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AP English Language and Composition AP English Language and Composition Tanya Graham-Galatro ([email protected]) Melissa Mustard ([email protected] ) Leonora Reiley ([email protected] ) Valerie Smith ([email protected]) Dear Students and Families, Welcome to AP English Language and Composition. Current trends at most colleges and universities now require entering freshmen to take two courses in English. The first of these is devoted strictly to composition, especially to learning how to craft the various modes of writing— narration, exposition, analysis, and especially argument—required in later courses. Students generally read selections from non-fiction prose—including but not limited to autobiography, biography, essays, articles, letters, diaries, and historical documents—that provide models for their own writing. Selected authors and texts for each of these genre stem from instructional materials provided by the College Board. Students who successfully complete AP Language and Composition and meet the AP exam requirements set by each college will fulfill this first college English course requirement. Summer 2015 Assignments DUE Thursday, August 27, 2015 by 11:59PM: Assignment 1: “Why I Write” Electronic submission of essay to www.turnitin.com Class Code: 9850291; Password: happy1 Directions: Log into your TurnItIn account and add the class using the above code and password. If you do not have a TurnItIn account, create one. Please use your birth name and your ACTIVE personal email account. DUE first day of class (Tuesday, Sept. 8(A)/Wednesday, Sept. 9(B)): Assignment 2: Memoir Reading Journal Assignment 3: On Writing Well , Ch. 1-3 notes Bring your annotated “Why I Write” passage for submission. The following three (3) summer assignments are designed to have you look at yourself as a writer and examine the way writers write. These three assignments—the “Why I Write” essay assignment, the memoir journal, and On Writing Well— will launch our discussion of writing and the rhetorical choices writers make. You may access this assignment, the reading sheets, and George Orwell’s essay on the Jamestown High School homepage. Assignment 1: Why I Write (two parts) Due: Thursday, August 27, 2015 1. Read and annotate George Orwell’s “Why I Write” Annotate the essay as you have been taught in previous classes. Annotate for both content and structure. See Orwell’s “Why I Write” essay (at the end of this packet) and annotation rubric for expectations. Annotated passage due the first day of class. Rubric for Annotating Text 10 = Your annotations reveal compelling evidence that you have delved into the text. An authentic record of your thinking is on the page. (This student has gone above and beyond the average annotations or simple markings of a text. A reader can see what you were thinking as you read.) 8 = Your annotations reveal sufficient evidence that you have engaged and interacted with the text. (This student has completed the average annotations or simple markings of a text. A reader can see that you read but not necessarily what you were thinking.) 6 = Your annotations reveal limited evidence that you have engaged or interacted with the text. (There is underlining and highlighting with very limited margin notes. The student made a limited attempt at the task of annotating and engaging with a text.) 4 = Your annotations reveal little, if any, record of engagement or interaction with the text. (This student made a few underlines, highlighted a word here or there. There are no margin notes and little engagement with the text.) 0 = You did not annotate. 2. Write your own “Why I Write” essay. Write a three page essay titled “Why I Write”. You CAN structure your essay as Orwell does. You may agree or disagree with what Orwell says and reveal what your own thoughts, experiences and successes with writing have been. Note that this essay is autobiographical. Please include background about yourself as a writer, an analysis of your motives for writing, and a section on the power (or challenges) of writing in your own life, as Orwell does. Your essay needs to be typed; follow MLA formatting rules. Submit your essay electronically (directions above) by August 27, 2015 at 11:59PM. The window for submission is already open. Assignment 2: Memoir—Telling One’s Own Story Due: First Day of Class—Bring both your book and dialectical journal to class. One of our first units in AP Lang is studying the ever-popular genre of memoir. To prepare for this narrative kind of writing—and for “good writing” in general—you will read one of the following memoirs, noticing and noting what the writer says and how the writer writes. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Blind: A Memoir by Belo Miguel Cipriani Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam Account Rendered: A Dossier of My Former Life by Melita Maschmann, translated by Geoffrey Strachan (ebook) Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt The Color of Water by James McBride The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 1. Research each of the above titles (try reading reviews on Goodreads.com or Amazon.com). Then select one that you think you will enjoy reading this summer. 2. Divide the book into four equal reading sections. 3. You will keep a Dialectical Reading Journal (also called a “double entry journal”) of passages from each reading section in which you “Read Like a Reader” and “Read Like a Writer.” We’ve attached a sample dialectical journal entry to show you how to set up yours. Read Like a Reader 1. As you read, mark passages in the text where the author or other people encounter increasing awareness or self-awareness. 2. Then select two (2) or more passages from the section’s reading that exemplify the author’s (or other’s) increasing awareness of self and his or her struggles along the way. You will record these passages in your Dialectical Reading Journal. You may paraphrase the passages or select direct quotations to record in your journal. Be sure to document your passages with a page number. 3. Next, write your own response to your selected passages. Why did you select the passages? What do they reveal? What is their importance to the author’s story or to this week’s section of the novel? Discuss your thoughts, questions, insights, and ideas you have while your read. Read Like a Writer 1. As you read, also mark passages in the text that you think are well written. As you mark passages, consider the writer’s diction, syntax, selection of detail, imagery, figurative language, etc.. Think about why the passage is particularly effective. What writing (or rhetorical) choices did you notice? 2. Then select one or two particularly effective passages for your Dialectical Reading Journal. For this section, you will probably need to quote the passage directly so that your reader will also appreciate the writer’s good writing. 3. Next, write your own response to your selected quotation. Why did you select this particular quotation? What rhetorical devices are noteworthy? How does the writing add to the surrounding text? In other words, why is this passage a particularly effective piece of writing? Focus on what the writer does (the “how”) to reveal character, theme, etc. During the first few days of class, we will work with these memoirs. Be prepared to discuss your books in class. Be sure to mark even more passages than you include in your journal to be fully prepared for seminars. Dialectical Reading Journal – Model PASSAGES RESPONSES Section 1 (Reader): As a reader, this passage is very important to the story. It "I wondered if the fire had been out to get me. I wondered if shows that Jeanette is starting to have more advanced all fire was related, like Dad said all humans were related, if thoughts and to have a better understanding of her family’s the fire that had burned me that day while I cooked hotdogs situation. Jeanette’s idea about all fire being related shows was somehow connected to the fire I had flushed down the she is starting to think about how the world works. This is toilet and the fire burning at the hotel. I didn't have the normal for a kid her age. Most kids at this age start to answers to those questions, but what I did know was that I question the fundamentals of the world- why the sky is blue, lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It how the sun rises and sets, etc. However, Jeanette’s was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes" (Walls wonderings are much more advanced. Her questions concern 34). principles of biology and philosophy that most young people don’t understand until much later in life. This emphasizes her intelligence while still reminding the audience that she is young. It also serves to show that Jeanette is starting to understand the true state of peril her family is in. As a younger child, she never questioned her parents, but now (Note: Thanks to Zach Schauffler for this Read like a she realizes that their decisions have resulted in a life in Reader passage from The Glass Castle.) which danger could be around every corner and trouble could come at any time. Jeanette’s awareness of her true situation increases a lot in this passage and shows that the adventure is not all fun for her anymore. Section 1 (Writer): McCourt describes Clohessy’s condition in detail, explaining "I wanted the raisin for myself but I saw Paddy Clohessy why he felt the sudden surge of sympathy towards the poor standing in the corner with no shoes and the room was kid.
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