If you still plan to take this class in the fall, please give Ms. Clark your address when picking up the summer work.

Transcription

1 1 11 th Grade Advanced Placement Language and Composition Summer Reading If you still plan to take this class in the fall, please give Ms. Clark your address when picking up the summer work. Dear AP English Language Students and Parents, To Be of Use by Marge Percy The people I love the best jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives of that element, the black sleek heads of seals bouncing like half submerged balls. I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience, who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again. I want to be with people who submerge in the task, who go into the fields to harvest and work in a row and pass the bags along, who stand in the line and haul in their places, who are not parlor generals and field deserters but move in a common rhythm when the food must come in or the fire be put out. The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident. Greek amphoras for wine or oil, Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums but you know they were made to be used. The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real. AP English Language and Composition is for oxen and buffaloes; it is a course for students who have the stamina and patience to work and work and work. John Cage, an instructor at the Albers Black Mountain College of the 1930s and 40s, wrote in his Rules and Hints for Students and Teachers that the only real rule is work if you work, it will lead to something. It s those who do all of the work all the time who eventually catch on to things. AP students love to work hard academically and challenge their minds. They love to read and write and think deeply. They want to work with a community of learners and leaders to use these tools. They love to discover new things and uncover truths in literature, the world, and themselves. To do this, of course, daily attendance is mandatory, deadlines are non-negotiable, excuses are unacceptable, and hard work with deep thought and lively discussion are consistently rewarded in short, welcome to the varsity level in academics! Your reward

2 2 could be increased GPA, college credit, better chances of admission to a wider range of colleges along with increased opportunities for earning scholarships to pay for it, and the ability to make the transition into developing into a life-long learner. AP Language and Composition is likely to be one of the largest English academic challenges you ve engaged upon this far in your high school career. Please don t feel any shame if this already doesn t seem right for you. Get in touch with your counselor so he or she can facilitate a transfer to English III. An AP course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects, as well as the way genre conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing. You will have required summer reading and writing and you will be responsible for getting a hold of your own books. Please see me if you foresee this being a problem and I will do whatever I can to help you attain these books. The summer work will be challenging but rewarding. This packet serves to share the summer expectations of AP Composition and Language and give you some insight what to expect the first few weeks of school. Save some money: Books are expensive, but there are ways you can save money instead of paying full price. With the exception of The Norton Reader, you may choose online editions for your e-readers. Caveat: if you misuse your electronic device in class (e.g. playing games, texting, facebooking, etc.), you ll lose the privilege of using it in class regardless if that s your only copy of the text. Unfortunately you are not allowed to share books, I will be grading annotations and markings in the text and you ll need your own copy in class most days of the week. So even though I support the idea that sharing is caring, you ll have to share something with someone else some other time. Check out the following online retailers if you want to save money: Amazon.com Buy the used books instead of the new ones. Make sure to check the shipping cost first. Sometimes a book will cost $0.01 but in return the shipping costs are exuberant. Also make sure to check the quality of the used book before purchasing it. Also paperback options are an obvious cheaper buy. Abebooks.com Half.ebay.com Thriftbooks.com

3 In short, this summer you will: 1. Read 5 books and stay up to date on current events via national/world news and opinion editorials 2. Write a 3-5 page essay over the summer on In Cold Blood that you will turn in the first day of school (you should also be prepared to discuss this book thoroughly when you return to class in the fall). 3. Write 10 entries in a journal (computer or notebook) about 10 passages from In Cold Blood (see directions for more information) 4. Keep a Dialectal Journal/Double Entry of the book you choose from the choice list and take a test when you return to class in the fall (template attached) 5. Take notes on How to Read Novels like a Professor well enough so you may write about it when you return to class in the fall (medium for this one is up to you) 6. Take notes on Woe is I and Eats, Shoots & Leaves and take a test on it when you return to class in the fall (medium on this one is up to you) 7. Read the newspaper and keep up with national and world current events. You will have some writing assignments when you return to class in the fall. 8. Ms. Clark if you have any questions or if you need some motivation to complete the work (K4R4.CL4RK@GMAIL.COM) 9. Decide if you want to meet at Cocobean this summer for a check in and for some support from your classmates and your teacher (it won t be mandatory). 3

