Summer Reading Assignment 2014 Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Over the summer, you are to complete the following assignments. All work must be handed in on the first day of school and must be typed. No late work will be accepted. If you do not complete the summer assignment, you may be reassigned to another class section that is not AP. Part I: Book of choice and Dialectical Journal Reading Choices: You are required to read one of the following books: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich Columbine by Dave Cullen Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Into the Wild by John Krakauer Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick Zeitoun by Dave Eggers Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Dialectical Journal As you read, you must keep a dialectical journal. Each dialectical journal should include 10 typed entries. *What is a Dialectical Journal? A dialectical journal is another name for a double entry journal or a reader response journal. A dialectical journal is a journal that records a dialogue, or conversation, between the ideas in the text (the words that you are reading) and the ideas of the reader (the person who is doing the reading). This is what you must do in your journal keep a dialogue with yourself. Write down your thoughts, questions, insights, and ideas while you read. The important part is that you, the reader, are reading something and then responding to it with your feelings and ideas! An additional note on the dialectical journal: use this assignment to demonstrate your understanding of literary analysis, literature, and literary terms. I expect you to explore the texts, providing smart observations about how they work through literary analysis, explaining the intricacies of their characters and themes, mining the authors use of literary techniques, and discussing how we are to consider these books in a cultural or historical context. I expect you not only to make connections within the texts, based on theme, imagery, character, narrative structure, and other literary devices, but also to connect these things both to American culture and to other novels you ve read. Do not use incidents in these books as springboards to a discussion or recollection of events in your own personal narrative. This is NOT a summary of what you read. The purpose of this assignment is to determine how well you understand the author s craft. Your journal will use a two entry form:
In the LEFT COLUMN, write down parts of paragraphs from our books and articles, quotes, or notes from class that you think are interesting or important. In the RIGHT COLUMN, write down YOUR OWN thoughts, commentary, and questions about the stuff in the LEFT COLUMN. See back for example of Dialectical Journal format First and Last Name AP English Language and Composition Date Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich Example of Dialectical Journal Summer Reading Assignment Last Name 1 Page # Quotation or parts of paragraphs that you think are interesting or important. 199 Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. Your own thoughts, commentary, questions, insights, connections, etc. Is Ehrenreich s experience any different than that of the average American in 2012? I would hope that she is biased in her beliefs, but I have a feeling that the dilemmas she faces as a low wage worker are true, honest, and indicative of a major problem in our culture. Her text is a real social commentary about economics, class, and society. She also alludes to specific problems with the health care system. I wonder if she will eventually discuss the impact of education on all of these things. Part II: Non Fiction Article You will need to research and analyze a non fiction article that connects to the book you read for the dialectical journal. This article should be from a newspaper (The Miami Herald, The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc.) and/or a weekly news magazine (Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, etc). Select 1 article that addresses an issue or topic presented in the book of you chose for Part I. Read and annotate the article. Write a one page response (not a summary) for the article. Consider the writer s argument and respond to points that you may agree or disagree with by: Effectively analyzing the rhetoric (language) of the writer Examining the purpose of the piece Responding to the piece personally by evaluating the writer s argument Explaining your personal opinion
Part III: Argument Essay You will write a two to three page argument essay that responds to the following AP English Language and Composition prompt from the 2003 AP exam: In his 1998 book Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Neal Gabler wrote the following: One does not necessarily have to cluck in disapproval to admit that entertainment is all the things its detractors say it is: fun, effortless, sensational, mindless, formulaic, predictable and subversive. In fact, one may argue that those are the very reasons so many people love it. At the same time, it is not hard to see why cultural aristocrats in the nineteenth century and intellectuals in the twentieth hated entertainment and why they predicted, as one typical nineteenth century critic railed, that its eventual effect would be to overturn all morality, to poison the springs of domestic happiness, to dissolve the ties of our social order, and to involve our country in ruin. Write a thoughtful and carefully constructed essay in which you use specific evidence to defend, challenge, or qualify the assertion that entertainment has the capacity to ruin society. To answer the prompt, you must draw from your own experience in the form of observations, experience, and readings. You can use this knowledge in a way that directly applies to the subject (if that s appropriate to the subject), or you can create an analogy between this knowledge and the prompt. Parts II & III should adhere to the following requirements: Proper paragraphing Times New Roman 12 pt or Calibri 11 pt font 1 Margins Double spaced Page numbers begin on and with page 1 Type your last name next to the page number so it appears on every page The title is centered, but NOT bolded, underlined, italicized or increased in font size Contact information for the AP English Language and Composition Teachers: Mrs. Vargas (Vargas.al@easthartford.org) Ms. Cutkomp (Cutkomp.ra@easthartford.org) You are expected to email us with any questions! No excuses will be accepted on the day you return to school!
