We have three sections, one taught by Molly (Maya) Richman Inspektor, one taught by Bethany Gilmour, one taught by Debra Bell.

Section 1

Instructor: Molly Richman Inspektor (minspektor “at” pahomeschoolers “d0t” com)

Tuition: $500

Required texts:

1. The Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings, 5th Edition; McQuade, Donald and Atwan, Robert (Bedford/St. Martin’s). (It's important that you get this edition so that readings and page numbers match up.)
2. Elements of Style, Strunk and White (summer reading, any edition)
3. The Story of My Life, Helen Keller (any edition)
4. Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez (any edition)
5. Selections from Walden, Henry David Thoreau (any edition; you can even use a free e-text of this book.)
6. History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving, Deborah Lipstadt (Note that this book contains descriptions of holocaust attrocities; it recounts the trial that ensued when historian Deborah Lipstadt was sued for libel by Holocaust denier David Irving.)
7. Cliffs AP English Language and Composition prep guide, 3rd ed, by Barbara Swovelin
8. Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writing with Readings, 2nd ed. by Dean Memmering and William Palmer (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2006.) (It's important that you get this edition, as the first edition is missing an important section.)

Registration deadline: Applications will be accepted through August, though the class may fill up sooner.

Tech needs: Full web and printer access (broadband Internet recommended but not required). Students will need to sign up for a free Gmail account so that they can upload documents to Google Docs.

Length of course: Tuesday, September 2nd to Wednesday, May 13, 2009 (the exam date!)

Hours of study each week: Approximately 10-12 hours. (We don't meet at set class times; rather, you will have assignments due by midnight Eastern Standard Time on most days of the week.)

Who should apply: Students with a love for words, argumentation, and writing who would like to invest time and energy into exploring language more deeply. While this is an entry-level writing course, students should come in with the ability to write with relatively minimal grammar errors. (It's fine if you make a few mistakes-- we'll work on that-- but you must be able to write in complete sentences!)

Course description: This highly interactive course is designed to prepare students for the AP English Language and Composition exam in May. Students will learn to understand complicated texts and write with complexity, clarity and polish. Essentially, the goal of an AP English Language and Composition course is for students to develop maturity, both as readers and writers. To reach this goal, this course will involve extensive reading, writing, and online discussion. Reading and writing nonfiction lies at the heart of the AP English Language and Composition exam. Students should anticipate reading 30-50 pages (mostly engaging nonfiction essays) and writing one essay (or the equivalent) weekly. Students will also pose and respond to critical questions about the weekly readings on our online discussion board and will thoughtfully critique each other's writing. Finally, they will engage in targeted test preparation for the AP English Language and Composition exam.

Our readings will center around three driving questions:

1. How does language and literacy change who we are? For example, how did learning the word for “water” change Helen Keller's experience of water? How did the acquisition of English change Richard Rodriguez's identity?
2. What does it mean to get an education? Why does Richard Rodriguez try so hard to be the “scholarship boy”? What struck Joyce Carol Oates about her childhood school? What are arguments for (and against) homeschooling?
3. How can we use words to change the world? How do we critically examine the words used by politicians? How to writers craft arguments? How can we see through the web of beguiling words when they are used by people (such as David Irving) with evil intentions? How can we critically examine the words that we and others use?

Details: I am happy to respond to any and all questions about the class; my e-mail is minspektor “AT” pahomeschoolers “D0T” com. (Note: for certain addresses, my spam filter automatically diverts e-mails coming to this account. If you don't hear back from me within a few days, please try sending a message to mayarichman@yahoo.com.

Click here to read letters from Mrs. Inspektor's students during the 2007-2008 school year.

Click here to download an application for Mrs. Inspektor's AP Language class.

Section 2

Tuition: $485

Required texts:

• Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writing with Readings, 2nd ed. by Dean Memmering · and William Palmer (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2006.)
• The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
• Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
• An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
• Cliffs AP English Language and Composition prep guide, 3rd ed, by Barbara Swovelin
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (summer reading)
• AP Language sample exam (TBD: for 2nd semester)
• Numerous essays, articles, etc. that will be readily available online

Tech needs: Full internet and printer access, Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat (free download for reading .pdf files)

Who should apply: This class is geared for juniors and seniors, though motivated and highly qualified underclassmen may apply. Applicants should have a strong writing background and a basic understanding of grammar, syntax and rhetorical terms (i.e. simile, metaphor, etc). As our class is modeled after comparable college courses, students must be able and willing to work independently and meet deadlines.

Course description: This class is designed to prepare students to take the AP Language and Composition exam in May. Students will develop the skills necessary to succeed on the exam by reading, analyzing and thoughtfully critiquing non-fiction prose from a variety of genres, time periods and worldviews*. In addition, they will produce thoughtful, cohesive writing of their own and develop confidence in formulating and evaluating arguments. Over the course of the year, students will write numerous timed essays and shorter writing assignments, several genre-specific 3-6 page papers and a longer 7-10 page research paper designed to integrate research and citation skills. Students will also write discussion question answers based on their reading, and participate in peer review groups. The course is designed with a balance between teacher-graded and more informal, peer-reviewed assignments; in the past, I was unable to respond to every single post, but I hope that with Jeremy’s help this year, we as instructors can be much more involved in responding to class discussions and informal assignments.

