Hello future AP Language & Composition Students,
My name is Mrs. Fietkiewicz and I will be your English teacher next year! I am looking forward to meeting you all! You currently are enrolled in AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION for the 2022-2023 school year. If this was sent to you out of error, please contact your guidance counselor as soon as possible.
AP Language & Composition is different from any previous English course you have taken thus far. In this course, you will read and analyze mostly non-fiction texts. Through non fiction, we will be examining RHETORIC, the art of effective or persuasive writing and speaking. You will learn how to examine rhetoric and ultimately become more persuasive and effective writers and speakers. Disclaimer: this is a college course and is pretty intense. This is a writing course–there will be a lot of essays. Even though this is a pretty challenging class, the skills that you will learn will benefit you in college and beyond. At the end of the course, there will be two major exams: the AP Language & Composition Exam & the NYS English Regents Exam. If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to email me before the school year is over.
In preparation for next year, you will complete two summer assignments. One is to review and study pre-requisite terms. The second is to read and analyze the book Just Mercy (Adapted for young adults version), by Bryan Stevenson. See bottom of this page for specific directions.
Lastly, you will need a few supplies for this course.
Supplies:
- Notebook
- Pocket folder
- pen/pencils
- post it notes
- Princeton Review AP English Language & Composition Premium Prep, 2022 ISBN-13: 978-0525570615;ISBN-10: 0525570616) *You can purchase this on Amazon*
I hope you all have a wonderful summer. Again, if you have any questions please reach out before the end of this school year (efietkiewicz@westgenesee.org). I look forward to meeting you all!
Assignments:
REVIEW the literary terms and parts of speech on the back of this page. Please make study cards to assist you in this process. By the end of the year, you will have a plethora of study cards to help you with the exam review. You will be tested on the definition of those terms within the first few days of school.
READ & STICKY NOTE ANNOTATE Just Mercy (Adapted for young adults), by Bryan Stevenson. As you read, search for the rhetorical argument that the book presents, specifically in regards to race, equality, and justice. Use post-it notes to annotate the novel and mark sections that you find particularly significant because of their use of language, literary devices, thematic statements, etc. Don’t merely focus on plot. These notes will be helpful to you as we discuss the novel in the first weeks of school. You should also expect a writing assignment based on your reading of the text in the first weeks of school. Please do not rely on Spark Notes or other such aids to help you with your analysis and interpretations–I want to know what YOU think and YOU notice about the text.
Know these terms and part of speech:
Allegory
Juxtaposition
Alliteration
Metaphor
Allusion
Metonymy
Ambiguity
Narrative
Analogy
Oxymoron
Anecdote
Paradox
Colloquialism
Parallelism
Connotation
Personification
Denotation
Prose
Diction
Simile
Symbolism
Genre
Synecdoche
Figurative Language
Syntax
Hyperbole
Theme
Imagery
Tone
Inference
Invective
Irony (3 kinds!)
Euphemism
Noun
Pronoun
Verb
Adverb
Adjective
Preposition
Conjunctiong
Interjection
Simple
Compound
Complex
Declarative
Interrogative
Exclamatory
Imperative
Hortative