Commitment Letter

During the 2011-2012 school year Gloucester High School will offer AP English Language and Composition for the first time. In preparation for the course I attended an intensive week-long seminar at Fitchburg State University led by John Brassil, who has taught AP English Language and Composition for many years and is currently involved with designing and evaluating AP English Language and Composition exams for College Board. Since then I have written the curriculum for the course, and I have had the opportunity to practice some of course’s lessons with this year’s juniors. Then, late in the winter of 2011 you chose to take this course and now you have been accepted.
During the summer you are expected to read All Souls by Michael Patrick MacDonald, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Century of the Wind by Eduardo Galeano, and a book of your choice. You will also be expected to keep a passage response journal for each work, participate in three AP English Language summer sessions at Gloucester High School, post comments on the AP English Language blog (apenglangghs2013.blogspot.com), and create an argument web. (You will find out more about the web in during the summer.) This litany of work is not intended to scare you off. However, I want to be honest and upfront about the expectations. If you are seriously committed to reading, analyzing, writing, researching, talking, debating, and thinking at a college level, I promise that you will find the summer experience – and the course as a whole – to be fulfilling and rewarding.
During the school year you will read several hundred pages, write a couple dozen pages, and participate in several graded discussions each term. You are expected to be self-motivated and genuinely engaged; and, since the goal of the class is for every student to do well on the AP exam, it is important that you are willing to work with classmates in small groups to analyze text and evaluate peer work. You will learn from the texts, your teacher, and each other. To achieve this goal the class atmosphere must be collegial rather than competitive, and you must do your share of the work.
Please consider this description of the course and make a decision about whether or not you are committed to fulfilling the requirements of AP English Literature and Composition. Please complete the "commitment form" (on the back of this letter) and return it to me, Mr. James Cook, in room 2207 by Friday, June 10. If you have questions about any of the expectations please stop by 2207. I am looking forward to getting to know you.
Sincerely,
Mr. James Cook
English Teacher
Gloucester High School

Commitment Form for AP English Language and Composition


Circle one:

Yes, I am committed to AP English Language. No, I will take another junior English.



______________________________ ______________________________
student signature parent signature