AP® Lit Skill STR 3.B asks students to explain the function of a particular sequence of events in a plot. This is settled between 3.A (how plot orders events in a narrative) and 3.C (function of structure in a text) and there's clearly some overlap. In thinking about this skill and what it wants ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Point of View
Point of view is one of those essential understandings that is easy for students to identify, but harder to analyze for function. The key in teaching point of view to AP® Lit is to consider WHY the author employs the point of view, and what is illuminated (or omitted) because of it. *AP® is a ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Contrasts in Prose
The AP Lit* CED includes the function of contrasts as an essential skill. Specifically, it says, that contrasts can affect a text's "focus; tone; point of view; character, narrator, or speaker perspective; dramatic situation or moment; settings or time; or imagery." Another word you can use in ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Narrator
NAR 4.A, the first skill in the Narration category, is relatively simple. It asks students to examine the narrator of a text. In poetry students would study the speaker, but this spotlight is examining the narrator in a prose text. The CED lists only 2 suggested questions for 4.A: *AP® is a ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Plot Order & Sequencing
STR 3.A includes elements of pacing or structure in a plot, including any time the linear narrative is reorganized, sped up, slowed down, or otherwise rearranged. Helping students identify (and name!) these plot ordering elements can strengthen prose analysis and make them more active readers. ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Characterization in Prose
Studying characters is easy when it's a novel or full play. But asking students to study textual details for characterization, motive, and perspective can sometimes be difficult. This is especially true if the text is an excerpt or a short story. However, by practicing on short texts students learn ...
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