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Table of Contents

UNIT 1

Reading Literally and Figuratively

Workshop Focus: Characterization

GUIDED READING Shirley Jackson, Charles Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Stephen King, Here There Be Tygers Short Story

Workshop Focus: Time and Place

GUIDED READING Alice Walker, The Flowers Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Jesse Stuart, Another April Short Story

Workshop Focus: Plot

GUIDED READING Roald Dahl, The Landlady Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT King James Bible, Parable of the Prodigal Son Parable

Workshop Focus: Point of View

GUIDED READING Gary Soto, The Pie Memoir

PRACTICE TEXT Toni Morrison, Sweetness Short Story

Anonymous, The Seafarer Narrative Poem

Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses Poem

Frank Stockton, The Lady or the Tiger Short Story

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner’s Tale Poem

Washington Irving, The Devil and Tom Walker Short Story

Charles Johnson, Exchange Value Short Story

Workshop Focus: Establishing a Unifying Idea Through a Defensible Thesis Statement

STUDENT MODEL Preston Davis , Impulse, Ignorance, and Imminent Consequence Literary Argument

Focus: Establishing a Unifying Idea through a Defensible Thesis Statement

MODELED TEXT Hillary Jordan, from Mudbound Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT Charlotte Bronte, from Jane Eyre Excerpt

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE Della Owens, from Where the Crawdads Sing Excerpt

POETRY Martin Espada, Of the Threads That Connect the Stars Poem

Workshop Focus: Character Perspective and Bias

GUIDED READING Aimee Nezhukumatathil, On Listening Your Teacher Take Attendance Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Anne Bradstreet, Verses Upon the Burning of Our House Poem

Workshop Focus: Shifts and Contrasts

GUIDED READING Lisa Parker, Snapping Beans Poem

PRACTICE TEXT John Crowe Ransom, Janet Waking Poem

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols

Workshop Focus: Association and Emphasis

GUIDED READING Frank X. Walker, Death by Basketball Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Arisa White, It was easier to manage Poem

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Similes and Metaphors

GUIDED READING Amanda Gorman, In This Place (An American Lyric) Poem

PRACTICE TEXT e. e. cummings, she being Brand Poem

John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Poem

John Loomis, Deer Hit Poem

Hafissa Thompson-Spires, Fatima, the Biloquist: A Transformation Story from The Heads of Colored People Chapter

Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress Poem

Natasha Trethewey, Pilgrimage Poem

Sofia T. Romero, Cloud Nine Short Story

Workshop Focus: Justifying a Thesis through a Line of Reasoning

STUDENT MODEL Sophia Amstalden, Escaping Expectations Literary Argument

Focus: Justifying a Thesis Through a Line of Reasoning

MODELED TEXT William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Joy Harjo, Perhaps the World Ends Here Poem

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE W. E. B. Du Bois, from The Comet Excerpt

POETRY Walt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient Spider Poem

Workshop Focus: Static and Dynamic Characters

PRACTICE TEXT Sharon Cooper, Mistaken Identity One-Act Play

Workshop Focus: Social, Historical, and Cultural Contexts

PRACTICE TEXT Luis Valdez, Los Vendidos One-Act Play

Workshop Focus: Conflict

PRACTICE TEXT Michael Hollinger, Naked Lunch One-Act Play

William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice Drama

Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House Drama

Workshop Focus: Explaining Interpretation through Commentary

STUDENT MODEL Jilliam Skaggs, Character Analysis of Tom Jones Literary Argument

Focus: Explaining Interpretation through Commentary

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE Oscar Wilde, from A Picture of Dorian Gray Excerpt

POETRY John Murrillo, Enter the Dragons Poem

Workshop Focus: Characters in Conflict

GUIDED READING Juan A. Sedillo, Gentleman of Rio En Medio Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find Short Story

Workshop Focus: Mood and Atmosphere

GUIDED READING Jack London, Law of Life Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily Short Story

Workshop Focus: Archetypal Patterns

GUIDED READING Sarah Orne Jewett, A White Heron Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Malinda Lo, Red Short Story

