Summer Reading Assignment

Transcription

1 2014 Summer Reading A.P. English Language and Composition (11 th Grade) A.P. English Language and Composition is an accelerated course designed to prepare students for the transition from high school to the more rigorous academic requirements of college. The course will attempt to marry the traditional curriculum of American Literature with the nonfiction focus of the AP Eng. Language Exam. Following the direction of most junior level English courses, this course will offer a survey of some of the most renowned authors of our country. Students will analyze how these works further enrich and inform our understanding of American culture and reflect some of the most compelling issues of our times. Students in the Language and Composition course read, analyze, and evaluate a variety of literary forms, including fiction, essays, letters, speeches, and images to deepen their awareness of rhetoric and of how language works to construct persuasive arguments. As such, students should be prepared to read widely and to reflect on their reading through extensive discussion, writing, and rewriting. Students should also assume considerable responsibility for the amount of independent reading they do. Both their writing and their reading will make them aware of the interaction between a writer s purpose and the audience s expectations, as well as the way the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing. A primary purpose of this course is to enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers. Summer Reading Assignment East of Eden, John Steinbck Publisher: Penguin Books (June 18, 2003) ISBN-10: ISBN-13: Grading Essay: A written analysis of East of Eden is due on the first day of class (Major Grade). Test: Students will take a test on Steinbeck s novel after we have discussed the summer reading selection (Major Grade). Annotations Annotations are a record of your conversation with the text. The process of annotation makes the book a living document that will become both a useful study aid and a record of an active experience rather than passive reading. Remember, simply highlighting and underlining without a plan or a key is useless. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ANNOTATING EVERYTHING you read for this class. Get used to writing in the margins, tracking ideas, noting areas we discuss in class, etc. For your summer reading, annotation is NOT REQUIRED and will NOT BE TURNED IN for a grade. However, students who excel in this class will get in the habit early and often of annotating and writing in their texts. [1] Annotate v. To furnish (a literary work) with critical commentary or explanatory notes [ad near + nota a mark, note]

2 Inside Front Cover: Inside Back Cover: Chapter summaries/titles: Underline: Brackets: Keep a character list with a small space for character summary and for page references for key scenes, moments of character development, etc. Make note of your thoughts about Themes, allusions, images, motifs, key scenes, plot line, epiphanies, etc. List and add page references and/or notes as you read. To me, this is the most important and most valuable part of annotating. At the end of each chapter, write a brief summary of the plot as it occurred in that chapter. This does not have to be long or greatly detailed, but should include all relevant incidents. Supply an instructive title for each chapter of the book. This may prove useful even for books in which chapters are already titled. This practice will help you solidify your understanding of a chapter in just a few of your own words. Within the text of the book, and as you read, underline or otherwise note anything that strikes you as important, significant, or memorable. If possible and profitable, write brief comments within the side margins that indicate your reason in underlining. Focus on essential stylistic devices (allusions, diction, syntax, imagery, literary devices, tone) and elements of literature (plot, setting, characterization, point of view and theme). Often, I underline isolated words and phrases. Occasionally, I connect such underlinings with a line, in essence creating a new sentence, a distillation of ideas or meaning. Use brackets, as you read, together with abbreviations and symbols to indicate passages (too long to underline) that contain important themes, wonderfully nuanced descriptions, especially delightful phrasing and/or syntax, provocative assertions, and figurative language. And, of course, write comments and analytical snippets to clarify your thinking. Eden Sin temptations Brother s keeper money truth secrets honor/loyalty pride modernization inventions psychology water monsters sight war work good vs. evil one universal story gender roles societal expectations education/books language/ communication Vocabulary/unusual diction: Questions: Shifts: Within the text of the book, circle words that are unfamiliar to you or whose use strikes you as unusual or inventive. Look up words in a dictionary that seem essential to an understanding of the meaning or the sense of the author. If it helps to do so, jot a brief definition or synonym nearby. Actively engage the text and further/confirm your understanding of each chapter by writing at least two open ended questions for each. Short essay questions are most useful. Note all shifts in point of view. Note all shifts in time. Note all shifts in diction and syntax.

