Have a wonderful summer, and we look forward to another great year in Pre-AP English at Cedar Ridge!

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1 Cedar Ridge High School 2801 Gattis School Road Round Rock, Texas (512) Fax: (512) Principal: Dr. Daniel Presley May 2014 Dear Parents and Students: Congratulations for accepting the challenge of a Pre-AP course at Cedar Ridge. Pre-AP English II is a rigorous and rewarding class in which students receive challenging assignments. Typically, a Pre-AP student is one who reads and writes above grade level, one who is selfmotivated, is self-disciplined, and is willing to spend substantial time completing superior work. We expect our students to think abstractly, analytically, and communicate their thoughts through a variety of written responses. Those who show the desire and drive to engage in these challenges with a positive attitude and seek assistance outside of class when necessary will be successful Pre-AP students at Cedar Ridge. In order to be a successful Pre-AP student, it is vital for you to be intellectually engaged (especially during those long summer months of unstructured time) in order for you to continue to grow as a scholar and as well as an individual. Therefore, our English department encourages Pre-AP students to participate in a summer reading program. The titles you read during the summer are a way to begin the new school year with a shared experience for discussion, close reading, and analytical writing. The summer reading assignment will be due on the first day of class upon returning from Summer Break and the completion of it will be necessary for subsequent assignments during the first unit of the school year. On the following pages, you will find information concerning the assignment. Have a wonderful summer, and we look forward to another great year in Pre-AP English at Cedar Ridge! Sincerely, Cedar Ridge High School Pre-AP English II Team

2 Pre-AP English II Summer Reading Assignment Part 1: You will need to purchase and read in its entirety the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Part 2: A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don t know how to live properly. Zadie Smith One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years due largely to initial audiences rejection of its strong black female protagonist Hurston s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature. (Amazon) After you finish reading the whole novel, you will need to complete steps 1-5 of the attached annotation activity for the three specific sections of the novel listed below. This annotation method is a guide in helping you develop strong close reading skills. Close reading is the practice of analyzing how the author develops the tone, theme, characters, ideas, etc. of a text, and it is the foundation of most of what we do in the Pre-AP/AP classroom. Section 1: The section of chapter 4 that begins with Janie turned from the door without answering... and ends with in the earth from which the night emerged. Section 2: The section of chapter 16 that begins with One day Tea Cake met Turner and his son... and ends with terrible with banners and swords! Section 3: The section of chapter 18 that begins with Janie achieved the tail of the cow... and ends with and looked over the desolation. For steps 2 and 3, you need to comment marginally at least two times for each step. The annotations should be completed within your novel (i.e. write the annotations in the hard copy of the novel) and will be due on the first day you report to your Pre-AP English II class. You will also find an example of a different section of the novel that has been annotated using this method. You should use the example as a guide for the expectations your teacher will have of your annotations when evaluating them.

3 Example Annotation *Color version available on school website 1) The author is introducing the main character Janie as she comes home from a much extended absence. Most of the rest of the novel tells the story of her life up until this point. Word choice such as resignation and mocked conveys an air of melancholy The chiasmus of the line that begins with Now, women forget all those things... suggests the frustration women must experience since they do not do the things they wish to do. The author chooses to personify the words of these people in the last sentence of the passage in order to also emphasize the great power of the things they say. [Ships at a distance have every man s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don t want to remember, and remember everything they don t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.] So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from burying the dead. No the dead of sick and ailing with friends at the pillow and the feet. She had come back from the sodden and bloated; the sudden dead, their eyes flung wide open in judgment. [The people all saw her come because it was sundown. The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky. It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment.] Seeing the woman as she was made them remember the envy they had stored up from other times. So they chewed up the back parts of their minds and swallowed with relish. They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song (Hurston 5-6). The parallel structure of For some they come and For others they sail emphasizes the concept that every man has dreams as well as suggests the differences of men in regards to success of these dreams through the contrasting verbs at the end of the phrases. The author uses the short, simple sentence They sat in judgment to suggest the finality of power the people being described have. word choice in the passage such as chewed and burned reveals the sinister nature of the thoughts of the people observing Janie. 5) The first bracketed passage develops a melancholic tone because of the author s dreary diction such as resignation and mocked. The second bracketed passage develops a prideful tone through the metaphors of their state prior to the porch as tongueless, eyeless, earless conveniences and then after when they became lords. The metaphors that indicate these changes suggest a tone of pride since the people have risen to much loftier positions than earlier in the day.

