11th Grade AP English Language and Composition

Summer Reading Assignment 2017

HArts Academy

An AP course in English language and composition engages students in becoming skilled

readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines and 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 purpose, audience

expectations, and subjects as well as the way the generic conventions and the resources of

language contribute to effectiveness in writing. (Description used with permission from the

College Board’s Advanced Placement Program Course description: English Language and

Composition, English Literature and Composition, May 2007‐ 2008)

Materials:

1. Five-subject College Ruled Notebook 8½x11 inches

2. Highlighters

3. Dark Blue and Black Ink Pens

4. Notecards

5. Glue Sticks

Summer Required Reading

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser

Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer

Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs

Guidelines for 11th Grade Dialectical Journal Assignment

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

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 form to examine details of sections of the novel and

synthesize your understanding of the text as a whole. Your journal will focus on one of the theme topics listed

below. There is to be NO collaboration with other students. Any assistance from outside the text (i.e. the

Internet, Cliff Notes, Sparknotes, etc) will be considered cheating and will earn an automatic zero on the entire

assignment. Setting up your journal:

You will use several sheets of loose leaf notebook paper.

Fold the paper in half vertically or draw a vertical line down the middle of the page.

Label the left-hand column “Passage/ Excerpt”; label the right-hand column “Explanation”.

You will need to read the novel before selecting the thematic topic.

Write Thematic Topic at the top and chose one of the topics below. When choosing a topic, consider the

following question: What is the most significant idea in the novel?

Some thematic topics are:

o emic

o Obesity

o Exploitation of illegal immigration

o US meat industry

o Hostile work environment

o Government regulators

o Environmental Protections

After you have finished your journals you will write a write a thematic statement about the topic you

selected. When writing your statement answer the following question. What does Eric Schlosser say about

your topic? Write your response in one clear concise statement.

Thematic Topic: _________________

Thematic Statement: ____________________________________________________________.

Your Dialectical Journal will consist of the following:

The “Passage/Excerpt Column”- Guidelines for

your passages:

The “Explanation Column”- Guidelines to your

responses to the reading: Explanation (Explain how the chosen exert

supports the thematic statements)

Select a total of twelve (12) passages from

the book. The passages/quotes do not have to

be dialogue.

Copy a passage from the novel that supports

the thematic topic you have chosen.

Use quotation marks and include the page

numbers.

Analyze how the passage supports the theme

(ask yourself the following questions):

What is the setting of the scene of the

passage?

Who is the speaker?

What is the significance of the passage to

the development of the theme you selected?

How does the passage contribute to what the

author is saying (his message)? What ideas or

feelings is he trying to evoke in the reader?

What are any personal connections to the

text, any ideas that come to your head when

you read this...

RUBRIC FOR DIALECTICAL JOURNALS

SCORE QUANTITY

Portion of work completed:

QUALITY

Responses were:

4 ALL + INSIGHTFUL

Making connections / Showing detailed and comprehensive analysis of text

3 MOST THOUGHTFUL

Showing comprehension and some analysis of text; giving own opinion of text

2 SOME LITERAL

Paraphrasing the text only

1 A LITTLE LIMITED

Commenting on the text in fragmented, disconnected, or non-responsive/off-topic manner

Sample Dialectical Journal: Night Thematic Topic: Identity

Thematic Sentence: In a hostile environment a person can rise up and overcome all odds for survival.

Passage/ Excerpt Explanation “The snow was like a carpet, very gentle, very warm (83).”

I can picture the men standing in the concentration camp, watching the snow blanket the ground. It is silent there. The snow-covered ground is smooth and soft. Wiesel describes the snow as being “gentle” and “warm” creating a

comparison that is not what one would expect. Standing barefoot in the snow would be very painful. The cold would cut deep into one’s feet. So why does he say it was warm? Maybe his feet are frozen, numb to the pain. Perhaps the snow provides insulation from night’s bitter cold. This

comparison creates a sense of peace, a moment without terror and fear. It is as if he is home again, safe and warm. (111 words)

“Death wrapped itself till I was stifled. It stuck to me. I felt

I could touch it. The idea of dying, of no longer being, began to fascinate me. Not to exist any longer (82).”

This is a sad moment for Elie. He has fought to survive but cannot fight any longer. I can’t imagine being fourteen and wanting to die. I can’t imagine being fourteen and losing

my family, my dignity, my soul. What a tragedy in this passage. Wiesel here personifies death to show the control death has over the suffering he faces in his life. In this case, Death silenc- es Elie, overpowering his will and subduing his hope of surviv- al. Elie is conflicted. He wants to survive. He wants to care for his father but he doesn’t know how much more he can take. Elie has reached a breaking point. Death has come for him so many times but has failed. This time, however, Elie is too tired to run, too tired to fight. He has had enough. Death is offering a

gift—an escape from this hellish existence. (153 words)

Independent Reading List (Choose at least one book from the list or a book of equal merit). READ, READ, READ!!!

Nonfiction Texts Alexander, Caroline. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Chen, Da. Colors of the Mountain. Dillard, Annie. An American Childhood. Frankl, Viktor E. Man‘s Search for Meaning. Elie Wiesel‘s Night. Hillenbrand, Laura. Seabiscuit. Markham, Beryl. West With the Night. Sheff, David. Beautiful Boy. Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales. Read, Piers Paul. Alive. Levitt, Steven D. and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics Manchester, William. A World Lit Only by Fire Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air Junger, Sebastian. The Perfect Storm

Fiction Austen, Mansfield Park Bronte,E., Wuthering Heights Dinesen, Out of Africa Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment Forester, Passage to India Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra Shelley, Frankenstein Tolstoy , War and Peace Allende, The House of Spirits Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate Garcia-Marquez, One Hundred years of Solitude Morrison, Beloved Salinger, The Catcher and the Rye Tan, The Joy Luck Club Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five Woolfe , To the Lighthouse