Advanced English Summer Assignment

Advanced English Summer Assignment

Grades 7 & 8

Part 1 : (25 points possible)

Choose one of the prompts below and respond in 50-100 words:

1)Describe yourself as a writer. You might discuss what you like/dislike about writing, what kind of writing you prefer, or even how you approach writing tasks.

2)Describe yourself as a reader. You might discuss what you like/dislike about reading, what kind of texts you prefer, or even how you approach reading tasks.

Also consider responding to the questions in the genre, or style of writing, that best expresses your ideas. You may choose an essay, poem, song, letter, short story, etc. You might even take a multi-genre approach.

Part 2 (75 Points Possible)

All students who are entering grades 7-8 Pre-AP classes will read the following book and complete ONE of the projects listed below:

Grade 7:

Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen

Grade 8:

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Projects:

Create a diary or journal in the voice of a character from your book.

Follow the events of the novel and give your chosen character’s impressions and reflections on those events. Be sure to go beyond the obvious. What thoughts are racing through his mind? Pick this project if you feel like the book’s characters really came alive for you. You must complete 12-15 journal entries. The project should be 250-800 words (2-4 pages double spaced.)

Write letters between characters:

This project can be done in two ways. You could write letters back and forth between two characters from your book, or you could think outside of the box a bit more and write letters between one of the characters from your book and another person from literature or history. What would the characters say to one another? How would they get along? What stories might they share? Chose this project if your think interaction between characters is more interesting that introspective from one character. You may write as many letters are you would like. The project should be 250-800 words (2-4 pages, double spaced). Make sure your interactions are grounded in the books.

Create a newspaper for your book or create a blog:

Summarize the plot in one article, cover the weather in another, do a feature story one of the more interesting characters in another. Include an editorial and collection of ads that would be pertinent to the story. Your newspaper must include at least 5 stories and be laid out as a newspaper.

Create a graphic novel.

If you have a real talent for art, put it to good use with this project! Create a storyboard. Choose 12-15 scenes from your book and create illustrations for each scene. The graphic novel should include the major points in the book, including aspects such as theme, characters, setting, conflict, author’s purpose etc. Make sure you include the dialogue!

Scoring Rubric

Distinguished (71-75 points)

* Outstanding work, fully meets all

requirements* Exhaustive coverage

* Completely understands problem and has

ability to apply data to the solution

* Shows originality

Highly Proficient (65-70 points)

* Excellent work, meets all requirements of

task, good breadth

* Well planned and documented

* Shows fine understanding and ability to

apply data to the solution of the problem

* Shows evidence of creativity

Proficient (60-64 points)

* Fine or good work, meets requirements of

task

* Good breadth of coverage, fairly well

planned and documented

* Shows a good understanding and ability

to apply data to the solution of new

problems

* Could show more evidence of creative

thinking

Suggests Proficiency (50–59 points)

* Fair work, meets some requirements of

the task

* Fair breadth of coverage with some gaps

* Shows an uneven understanding with

some, but not complete, ability to apply

data to the solution of the problem

* Needs to fill gaps

Suggests Lack of Proficiency (40-49

points)

* Uneven work, meets some requirements

of the task

* Poor breadth of coverage with a number

of gaps in coverage

* Little understanding and ability to apply

data to problem solving

* Needs to improve in significant areas

Lacks Proficiency (below 40 points)

* Poor work, meets some requirements of

the task

* Little to no breadth of coverage

* Little understanding and makes no

significant attempt to apply data to solution

of the problem

Adapted from Huntsville City Schools, Huntsville, AL