AP English Literature and AP English Literature and CompositionComposition

Getting from There to Here

MICDS MISSIONSTATEMENT

• MICDS Mission Statement•

• More than ever our nationneeds responsible men andwomen who can meet the

challenges of this world withconfidence and embrace allits people with compassion.

.

• The next generation mustinclude those who think

critically and resolve to standfor what is good and right.

• Ourindependenteducationprepares youngpeople forhigher learningand for lives ofpurpose andservice

Our school cherishes academic rigor,

encourages and praises meaningful individual

achievement

and fosters virtue.

MICDS MISSION FOCUSFOCUS

Generations X and Y

Millennial Divide: impossible to anticipate,and yet... Critical Thinking skills

Capacity for Virtue and Compassion in a Worldof Difference

Responsibility

200,000+ test in English Lit and CompTwo Parts of the Exam:

–Multiple Choice (Close Reading)–Essays (Two close reading, one thematic)

AP Program: World Wide

What you Receive on the Exam:

MC= 45% (1 Hour)Essays=55% (2 Hours)150 points Essays: scale of 1-9AP Grades: 1-5Skills testApplied KnowledgeNot Content Driven

What you receive on the Exam:

Critical Thinking SkillsResponsibilityVirtue?Compassion?A Chance to Compete!

What the Student Receives from this Course:

Literature Forces us to confront these Issues DirectlyReading and Writing Well are the practice of that confrontation

• Modern and Contemporary works are juxtaposed to works of the Ancient, Classical, Renaissance, Enlightenment/Neo-Classical, and Romantic periods

Literature for Critical Thinking

Thematically: The Relationship of Thematically: The Relationship of Polarities and Oppositions:Polarities and Oppositions:

•Male: FemaleMale: Female•civilization: wildernesscivilization: wilderness•East: WestEast: West•Apollonian:DionysianApollonian:Dionysian•Rationality:IrrationalityRationality:Irrationality•Tragedy: ComedyTragedy: Comedy•War: PeaceWar: Peace

•Tension?Tension?•Conflict?Conflict?•Exclusion?Exclusion?•Mutual Creation?Mutual Creation?•Harmony?Harmony?•Creative Creative Synthesis?Synthesis?

Thematic essayClose ReadingTimed EssayParagraph structuresSentence patterns (20)

–Knowledge of syntax IS important to this exam and to full discussion of literature

Pretty Good at Thematic DiscussionClose Reading Skills Need workSTYLE COUNTS!

Composition Skills: The Evidence of Composition Skills: The Evidence of Critical ThinkingCritical Thinking

•The Advanced Placement Exam•College...•“Real” World…Not just occupations…not just functional literacy•Magnanimity….(“Great Souled-ness”)

–Ability to see the limits and basis of one’s Ability to see the limits and basis of one’s point of view; ability to see the virtue in and point of view; ability to see the virtue in and reasons for other views, coupled with the reasons for other views, coupled with the ability to articulate one’s own reasons for ability to articulate one’s own reasons for actionaction

VIRTUE: the capacity to act on behalf of what is right

DIRECTION?