AP English Literature Summer Reading List - Junipero Serra High ...

AP ENGLISH LITERATURE 2013SUMMER READINGSummer Reading Book 1How to Read Literature Like a Professor – Thomas Foster ISBN # 978-06-000942-7Assignment #1: Enroll in the AP English Literature discussion group. You have all received an e-mail invitationfrom me (tsullivan@serrahs.com) to participate. If you haven’t received one (or know someone in the class whohasn’t), e-mail me directly, and I’ll invite you.Assignment #2: Read “How To Read Literature Like a Professor.” It is an excellent resource book which will giveus a common vocabulary and structure for our reading.Assignment #3: As you read, log on weekly to the AP Literature group and respond to the discussion topic posted.As of right now there are 6 topics posted. They correspond to the first 6 chapters. I’ll be adding to the topicsthroughout the month of June. Your minimum participation in this discussion group is as follows:• Respond to at least 5 discussion topics. Try to stretch and grow in your responses. Say important things, raisethe bar in your critical thinking.• Reply to at least 5 of your classmates’ responses. Challenge their thinking and reasoning. Actively contributeto our collective thinking in this discussion.Please complete these three assignments before June 30.__________________________________________________________________________________________Summer Reading Book 2Hard Times – Charles Dickens ISBN # 0-393-09639-4During the month of July, we will shift the focus of our discussion group to Charles Dickens’ “Hard Times.”Assignment #1: Read the text of Charles Dickens’ “Hard Times.”

Assignment #2: As you read, log on weekly to the AP Literature group and respond to the discussion topic posted. Iwill be posting discussion questions according to the ‘books’ of “Hard Times.” Your participation in this discussiongroup is as follows:• Respond to at least 3 discussion topics. Consider the connection between “HTRLLAP” and “Hard Times.”• Reply to at least 3 of your classmates’ responses. Challenge their thinking and reasoning. Actively contributeto our collective thinking in this discussion.Assignment #3: Respond to the following essay prompt and upload it to turnitin.com no later than July 31 st . Theturnitin.com information is listed below.• Hard Times Essay: Choose 1-3 principles from the text/chapters of How to Read Literature Like aProfessor, and in a well-written essay (2 pages +/-), explain how you would apply its central elements toyour reading of Dickens’ Hard Times. Please refer to the sample paragraph for a sense of the quality ofwriting that is expected of you.Please complete these three assignments before July 31.__________________________________________________________________________________________Summer Reading Book #3 – Student ChoiceChoose one of the following books, read it, and respond to the following essay prompt in a well written essayusing specific details from the text to support your views.oooooooooAs I Lay Dying – William Faulkner ISBN #0-679-73225-XBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress – Dai Sijie ISBN #0-385-72220-9Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut ISBN # 978-0-385-33348-1The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon ISBN # 978-1-4000-3271-6Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison ISBN #0-679-72313-7Life of Pi – Yann Martel ISBN # 0-15-602732-1Lullaby – Chuck Palahniuk ISBN # 978-0-385-72219-3The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy ISBN #0-395-05158-4Middlesex – Jeffery Eugenides ISBN # 0-312-42773-5

ooSong of Solomon – Toni Morrison ISBN #0-452-26011-6The Book Thief – Markus Zusak ISBN #0-375-84220-7Essay Prompt: Many readers would agree that good literature asks more questions than it answers. Basedon your summer reading choice (from the above list), write a thoughtful essay that explores the essentialquestion(s) of the text. Be sure to consider how the author’s use of such literary elements as Point of View,narration, diction, syntax, imagery, irony, and metaphor contribute to the presentation, examination, orexploration of the ‘question’ that is at the heart of the text. Be sure to avoid mere plot summary.Important:• Due Date: Monday, August 19 th (submit to turnitin.com & bring hard copy to class.)• Length: 2-3 pages.• All work must by double-spaced, typed. Be sure to put your name, date and assignment in the upper leftcorner of your work.• Attached is your scoring guide which will be the basis for your writing this fall. Please review it anddetermine what level of writing will be acceptable for you to begin the semester in the 5-6 range(minimum).Essential Information for turnitin.comCourse: AP English Lit. – Summer Reading 2013#6459824 Password: aplit__________________________________________________________________________________________AP English LiteratureGeneric Scoring Guide & Percentile Grading TableThis scoring guide employs the language common to all AP English Literature scoring guides. Specificassignments will call for some slight modifications.The Percentile System: Throughout your high school years, you have been trained to calculate your gradesaccording to a percentage system. In this class, we will be using a percentile system. It is through this systemthat you can compare yourself to other students’ performance in the class (and nationally). The College Boardadvocates that AP English teachers employ this scale to familiarize you to their performance ratings before youtake the exam. If necessary, we will adjust the scale to reflect your current achievement.99 – 70 A69 – 66 A-65 – 62.5 B+62 – 57.5 B57 – 55 B-54 – 44 C+/C/C-43 – 0 Doom

The Scoring GuideUpper Half Scores:9-8: The essay will be well written, with apt and specific references from the target text. The essay willdemonstrate a clear understanding of the target text and the question or thesis, offering a convincinginterpretation and consistent control over the elements of effective exposition and criticism. The essay willdemonstrate the writer’s ability to read perceptively and write with clarity, skill, and grace.7-6: These essays also demonstrate an understanding of the target text, but compared to the best essays, theyare less thorough or less precise in handling the relation of the multiple perspectives to meaning. In addition tominor flaws in interpretation, their discussion of the question or thesis is likely to be more brief, less wellsupported,and less incisive, These essays demonstrate the writer’s ability to express ideas clearly, but with lessmastery and control than the 9-8 papers.5: These essays are characterized by superficiality. Their handling of language, imagery, and structure maybe vague, mechanical, or inadequately supported. They deal with the question or thesis and target text withoutimportant errors of interpretation but miss the complexity or address it in a cursory way. The writing issufficient to convey the writer’s views, but it is often ‘pedestrian’, not as well conceived, organized, ordeveloped as the upper half papers. Often they reveal simplistic, superficial thinking and/or immature writing.Lower Half Scores:4-3: These lower-half essays may reflect an incomplete understanding of the question or thesis and/or targettext. Typically, they fail to respond adequately to part or parts of the question or thesis. The treatment oflanguage, imagery, and/or structure in relation to the meaning may be weak, meager, or irrelevant. Thediscussion of multiple perspectives and/or meanings may be unclear or convoluted. The writing demonstratesshaky control over the standard elements of composition. These essays often contain recurrent stylistic flawsand/or misreadings and a lack of persuasive evidence from the text. Essays scoring a 3 exhibit more than one ofthe above deficiencies – they are marred by significant misinterpretations, insufficient development, and seriousomissions.2-1: These essays compound the weaknesses of the papers in the 4-3 range. They may seriously misread thetarget text and/or the question/thesis. Frequently they are unacceptable brief. They are often poorly written inseveral ways and may contain many distracting errors in grammar and mechanics. While some attempt mayhave been made to answer the question, the writer’s views are presented with little clarity, organization, orsupporting evidence.0: This is a response with little more than a reference to the target text.--: This indicates a blank response or one that is completely off topic.