English IV - Advanced Placement Literature and Composition - Course Description and Curriculum Outline

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aurora

Revised August 2021 curriculum overview for Summit High School Grade 12 English IV—Advanced Placement Literature and Composition, detailing a full-year course focused on careful reading and critical analysis. Students examine individual literary works through characters, action, structure, and language, analyzing form, theme, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. Regular writing emphasizes analytical, argumentative, and imaginative pieces, building distinctive academic voices in writing and speaking. Course objectives align to reading standards and include essential questions, enduring understandings, and instructional focus with example texts and assessment outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time46 min

AccessFree to download

Anchor Standard—Reading: Text Complexity and the Growth of Comprehension

Key Ideas and Details

Craft and Structure

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

Big Ideas: Course Objectives / Content Statement(s)

Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings

Areas of Focus: Proficiencies (Cumulative Progress Indicators)

Revised: August 2021 Summit Public Schools Summit, New Jersey Summit High School Grade 12 / English: Length of Course: Full Year English IV Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course Description: The Advanced Placement course in English Literature and Composition involves students in the careful reading and critical analysis of literature. By deepening their understanding of literature, students will develop critical standards in all disciplines. Students will study individual works, their characters, action, structure, and language. They will consider literary elements such as form, theme, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. Regular writing assignments will focus on critical analysis of literature and will include analytical and argumentative, as well as imaginative pieces. Students will take these skills and formulate distinctive and creative academic voices in writing and speaking in order to become articulate, productive, and responsible global citizens. This curriculum is inclusive of instructional materials that portray the cultural and economic diversity of society including the political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, where appropriate. | Anchor Standard—Reading:
Text Complexity and the Growth of Comprehension
Key Ideas and Details:
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferencesand relevant connections from it ; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development ; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
Craft and Structure:
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g. section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
9. Analyze and reflect on how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently with scaffolding as needed. | | --- | | Big Ideas: Course Objectives / Content Statement(s) All students will read a variety of materials and texts with comprehension and critical analysis. Students will use a repertoire of strategies | Revised: August 2021 | that enable them to adapt to increasing levels of complexity therefore developing lifelong habits of reading and thinking. | | | --- | --- | | Essential Questions
What provocative questions will foster inquiry, understanding, and transfer of learning? | Enduring Understandings
What will students understand about the big ideas? | | How do authors develop their stories?
In what ways can readers be certain they are getting the point of the story?
How do texts differ? How does one read different types of texts? What is a genre?
How does an author effectively use
perspective and point of view when writing?
Upon reading and reflection, when does application of a critical lens highlight one’s understandi

FAQs

What is the main purpose of AP Literature and Composition in English IV?

The course centers on careful reading and critical analysis of literature, helping students develop critical standards and apply them across disciplines.

Which literary elements do students study?

Students analyze form, theme, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone, and they also examine characters, action, structure, and language in individual works.

What types of writing assignments are included?

Writing emphasizes critical analysis of literature, including analytical and argumentative pieces, as well as imaginative writing.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aurora