New Hyde Park Letterhead
SEWANHAKA CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT
A National District of Excellence
ELMONT FLORAL PARK FRANKLIN SQUARE NEW HYDE PARK
NEW HYDE PARK MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL
500 LEONARD BOULEVARD, NEW HYDE PARK, NY 11040
Ralph P. Ferrie, Ed.D. Richard J. Faccio Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools Principal 516/488-9500
FAX: 516/488-9506
Email:
May 2014
Dear 12AP Student and Parent(s)/Guardian(s):
Welcome to Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition! We hope you are enjoying these spring days and have a relaxing start to the summer months. We are very excited about the 2014-15 school year because you will be exploring a demanding and challenging course. You will become an independent and responsible reader/writer as you are faced with a rigorous curriculum that will include poetry, classic fiction, drama, short stories, expository prose, the Bible as literature, and Greek and Roman mythology. You will not just read words, but interpret what is unspoken and implied by the writers. This course will examine the complexity of a literary work, a writer’s objective, and how it is achieved. You will reflect on your reading(s) through discussion, analytical writing, and revision. This is a college level course and will be conducted as one from the first day.
Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition commences with the reading of three literary works this summer: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. We encourage you to take time to dissect these pieces. Write notes in the margins as you read. Use post-it-notes! Reread parts you don’t understand, use a dictionary to define words you don’t know, and examine the work as a whole.
You will be tested on the novels during the month of September and the practices and approaches in the non-fiction piece will be discussed and applied throughout the course. In conjunction with these literary selections, we are offering an extra-credit assignment that should be completed after reading all three. The extra-credit assignment is due on the first day of school: Tuesday, September 2, 2014 during the period that you have English. Late extra-credit assignments will not be accepted. Although this is an optional assignment, it will provide you with some insight and practice into the types of assignments you will be responsible for during the school year. In addition to the extra-credit assignment, we have also included a list of terms you should know prior to the course which will assist you in your reading. Please review the attached list and familiarize yourself with the definitions since these words will be used frequently throughout the year.
Good luck with your reading and enjoy the summer months! We look forward to seeing you September 2nd.
Sincerely,
Kathleen M. Kaspar Andy Yen
Mrs. K. Kaspar Mr. A. Yen
English Teacher English Teacher
Something to think about:
“The test of literature is, I suppose, whether we ourselves live more intensely for the reading of it.” – Elizabeth Drew
12AP Literature and Composition Terms
1. allusion
2. ambiguity
3. aphorism
4. apostrophe
5. assonance
6. cacophony
7. colloquial/colloquialism
8. conceit
9. connotation
10. consonance
11. denotation
12. diction
13. didactic
14. dirge
15. elegy
16. epic
17. euphemism
18. euphony
19. extended metaphor
20. homily
21. iambic pentameter
22. invective
23. metonymy
24. narrative
25. paradox
26. parallelism
27. parody
28. pedantic
29. rhetoric
30. satire
31. style
32. syllogism
33. synecdoche
34. syntax
35. travesty
36. zeugma
12AP Summer Reading Extra Credit Assignment
Mrs. Kaspar/Mr.Yen
Literature is the question minus the answer.
– Roland Barthes
1. Pose three central questions that each FICTION (Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie, The Awakening by Kate Chopin) work raises. Use
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster to assist you in creating the questions and your analysis.
***Each question must focus on the development/shift of the novel as a whole: 1 question should focus on the exposition and rising action of the piece, 1 question should focus on the climax, and 1 question should focus on the falling action/resolution. (You determine where the shifts occur).
2. Identify two passages (a least 2 paragraphs in length) that support your assertion that each question is raised in the novel. Conclude how your assertion is supported by making references to the writer’s tools: syntax, style, diction, etc. (You must be very specific) How are these questions posed and in what context is each presented? (For example in Macbeth: How does one's ambition actually hinder one’s mental and social capabilities, causing limitations for progress?)
3. Identify two passages which attempt to answer the questions. Specifically state how the writer achieves this through referencing specific literary techniques.
You will be using 12 passages from each novel to complete this assignment. Your assignment must be (12pt., double-space, Times New Roman format) pages. A hard copy of this assignment MUST be submitted the period you have English class. Assignments submitted via email will not be accepted.
Each page will include the following:
- Title and author of work
- Central question(s)
- Page number of passage(s) and the first sentence (only) of each passage
Bullet form notes, specifically explaining HOW the writer presents and attempts to answer the question. Do not exceed six pages. Write concisely and to the point.
Elmont Memorial High School Floral Park Memorial High School
H. Frank Carey High School New Hyde Park Memorial High School Sewanhaka High School