This is the second semester of a two-semester course. This course provides high school students with college-level instruction in active, close reading, and analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of works of literary merit, students learn to consider how a work's style, figurative language, theme, and other literary elements contribute to its meaning and cultural significance. This approach to analyzing prose and poetry allows students to establish connections, make observations about textual details, and sharpen their understanding of these nuances through their own writing. This course will effectively prepare students for the AP Exam and learning beyond the exam by enabling them to read, analyze, and write about complex texts.
Prerequisites: AP English Literature and Composition (Sem 1)
Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...
- Analyze poetry, novels, and short stories and dramatic works in relation to plot, setting, theme, characterization, point of view, imagery, structure, motif, mood, stage direction, and narration
- Compose essays that meet the essay requirements of the AP Exam
- Compose literary analyses, prose analyses, literary arguments, and poetry analyses
- Engage in textual structure analysis
- Detect and avoid plagiarism
- Format a works cited page in meeting MLA style requirements
- Engage in research processes, including locating credible sources, outlining, and source citations
- Analyze works of literature in light of historical context
- Analyze and critique Shakespearean tragedies and comedies
- Make and analyze claims and lines of reasoning within essays
- Analyze and apply figurative language
- Analyze poetry in terms of syntax, tone, diction, imagery, figurative language, rhythm devices, sound devices, and comparisons
- Demonstrate preparedness for the AP Exam
Course Outline:
Module 5: Family
Module 6: More Than One Way
Module 7: Discovery
Module 8: The Irony
Module 9: Review and Exam
Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.
Additional Costs: Students will be required to provide their own copies of the some reading materials. The following titles are required reading (Students must provide their own copies of, or otherwise access, the following books):
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- One of the following:
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- *Post Office by Charles Bukowski
- The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
- Still Alice by Lisa Genova
- *Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
- Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami
- The Spanish Prisoner by David Mamet
- *The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- *Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Binti: The Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor [NOTE: This is a trilogy of novellas, so all three books would be the equivalent of one of the other choices.]
- *Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
- *Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
- *The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
- The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
NOTE: All of the above works have rhetorical merit for the AP English student; texts marked with asterisks (*) deal with mature subject matter or contain adult language or situations. If this is a concern for you or your family, please choose a different text from the list.
Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.
Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.
Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.
Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/
Lightweight devices such as Apple iPads, Google Chromebooks, and tablets have limited support for Java or Flash which still appear in a small percentage of our catalog. While FLVS does not offer technical support for these devices, FLVS is working to remove Flash from their remaining course content. Students will need extra work-around steps or alternate browsers to engage with some portions of those courses. FLVS recommends students have a Windows or Mac based computer available to complete coursework in the event that your selected mobile device does not meet the needs of the course. Fully supported Operating Systems for FLVS courses include Windows (10 or higher) and MacOS (11 or higher). Supported Browsers include the most recent versions of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari on devices that support Java and HTML5. Browsers need to be up to date, and some FLVS courses may require installation or enabling of the following Plug-ins: JavaScript enabled, Cookies enabled, Java installed. https://www.flvs.net/student-parent-resources/more/system-requirements
Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.
Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building and other forms of authentic assessments.
Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:
- Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
- Download and install software
- Use a messaging service similar to email
- Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
- Open attachments shared in messages
- Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
- Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
- Save a file as a .pdf
- Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
- Insert images or links into a file or html editor
- Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
- Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
- Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
- Use presentation and graphics programs
- Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
- Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
- Create and maintain usernames and passwords
Additional Information: The official course descriptions for Advanced Placement courses and information about their exams are located on the College Board site at a http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/descriptions/index.html.
Michigan Virtual prepares students in AP courses for the AP exam, but does not offer the exam test itself. It is the responsibility of the school or parent to register for a local administration of the AP exam.
There are required due dates in AP courses. The pacing of due dates in AP courses aligns to the completion of all lessons and required assignments and assessments prior to the national AP exam date related to this course title. The calendar of AP exam dates is published by the College Board (Exam Calendar).