*Note: Please note that though both Jeremy and I are Christians, and the majority of the students in this class tend to be from Christian backgrounds, this class is not a Christian class, per se. All students are encouraged to present their opinions in a logical and respectful way. If you have any questions regarding this or other aspects of the class, please don’t hesitate to email me.

Instructor Qualifications: This will be my 3rd year teaching AP Language, and I’m glad to say that so far my students have a 100% pass rate on the AP exam! My goal is to improve the course each semester, and I look forward to integrating observations and student suggestions from this past year while planning for the fall. A little about me: I graduated summa cum laude from Cedarville University in May 2007 with a BA in English. While a student, I worked as a consultant in the CU Writing Center, served as president of Alpha Kappa Delta (our chapter of the International English Honors Society), and spent my junior year abroad, studying in the fall at Oxford University in England and working in the spring with missionary church planters in Lyon, France, while attending French language school. I currently work as an editorial assistant in the World Languages department for Pearson Education (better known as Prentice Hall), where I am intimately involved in the publishing process for all our college foreign language texts besides Spanish. In my free time I’m taking a couple online graduate courses in technical writing/communication through the New Jersey Institute of Technology, but I really hope to start full-time English graduate studies in fall 2009. I look forward to passing on my love for reading, analysis and discussion while teaching this class again.

I’m excited to have Jeremy Williamson (my husband as of May 31, 2008!) on board this coming year in a TA role. Jeremy also graduated from Cedarville, where he studied Philosophy and Pre-Seminary, and just finished his 2nd year of a combined M.Div/MA in Applied Linguistics program. After graduating from Cedarville, Jeremy spent a year teaching theology courses at a college in Kenya. He also spent some time this past year organizing and starting up an ESL class for West Africans in Harlem, NYC. He’s very insightful and articulate, and will provide invaluable support with administrative details and student feedback.

Please email gilmourAP@gmail.com with any questions or to request an application.

Click here to read class reviews from past participants in Bethany Gilmour's section of this class

Section 3 -- Course Full

Tuition: $495

Course Description: The main reason I’m developing the course is to give students an opportunity to grow as critical thinkers and effective writers of reflection and argument. (See: Stephen Toulmin’s The Uses of Argument as one approach of interest).

I also think students who’ve already taken an AP Language class will still find this course beneficial. One can always take another writing course. My inspiration has come from my online students' enthusiasm for collaborative groups and my experience working in the Writing Center at Temple University, where I am a doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology. My research focus is writing instruction, and I plan to fold some of what I’m learning into this course. (It may even become the basis of my research).

Here is a bit of an overview of what I’m planning:

We will have assigned readings which we will write about and discuss as a class. I hope you will also have time to read/look and listen beyond what is required and bring your interactions with those writers and artists into our discussions as well. Everywhere you look – all that you hear – artists and authors are making claims with words and pictures and hoping to convince you to agree with their position. Some are making a compelling case; some are making an artful case; the best are artfully making a convincing case. Those are the writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, and politicians we want to talk about most.

The final project (which I’m very excited about) is each student’s personal blog which reflects his or her growth as a writer and thinker. Because the AP Language exam now includes analysis of visual texts – the blog will be supported not only by words, but also graphics and music which reflect the student’s voice.

Students will organize into collaborative groups in order to read, write and discuss/debate topics of interest. Students will help determine the topics this coming summer, but possibilities include movies, music, politics, education, globalization, immigration, beauty, technology, sports, online social networks, gaming, etc. You get the idea – current issues.

Course Objectives:

• To prepare students to succeed on the AP English Language and Composition exam.
• To help students write with elegance, perception and persuasion about life and culture.
• To help students recognize the rhetorical and linguistic choices writers make when composing non-fiction for narrative, expository or argumentation purposes
• To prepare college-bound students (grades 10 through 12) to confront divergent opinions on campus; and to make their own contribution to the broader culture through writing that is winsome and well-reasoned. 

Required Texts:

• Shea, Renee, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses.
• The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. (ISBN: 0312473028)*
• Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. 4th ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. (ISBN: 0312406844)
• Keller, Tim. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Dutton, 2008. [ISBN: 978-0-525-95049-3]. We will use this second semester, if you want to delay purchase in hopes of a paperback version.
• Miller, Donald. Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality. Thomas Nelson, 2003. [ISBN: 0-7852-6370-5].
• We will also look at selections by Annie Dillard, Anne Lamont, Lauren Winner, and Walter Wangerin. I will provide these.

Click here to download an application for Mrs. Bell's AP Language class.