3 The Process: There are a number of procedural expectations that make annotation practical and effective. 1. Implement a consistent system. Use the same abbreviations and symbols; these notations may include abbreviations of character s name, motifs and symbols, and themes (for example PL for Personal Legend). 2. Use one color ink or pencil to make initial markings while reading; then go back with another color or colors to mark more thoroughly once you have finished a larger section and have had time to think about it. Why? You may change your mind or get it wrong the first time, or subsequent discoveries may prompt a reevaluation of earlier findings. It is also good to use a different color when we discuss portions of the novel in class. This allows you to see quickly what we thought was important and, therefore, what is most likely to be on the test. For my own annotations, I use either a pencil or pen for my first reading; I then use light green, yellow, and orange felt tip pens to group annotations by character, theme, etc. The Flair pens by Paper Mate are my favorite pens. 3. Do underlining, bracket notations, and circling as you read. 4. At chapter or section ends, stop to index page numbers on your front cover list of character information and traits as well as on your back cover list of themes, images, allusions, etc. Also, write chapter summaries at that time. 5. Be neat and be disciplined. The notations will allow you to quickly find important details when reviewing for a test or looking for supporting evidence when writing a paper. Think critically about what you are reading. Many students complain that annotating slows down their reading. This is true. However, the goal is not to read quickly, but to consider thoroughly what you are reading. While the amount of annotation may vary widely from page to page, any thoughtful notes you add to a text will help you to read more critically. Effectively reading, annotating, and writing about literature are all processes that will continue to develop throughout your academic career. These Annotation Instructions have been adapted from Chris Rokous s excellent guide to annotating which, in turn, was in part inspired and informed by How to Mark a Book, an essay by Mortimer J. Adler, Ph. D What is Analysis? Summarizing the plot is not an analysis. Don't stay on the surface. Looking at an old house from the curb is interesting, but going into the house and exploring the attic and the basement are more fun. Exploring the rooms and speculating about the personalities of their occupants can be fascinating. The same is true of literary texts. The surface-- the plot-- is interesting enough, but what the text implies, what it suggests, is infinitely more interesting. Analyze imagery, events, and characters beyond the literal level. Consider how these elements are metaphors. Look for patterns of both similarity and difference. Look for the parallel and the alternate universes. Look for characters that complement each other that cancel each other out. Ask yourself how these relationships are ironic. Always consider how any of the above can be ironic.

4 Observation vs. Analysis from a professor at MIT: The best essays begin with lots and lots of interesting observations made while brainstorming, for it s here that you first notice the passages, words, and images that seem especially important, odd, or surprising. To make it into your essay, however, those observations need to become analytic; you need to commit to an argument about their significance. When writing, pay close and skeptical attention to any places you use words like important, interesting, surprising, significant, or ironic. Almost all of these words mean the same thing: I know that I think this piece of text is meaningful, but I haven t yet figured out or committed to what meaning I think it has. Any time you claim that it is interesting/important/surprising that make sure you explain as soon as possible the significance of that observation is; otherwise you haven t arrived at analysis. Even excellent observations are worth little without analysis; consider the following: 1. Heaney s description of the sword is surprisingly organic in his choice of the word wilt (111). Generally a plant wilts and dies, not a sword.... This is a great observation (note the classic observation word in italics), but it s not yet analysis: what does the author make of this allusion to plants? Why should she or her reader care? Here s one possible addition that would turn this into analysis: 2. Generally a plant wilts and dies, not a sword. By linking the sword to the natural world of growing things, Heaney implies that battle is as integral a part of nature as plants are. Describing a previously valuable sword as wilting, moreover, suggests that just as all living things must die, so too must any given man s prowess in battle. Beowulf emerges from this fight victorious, but the image of the melting sword looks forward to the time that he, like the sword, will fall and die. Compare the original example above (#1) with the following: 3. Heaney translates eases the fetters off the frost... while Donalson s [translation is] loosens the frost s fetters.... Eases has a softer, gentler connotation than loosens, making God sound more benevolent and kind in Heaney, which is apt, since God just saved Beowulf s life from a murderous force. Here the author performs analysis, noting a difference between two specific words in the two different translations and arguing that one is more effective than the other because it reinforces another local element of the poem here, the fact that God has helped Beowulf and thus demonstrated himself a benevolent and kind deity. Problematize the text: Literary texts confront the reader with problems or questions about human nature, society, even how language works or how stories "mean" what they mean. The answers the text suggest may be surprising, confrontational, and paradoxical. In other words, the answers may be ironic. Let the text surprise you. Instead of looking for the ways the text coheres as a rational whole, look for the places where the text is ambiguous, problematical, or mysterious. Levels of Interpretation Level Elements Associated with... Literal denotation; plot events, things as they are Metaphor / Symbol connotation; analogy ideas, emotions, concepts Allegory a system of related metaphors societies, types, politics Anagogy paradox, irony universals, meaning of life, epiphanies, anagnorisis Please refer to the examples on the next page.

