English 10 Honors Summer Reading
English 10 Honors Summer Reading 2012
Henrico High School
Welcome to English 10 Honors! To prepare you for a successful and fun year of English, it’s important to continue to practice the skills you’ve already learned. To ensure that we can begin our exciting studies and discussions on the first day of class, students will read twoof the following texts over the summer. These works have been chosen with the understanding that they can be read independently without difficulty. While there are commercially available study guides for some of these, students should be aware that they are only to consult these as guides and should not read them in lieu of the books. Finally, students are required to keep a dialectical journal for the texts they choose. This is a mandatory assignment and will be extremely helpful in the fall when we begin to write essays and complete projects based on the reading. Journals are due on Monday, September 24, 2012.
Henrico County Public Schools strongly encourages parents/guardians to work with their children as they choose their summer reading books. All of these books may be found in the public library or you may want to purchase a copy of each book so you can take notes on the characterization, plot, diction (author’s word choice), theme, and other literary elements as you read the story.
The List (choose two of the following four books):
Great Expectations- Charles Dickens
Looking for Alibrandi- Marlina Marchetta
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger
A Separate Peace – John Knowles
Dialectical Journal:
A dialectical journal is a conversation between the reader and the text. In a composition notebook, simply write down the passages that make you think or interest you, and then write about your thoughts. This process is an important way to understand a piece of literature and your response to it. With this sort of writing, you make your own meaning of the text and thereby take ownership of it. The passages will be read by others, primarily your teacher, but they are uniquely yours. You are neither right nor wrong in your response, so you are encouraged to take risks and hold nothing back.
Write about: what you like, what you dislike, what seems confusing, what seems unusual, what you think something means, what personal connections you make, what predication you can pose. Possible sentence lead-ins might include: I don’t really understand this because…; I like/dislike this idea because…; This idea/event/quote seems to be important because…; I think that the author is trying to say that…; This passage reminds me of…; This character reminds me of…; If I were (name of character), I would…; etc. IMPORTANT: journal entries should show more analysis and less summary.
Be sure to include direct quotations from the works and try to pick out literary elements and how they contribute to the text. Hint: These particular texts focus heavily on characterization and character growth/change. You are required to have a minimum of 10 journal entries per book. See the example below). You may keep your journals in a single composition notebook with separate sections for each text. Each journal will receive a quiz grade (two grades overall). They will be collected on Monday, September 24, 2012, and the grades will count towards the first marking period.
Scoring Guide:
Journals will be assessed according to the number of entries/annotations, consistent frequency of entries throughout the text (not all from one chapter), significance of commentary, and variety of topics (character development, theme, point-of-view, plot, etc.). Each dialectical journal is worth a quiz grade.
Grade Explanation
A / This is an outstanding journal that demonstrates the reader’s complete understanding and analysis of the text(s) and of the assignment. It makes appropriate references to the text(s) as it insightfully analyzes the work(s). It is written with consistent stylistic control, using language appropriate to literary criticism.B / This is a very good journal which demonstrates a sound grasp of the material. References to the text(s) are appropriate, but analysis is perhaps not as insightful as it could be. Interpretation may falter or may be less thorough and/or precise.
C / This journal tends to over-simplify the assignment or the content at hand. It responds to the question, but tends to deal with only the obvious points. It tends to rely on paraphrase, rather than specific reference; minor points may be misinterpreted.
D / This journal demonstrates an incomplete understanding of the text(s) and/or the assignment itself. It relies essentially on summary and paraphrase. No real analysis is present. Evidence from the text(s) may be meager or misconstrued.
F / Although the writer has made some attempt to respond to the assignment, journal entries are seriously flawed by misreading, brevity, and lack of organization and focus.
Dialectical Journal Format – Each entry of your journal should look like this:
If you have any questions or concerns over the summer, please feel free to contact any of the 10th grade English teachers via email at , , or .
Have a safe summer and happy reading!
If you have any questions or concerns over the summer, please feel free to contact any of the 10th grade English teachers via email at , , or .
Have a safe summer and happy reading!
If you have any questions or concerns over the summer, please feel free to contact any of the 10th grade English
If you have any questions or concerns over the summer, please feel free to contact teachers via email at ,.
Have a safe summer and happy reading!