AP Language and Composition
Summer Assignment – 2014/2015

Seoul International School

Mr. Peter Beckway & Ms. Ruth Poulson

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS SUMMER ASSIGNMENT BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR THE SUMMER – PLEASE COME AND TALK TO ME

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS DURING THE SUMMER, PLEASE EMAIL ME

INTRODUCTION ASSIGNMENT DIRECTIONS:

Voice Lessons, by Nancy Dean

Read the introduction to Voice Lessons, by Nancy Dean, and create a postcard for each of the elements of voice: diction, detail, imagery, syntax, and tone. Each postcard should have two sides. On the front, illustrate the element. Use a combination of Dean’s definition and explanation to visually represent the element. On the back, write a definition of the element in your own words. Please do not copy from the introduction. Instead, create a simple definition that anyone could understand when studying the term. You may design the postcard using a computer graphic design, a collage, or with your own, original artwork. Be creative and colorful in your design.

SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT DIRECTIONS:

  1. Read The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. As you read, use sticky notes and colored pens to annotate passages that stand out for their skillful treatment of diction as explained in Voice Lessons.
  1. Read Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. As you read, use sticky notes and colored pens to annotate passages that stand out for their skillful treatment of diction as explained in Voice Lessons.
  1. Read Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace. As you read, use sticky notes and colored pens to annotate passages that stand out for their skillful treatment of details as explained in Voice Lessons.
  1. Read Super-Frog Saves Tokyo, by Haruki Murakami. As you read, use sticky notes and colored pens to annotate passages that stand out for their skillful treatment of imagery as explained in Voice Lessons.
  1. Read On the Soul: Book 1, by Aristotle. As you read, decide if you have made the correct choice in signing up take AP Language and Composition. We will spend time deconstructing this kind of text in class – but you will also need to work with this kind of text on the AP exam and class assignments as well. Ask yourself – do I want to spend the next year working with this kind of writing?

DIRECTIONS FOR ANNOTATIONS:

Use colored pens and sticky notes to annotate passages in each essay according to the focus areas described above. Your annotations should be clearly focused around the element of voice selected for each essay, and should concentrate on passages that clearly stand out for their skillful treatment of the indicated element (skillful treatment refers to interesting and effective use of diction, detail, or imagery as described in Voice Lessons). Please do not annotate every single word, sentence, and paragraph in the essay. Please do not describe how a paragraph makes you feel, or how it reminds you of your first candy bar when you where a child (if you are interested in connecting these essays to those things – you have signed up for the wrong class!). Instead, please focus on deconstructing the language of the author with careful attention to the element of voice indicated. This will serve as a formative assessment of your annotation skills when we begin the course in August. These essays will also be used for our first in class writing assignments that will occur during the first week of class.

PLEASE PURCHASE THESE TWO BOOKS OVER THE SUMMER
YOU WILL NEED YOUR OWN COPIES FOR THE COURSE