Advanced Topics in Literature and Composition

Grade 12
Written By Peter Friedman

Advanced Topics in Literature and Composition
 Online High School Course

COURSE LENGTH:

Full Year (30 Sessions)

Course Overview

Advanced Topics in Literature and Composition is a full year (30 synchronous sessions) advanced level course. While not a requirement, the course is designed to allow interested students the opportunity to take the AP Literature and Composition Exam. This class focuses on the skills of active reading, critical thinking, and persuasive, concise writing. Students will be asked to explore texts’ language and structure as well as texts’ broader meanings and will be expected to guide discussions based on their observations and insights. The AP Literature test emphasizes close literary analysis of fiction, poetry, and drama from various time periods and cultures. This class prepares students for the AP exam’s multiple choice section and free response essays through the reading of novels, drama, and shorter works - including essays, short stories, and poems — and through the writing of expository, analytical, argumentative essays. Readings are centered around the themes of home and family; rebellion and conformity; identity and culture; and war and peace - themes that are not only helpful in preparing students for the exam but that also ask students to consider their own and others’ experiences in the world around them.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

  • Develop a keen understanding of concepts such as: character, setting, structure, style, themes, perspective, and figurative language

  • Explain how writers’ language and structure affect works’ broader meanings

  • Develop as effective critical readers equipped with a range of strategies to understand and interpret authors’ arguments and creative choices

  • Engage in effective in-class discussions, balancing speaking and listening to create productive learning environments

  • Write clear and concise expository, analytical, and argumentative essays that construct complex arguments and are supported by textual evidence

  • Engage with the revision process

Peter Friedman
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