4 4 Required Reading for AP Language and Composition: don t freak out; you don t have to read all of them this summer 1. The Norton Reader TWELFTH Edition 2. Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O'Connor 3. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss 4. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Don t buy the newest version (13 th edition) because it s over $50.00 and that s ridiculous. The 12 th edition is much cheaper (on Amazon starting at $2.50 plus $3.00 shipping) and has the almost all of the same essays. Also make sure you don t buy the shortened version. This must be a printed edition (no e-books). The Norton Reader has introduced millions of writing students to the essay as a genre. First published in 1965, it is still the best-selling thematic reader and the only thematic reader that also supports a genre-based approach. This book will be used throughout the school year. ASIN: B004NMB2FI Preferably 3 rd edition, but any edition of this book is fine, just make sure you don t buy the junior edition for children From Publishers Weekly Commonsense stuff-but every once in a while, it's nice to be reminded. The rest of the volume is similar to the first: witty, economical and fun to read, it explains the secrets to grammar in refreshingly jargon-free sentences illustrated by numerous examples ("'I assure you,' said the grieving widow, 'I ensured he was insured to the hilt'"). When is "majority" plural, and when singular? How does saying "Trixie loves spaghetti more than I?" mean something completely different than "Trixie loves spaghetti more than me?" While the volume is certainly handy to someone struggling with grammar basics-there are few style guides so breezy-the "Verbal Abuse" section will appeal to language experts and purists, especially those who decry the use of partner as a verb, or grow with a direct object (as in "grow the business"). ISBN-10: or ISBN-13: Excerpt from the book: A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. Why? asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. I m a panda, he says, at the door. Look it up. The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves. So punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death. ISBN-10: or ISBN-13: Preferably the more recent editions of this work (2013 or 1994) if possible. Page numbering might be off for class discussions but that will be okay. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a nonfiction book about a multiple murder of a family in Kansas in Readers know the outcome of In Cold Blood from the start, yet Capote still manages to build suspense. More surprisingly, Capote creates sympathy for the murderers while letting readers in on all the horrible details of the crime. In Cold Blood is rightly a classic, but it may not appeal to everyone. The content is difficult and the reading is dense. In Cold Blood will make you think. Read more about this work at ISBN-10: or ISBN-13: or ISBN-10: or ISBN-13:

5 5 5. How to Read Novels like a Professor A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster Thomas C. Foster examines the grammar of the popular novel. Exploring how authors' choices about structure point of view, narrative voice, first page, chapter construction, character emblems, and narrative (dis)continuity create meaning and a special literary language, How to Read Novels Like a Professor shares the keys to this language with readers who want to get more insight, more understanding, and more pleasure from their reading. ISBN-10: or ISBN-13: The Modern Language Association Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7 th Edition This book isn t required and you could probably share this book with another student to save money. Be aware that all of your formal papers will be graded according to the MLA style. You may be able to find information online but either way you will be held accountable for writing accuracy according to this guide. Used editions start around $5.00. Don t buy any other edition than the 7 th! The MLA style has changed recently due to changes in writing due to the use of the internet. If you buy an older edition, your writing may not be aligned with current standards. This book is widely adopted by universities, colleges, and secondary schools, the MLA Handbook gives step-by-step advice on every aspect of writing research papers, from selecting a topic to submitting the completed paper. For over half a century, the MLA Handbook is the guide millions of writers have relied on. The seventh edition is a comprehensive, up-to-date guide to research and writing in the online environment. It provides an authoritative update of MLA documentation style for use in student writing, including simplified guidelines for citing works published on the Web and new recommendations for citing several kinds of works, such as digital files and graphic narratives. SUMMER READ: Woe is I by Patricia T. O Connor and Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss While the AP English Language and Composition course assumes that students already understand and use Standard English grammar, it also reflects the practice of reinforcing writing conventions at every level. Therefore, occasionally the exam may contain multiple-choice questions on usage to reflect the link between grammar and style. The intense concentration on language use in the course enhances students ability to use grammatical conventions appropriately and to develop stylistic maturity in their prose. Stylistic development is nurtured by emphasizing the following: a wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively; a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination; logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions and emphasis; a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail; and an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure. These books will help refresh your skills and knowledge of grammar in a fun witty way. You ll have a test on what these books cover during the first or second week of school and we ll continue to improve our writing and grammar skills all year. You will be expected to interact with these books on a deeper level. I will need to see evidence of annotating and note taking on the topics that these books