5 Literal imagery story plot The green girdle is an object in the story that has a crucial role in the plot. Everyone loves a good story that has fantastic creatures and magical objects. Stories like this are fun to read. The imaginary dagger scene is a moment of decision in the plot, a turning point in the story where Macbeth makes up his mind to commit the murder. Symbolic (Tropological) character metaphor irony The green girdle represents Gawain's failure as a knight. He has betrayed a code of honor that he has vowed to follow. It is ironic that a love token, a trophy that knights like Gawain value, symbolizes his The imaginary dagger is a symbol of M's internal conflict. It is an image of Macbeth-- he is there and not there, as is the dagger. He is heading toward Duncan's chamber to forge his future; the dagger is bloody- meaning it is a foreshadowing of personal shortcomings. what M will become if he commits the murder. It is a symbol of his destiny and his choice. Allegorical social political "Everyman" The green girdle can be understood as a temptation or test that "everyman" (everyone) must face. Gawain is a representative person on the journey of life (iter mentis) trying to live honorably. We are all We all face moments of decision. Our "daggers of the mind" torment us. It is the human condition to be divided. As a tragic figure, we are moved to pity and terror as we make his experience our experience. tempted by our "green girdles." We think that our possessions or our technologies will give us power The dagger is also a political symbol of civil war, usurpation, and security. The poem is an allegory of every the legitimacy of the succession. By murdering Duncan, person's life journey and the compromises they Macbeth is making political decisions that will have make. ramifications for Scotland. Anagogical universal spiritual thematic paradox The sign of your shame is the sign of honor. In fact, shame and honor go hand in hand. Only the person who has been shamed can truly live honorably. There is a truth that transcends our limited human experience: Forgiveness! So be mirthful, for evil The dagger that kills Duncan will kill Macbeth. He will no longer be who he was. Macbeth will suffer the same fate. Perhaps the dagger is saying that we carry our destinies in our hands. We are comes to those who dwell on it. responsible for our fate. Ladder of Interpretation graphic organizer: "Significant to the work as a whole" What does the work suggest about characters-- their development, their sense of identity? What is ironic about those revelations? What does the work suggest about relationships between characters? What is ironic about these relationships? What does the work suggest about our relationship with the world, the universe? Irony? What does the work suggest about our destiny and purpose? Irony? Consider how a word, an image, a passage can be understood as a microcosm of the work as a whole. Consider how a character can be understood as an "everyman." The character's experiences may be applicable to human nature. Consider the anagogical level of interpretation.

6 Analysis Essay Assignment Read Identify Patterns Evaluate and Connect significant elements to an argument Select convincing and persuasive textual evidence to support your argument Effectively prove the validity of your argument by writing a formal, academic paper Grading Rubric ARGUMENT: Student thesis represents an opinion that clearly identifies and supports the validity of a significant and sustained textual argument drawn from an evaluation of the entire text. Persuasive, effective, and convincing evidence supports the thesis and provide progress for the direction of the paper Student argument is present and referred to in the body of a coherent paper so that each body paragraph is connected to the thesis. Student papers are typed and meet the minimum requirement of having five - paragraph that represent a completed final submission and accurately portrays details drawn from selections. Each deduction will result in a penalty of up to twenty points. EVIDENCE: Directly Cited Supporting citations should be effectively distributed throughout your essay. Use a minimum of 6 direct quotations, 2 per paragraph. Textual citations are correctly punctuated Textual citations are wellintegrated into the paper Textual citations are effectively evaluated Textual citations are correct MLA Parenthetical Documentation Three points per mistake. STYLE/FORMATTING: double space the entire paper include the correct MLA Heading use correctly formatted MLA page numbers type in Times New Roman, 12 font or Calibri 11 format all margins to one inch utilize student-created titles do not punctuate the title of their own essays correctly punctuate titles of literary works places the paper s argument/ thesis as the last sentence of the introduction do not use the impersonal you, I, or me when creating written arguments do not use generalizations such as we, us, audience, or the reader when creating written arguments correctly use present tense when evaluating literary and nonprint texts correctly use past tense when dealing with historical events such as a work s publication date indent the first sentence of a paragraph utilize proper transitions do not abbreviate or symbols for words write out numbers under 100 do not use contractions in formal writing correctly use ellipses correctly correctly use brackets to adapt and clarify quotations correctly block off quotations that exceed three typed lines does not include parenthetical asides avoid the use of sign posts : In conclusion, First, this shows, according to the text, etc. Do not refer to the quote as a quote, such as this quote Do not expect the quotation to show or say your paper cannot speak or testify for you, the writer Work Cited page includes a correctly formatted title Work Cited page is presented as a separate page Entry are presented with the first line flush to the margin Entry lines beyond the first are indented Entry include the correct author Entry include the title of the work Entry include the city of publication Entry include the publisher Entry include the date of publication Entry include the document format Five point Deduction for Each Error. The grading rubric is comprised of three sections for which individual grades will be earned and from which the final grade will be averaged. I look forward to seeing you in August! Mrs. Henderson katherinehenderson@fredericaacademy.org