Appendix A: Implementing Common Core State and College Board Standards
Both the Advanced Placement English Literature and the AP English Language courses must address curricular requirements set forth by the College Board. Additionally, they must satisfy the Common Core State Standards (CCSS or Standards) for English-Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Studies. Though not the only ones applicable, the primary standards specific to this unit are:
College Board: While the focus of the AP English Language and Composition course is “the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts,” students in AP English Literature will “focus[] on reading, analyzing, and writing about imaginative literature (fiction, poetry, drama) from various periods.” Because this unit deals with both types of literature, it can be modified to fit the focal needs of each course and classroom situation. For Language, court opinions are not typical non-fiction; however, they do meet the requirements that texts be persuasive and possess a specific rhetorical situation. In Literature, both Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich appear as “representative authors” in the course description. With both works, students will “they read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand [the novels’] complexity, to absorb [their] richness of meaning[s], and [] analyze how [those meaning[s] [are] embodied in literary form.” Both novels will provide students ample opportunity to “reflect on the social and historical values [the novels] reflect[] and embod[y]’ through [c]areful attention to both textual detail and historical context provides a foundation for interpretation, whatever critical perspective are brought to bear on the literary works studied.” The writing requirement is satisfied through literary response essays as well as by keeping the journals and annotating.
CCSS Reading Comprehension: By reading and annotating the court opinions, students will analyze “both the features and the rhetorical devices” used and the “way[s] in which authors use those features and devices” (2.1), “the way in which clarity of meaning is affected by the patterns of organization, …syntax, and word choice…” (2.2), and the “implicit and explicit philosophical assumptions and beliefs about a subject” (2.5).
CCSS Literary Response and Analysis: This standard requires that “[s]tudents read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science.” Through class discussions and journals of both novels, students will engage in analysis of “the way[s] in which the theme[s] or meaning[s] … represent[] a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support” their claims (3.2).
CCSS Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics): The culminating project will require students to “[d]eliver reflective presentations [that] [e]xplore the significance of personal experiences, events, conditions or concerns, using appropriate rhetorical strategies” (2.1(a)). Additionally, class discussions requires students respond verbally to literature” and “[d]emonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas of literary works.”
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