Course Syllabus
AP Language and Composition Syllabus and Expectations
Mrs. Anderson 2026-2027
Room 231 Orange and Blue blocks
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., A block Day 1 or by appointment
“A word after a word after a word is power.”
—Margaret Atwood, “Spelling”
Course Description
Advanced Placement Language and Composition, designed for motivated students who enjoy studying the complexities of language, mirrors the instruction of an introductory college composition course. Successful AP Language and Composition students will work independently and consistently inside and outside of class, learning to recognize, appreciate, and use the tools of rhetoric. Students will read and write essays, examining and demonstrating the skills needed for rhetorical analysis, argumentation, and synthesis. Students will regularly engage in timed, in-class writing. Readings for the course will be selected from a variety of nonfiction essays and articles and may include titles such as Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue,” Frederick Douglass’s “Learning to Read and Write,” and George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant.” This course will prepare students for the AP Language and Composition exam in the spring.
Texts
The Language of Composition. Shea, Aufses, Scanlon, Harowitz, Cordes, and Escobar.
50 Model Essays, Samuel Cohen
Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
The Fire Next Time James Baldwin
Macbeth William Shakespeare
Selected poems and essays from current newspapers and magazines.
Workload
Homework
There will be regular reading homework each night followed by regular reading quizzes each class on. You may occasionally request a quiz postponement, but you must make up a postponed quiz within two weeks. Make-ups will take place during one of my regular office hours.
Vocabulary
You will have weekly Membean homework assignments as well as quarterly Membean quizzes.
Writing
As we are a preparatory class for the AP Language and Composition standardized test, you will write most of your essays as timed, in-class exercises. These essays will be written, edited, and drafted within the same hour. There will be formative (practice) essay assignments, on which I will provide feedback, followed by summative (final) essay assignments.
Presentations
Presentations must be turned in on Canvas by the due date and time. The scores of presentations turned in any time after the specific due date and time will be reduced by 10%. The scores of presentations that are not ready to be delivered when the student's turn comes will be reduced by 10%. If the student has an unexcused absence when their presentation turn comes up, the presentation score will be reduced by 10%.
Communication
Canvas and PowerSchool
- I post assignments in Canvas, and you turn in all work—even work drafted by hand—on Canvas.
- Look to PowerSchool (not Canvas) for the complete record of grades, as not all assignments are graded in Canvas.
- I will provide feedback on papers, presentations on Canvas or on paper.
- I will grade Membean study from the Membean website and I will post those grades in PowerSchool weekly.
- I will grade Membean on the Membean website and post those grades in PowerSchool within a week.
- I will post a participation grade in PowerSchool at the end of the quarter. Students who are unsure of how they are doing in participation may meet with me for feedback during office hours.
Email and Announcements
If I am absent, I will post the day's assignment and its due date on Canvas along with a Canvas announcement. Set your notifications accordingly.
I will send individual communications to your Wellesley Raiders email account; check it regularly.
Grades
Each quarter grade will be calculated as follows:
- Major Assessments (papers, presentations, and projects) = 60%
- Homework (e.g. reading quizzes, weekly Membean assignments) = 20%
- Participation (e.g. completion of Do Nows, positive engagement in class, etc.) = 20%
Quarter 1, Quarter 2, Quarter 3, Quarter 4 are each 25% of Year 1 Grade
Accommodations
Please be proactive about communicating with me about any accommodations to which you are entitled.
District accommodations (DCAP)Links to an external site. are available to all students, and in the 26-27 school year, WHS is committed to moving this forward with fidelity.
While some accommodations can be offered at the moment, others require advanced notice.
For example: Extended time on an in-class assessment is a collaborative decision made by the teacher, student, and family to meet individual student needs. The WHS guideline is up to 25% extra time. This accommodation relies on proactive student communication prior to the date of the assessment. The student and teacher must establish how the accommodation will be provided.
Integrity
Respect yourself, respect others, and take responsibility for your actions. Cheating shows a lack of respect for self and for others. Shortcuts—such as using AI in any capacity, consulting online book summaries, or asking a friend to copy their homework—is cheating. If you are unprepared for a quiz, or if you are about to miss the deadline for a paper, accept your responsibility by speaking to me honestly and accepting the consequences. Familiarize yourself with the Wellesley High School Academic Integrity Policy on page 47 of the 2026-2027 WHS Student Handbook. Do not be tempted by the great pressures on you to look for another way out of doing your own work and doing it honestly.
Unless an assignment says so explicitly, you are not to use AI or outside sources of any kind for your work in this class. Your name at the top of the paper, test or quiz is a declaration that the work you are handing in is yours and only yours. When an assignment does call for an outside source, you must cite your sources accurately. If you use the ideas or the words of another and you do not cite your source, you are falsely claiming those ideas as your own, and that is plagiarism. Remember that unintentional plagiarism is still plagiarism and the consequences of plagiarism are serious.
Course Summary:
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