Summer Reading Assignment 2014 AP Language and Composition Name: Category Description Points Earned/Points Available Part I 10 entries which demonstrate a thorough Dialectical Journal understanding of the novel. Thoughtfully chosen and appropriate passages taken from the text. /40 points Convincing and insightful commentary Neatness of presentation and correctness of style. Part II Annotated Article Thoughtfully chosen and relevant article Carefully annotated /5 points One Page Response Effectively analyzes the rhetoric (language) of the writer. Examines the purpose of this piece. Responds to piece personally by evaluating the writer s argument. Explains your personal opinion. /20 points Part III Argument Essay *Scored according to AP rubric on back /30 points MLA Format Overall Appearance & Format Correct order (This rubric, dialectical journal, annotated article, one page article response, argument essay) /5 points Total /100 points
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition: 2003 Scoring Guidelines 9 Essays earning a score of 9 meet the criteria for 8 papers and, in addition, are especially sophisticated in their argument or demonstrate a particularly impressive control of language. 8 Essays earning a score of 8 recognize the complexity of the claim that entertainment has the capacity to ruin society and successfully establish and support their own position by using appropriate evidence to develop their argument. Their prose demonstrates an ability to control a wide range of the elements of effective writing but it not flawless. 7 Essays earning a score of 7 fit the description of 6 essays but are distinguished by more complex or more cogent argumentation or a more mature prose style. 6 Essays earning a score of 6 demonstrate an adequate understanding of the claim and adequately establish and support their own position about entertainment s ability to ruin society. Their arguments are generally sound and provide sufficient evidence, but they are less developed or less cogent than essays earning higher scores. The writing may contain lapses in diction or syntax, but generally the prose is clear. 5 Essays earning a score of 5 may have a less adequate understanding of the claim and/or may offer limited, inconsistent, or unevenly developed position of their own. The writing may contain lapses in diction or syntax, but it usually conveys the writer s ideas adequately. 4 Essays earning a score of 4 respond to the prompt inadequately. They may have difficulty understanding the claim or establishing their own position and/or may use evidence that is inappropriate or insufficient to develop their own position. The prose generally conveys the writers ideas but may suggest immature control of writing. 3 Essays earning a score of 3 meet the criteria for the score of 4 but demonstrate less success in developing their own position or less control of writing. 2 Essays earning a score of 2 demonstrate little success in understanding the claim and/or in developing their own position. These essays may misunderstand the prompt, fail to present an argument, or substitute a simpler task by merely responding to the question tangentially with unrelated or inappropriate evidence. The prose often demonstrates consistent weaknesses in writing, such as a lack of development or organization, grammatical problems, or a lack of control. 1 Essays earning a score of 1 meet the criteria for the score of 2 but are especially simplistic in their argument or are weak in their control of writing. 0 Indicates an on topic response that receives no credit, such as one that merely repeats the prompt. 9 = 30 pts 6 = 24 3 = 18 8 = 28 5 = 22 2 = 16 7 = 26 4 = 20 1 = 14