4 Annotation Directions: Adapted from assignment created by Jennifer Cullen, Beth Priem (retired), and Elizabeth Davis Westwood High School Note: Highlight marginal comments in the same color used to highlight corresponding text in the passage. In general, margina comments will take the form of a phrase such as: conveys, show, suggests, fitting because, significant because, functions to, serves to, or helps to emphasize In the passage, complete (and clearly label) the following: 1. In the space at the top of the passage (or on the back), clearly answer the following: What is happening at this point in the text? (Provide context. Make sure to include the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, why.) 2. In pink, highlight meaningful diction (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) in the passage. Comment marginally on at least of these highlighted words, considering: a. What connotations do you glean from specific word choices? b. What conflict or connections (similarities) do you understand through specific word choices? c. What significance do you understand through specific word choices? 3. In yellow, highlight the first four words of each sentence and meaningful punctuation choices (dashes, parentheses, ellipses, etc.). Comment marginally on aspect of the syntax that seems meaningful to you. 4. In green, highlight evidence of at least one narrative strategy AND one rhetorical device. Label the strategy or device and comment marginally on its effect. (Strategies and devices are listed in the table below. The list in not comprehensive) 5. In blue, draw brackets around two blocks of text (5 10 lines) within the passage. Choose an appropriate tone for each block of text. Be as precise as possible in choosing the tone word. In the space at the bottom of the passage (or on the back), briefly justify the choice of tone. 6. Consider the number of passage division indicated by the teacher. First determine where the passage could logically break into sections, based on tone and content. Place brackets around each section in red. For each section, discern and abstract concept (noun) that emerges from the text. Record the word for each section in the margin. 7. Examine the entire passage and determine a more comprehensive method employed by the author. Explain briefly what method unifies the passage and how that is achieved. (Consider: characterization, contrast, comparison, juxtaposition, analogy, parallelism, repetition, shift, etc.) Narrative Strategies Point of view Flash forward Flashback Irony Voice (of narrator) Humor Repetition Verb tense Events/actions/thought Pacing Sentence length/type (rhythm, pacing) Language (colloquial, informal, jargon, etc.) Focus (of a chapter, of a paragraph, etc.) Rhetorical Devices alliteration imagery personification assonance metaphor rhetorical question allusion metonymy paradox analogy onomotapoeia simile apostrophe oxymoron synechdoche antithesis parallelism extended metaphor

5 Tone Word Sample List: Happiness amiable cheery contented ecstatic elevated enthusiastic exuberant joyful jubilant sprightly Sadness despairing despondent foreboding gloomy bleak melancholy maudlin regretful tragic Pleasure cheerful enraptured peaceful playful pleasant satisfied amused appreciative whimsical Pain annoyed bitter bored crushed disappointed disgusted dismal fretful irritable miserable mournful pathetic plaintive sore sorrowful sulky sullen troubled uneasy vexed Tranquility calm hopeful meditative optimistic serene relaxed soothing spiritual dreamy Anger belligerent furious livid wrathful savage indignant enraged Passion fierce frantic greedy voracious hysterical insane impetuous impulsive jealous nervous reckless wild Apathy blasé bored colorless defeated dispassionate dull feeble helpless hopeless indifferent inert languid monotonous resigned sluggish stoical Sorrow/Fear/Worry aggravated anxious apologetic apprehensive concerned confused depressed disturbed embarrassing fearful grave morose nervous numb ominous paranoid pessimistic poignant remorseful serious staid enigmatic

6 Syntax Vocabulary repetition parallelism chiasmus antimetabole anaphora asyndeton polysyndeton subject predicate object direct object indirect object phrase clause infinitive participle gerund modifier independent clause dependent clause subordinate clause preposition conjunction interjection deliberate fragment appositive emphatic appositive semicolon colon rhetorical question comma pronoun dialogue apostrophe parenthetical expression capitalization for effect inversion antecedent hyphen dash active voice passive voice verb tense catalogue compound nouns compound adjectives Theme Vocabulary Brendan Kenny s List of Abstract Ideas for Forming Theme Statements: Alienation Ambition Appearance vs. reality Betrayal Bureaucracy Chance/fate/luck Children Courage/cowardice Cruelty/violence Customs/traditions Defeat/failure Despair/discontent Disillusionment Domination/suppression Dreams/fantasies Duty Education Escape Exile Faith/loss of faith Falsity/pretence Family/parenthood Free will/will power Games/contests Greed Guilt Heart vs. reason Heaven/paradise/utopia Home Identity Illusion/innocence Initiation Instinct Journey (literal) Journey (psychological) Law/justice Education/school Loneliness/aloneness Loyalty / disloyalty Materialism Memory/the past Mob psychology Music, dance Patriotism Persistence/perseverance Poverty Prejudice Prophecy Repentance Revenge/retribution Resistance/rebellion Ritual/ceremony Scapegoat/victim Social status Supernatural Time/eternity War Women/feminism