And Winning Entries and Formatting Directions Here

Dear Students:

I look forward to meeting all of you in August, and I am proud that you have chosen to challenge yourselves by taking an AP course. I have designed your summer reading assignment to serve as an introduction to the ways we will read, write, think and explore during the year. AP English III is meant to replicate a college composition course; therefore, we will primarily read and compose nonfiction texts including visual texts. A spirit of curiosity is a must for this course because we will inhabit the realm of the real world rather than the imagined realm of a fictional world. In that spirit, I would like you to spend time this summer with some of the greatest minds on the planet, so I am asking you to spend some time with T.E.D. ( and ).

In addition to TED, I invite you to engage with The New York Times Summer Reading Contest. Participating in the contest is optional, but I do invite you to respond (at least twice) to content from the Times during the window of June 16 to August 20. You will find contest rules here:

and winning entries and formatting directions here:

Go to the T.E.D. website and select two (2) talks to view. You may choose talks that are related thematically, or you may just take a meandering stroll through this website. I suggest that you find some talks by chance, and that you seek out talks on topics particularly dear to your heart—perhaps you love music, or medicine, or art or physics…there is something for everyone on T.E.D. Keep a journal for each talk you view. Label each entry with the name of the person who presented the talk, the title of the talk and its URL. Write a paragraph (or two or three) about the key ideas in the talks you watch. Include your reaction—were you impressed? Mindblown? Bored? Your journal entries and New York Times contest entries should be typed. They will be collected on August 21, 2017.

When we all meet in August, we will be sharing the items and ideas we discovered during the summerand will be using that content to fuel some of the first lessons in the course.

--Mrs. Vicknair

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p.s. We will discuss this work during the first days of the school year, so if you have questions, do not fret.