Preparing for the AP Literature Exam, Grades 11-12
Understanding How and Why Literature Matters!
8 class sessions, 1.5 hours per class (12 hours of instruction)
January 14 - March 4
Tuesdays, 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. PST
Course Description:
Caution: Love of poetry, short stories, dramas, and novels and/or desire to create your own may be a side-effect of this course!
Students who may be planning to take the AP Literature exam will explore insight, tips, and strategies to help them get ready for their exam experience. We don’t always think picking apart an author’s creative effort is polite, but excellent literature survives the careful critic’s notice! If you already enjoy a healthy diet—or even binge—on fiction in any way (poetry, stories, etc.—not the film versions), find out how to explore the dimensions of literature in several ways. Pick up some suggestions about how to build your own “library” and enjoy how authors can move and entertain us.
Course Objectives: Deep dive into how authors write art
Instructor Biography:
Ilona Missakian has taught both high school AP courses and college English classes in Southern California, specializing in composition and rhetoric. Missakian infuses all courses with the strategies from the UCI Writing Project that promote students’ skills in reading and writing. Her recent activity in projects like i3 (Invention and Inclusive Innovation)--which embraces technology--and the Puente Project from U.C. Berkeley--which embraces culturally relevant content--have informed her approach to helping students shape their voices and craft effective communication. She has Master’s degrees in English and in Education, and a Ph.D. degree in Education, specializing in Language, Literacy, and Technology
Caution: Love of poetry, short stories, dramas, and novels and/or desire to create your own may be a side-effect of this course!
Students who may be planning to take the AP Literature exam will explore insight, tips, and strategies to help them get ready for their exam experience. We don’t always think picking apart an author’s creative effort is polite, but excellent literature survives the careful critic’s notice! If you already enjoy a healthy diet—or even binge—on fiction in any way (poetry, stories, etc.—not the film versions), find out how to explore the dimensions of literature in several ways. Pick up some suggestions about how to build your own “library” and enjoy how authors can move and entertain us.
Course Objectives: Deep dive into how authors write art
- Develop strategies to understand how authors use literary devices for impact and effect
- Understand key literary terms to identify them in writing and analyze how they support an author’s purpose
- Explore different types of literary techniques in poetry, drama, short stories, and novels written in English/in English translation
- Learn about strategies to generate an essay response in 40-minutes or less!
- Develop some writing skills for supporting analyses—from major concepts to the importance of just one word
- Practice skills of incorporating passages and examples into academic writing
- Find out why guessing is a good thing on AP Literature exam
- Discover tips for reading different literary genres so you can tackle exam questions and still appreciate the beauty and magic of fiction
Instructor Biography:
Ilona Missakian has taught both high school AP courses and college English classes in Southern California, specializing in composition and rhetoric. Missakian infuses all courses with the strategies from the UCI Writing Project that promote students’ skills in reading and writing. Her recent activity in projects like i3 (Invention and Inclusive Innovation)--which embraces technology--and the Puente Project from U.C. Berkeley--which embraces culturally relevant content--have informed her approach to helping students shape their voices and craft effective communication. She has Master’s degrees in English and in Education, and a Ph.D. degree in Education, specializing in Language, Literacy, and Technology