Honors English III 2017- 2018 Summer Assignment
Due Date: Friday of the first full week of school
Welcome to Honors English III. The goal of this class will be to prepare students to both read and write at the collegiate level. There are three main skills that we will focus on over the course of the year: analysis, synthesis, and composition. This summer assignment will serve as an introduction to these skills as well as a litmus test to gauge your expectations of the class. It is divided into three tasks.
Task 1: Read The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The syntax and diction of this book can be challenging, even for an honors student. Read it slowly, and pay particular attention to the characterization of Hester Prynne and Pearl as well as their interactions with Arthur Dimmesdale, Robert Chillingworth, Governor Bellingham, and Reverend Wilson. Knowledge of Puritan culture is also essential to understanding the cultural environment that influences these characters.
Task 2: Conduct your own preliminary research into the philosophy of Feminism. DO NOT remark on Feminism as a political movement. Compose a two-page, MLA style, explanatory essay that details your findings.
Task 3: Synthesize the knowledge you have gained from both Task 1 and Task 2 to compose a two-page, MLA style, analytical essay that answers the following question:
How does the interactions between Nathaniel Hawthorne’s characters reveal the beginnings of Feminism in 19th century American Literature?
Grading:
This assignment will count as the 1st nine weeks Project Grade (20%). After one week of instruction, your first Test Grade (40%) will be a short answer test that hinges on your knowledge of both the novel and the fundamental concepts in Feminist Philosophy.
The essays will be graded holistically.
Strict adherence to the above stated instructions will result in a grade of 90. In order to score higher, the essays must reflect an in-depth or unique insight into the material that goes beyond high school expectations.
Preliminary Guidelines for Composition:
- Do not focus on the plot in your writing; this will result in a very poor score.
- Organize your ideas clearly; the vast majority of your sentences should center on the answer to the prompt and give support to that answer.
- Use vocabulary and syntax that is specific and appropriate for an honors student, but do not be bombastic.
- It is better to write a smaller amount of quality ideas than lengthy, repetitive, or insignificant plot summary. The page length is not a factor in the grading, rather an estimation of how much quality analysis/exposition you should be able to accomplish.