summer assignment grade 12 2015 16
Post on 05-May-2022
1 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
English 12 2015 Summer Assignment
Dear Twelfth-‐Grade English Student: Since the ninth grade you have been studying the journeys and transformations that describe the human experience. Implicit in this study is an awareness of the human effort to make meaning out of our lives. No matter the society they inhabit—religious or secular, rigid or open—all individuals share this struggle: What does it all mean, and what is my place in it? However, one’s own society is often the hardest to describe objectively, particularly if one is comfortable in that society. For that reason, we are launching our senior English class with two works featuring protagonists who may be considered “outsiders”—individuals with unusual points of view, personality quirks, disabilities and super-‐abilities—who don’t quite fit the societies in which they live. As outsiders, Christopher Boone (from Mark Haddon’s 2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-‐Time) and Sherlock Holmes (from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1902 The Hound of the Baskervilles) can offer us fresh perspectives of society, language, and human nature. You will also notice that Christopher and Holmes are protagonists in works of detective fiction. This genre’s unique focus on crime and justice allows it to act as a commentary and even criticism of the society, times, and culture that it reflects. It also provides insight into the workings of language; detectives “read” clues just as members of an English class observantly read and interpret a text. As you get ready for your senior year, consider that our essential questions in English 12 are:
What makes us human? What makes us monstrous? How do we define ourselves through and against others? How can language be both liberating and limiting?
Please keep these essential questions in mind as you complete the assignment on the next page. Now that you are on the cusp of the formal transition from high school to the world beyond, it is an ideal time to contemplate your own efforts to make meaning out of life. Enjoy your reading, and have a great summer! Ms. Fink p.s. SPOILER ALERT! If you read Curious Incident first, know that pages 69-‐73 contain details about The Hound of the Baskervilles that give that book’s plot away. I suggest you read Baskervilles first!
“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.” -‐-‐ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
”Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger's . . . if anything it’s a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way.” -‐-‐ Mark Haddon, 7/16/09 blog post, www.markhaddon.com
The Texts
Numerous copies of each are available at the NYPL. They are also in stock at most bookstores.
1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-‐Time, by Mark Haddon (Vintage edition, 2003)
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Dover Thrift edition, 2004)
The Assignment— DUE THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
PART ONE: As you read each novel keep a list of notes*. This may be done in one of three ways:
• on Post-‐Its • on a sheet of paper as a two-‐column chart (Page Number/Note) • written directly in the margins, should you choose to purchase your own copies
Whatever method you choose, I should see at least one note for every five pages, on average. * What is a note? A note can be any of the following: an opinion, question, connection, inference, prediction, main idea, literary element… It shouldn’t just be a single word. Here is an example: Page (Curious Incident) Note 1 This kid is seriously observant and kind of weird—notices a lot of details
about a dead dog (he sticks around and even touches it?!!!) 2 Siobhan—I’ve heard this name before. I think it’s Irish. “Shi-‐vahn.” 4-‐5 Christopher doesn’t understand novels, doesn’t like figurative language.
How does this compare to his problem reading people’s faces? Connection to essential question about language.
6 Imagery: Christopher’s detailed descriptions of the two police officers. 12 “Prime numbers are like life”— logical but you can’t figure out how they
work—a good insight into how Christopher sees the world. 16 Christopher wants “my name to mean me.” Like Hester’s scarlet letter
“A,” which first symbolized her sin but then later, herself. PART TWO: After you finish reading and taking notes, write a 1-‐2 page response in which you present some of your ideas about the two novels. Feel free to refer to the ideas in my summer assignment letter, or the essential questions of the course. You should treat this as preparation for our class discussions during the first week of school. Remember to:
• Type and print using double-‐spaced, 12-‐point Times New Roman font. • Use logical paragraph organization. • Format Book Titles correctly (italics) and include page numbers in parentheses. Page 5 = (5). • Include a complete heading (name, date, class). • PROOFREAD your writing before your click “print.”
top related