AP English literature — calls to action
Attend and be attentive.
Regular attendance and participation in discussion is the way to succeed in this class. The best way to retain an idea in your long-term memory is to discuss it. There will be ample opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas with your peers. For more on class participation, see below. Show up to class, listen attentively, talk when you hear something you don't agree with, try to have a little fun.
build grit.
cheat not thyself.
I expect you to be a man of integrity. Unless I give you specific instructions to the contrary, consult no sources other than the work we’re reading, a dictionary, the provided links, and my writing center. Do no Googling, and do no chatbotting. Ever. Period. Googling and chat-botting for knowledge or insights is a coward’s crutch and puts you at risk of dishonor and plagiarism. Remember, the penalty for plagiarism is severe: an F or a 0 on the assignment, depending on the severity of the offense. But the penalty for dishonor is still more severe: your own knowledge of your wrong. Conscience has sharp teeth.
Strake Jesuit has instituted an Academic Honesty policy, which clearly and concisely outlines the definition of and consequences for instances of academic dishonesty, including but not limited to: cheating on tests, sharing homework answers, and copying some or all of another person’s written work. I find plagiarism especially morally and professionally abhorrent; it is a violation of the mutual respect between teachers and students, scholars and researchers, as well as that between peers.
REVIEW COMMUNITY LIFE for what constitutes plagiarism. Be moral. Refer to the MLA Handbook regularly. One day, your life may be saved because you know proper MLA citation (I have a story.).
IGNORANCE IS NOT AN EXCUSE.
come prepared.
Bring your notebook, a pen, a pencil, and the current text(s) we’re reading. Your book is especially essential—without it, you’ll wander aimlessly during class. It’s important to take good notes. Come essay time, you’ll want to have thorough notes of what we’ve discussed in class.
earn your grade.
Major Grades: 70%
Minor Grades: 30%
The above, in total, counts as 80% of the semester grade. The remaining 20% is taken from the Final Exam. Students will receive a progress report every three weeks.
Major grades
Major grades are essays. All major grades will be assigned a maximum number of points that can be achieved. Your achieved point total will be added together and divided by the total possible to calculate the major grade portion of your average.
Each essay (unless indicated otherwise) must be submitted as a hard copy and to Turnitin.com by 8:00 AM CST on the day it is due. You are asked to enroll in the following course by going to turnitin.com:
AP Literature ID: 39619465
Password: Magis
Minor grades
Quizzes on the previous night's reading will always be in written form, and will count for 30% of your semester grade. They will not be announced. Quizzes will be assigned a maximum number of points you can achieve. Your achieved point total will be added together and divided by the total possible to calculate the quiz portion of your grade. Gather ye points while ye may.
In case of absence, quizzes will be made up outside of class within one week of when the student returns to school. Students must make arrangements with me for make-up quizzes. It is your responsibility to get in touch with me regarding make-up tests and quizzes. If you do not take the quiz within five class days of your return, you will receive a zero.
Vocabulary quizzes will occur on each Day 1 or 2 throughout the semester, and with the exception of the summer reading, will cover the words from the text we’re about to read. I’ll post under “What’s Due?” the dates of upcoming vocabulary quizzes in good time.
e-mail sparingly.
My preferred method of communication is a face-to-face conversation. The vast majority of e-mails I get from students could and should be dealt with in person, at the end of class. If you receive no response to an e-mail you sent, do not take it personally: It just means you and I can deal with the matter the next time we’re together on campus. When I’m on campus, I work with my students; when I’m at home, I work on my class preparation and the grading of your essays. It’s important to me that those two remain separate.
NOTE: I do not acquiesce to night-before-the-final-paper-is-due e-mailed extension requests. If you need an extension, talk to me in person and with ample time before the due date. Be proactive; plan ahead.
If you do decide to send me an e-mail, I expect it to be appropriately formatted. And, please, by no means send me an attachment with no message. I delete those.
focus on learning.
Focus on contributing an insight in class each day no matter how reticent you are. Be prepared to defend each and every thing that you say with verifiable evidence from the text. If you decide to open your mouth in class, be prepared to defend yourself.
Focus on beginning your process essays early. Build in time to meet with me, to fully think through your ideas, to go back and revise. You owe it to yourself as an active learner to do your work the right way. So get to work. Here is the grindstone…
Focus on what’s in front of you. You now have access to all of your grades online whenever you'd like to see them. This is a privilege I expect you to treat responsibly. You cannot go back and change the past; therefore, I do not allow you to redo work or submit things after the grace period or drop a low grade. What you can change is the way you approach your future work. Again: Focus on what’s in front of you.
A few more simple rules to help you focus on learning:
(1) Use the restroom and get your water before class.
(2) If you’re absent, ask a peer what you missed and what you need to make up.
(3) Want to meet with me? Done. You got it. No e-mail exchange necessary. Just pop in. I’ll enjoy the surprise.
(4) No screens in my classroom. Ever. So, put your phone and iPad in your bag. In my classroom, you’ll be a person.
george saunders more.
hold me accountable.
