English 12
AP Literature and Composition
James M. Bennett High School
Summer Assignment 2014
Instructor: K. Wilde email:
Congratulations! You must be both high achieving and motivated to sign up for senior AP literature and composition. As you know, this is the equivalent of a college level course, rigorous and challenging. I look forward to meeting you.
Assignment Overview: You will read a portion of How to Read Literature Like a Professor (HTRLLAP) and participate in a wikispace discussion. Then you will read a novel and post observations about the novel that relate to HTRLLAP topics. You will be prepared to write an in-class essay on the novel during the first week of school.
Objectives:
· To expand your reading horizons
· To build on close reading and analysis skills developed in 11th grade English
· To practice the process of examining the whole through the parts
Date Due / Assignment / Mode / Points / Qualifications for Success7/1/14 / Join wikispace / online / 5 / I know your real name and your pseudonym.
7/8/14 / HTRLLAP postings on wikispace / online / 30 / Demonstrates thoughtfulness, appropriate application, and completion
7/14/14 / Responses to peers’ wikispace postings / online / 10 / Demonstrates thoughtfulness and tact
8/11/14 / Novel postings / online / 30 / Demonstrates perceptive reading
8/18/14 / Responses to peers’
postings / online / 10 / Demonstrates thoughtfulness and tact
TBD / In-class essay / Hand written in class / 30 / Demonstrates comprehension of and familiarity with the novel
Late work will be penalized by a 10% deduction for the first 24 hours it is late and a 50% deduction for any lateness after that.
Wikispace Discussion:
Become a member of the class wikispace which you can access through the JMB website or the address http://apestudents.wicomico.wikispaces.net. Do this as soon as possible so that if there are glitches we can work them out. When you join, use a pseudonym that no one will recognize but that you will remember. As you join and give your email address, you will see a comment space. Tell me your real name at that time. I will not permit you to join if I do not have your real name. If you have trouble, contact me at the above email address.
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Buy or share this work by Thomas C. Foster, though I recommend buying it so that you may mark it up and refer to it later. Professor Foster writes in an engaging tone about what you may or may not interpret for meaning in works of literary merit.
Read according to the following assignments:
· Everybody read the introduction and the envoi.
· Students whose surnames begin with A through D read chapters 1 -10.
· Those with surnames starting with E through M read from the first interlude, “Does He Mean That?” through chapter 19.
· Those with surnames from N through Z read from chapters 19 – 26 including the interlude and the postlude (revised edition only).
· We will all read chapter 27 together in September.
HTRLLAP Wikispace Discussion:
You will become one of the class’s experts in your section of this book, to be called upon at any time. To facilitate your thinking about what you read, enter a discussion about each chapter by posting your thoughts in the corresponding chapter section of the wikispace. Each post should reference an appropriate and previously unmentioned example from your own experience of novels, short stories, poetry, and yes, movies, too. (Check out Foster’s reading list section “Movies to Read.”) Use the post to not only record your observed example but also to respond to at least five of your classmates’ observations. Begin posting before the due date so that you can get feedback and make corrections.
Novels:
You may choose to read any of the three below. Check out a copy from the library, purchase your own, or find a departing senior from whom you can wrest one. The novels are
The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin
Slaughterhouse Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Life of Pi (2001) by Yann Martel
For your novel, track three HTRLLAP topics found in the novel and post at least three observations about them (total 9 posts). Following that, post at least three responses to others’ posts about the novel.
Below is an example of a post relating a novel to a chapter of HTRLLAP.
Topic: Quest in Slaughterhouse Five
Observations:
a. Kurt Vonnegut is on a quest to find material with which to write his novel.
b. One obstacle (dragon) in his way is his inability to remember much.
c. One leg of his journey takes him back to Dresden.
d. The ultimate knowledge he gains is that war is not a glacier; humans have free will and could speak up to put an end to war. Unlike death, war is not inevitable.
You are expected to maintain academic integrity with respect to all assignments. Contact me if you have any questions.