• Class Course Goals and Rationale
     
    Literature provides a powerful way to investigate the complex issues surrounding what it means to be human and to develop more informed opinions about gender, generation, family, community, society, and culture. Surrounding this construct are political, historical, religious, and social influences that we will explore to better understand how such constructs challenge, complicate, bias, and/or support our own views of self and even our own individual and collective approaches to the reading selections.

    This course is specifically designed to lead us to a greater appreciation of fiction, poetry, and drama. AP English Literature is a full-year class and is designed to comply with the curricular requirements of a college-level course. Performance expectations are high. Students are also involved in intense preparation for the AP English Literature examination in May. The test is three hours long – one hour of multiple choice and two hours spent writing three essays (the Open essay, the Poetry analysis essay, and the Prose analysis essay). Students who score a three or above (out of five) may receive college credit for freshman English.

    Another central goal of this course is to strengthen our skills of reading, discussing, and writing about literature while providing each of you with a stimulating, open, supportive environment in which to interact with the literature.