For my part, I will be prepared for class, return all work in a timely fashion, give ample notice for long-term projects and upcoming tests, update the class website often, and respect every student for his individuality and intrinsic value. I care very much about helping you to become fine-tuned readers and writers. I will be available in my office during the day when I am not teaching from 7am-4:30pm.
My office is in Zinnamon Hall, room 8105, though I am often in my classroom, room 4321. Find me.
let your face light up.
make time.
Make time to meet with me. One of the best way to improve your writing is to meet with me during community time, after school, or during a mutual free period. You should never submit a final essay without having talked to me at least once.
Make time to write your essays. Writing takes imagination, an open mind, and hard work, and redrafting. If you want to write something you’re proud of, begin the process early.
participate.
In AP Lit, there is no numerical grade for your participation, but, at the end of the semester, I use your collective participation throughout the semester to adjust your semester grade in the grade book.. Please be aware that speaking ad nauseum in class does not necessarily yield a high participation grade. Likewise, if you are one who rarely speaks, this may not mean you will receive a low participation grade. A good participation grade is achieved through actively listening to and engaging with whoever may be speaking in class, contributing to the online forum on the course website (when required), asking good questions of one another, participating in small group work, coming to class prepared, and conducting one’s self in a manner suitable to fostering a welcoming and productive academic environment.
put away your iPad.
The school's acceptable use policy can be found here. In my classes we will rarely use the iPads. To that end, you are expected to bring your iPad to class everyday in case we need to use them, but until I ask you to take them out, you are to keep your iPads in your bags at all times. They are a useful tool, but we still need to be annotating our hard copies of texts with a pen or pencil. You are required to have hard copies of all texts. There are no exceptions.
I will aggressively seek out the maximum punitive measure for any student who records any audio or video of any lecture or class discussion without prior consent of the instructor. Consider this to be your warning.
Read.
Do tonight’s reading… tonight! There is a hefty reading load in AP Lit, especially at the beginning of the year. It would behoove you to stay on top of your nightly reading. All readings, long-term assignments, and due dates will be posted on this website. You should consult this site DAILY.
You’ve signed up for a course in literature. There’s going to be quite a lot of reading. Be ready for that. Reading takes time. You cannot get by in this class by cutting corners. Read well, annotating your text and taking notes. You read well to prepare for class and to prepare for writing essays. The more you read, the better you’ll be able to think.
stay informed and ask why.
“Literary texts of merit studied in the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition classroom are complex, higher-level texts which may contain mature content and themes. ‘Mature content’ may include, but is not limited to, pervasive strong language, disturbing violence and behavior, sexual acts, drug/alcohol use or references, or controversial content or themes. These books are selected based on their literary merit and will be studied through their historical and cultural context. Our instructional purpose is to expose students to perspectives unlike or in opposition to their own in order to analyze complex themes and to promote individual reflection, academic growth, and global empathy. The instructor of this course in no way endorses or promotes the ideas present in any text selected for student study- all views expressed in this course are those of the authors, poets, and playwrights who crafted the texts.” (College Board, 2021)
submit . . . on time.
All written assignments go to turnitin.com by 8:00 AM on the date the assignment’s due. You’ll turn in a hard copy of each assignment during class.
Essays not submitted as hard copies during class AND to turnitin.com by 8:00 AM will be considered late. Delinquent students will have a 1-week grace period to submit the essay but will have 20 points taken off the top. Essays not submitted within 1-week of the original due date will receive a 0.
take criticism.
The feedback I give you on your essays takes a lot of my time. I expect you to read through the comments I leave. Whenever you have questions about the comments, come by and see me, and we can work through the essay together. But you should also be critical of your own work. Don’t immediately be defensive of your work just because you don’t like the grade. Take the criticism and learn from it for next time. Go back and read your essay again with fresh eyes once it’s been returned to you, and try—really try—to notice its strengths and shortcomings.
trust virginia woolf.
“The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions. If this is agreed between us, then I feel at liberty to put forward a few ideas and suggestions because you will not allow them to fetter that independence which is the most important quality that a reader can possess. After all, what laws can be laid down about books? The battle of Waterloo was certainly fought on a certain day; but is Hamlet a better play than Lear? Nobody can say. Each must decide that question for himself. To admit authorities, however heavily furred and gowned, into our libraries and let them tell us how to read, what to read, what value to place upon what we read, is to destroy the spirit of freedom which is the breath of those sanctuaries. Everywhere else we may be bound by laws and conventions-there we have none.”
write.
English class means writing. The single most important way to improve your writing is to do it more frequently. If you want to get better, you have to write essay after essay after essay. And that’s what we’ll do in this class. If you want to get better, make time to conference with me. Your essay grades reflect the quality of the content, the style, and the mechanics. These I will teach you using models throughout the year. Use the writing center to understand better what it is I’m asking you to do in your essays.
Understand that writing is very, very hard. It’s going to take time for you to improve. Don’t expect instant results. Stay the course and improve in little ways along the way. No one said this would be easy.
You should never submit a final essay that you have not had me look at in some form. I will sit with you and discuss your argument. I will read intros. I will read drafts. I will do whatever I can to help you.