6 6 SUMMER READ: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. All students are required to read the book and write no less than 10 dialectical or double-entry journal entries which discuss tonal analysis of the text (see General Notes on Tonal Analysis for details). These entries will help you take formal notes to organize and inspire your essay assignment. Please note that there is really no minimum word count on your journal entries. I suggest that you aptly choose 10 passages of the book to analyze closely with regard to tone. Subsequently, be sure to provide at least 2 examples from each of the 4 categories of tonal analysis (see attached information). The remaining 2 entries are of your choice (imagery, diction, syntax, structure, etc.). Directions: You will write a 3-5 page double-spaced paper on the tone of the novel as a whole. This will serve as a diagnostic tool for me to gauge your existing strengths and weaknesses as a writer entering a college writing course. Keep in mind that this will not be a literary analysis which moves through the what of the text. Instead, your paper will focus on the why and the how -How does Capote use imagery, diction, syntax and structure to convey said tone? Strong papers will utilize at least 6 examples of reinforcement with in-text citations. SUMMER READ: How to Read Novels like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster This book is informative and comedic and I hope you enjoy reading it. You will be responsible for knowing the material that the author covers in this book. How you make yourself accountable for the material is up to you. You may choose to take notes or annotate the text or both. Just be able to prove to me during the first week of school that you ve interacted with the text on a deeper level. You will either have some writing prompts or test questions that deal with the topic covered in this book. SUMMER READ: Choose your own adventure Additionally, all students must choose one of the following works to read. You can go online and read about the books listed below. Choose something that interests you. This book will be the subject of your first timed essay of the course, which will occur during the first week of school. Again, you are required to record no less than 10 journal entries for this selection. I highly suggest that you annotate and also use post it notes to mark quotes, ideas, diction, syntax, and tonal qualities you might use to write an essay All My Sins are Relatives by W.S. Penn The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited by Vladimir Nabokov Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard Slouching toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams This Boy s Life by Tobias Wolff Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead by David Callahan The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbin SUMMER READ: National News and Opinion Editorials Much of this course is designed to help you analyze and construct arguments, therefore, you should be engaging in some of the dialogue taking place in the world. I recommend that you begin reading a weekly or daily news source on a regular basis. A daily newspaper from Grants is not sufficient; I highly recommend that

