AP Language Summer Reading

2018-2019

Congratulations on choosing to take AP Language your junior year! This class can be very overwhelming to those poorly prepared. However, it is also the single most effective class in preparing you for college level writing. I guarantee that I can teach you how to organize an effective and commanding essay, but first you must have something to say! One way of helping students prepare for the demands and rigor of AP/college level work is to make sure that they are well-read and have excellent annotation skills. Reading quality materials and taking analytical notes will ensure that you have something to say As we are on the semester schedule, there is truly no time to waste, especially as we must prepare for the American Literature Milestone and the AP Language and Composition test. Many students find their junior year to be very overwhelming due to an increase in teachers’ expectations, ACTs, AP work/tests, Milestones, HOPE eligibility, college admissions looming, etc. While I plan to do everything I can to help you navigate these turbulent waters, I advise you to not procrastinate. Begin now adjusting your study habits. Sheer intellect is not the recipe for success in my class. Students with strong organizational skills and a driven work ethic usually find themselves academically rewarded in the end. I look forward to working with you soon

The Assignment: Your assignment has TWO parts. The first part of your summer

assignment is to create flashcards and organize them into appropriate tone families. The second part is to choose ONE novel from the fiction list and ONE text from the nonfiction list. For both novels you will follow the instructions provided for you to create a dialectical journal.

Due Dates: If you are in my class first semester, your work will be due August

13th. If you are in my class second semester, your work will be due January 11th. *** As of now, I have one section of AP Language first semester and one section of AP Language second semester. I will have no way of knowing which section you are in until late July.***

Note:

This work will count as TWO test grades and will greatly affect your first 9 weeks’ grade if not completed, but more importantly, if you fail to complete this work, you will begin the year behind. It does not mean that your grade will never recover or that there will be no other opportunities to improve your average; however, it does mean that you will likely begin our time together feeling very stressed and frustrated. I urge you to save yourself this heartache as you will likely not find me very sympathetic.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at: Micaela.armona@bartow.k12.ga.us or jandea.fowler@bartow.k12.ga.us

Sincerely,

Micaela ArmonaJandea Fowler

Assignment Part One: Tone Word Flashcards

Directions and Disclaimer:

I am - with cruelty - going to make you handwrite your own individual, paraphraseddefinition (that YOU understand) AND find 3 scholarly, AP-worthy synonyms AND group each of the 90 tone words onto index cards.

Although I wish there was a less cruel way to do it, this is the only way I know to get you to actually wrestle with these terms. Yes, this assignment absolutely MUST be handwritten and on index cards. If not, then one person could type it all up, and a bunch of people could turn it in without actually having done the assignment. Plagiarism is an ugly thing, people; let’s all try to avoid it for the week of school, shall we? Be sure to paraphrase the definition thoroughly and to find 3 scholarly synonyms for each tone word. When you are finished defining and synonymizing* each tone word, you must place each tone word into one of the following 16 broad categories (be prepared to justify your choices during that first week of school):

Prideful Happy Not confident Badly Behaved

Apologetic Depressed Playful Praising

Intelligent Ironic Serious Truthful

Angry Wishful Manipulative Poetic

Remember, you are creating a future study guide; time invested here on these flashcards will save you future headaches

Here is an example of #1 Abhorrent for you to follow/copy/critique onto your first index card:

Abhorrent: (adj) detestable; acting or speaking obscenelySynonyms: obscene, repulsive, and repugnant

Belongs in the BADLY BEHAVED group.There now, only 89 more to do.

*Yes, this word is made up. It’s brand new. Feel free to spread it around.

TONE WORDS

Assignment Part Two: Dialectical Journals. See attached examples for both your fiction and nonfiction novel.

Please follow the format given to you. Points will be deducted for work that does not follow the directions provided.