Workshop Focus: Narrative Perspective

GUIDED READING  Jamaica Kincaid, Girl Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies Short Story

Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal Satirical Essay

Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron Short Story

Clint Smith, Counterfactual Poem

Alexander Pope, from An Essay on Criticism Poem

Colson Whitehead, Chapter 7 from The Nickel Boys Chapter

Anton Chekhov, The Bet Short Story

Workshop Focus: Creating Unity through Commentary

STUDENT MODEL Julia Luxon, Analysis of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Literary Argument

PREPARING FOR THE AP^® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Prose Fiction Analysis

Focus: Creating Unity through Commentary

MODELED TEXT Emily Brontë, from Wuthering Heights Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT N. Scott Momaday, from A House Made of Dawn   Excerpt

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE Ann Petry, from The Street Excerpt

POETRY Claude McKay, Harlem Shadows Poem

Workshop Focus: Form, Sound, Rhythm, and Rhyme

GUIDED READING Erick Didriksen, Sonnet XVIII Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Dorothy Chan, Ode to Chinese Superstitions Poem

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, And Symbols

Workshop Focus: Words and Images

GUIDED READING John Ciardi, Suburban Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Billy Collins, The Lanyard Poem

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Metaphor, Personification, and Allusion

GUIDED READING Robert Frost, Mending Wall Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Seamus Heaney, Digging Poem

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Poem

Mary Oliver, Singapore Poem

Herman Melville, nBartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street Novella

John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn Poem

Countee Cullen, To John Keats, At Springtime Poem

Italo Calvino, The Enchanted Garden Short Story

Workshop Focus: Creating Coherence through Transitional Elements

STUDENT MODEL   Teagen Ankerson, Analysis of "Thou Blind Man’s Mark" Literary Argument

Focus: Creating Coherence through Transitional Elements

MODELED TEXT George Herbert, The Collar Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Billy Collins, The Lanyard Poem

Multiple-Choice Questions

POETRY Toi Derricotte, Black Boys Play the Classics Poem

PROSE Barbara Kingsolver, from The Poisonwood Bible Excerpt

Workshop Focus: Contrasting Characters

PRACTICE TEXT Zora Neale Hurston, Spunk Short Story

Workshop Focus: Non-Linear Plots

PRACTICE TEXT Jesmyn Ward , Richie from Sing Unburied Sing Chapter

Workshop Focus: Narrative Tone and Bias

PRACTICE TEXT Viet Thanh Nguyen, Chapter 1 from The Sympathizer Chapter

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols

Workshop Focus: Symbols

PRACTICE TEXT John Irving, The Foul Ball from A Prayer for Owen Meany Chapter

Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Novel

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus Novel

Workshop Focus: Creating Purposeful Syntax

STUDENT MODEL Robert Dohrman, Darkness in a Changing Life Literary Argument

Focus: Creating Purposeful Syntax

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE Khaled Hosseini, from A Thousand Splendid Suns Excerpt

POETRY Naomi Nye, Hugging the Jukebox Poem

Workshop Focus: Character Change and Epiphany

GUIDED READING James Joyce, Araby Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Elizabeth Bowen, The Demon Lover Short Story

Workshop Focus: Contrasting and Changing Settings

GUIDED READING Doris Lessing, A Mild Attack of Locusts Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Chimamanda Adichie, Cell One Short Story

Workshop Focus: Narrative Pacing

GUIDED READING Saki, The Storyteller Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Sinclair Lewis, The Hack Driver Short Story

Workshop Focus: Reliable and Unreliable Narrators

GUIDED READING Truman Capote, Miriam Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minister’s Black Veil Short Story

Workshop Focus: Symbolic Settings and Motifs

GUIDED READING  Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper Short Story

Workshop Focus: Similes and Personification

GUIDED READING Edgar Allan Poe, Masque of the Red Death Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT Ken Liu, Paper Menagerie Short Story

