English III AP Language and Composition

English III AP: Language & Composition Bishop Dunne Catholic School

English III AP Language and Composition Summer Reading Assignment

Background Your expected summer reading will prepare you for the course. This isn’t simply an assignment to keep you busy over the summer. The skills and techniques that the class focuses on will not only assist you when taking the AP exam, but also aid in your college-level writing. With this summer reading assignment, you should come to class in August prepared to complete an assessment on the first day of school and write essays over the texts within the first three weeks of school. If, at any point, you have questions about this assignment, email Mrs. Schneider (at [email protected]), rather than waiting until the last minute and giving excuses—because they will not be taken.

Overview Due Dates: Thursday, 11 August (Red Day) or Friday, 12 August (Blue Day) have your annotated books in class with you. You will complete an in-class Timed Writing on that day in class, using ONLY your annotated books and your mind. Point Value: 25 points for Timed Writing Grade Type: Formal—Reading, Writing, Language Late Policy for Semester One: No late work accepted.

Instructions 1. Over the summer, you must read the following text:  A Grief Observed by CS Lewis (ISBN: 978-0060652388) And choose and read one of the following texts (in addition to the above Lewis text):  November 22, 1963 by Adam Braver (ISBN: 978-0980243628)  Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian (ISBN: 978-0465010196)  Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (ISBN: 978-0307387943) In reading these texts, read both books from cover to cover. Annotate as you read. For annotating instructions, see the second to last page of the document.

2. Then, after reading and annotating both texts, think about the following: Lewis’s text a. The purpose, b. The structure, c. The intended audience(s), d. The biases, and e. The speaker.

The Text of your choice (from the Braver, Balakian, Eggers list) a. The purpose, b. The structure, 2

c. The intended audience(s), d. The biases, and e. The speaker. Both texts, side-by-side a. Juxtapositions, b. Subjects, c. Purposes, d. Intended audiences, e. Speakers, f. Employed rhetorical (remember rhetorical is different than literary) strategies.

3. ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS, using your annotated books, you will have ONE HOUR to complete a 25-point Formal Timed Writing.

4. For how I will grade the Timed Writing you complete in class on the first day of school, please see the rubric at the end of this document.

What Does It Mean to Annotate a Text? 3

Annotating or highlighting can be a record of a reader’s intellectual conversation with the text. Annotating can help a serious reader keep track of patterns, contrasts, plot events, and character development. It can assist a student in studying for a test or writing a paper that requires the use of quotations to support ideas. From time to time in class you will be asked to submit your highlighted and annotated books as reading checks. Students who learn to highlight and annotate become active readers and recursive thinkers who notice patterns, symbolic elements, and contrasts almost effortlessly as they absorb the text.

Highlighting and annotating a text is like having a conversation with a book—it allows the active reader to ask questions, comment on meaning, and mark events and passages s/he wants to revisit later. The annotation of a text can take place during a reading, a lecture, or a discussion that is focused on a certain poem or passage. The advantage of marking the actual text is obvious —you will never lose your notes and your thoughts will be readily available.

Students, then, should learn how to mark, highlight, and annotate a text to discern patterns, contrasts, and relationships. When readers first begin to highlight and annotate in order to organize their understanding of a text, they may wish to begin by following these simple guidelines.

 Make brief notes at the top of the page or on a sticky note to mark important plot events.  Circle or highlight words that are unfamiliar or unusual. Try to figure out what the words mean through the way they are used; supplement your guesses by discussing the words with a parent or teacher, or by consulting a dictionary.  When new characters are introduced highlight phrases that describe them.  Highlight words, images, and details that seem to form a pattern throughout the text. For example, clocks, windows, plants, flowers, if used in a recurring pattern indicate a thematic idea. Highlight these related strands and observe the rest of the text closely to see if the author uses other linked words, images or details.  Highlight passages you think may be symbolic.  Mark key ideas and note briefly your reflections about them.  Highlight passages in which figurative language appears.  Mark the syntax, or sentence structure such as long, short, medium, and comment on its effect. As a rule, the shorter the sentence is, the more dramatic the effect.  When you get an idea while reading the text, note it in a brief form in the margin. You may never think of this idea again unless you write it down.  If you have a question about something in the book, passage or poem, write it on the page when it first occurred to you.  Use parentheses, brackets, checks, stars, bullets, or asterisks to mark very important items or things you want to come back to later. Simply highlighting or underlining text without accompanying commentary is meaningless.  Don’t mark too much. If you mark everything, nothing will stand out.

AP ENG III Language and Composition FORMAL Grade #1: Summer Reading Texts Timed Writing Rubric 4

Criteria Points Available Points Earned Student had a clear introduction that was at least 3 sentences in length, with a clear claim 2 points appearing at the end of the introduction.

Student ensured his/her thesis statement was one sentence, appearing at the end of the introduction 5 points and the thesis answered the prompt s/he received— clearly stating a claim and providing a road map of evidence that would later appear in body paragraphs.

Student ensured that each topic sentence of each body paragraph clearly and explicitly 3 points connected to the thesis statement—breaking out road mapped evidence from the thesis statement.

Student ensured that the content of each body paragraph clearly explained the topic sentence. 5 points

Student used at least four quotes from the Summer Reading texts within his/her body 4 points paragraph(s)—and those quotes made sense and supported his/her claim in the thesis and in the topic sentence(s).

Student embedded and parenthetically cited 4 points those four quotes used from the texts.

Student ensured his/her conclusion 2 points synthesized, rather than summarized, his/her explanation, was at least three sentences in length, and answered the question “So what?”

Additional Comments:

Score: ____ / 25