Ap English Literature Curriculum Analysis

12th Grade – AP English Literature: The AP English Literature curriculum involves a rigorous reading and writing schedule designed to reflect the amount of work students would experience in a college literature class. Over the course of the first quarter students read and studied poetry and short stories. There was a test on each genre, requiring students to practice thinking critically about literature and writing analysis in a timed setting. Selected poems covered British and American authors from the 1700s to the present. A dozen stories were studied in detail with students analyzing everything from figurative language to tone. In conjunction with their study of short fiction, the class also learned about several literary theories, choosing one to apply to a piece of short fiction of their choosing. Frequent AP-style essays were assigned throughout the marking period, some timed and some not; the topics were taken directly from previous AP Literature exams. The students also kept a response journal to document their responses to and analysis of the critical reading assignments; in addition to the assigned reading, each student also selected an additional author to study from a list of commonly referenced authors in the AP exam provided at the beginning of the school year. During the second and third quarters, they will use this additional reading as the basis for a lengthy research paper. …show more content…
In order to prepare them for college, students were given a long-term, but chunked, reading schedule and study guides to focus their attention when reading but were encouraged to work at their own pace to meet deadlines. Study guide review checked for basic plot understanding. Class discussions revolved around interpreting and analyzing the novel's symbolism and figurative language. Final assessments included a test and a choice of essay or creative