Virginia Woolf, The New Dress Short Story

Robert Browning, My Last Duchess Poem

Octavia Butler, Bloodchild Short Story

 D.H. Lawrence, The Rocking Horse Winner Short Story

Li Young Lee, Hymn to Childhood Poem

Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis Novella

Workshop Focus: Writing Introductions

STUDENT MODEL Hannah Richards, Culture as Setting in The Handmaid’s Tale Literary Argument

Focus: Contextualizing Your Argument

MODELED TEXT Yaa Gysai, from Homegoing Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT Richard Wright, from Native Son Excerpt

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE Charles Dickens, from A Tale of Two Cities Excerpt

POETRY Percy B. Shelley, Ozymandias Poem

Workshop Focus: Irony and Paradox

GUIDED READING Anne Sexton, Cinderella Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Elaine Magarrell, The Joy of Cooking Poem

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, And Symbols

Workshop Focus: Ambiguity

GUIDED READING W.H. Auden, The Unknown Citizen Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Wallace Stevens, Anecdote of the Jar Poem

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Conceit and Allusion

GUIDED READING Edward Taylor, Upon a Spider Catching a Fly Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Haunted Oak Poem

T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Poem

Chen Chen, I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party Poem

Neil Gaiman, How to Talk to Girls and Parties Short Story

Teri Foltz, Manhunt One-Act Play

Janine Solursh, Forgotten Portraits Poem

Teresa Acosta, My Mother Pieced Quilts Poem

Workshop Focus: Writing Conclusions

STUDENT MODEL Tim Mollette, Kafka’s Implausible Reality Literary Argument

Focus: Making Connections

MODELED TEXT Jericho Brown, Prayer for the Backhanded Poem

PRACTICE TEXT Langston Hughes, The Weary Blues Poem

Multiple-Choice Questions

POETRY Crystal Wilkinson, O Tobacco Poem

PROSE Alex Haley, from Roots Excerpt

Workshop Focus: Character Complexities

PRACTICE TEXT  Katherine Dunn, Chapter 1 from Geek Love Chapter

Workshop Focus: Significant Moments

PRACTICE TEXT Ralph Ellison, Chapter 10 from Invisible Man Chapter

Workshop Focus: Narrative Complexities

PRACTICE TEXT Anthony Doerr, Chapter 3 from All The Light We Cannot See Chapter

Caryl Churchill, Top Girls Drama

Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Drama

Workshop Focus: Using and Citing Sources

STUDENT MODEL Katrina Ruiz, How Characterization Sparked the Women’s Movement Literary Argument

Focus: Considering Alternate Interpretations

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You? Short Story

POETRY William Cullen Bryant, Thanatopsis Poem

Authors

John R. Williamson

John R. Williamson is the Dean of K-12 Programs and Superintendent of Model Laboratory School at Eastern Kentucky University where he also continues to teach both AP® English courses. Prior to this role, John served as the Vice President of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for The College Board’s AP® Program where he led the transformation of all 38 AP® courses and exams, including both AP® English Language and AP® English Literature. For over 20 years John has led workshops across the country as an AP® faculty consultant and trainer. Additionally, he has experience as a reader and table leader for both AP® English exams. John has taught courses at all high school levels as well as both undergraduate and graduate courses in composition, rhetoric, linguistics, and literature.

Mary Jo Zell

A teacher for almost thirty years, Mary Jo Zell currently serves as the English department chair at Keller High School in Keller, Texas, where she teaches AP® English Language, AP® English Literature, and Dual Credit English. She is also an adjunct professor at Tarrant County Community College. She has been a reader and table leader for the AP® English Language Exam for the last 18 years. She served on the AP® English Literature Instructional Design Team and is an AP® faculty consultant who has conducted national and international workshops and summer institutes.

Elizabeth A. Davis

Elizabeth Davis has taught English for more than three decades for Round Rock ISD and College Station ISD, where she also served as English Department Chair for many years. She has been a reader for the AP® English Language Exam and served on the AP® Literature Instructional Design Team. For over twenty years, she has served as an AP® faculty consultant, conducting workshops in both AP® English Language and AP® English Literature.

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