Randallstown High School Grade 9

First Quarter Reading

Standard, Honors, and Gifted and Talented 2015-2016

To encourage reading over the summer and outside of school, Randallstown High School participates in a First Quarter Reading Assignment. Each summer, all students who attend Randallstown will receive a reading assignment that will be due on September 25, 2015. Each grade level has an assigned text or set of texts. The books have been specifically chosen based on their content and their relationship to their English course and/or Social Studies course. The books are available online, through GooglePlay, through iBooks, from the school’s website, from Randallstown’s Library, or through the Baltimore County Public Library System. In addition to reading the book, students will be required to complete the assignment below, and students will be assessed upon returning to school.

English 9: First Quarter Reading Assignment (each part is explained in detail below):

  1. o Pick up a copy or download your book:
  2. English 9 Standard and English 9 Honors students read Wonder by R.J. Palacio.
  3. English 9 GT students read House on Mango Street by Cisneros
  4. o As you read, complete 30 dialectical journal entries that demonstrate your personal connection to the text.
  5. o After you read, complete a SOAPSTone Analysis.

4.  o GT ONLY Compose FIVE higher level questions that will be used in a book club/Socratic seminar when we return.

  1. o When your assignment is due, you will have an in-class assessment that tests your familiarity of the novel.

Title / Author / Level / Book Description
Wonder / R.J. Palacio / YA, ON, AUD,GO, IBKS / August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face.
House on Mango Street / Sandra Cisneros / AD, AUD, ON, GO, IBKS, / The remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero. Told in a series of vignettes - sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous - it is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become.
AD=Adult / AUD= Audio Available at Public Library / YA=Young Adult / NF =Nonfiction / BIO= Biography
LANG= Racially Charged or Mature Language / ON=Available online / GO= Available through Google Play / IBKS=Available through iBooks
***Book descriptions by Bristol Public Schools: High School English Recommended Reading – 2011, bcplonline.org, and/or Amazon.com

Part I: Dialectical Journals

Directions: A dialectical journal is used to arrive at the “truth” of a written work through a written response to quotations from that work. As you complete your assigned reading, choose passages that standout to you, record them, and evaluate each with your ideas, insights, questions, reflections, and/or comments. Record your responses in a T-chart as in the example provided.

What do I record?

Quotation (page #) / Reaction / Response
Sentence, line, phrase, or paraphrase that:
1. May remind you of something; make you think or question
2. May reveal insight about theme, character development, etc.
3. May be an example of pleasing or disturbing writing style / Explanation of why you chose the quotation/passage:
• Question/Predict: Ask questions while you read and try to predict.
• Making a Connection: to personal experiences, life, other literature, etc.
• Interpret/Evaluate: Determine the meaning of what you’ve read; Form opinions both while you’re reading and after you’ve finished. Develop your own judgments about the characters and your own ideas about events.
• Extend the Meaning: What does the quote say about all people and humanity?
• Challenging the Text: Form questions about the validity of implied/explicit connections or claims, reliability of narrator, development of plot, character, style, etc.

Part II: SOAPSTone Analysis

Directions: After you finish reading House on Mango Street, complete a SOAPSTone organizer to analyze the text. In your response, you should write between 2-5 sentences for each aspect of SOAPSTone, and utilize textual support in your responses.

Explanation
S / Subject: What is the context of the text?
O / Occasion: What has prompted the novel, book, or play to be written? There are two occasions: the larger occasion, which is the broad issues or topic which has inspired the text, and there is the immediate occasion, which is the moment in time or culture in which the author is focused.
A / Audience: Toward whom is the text directed? Who is the assumed audience and what are the characteristics of that audience? How do you know?
P / Purpose: What is the author’s purpose for writing the text? Does the author have more than one purpose? Why type of reaction is the author trying to evoke from the audience and how does the author try to accomplish that? What is the intended effect of the article?
S / Speaker: Who is the speaker? Are there assumptions you can safely make about the speaker? Be careful – the speaker and the author are not always the same. What is the point of view of the text? Does the speaker display any bias?
Tone / Tone: What is the author’s attitude toward the subject? How has the author used syntax and diction to display that tone? Where is the tone the strongest?

Part III GT ONLY: Discussion Questions

Directions: Compose FIVE higher level questions that will be used in a book club/Socratic seminar when we return. You will be in charge of leading the discussion so make sure you are able to answer your own question with evidence from the text in order to facilitate discussion. Consider using the words below when forming your questions.

1 Randallstown High School: English 9 Reading Assignment

acquire

adopt

apply

assemble

capitalize

construct

consume

demonstrate

develop

discuss

experiment

formulate

manipulate

organize

relate

report

search

show

solve

consequences

analyze

arrange

break down

categorize

classify

compare

contrast

deduce

determine

diagram

differentiate

discuss

causes

predict

conclude

criticize

dissect

distinguish

give reasons

order

separate

sequence

survey

take apart

test for

why

synthesize

challenge

1 Randallstown High School: English 9 Reading Assignment