Pre-Advanced & Advanced Placement

High School Summer Reading

Pre-Advanced & Advanced Placement

English

2012

Dear Parents of English Pre-AP and AP Students:

As we end a school year, the English teachers at Edinburg CISD would like to let you know that we have your child’s education in mind when we make decisions about summer reading assignments. In order to adequately prepare for AP English exams and to develop your child’s reading and thinking skills within a limited number of months, we require all English I Pre-AP, English II Pre-AP, English III Pre-AP/AP, English IV Honors/AP, and English V Humanities students to read assigned novels during the summer months. Students will be assessed over the summer reading through tests, essays, and class activities during the first week of school. Below, you will find a list of the classes and the novel(s) that need to be read prior to the first day of the 2012-2013 school year. Your child will need to acquire the necessary novel and read it during the summer. We have notified Barnes & Noble bookstores on North 10th Street in McAllen, so there should be sufficient copies if you choose to purchase them there. Please feel free to call your child’s current English teacher or counselor if you have any questions as to which novel your son/daughter should read this summer.

Please note: Failure to read assigned novel will adversely affect your student’s grade.

The summer reading writing assignment is due Thursday, August 30, 2012.

Thank you,

ECISD English teachers

Dear Student:

Welcome! We are pleased that you decided to enroll in English Pre-AP/AP courses. It is a course designed to foster independence and critical thinking. We encourage you to read frequently and widely and reflect on your reading.

Over the course of the summer, we are asking you to embark on a search for youridentity as you uncover a world of language and literature that reflects on human cruelty versus self-sacrifice. Through your summer reading and assignments, you will explore and analyze how individual identity is affected by external, societal forces.

Use the following questions as a guide to enhance your understanding of the reading selection:

Essential Questions

• What is the author’s purpose?
• What is the intended audience?
• In what ways does the author craft’swork towardsthat purpose?
• How do I incorporate these into my own writing to make my work more effective?
• Who and what defines identity?
• How does one exist and define himself/herself in a society that does not recognize him/her as equal?
• How does one balance personal identity within cultural and social constraints?
• What happens when identities collide?
• How does language shape identity?
• What is the connection between the way others see us and the way we see ourselves?
• How does one read a text and determine its meaning?
• How does one balance personal identity with the meaning of a text?
• What innocence is lost temporarily, and what innocence is lost permanently?
• How do personal beliefs, ethics, or values influence decisions that a person makes?
• How do the consequences of some decisions play a major role in re-examining a person’s role or purpose in life?
• What elements of society act against an individual’s search for and understanding of self?
• How detrimental is conflict and alienation to the human spirit?
• How do multiple opinions affect the way we view ourselves?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your high school ELA Department.

Happy Reading!

High School ELA Teachers

English I Pre AP – Night by Elie Weisel

English II Pre AP – Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

English III Pre AP and AP – The Other Side of the River by Alex Kotlowitz

English IV Honors and AP – Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Humanities – East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Students will choose one of the following prompts to write about for the book they have been assigned to read. Their essay will be at least 1000 words in length. Assignment will be due the first week of school – Thursday, August 30, 2012. In addition, the objective test of the novel will be administered Friday, August 31, 2012.

1. Select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character’s villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

(When you write this essay, think of the character who appears malicious or wicked and explain what scenes show him or her exhibiting that type of behavior. Explain also how this behavior was important in the book. When a prompt requires a writer to “show how it enhances the meaning of the work,” think what the writer wanted us to take away from the reading. What is the message or theme?)

1. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of the gender, race, class, or creed. Choose how such a character plays a significant role in the book you read and how the character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions or moral values. Do not merely summarize the plot.

(When you write this essay, think of the character who is not accepted by the society or who distances himself from those around him because of his sex, ethnic background, social status or religious beliefs. How does this alienation affect the character, and what does it reveal about the society’s beliefs and behaviors?)

1. Works of literature often depict acts of betrayal. Friends and even family may betray a protagonist; main characters may likewise be guilty of treachery or may betray their own values. Show how your assigned book includes such acts of betrayal. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the nature of the betrayal and show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

(When you write this essay, think of the character who has betrayed someone or even himself. Explain what the betrayal involves and how it affects the characters involved. When a prompt requires a writer to “show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole,” think about what the writer wanted us to take away from the reading. How was it important? What is the message or theme?)

1. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works, a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Focusing on the symbols found in your assigned book, write an essay analyzing how these symbols function in the work and what they reveal about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

(When your write this essay, think of at least two items, actions, or events that represent bigger ideas. For example, “birds” in a novel might be expressing freedom or independences that a character yearns for because he or she feels emotionally oppressed. The writer would then show scenes involving birds that capture that changing behavior of the character as he or she begins to feel independence.)

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Student/ Parent (Guardian) Agreement

STUDENT

By signing below, I guarantee that I fully understand my responsibilities for summer reading and related assignments. I also guarantee to submit my work no later than Thursday, August 30, 2012. The objective test of the novel will be administered Friday, August 31, 2012. I also acknowledge that if I fail to submit my work in a timely fashion, I will be incurring two failing grades per book.

Student Signature: ______

Date: ______

PARENT

By signing below, I indicate awareness and understanding of my child’s responsibilities for summer reading. I also support my child’s efforts to fulfill his/ her classroom expectations to submit the summer reading assignments by their due date or else incur two failing grades. Because your child is too advanced academically to continue to read books within the genre of young adult fiction, the novels chosen for summer reading were written for a mature audience. These selections, sanctioned by AP College Board, represent selections deemed to be books of literary merit.

Parent Signature: ______

Date: ______

Advanced Academics ~ Gifted Education

EDINBURG CISD