Fiction Choices: choose ONE

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Road by Cormac McCarthyFences by August WilsonA Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines

The Age of Innocence by Edith WhartonThe Things They Carried by Tim O’BrienThe Joy Luck Club by Amy TanThe Awakening by Kate Chopin

Nonfiction titles: choose ONE

The Overachievers by Alexandra Robbins

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates GillTeacher Man: A Memoir by Frank McCourtNickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara EhrenreichSugar Changed the World by Marc Aronson, Marina BudhosThe Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas CarrProfiles in Courage John F. KennedyAmusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman, Andrew PostmanFast Food Nation by Eric SchlosserStiff by Mary RoachBlink by Malcolm Gladwell Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared DiamondHow to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff

**Many of these novels can be checked out from our school media center. In fact, you can check your book out before this school year ends. Just tell Mrs. Herring you need it for your AP summer reading assignment**

Nonfiction Dialectical Journal Directions

What Do I Do While I Am Reading?

I am so glad you asked. You should “engage with the text.” Take notes in your book; explain connections; look up words; ask questions; speculate, think, and write it all down.Additionally, you should consider the following questions for your novel and make notes in the margins (or on sticky notes if you didn’t buy it) of your book with your responses. Even if you aren’t sure, make a reasonable guess. You must first risk being wrong if you ever hope to be right.

Start practicing.• What argument(s) is/are the author making in the novel? What is his or her purpose for writing?• Given the historical context of the novel, who was the author’s intended audience?• How does the author structure or organize this novel to achieve his or her purpose?• Choose 1 or 2 passages from the text that capture the author’s voice most clearly. Why did you choose these passages?

What Do I Do After I’m Done Reading?After reading, you will choose two (2) standout passages from each 1/3 of the novel for which you’ll analyze author’s tone AND the purpose of the passage and/or its effect on the intended audience (6 total). The requirements are as follows:

1. Using Microsoft Word create three columns electronically.2. For each passage (2 passages per 1/3 of novel), you will complete 2 analyses, one on tone and another on purpose and/or effect on audience.3. Tone analyses should be at least 1 strong, analytical sentence in length.4. Analysis of purpose and/or effect should be at least 2 sentences in length.Choose passages that: are significant to the text as a whole

contain a strong or unique tone present a problem or a solution would have been particularly poignant to the original audience

Example:

Fiction Dialectical Journal Directions

The term “Dialectic” means “using the process of question and answer to investigate the truth of a theory or opinion.” The “dialectic” was the method Socrates used to teach his students how to be actively engaged in the struggle to obtain meaning from an unfamiliar and challenging work. A dialectical journal is a written conversation with yourself about a piece of literature that encourages the habit of reflective questioning. You will use a double-entry format to examine details of a passage and synthesize your understanding of the text. Use these directions for your fiction novel only.

In this process, there is to be NO collaboration with other students. Any assistance from the

Internet, movies, or secondary sources such as Sparknotes, Cliff Notes, or Wikipedia will be viewed as cheating and will be scored accordingly. I would rather you use your own brain and be flat out wrong in your analysis than have you get into the habit of taking these kinds of shortcuts as they will not help you prepare for in-class, on-demand analysis and writing you must be able to do for the Milestone and AP test.

Instructions:1. Create a Microsoft Word document and insert a two column table. 2. Label the left column TEXT and the right column RESPONSE.3. In the TEXT column, copy passages word for word from the novel, including quotations marks and page numbers:

a. Choose 1 passage from every chapter that you read.b. How do you choose what passages to write down? Passages become important if:

i. Details in the passage seem important to you.ii. You have an epiphany!iii. You learn something significant about a character.iv. You recognize a pattern (recurring images, ideas, colors, symbols, descriptions, details, etc.).v. You agree or disagree with something a character says or does.vi. You find an interesting or potentially significant quotation.vii. You notice something important or relevant about the author’s writing style.viii. You notice effective use of literary devices.ix. You think that the passage contributes to or reveals a theme in the novel.

5. In the RESPONSE column, reflect upon the passages:a. Raise questions about the beliefs and values implied in the text.b. Give your personal reactions to the passage, the characters, the situation.c. Discuss the words, ideas, or actions of the author or character.d. Compare the text to other characters or novels.e. Write about what it makes you think or feel.f. Write about questions you have or details that confuse you and why.g. Argue with or speak to the characters or author.h. Make connections to any themes that are revealed to you.i. Make connections among passages or sections of the work.j. Make prediction about the characters’ futures.k. DO NOT MERELY SUMMARIZE THE PLOT OR RESTATE THE PASSAGE INYOUR OWN WORDS.

Example of MLA format: