AP Language and Composition 2018-2019 Summer Reading Assignment
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AP Language and Composition 2018-2019 Summer Reading Assignment Dear Students: If you are receiving this letter, you have accepted the challenge of taking the AP English Language and Composition course in the fall. I am looking forward to working with you and helping you work toward achieving your potential as readers, writers and thinkers between now and the AP Exam next spring. According to the College Board course description, the AP English Language and Composition course “engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes.” This sounds a great deal like what you have been doing in English class for the past several years, right? It’s true that since this course revolves around nonfiction that we will be exploring different areas than you might have previously; however, the bottom line is that everything we do in AP Lang is designed to support your growth as critical readers and effective writers. To help prepare for next year, you will be reading, taking some notes and preparing a short presentation on a topic or issue of your choice. The READING and NOTETAKING you do this summer will help you get a jumpstart on a couple of assignments: an interest-based introductory project (Semester 1, Week 1) and a comparative paper centered around the topic and implications of your nonfiction book choice (Semester 2). The first week of school, you will be assigned a PRESENTATION that will allow you to share a topic or issue through interest-based reading of multiple types of texts (print and non-print) that you choose. If you have time, you may read these additional materials - articles, political cartoons, etc. to prepare for this. This interest-based topic does not have to match the topic of your nonfiction choice book, but it may, and that might be a good use of your time! If you have questions about the course or assignment, please feel free to come by room 824 or email me. I do check my emails on a periodic basis over the summer, but I may not be able to get back to you right away. It is my hope that you thoroughly enjoy your well-deserved vacation. Pursue your interests and passions, relax, reflect, spend time with friends and family, maybe even “veg” out on Netflix a bit! Take Care, Mrs. Heisler [email protected] Attachments: 1. AP English Language Summer Assignment Overview and Instructions 2. Dialogue/Double Entry Journal Instructions & Rubric 3. Current Fiction Author & Nonfiction Lists 1 AP English Language Summer Assignment Overview and Instructions Reading and Notetaking You will READ TWO BOOKS: one full-length nonfiction book and one full-length fiction book. For each book, create a double-sided journal, or dialogue journal - handwritten on loose leaf paper. WRITE 15 DJ entries FOR EACH BOOK adding up to a TOTAL of 30 entries! See “Dialogue/Double Entry Journal Instructions” BOOK 1: ONE book of your choice from the Current Nonfiction Book List. Please note: You will be reading at least one other text later in the year on the same topic, so if you have time to read a second book on the same topic, you may! If you choose something outside of this list, I want you to read a book written recently (within 0-15 years) that has earned some critical acclaim (bestseller, book list). Email me to clear any choice outside of this list. BOOK 2: ONE book by an author from the Recommended Fiction Author List* PLEASE, NOT A BOOK YOU HAVE ALREADY READ! For Example: Jimmy really liked Jeff Shaara’s The Killer Angels; it was his favorite book in eighth grade. If Jimmy selects Jeff Shaara as an author, he should select something other than The Killer Angels. There are plenty more! Authors on this list have written multiple books, short stories, even articles or essays. Of course, I may never know, but I expect that you will take it upon yourself to read something brand new to you! 2 Dialogue/Double Entry Journal Instructions Do this assignment on loose leaf college-ruled paper. What is a double-entry journal? In double-entry journals, facts are written in the left-hand column and interpretations or reactions on the right. (See section on format below) The Role of the Journal for the Summer Assignment and in Class Your double-entry journal will include responses to your summer reading books. During the school year, you will also take notes during lectures or class discussions and in response to readings. Ideas in your notes will help to prompt class discussions, as well as help you further process these discussions, serving as resources for essays. You are required to keep a binder for this class. Recommended: 1 or 1 1/2 binder. Why use a double-entry journal? Goals: ● To help students prepare for essays and for contributing thoughtfully to class discussions (both small-group and whole-class) ● To teach students to become critical thinkers ● To enhance close reading skills ● To help students distinguish between facts (quotations, summaries, paraphrases) and applications, personal responses, and analyses ● To show that making meaning is a process. Ideas can evolve and change as students interact with information and reflect on it ● To help students become active/reflective learners who construct knowledge (rather than passively absorb it), making it their own, and to create the foundation for student-centered learning. The journal provides a way for students to engage with texts and to begin class discussion with what they feel is relevant. See “Advantages” below. Advantages: 1. Active engagement on the part of the student 2. Students question and construct meanings; students make relevant connections 3. Improves the student’s ability to think vs. simply reproducing what the instructor wants to hear Double-Entry Journal Format -In double-entry journals, facts are written on the left and interpretations or reactions on the right. -In the left-hand (fact) column, you may include quotations, summaries, or paraphrases. -In the right-hand (interpretation and reaction) column, you may analyze or personally respond. ● (Fiction): What do I predict will happen? Give support from the text. ● How does this tie in with my experience, previous readings, class discussions, expectations? ● What do I not understand? What questions do I have? ● Do I agree/disagree with the author? Why? ● What impressed me/annoyed me about the reading? ● What do I notice about the author’s techniques—how does he or she emphasize a point or evoke a reaction? (Consider mood, tone, foreshadowing, irony, figurative language devices, sound devices, and other literary devices. Figurative language devices include simile, metaphor, 3 personification, hyperbole, synecdoche, metonymy. Sound devices include rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, euphony, cacophony. ) ● How does this new information fit with my beliefs, my philosophy, prior knowledge? ● Where have my ideas been challenged, changed, confirmed? Reflections should be more than just "I like this idea," or "I've never met a person who could live up to this." Comments should reflect thoughtful views on the implications of what the author is saying. The WHY and HOW should be explored rather than the WHAT. Be sure to title and date each entry. Sample Double Entry Journal Responses and Rubric Rating Maya Angelou and Frederick Douglass Passage July 22, 2018 Left-hand Column: Facts Right-hand Column: Responses and Interpretation Quotes, summaries, (Commentary) paraphrases, concrete details “My race groaned. It was our The people in the store think Joe Louis is losing the people falling. It was another fight. (Weaker - Developing Proficiency, Does not lynching, yet another Black Meet - C-) man hanging on a tree” (Angelou 135). The people in the store are filled with anxiety and expectation as they watch the fight. When Joe Louis appears to be losing, they feel that symbolically they are all losing. Their hope and dreams for freedom and respect are fighting in that ring. (Medium-Meets Proficiency - B) Frederick Douglass describes Douglass suggests that his own education comes at a his experience of learning to huge mental cost. The weight of learning to read and read and write as one that write is not difficult because of the concepts but causes him great “anguish.” He because of the burden it puts on him. He knows the full describes this suffering as extent of slavery. This language is the opposite how causing him to “writhe” under a we expect Douglass to see his education. “curse” (132). (Strong-High Proficiency -Exceeds the Standard - A) 4 Current Nonfiction Book List The full-length works below represent a range of nonfiction from approximately the last decade arranged by topic. On the PDF version, titles are hyperlinked to their Amazon.com page, where you may read reviews and summaries before making a decision. Current Events ● Five Days at Memorial, Sheri Fink ● Detroit City is the Place to Be, Mark Binelli ● Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo ● Thank You for Your Service, David Finkel ● Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make this Country Work, Jeanne Marie Laskas ● The Long Walk: The Story of War and the Life that Follows, Brian Castner ● Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, Jon Krakauer Digital ● Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of Teenagers and Outlaws who Hacked Ma Bell, Phil Lapsley ● Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s