7 7 you begin reading one or more of the following: Time, Newsweek, Sunday New York Times, Harper s, Atlantic Monthly, New Yorker. Pay close attention to the opinion editorial pieces. GENERAL NOTES ON TONAL ANALYSIS Tonal analysis is the study of the techniques used by a writer to convey his tone (attitude towards his subject.) For the AP test, you will be analyzing prose writing which includes: speeches, historical documents, autobiographical works, essays, and narratives. All prose writing has a tone, and good prose writing usually has a very specific tone which the writer is trying to convey. The tone is conveyed in many different ways, but we will concentrate on four specific techniques that writers use. They are: imagery, diction, syntax, and structure. Imagery These are the descriptive details that were used by the writer. You must learn to understand the reasons why the writer selected the details in the writing. Do the details create a certain atmosphere or mood? Usually, imagery is carefully controlled by the writer to convey a consistent tone. For example, if I wanted to convey how much I hated something, I would only use negative details to describe it. These negative details would make my hatred clear to the reader. Pay attention to the details which are used. Try to see what unifies them and why they were selected. Diction This refers to the words which are used by the writer in his writing. There are many words in the English language which are highly connotative that is, they have meanings and associations which go beyond the literal definitions. For example, look at the following list of words which essentially describe the same thing (beauty) and see how the words differ in their connotative meaning: lovely, attractive, cute, beautiful, hot, pretty, sexy. Different words can create much different meaning or tone. Usually, the diction helps the writer to convey his tone clearly. Learn to distinguish which words are used by the writer to make his tone clear. Syntax This refers to the sentence structures present in a piece of writing. Some common syntactical features which are used by writers include repetition and parallel structure. The use of a short sentence can emphasize a point clearly, while a long sentence can be used to delay or obscure the main point. A good writer uses different syntactical strategies to convey his tone clearly. Structure This is a term which covers a broad category of devices a writer can use to manipulate his writing. Structure includes such things as organization, arrangement of ideas, point of view used, style of writing used, etc. In this class, we will be studying writing samples to determine what tone is present in them and then analyze how the aforementioned structures are used to make this tone clear. This first step learning to see and understand these structures is the most difficult. It requires active readingǁ in which you ask questions about the reading. Ask why and how questions instead of what. While an understanding of the content of the writing is important, the emphasis is on how and why the writer conveys his tone. The exercises we will do in class will emphasize this skill. As you become more comfortable and proficient with this skill, we will move on to organizing and defending your findings in a persuasive essay.

8 8 Dialectical or Double Entry Journal Reading is too often a passive experience for many students. They sit down with a book or article, pass their eyes over the words, and say that they have done the reading assignment hoping that the most difficult postreading task they ll encounter will be a short quiz primarily composed of recall questions. One way to get students involved is through the use of the dialectical journal. The term indicates the tension between reader and text that occurs when students struggle to derive meaning from a difficult or unfamiliar work. What is it? Why is it important? How is it done? The journal is a double-entry, note-taking process done while reading any genre of literature. It is an attempt to transfer a reader s interior monologue on paper by providing two columns which are in dialogue with one another, not only developing a method of critical reading but also encouraging habits of reflective questioning/thinking. In the right-hand column, the reader ownsǁ or commentsǁ on important text that has been identified. The dialectical journal helps readers critically think about the text they are reading. By keeping a dialectical journal, students are brought to think for themselves about a text and offer their own interpretations. Draw a line down the middle of a piece of notebook paper, thereby making two columns. The left column, labeled textǁ or note taking is used for traditional note forms of direct quotations and citations or summaries. Thus, when they finish they have a summary of the material they have read. The right column is used for commenting on the left-column notes. Here students record their questions, comments, and ideas next to the text that has piqued their interest. As students take notes, regularly re-read previous pages of notes and comments, drawing any new connections in a right column summary before starting another page of note-taking/note-making. The top 1 margin of the page is reserved for biographical information, teacher directed comments, or any pre-reading information that might help the reader better understand and appreciate the text.

9 9 Double Entry Journal The following list presents some different ways to keep a double entry journal Make sure to note page # and/or section # s of notes for future reference. You may choose to use a notebook or type it. Either way you ll need to have both on hand the first day of school Left Hand Side Observations, details revealed by close reading What the text says Question I wonder why Quotes from text Right Hand Side Visual commentary (drawings, visual analogies, doodles) Written reactions, reflections, commentary, musings ( Hmmm ) Connections To other texts To the world To yourself Significance Why the text says this Maybe because Similar quotes from the text Social justice issues/questions (race, class, gender inequalities, etc.) How it aligns or develops the theme or central idea of the text Naming Literary or Persuasive (Rhetorical) Techniques Opinions on writing style (this stood out to me, this made me question, I like the way this is written, I need to write this down because I struggle with the concept or idea of it)