AP English Language Sullivan Ballou Letter to Sarah mini unit, essay prompt

AP English Language & Composition. I often hear myself telling the students the course could simply be called "Words Matter." As part of a unit on "The Language of Letters and Speeches," I have created this section on Sullivan Ballou's Letter to Sarah. He wrote this touching letter to his wife, on the eve of his death in the Civil War. Although he himself surely did not take AP Lang, his letter is rich with rhetorical strategy, and begging for analysis.

I have created an original AP style prompt, and I have students write to the prompt after reading the letter and watching the embedded video. I've also included some musical renditions of the letter, which are simply interesting for further rhetorical discussion.

Also included here are content-related, non-fiction articles for students to read. I begin this unit with a modern day article on the Lost Art of Letter Writing, and with an article about a random love letter project that began in New York City (both linked in this presentation).

I'm also including some war-time letter stories, as well as links to articles on the letters written between Hemingway and Marlene Dietrich.

For more AP English Language & Composition resources, please see The AP Resources I've Posted In My Store Here.

If you're looking for a full year College Board approved (code listed in document) ultra detailed 16 page syllabus, with all curricular anchors met and noted, See My College Board Approved AP Lang Syllabus Here.

If you like using songs to teach ELA, I've created a full course elective called "The Literature of Music"here</a> or see some of the individual units:

Dueling Ballads

Murder Ballads

Graphic Organizer for Analyzing Songs

Youtube Ambience Blackout Poetry

Lana Del Rey Music is Poetry

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The Dark Side of Oz

The Phantom of the Opera

The Rhetoric of Music Unit

I'm Obsessed with this Song

Youtube Ambience Poetry Activity

Lyrics as Poetry Assignment and Rubric

Classic 1970s songs

Elvis Movie Soundtrack Assignment

2 Songwriters who are Poets

Podcast Unit

The 2 Most

Lyrics Mashup Patchwork Quilt

U2 Running to Stand Still

Update My Playlist

Lyrics that are LIES

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