitalization rules
Punctuation rules
Kinds of sentences and diagraming
Eight parts of speech and their uses
Diagraming eight parts of speech
Sentence structure
Composition
Manuscript form
The writing process
The library
Outlining
Summaries
Book reports
Paragraphs
Descriptions
Research paper
Writing style
Vocabulary, Spelling, Poetry:
Vocabulary lessons
Weekly spelling lessons
Nine poems memorized
Literature
Reading for enjoyment stories and poems by such authors as Stuart, Whittier, Longfellow, Frost, Browning, Hawthorne, Sandburg
Ninth Grade
Language Arts:
Grammar
Capitalization rules
Punctuation rules
Kinds of sentences and diagraming
Eight parts of speech and their uses
Diagraming eight parts of speech
Sentence structure
Composition
Manuscript form
Writing process
The library
Outlining
Pracis Book reports
Paragraphs
Exposition
Writing letters
Character sketch and type sketch
The research paper
Improving writing style
Vocabulary, Spelling, Poetry
Vocabulary lessons
Weekly spelling lessons
Ten poems memorized
Literature
Classics on the following themes: truth and wisdom, courage, humility, justice, temperance, beauty, joy and peace, faith and hope, love, and time and eternity
Reading for enjoyment stories and poems by such authors as Whittier, Bryant, Tennyson, Hale, Keats, Milton, Rossetti
Tenth Grade
Language Arts
Grammar
Capitalization and punctuation rules, kinds of sentences and diagraming, eight parts of
speech and their uses, diagraming eight parts of speech, sentence structure,
dictionary skills, usage and diction
Composition
Paragraphs, exposition, the library and research paper, outlining, improving writing style,
book reviews, précis, character sketch and type sketch
Vocabulary, Spelling, Poetry
Vocabulary lessons
Weekly spelling lessons
Ten poems memorized
World Literature
Classics by such authors as Dickens, Browning, Millay, Holmes, Poe, Doyle, Yeats, Tolstoy, Herbert
Introduction to art appreciation
Introduction to literary terms and forms: short story;
narrative poetry; plot; imagery and
figurative language; theme; rhyme and rhythm;
emotion; fixed, continuous, and free form poetry;
paradox; setting; point of view; tone
Major works in historical order
Authors such as Homer, Aesop, Virgil, Foxe, Huss, Luther, Milton, Bunyan, Newton, Machen
Complete novel: Silas Marner
Complete play: Julius Caesar
Eleventh and Twelfth Grades
Composition and Literature
Students will write expository, analytical, and argumentative papers in response to a variety of prompts. Students will write in the following modes: descriptive, narrative, persuasive, and expository. Literature will include American and British authors in a variety of genres including short stories, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Advanced Placement English Literature:
Advanced Placement British Literature is a college-level course with a curriculum set by the College Board. From the College Board:
An AP English Literature and Composition course engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style, and themes as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. The course includes intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit. Reading in an AP course is both wide and deep. This reading necessarily builds upon the reading done in previous English courses. In their AP course, students read works from several genres and periods—from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century—but, more importantly, they get to know a few works well. They read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form.
Writing to understand a literary work may involve writing response and reaction papers, along with annotation, freewriting, and keeping some form of a reading journal. Writing to explain a literary work involves analysis and interpretation and may include writing brief focused analyses on aspects of language and structure. Writing to evaluate a literary work involves making and explaining judgments about its artistry and exploring its underlying social and cultural values through analysis, interpretation, and argument.
In short, students in an AP English Literature and Composition course read actively. The works taught in the course require careful, deliberative reading. And the approach to analyzing and interpreting the material involves students in learning how to make careful observations of textual detail, establish connections among their observations, and draw from those connections a series of inferences leading to an interpretive conclusion about a piece of writing’s meaning and value.
Since AP students have chosen a program that directly involves them in college-level work, the AP English Literature Exam depends on a level of maturity consistent with the age of twelfth-grade students who have engaged in thoughtful analysis of literary texts.
Writing is an integral part of the AP English Literature and Composition course and exam. Writing assignments focus on the critical analysis of literature and include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays. Although critical analysis makes up the bulk of student writing for the course, well-constructed creative writing assignments may help students see from the inside how literature is written. Such experiences sharpen their understanding of what writers have accomplished and deepen their appreciation of literary artistry. The goal of both types of writing assignments is to increase students’ ability to explain clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what they understand about literary works and why they interpret them as they do.