John W. Hallahan High School
Ms. Houlihan
Honors Sophomore Literature
Summer Reading Assignment
I am very excited that you will all be joining me next year – it is an extremely enjoyable, yet challenging class that I am sure you will love! In my class, students are expected to read, discuss, and write about great novels. We will do this all year, and you will start preparing this summer.
The course is organized thematically, and one major theme this year focuses on heroes and what and how heroes are identified in various times and cultures.
Summer Reading & Assignments:
· You will read 1 novel:
o Stardust by Neil Gaiman
· You will participate in an Online Reading Group (Wiki). Some information posted on http://honors-sophomores-readinggroup.wikispaces.com/.
o The same information is included but the site will have the most current information.
· You will have the opportunity to discuss the novel in September.
· After you have had discussion time for the novel, you will write a timed, in-class essay. You will be given a specific prompt to write about and you will be able to use your novel.
· The Wiki page link is already posted in the Assignment section of my Hallahan page so that you can join the page. You must join using you Hallahan ID number as your screen-name and email account. All non- jwhallan.com address will be denied.
· The Wiki is worth 50 points and the essay is worth 50 points (the first major grades!) Please do not neglect these assignments – they will have an impact on your first quarter grade
· If you have any questions, concerns, or problems with your assignments during the course of the summer, please do not hesitate to e-mail me – I do check my school e-mail all summer.
· I do believe that you will enjoy this novel (it is one of my favorites!) and I do not think you will have any difficulties reading it. This may seem like a lot of work, but I hope that you will find the novel a pleasure to read this summer!!!
Important Information Concerning Reading Group:
Ladies,
Welcome to theHonors Sophomore SummerReading Group. This group is what is known to many educators as a Literature Circle (Book Club for School). I will be the moderator of the group and it is my job to monitor the site and what each member is contributing. This Wiki Group is our online Literature Circle.
The rules for our Wiki Group are:
1. All school rules apply for postings.
2. Everyone must respond to Discussion Questions posted by Ms. Houlihan. If you will be going on vacation, you must catch –up when you return.
3. All posting must be proper, appropriate English. No Slang or TXT speech
4. NoNegativeLanguage towards others. That does not mean you cannot disagree with others but you must phrase it appropriately.
5. You are encouraged to respond to others posting and to post questions yourself.
Since this is graded, everyone must participate in all posted activities and you must respond to all posting either by me or your Reading Group. I will begin posting questions the week of Monday August 1st. This will give you plenty of time to purchase the book (Stardust by Neil Gaiman) and begin reading. I am quite aware that there is a movie that has been made. I will also be using that to tie in to our Discussions (so fair warning you cannot just rent the movie and expect to pass).
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the ideas of the Wiki Group, it is very similar to MySpace and Facebook. If you are familiar with either of those sites, you will be fine. I will be keeping a record of all discussions, postings, files and other information that we compile during this Literature Circle. These will be used for grading. I will be updating this site regularly, so please make it one of the locations you check---BOOKMARK IT! If you have any questions, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Ms. Houlihan