<p>So, I'm out of language classes. I've taken American Lit, AP Lang, and AP Lit, and gotten 5's on the latter two. And because universities like to see four years of English, and my school doesn't offer many other useful English classes (we have college prep, soph english, frosh english, Shakespeare), I have the option of designing my own English class which will be under my old English teacher.</p>
<p>I was hoping for a course like AP Lit in its difficulty, but wanted to cover more writing and less literature. I've got it in my mind as a super hard course, pretty customized (I'll probably be the only one ever to take it), and useful in college - not college admissions, college.</p>
<p>So what kind of curriculum do you guys think would be useful? Oh, and, I get to come up with a name. What's an eye-catching, devastatingly-hard-sounding name?</p>
<p>man, i don't know about curriculum... that's a tough one. But what's your writing emphasis? Maybe it could be more research-oriented, since that will help you more in college than, say, creative writing.</p>
<p>Lol, at least you tried.. That's good.. I had in mind formal writing (whatever that is), expository, and persuasive in particular. Research is an interesting option. Anyone else? I figured this was a rare opportunity and want to make the most of it..</p>
<p>If you've taken lit, youve taken lit. My advice is to concentrate almost completely on writing. In AP Language you learned how to write analytically, developing writing and reading skills, but it might be good to develop writing skills by themselves.</p>
<p>I'd say do creative writing. It's a good way to become more creative and further understand novels and films. Besides, it will most likely be funner than something like research-oriented writing. That's just what I would do though, since I don't know you at all, I can't say what would be the best for you.</p>
<p>I homeschooled my daughter and we did this in addition to literature. I used a couple texts, one covering ancient rhetoric and one modern. She also read my old college text on evidence, which she liked so much she decided to outline it. I can give you details if this sounds interesting.</p>
<p>I am going to second DianeR's suggestion. Take a class in rhetoric. There are plenty of textbooks out there so you can have some structure. I am taking advanced compostion this year in college (I am a returning adult student) and we are learning rhetoric. My writing instructor says that she wished high school kids took rhetoric before going to college as it really teaches you a better way to communicate your thoughts. My son has taken classes at the Harvard Extension school and he was told that the methods he used in Rhetoric are what helped him get A's on his papers. </p>
<p>Ancient Rhetorics, 3rd edition by Crowley and Hawhee is the textbook I am using. ISBN# 0321172760</p>
<p>There are many other textbooks available. We are also reading essays out of a book called Class Matters.</p>
<p>Ah, the Crowley and Hawhee is the ancient rhetorics text we used! I really liked it. </p>
<p>The other text (modern rhetoric) is something I discovered in browsing in the textbook section of a college bookstore -- Everything's an Argument: With Readings.</p>