DOCTORS CHARTER SCHOOL OF MIAMI SHORES R E A D I N G LIST AND S U M M E R A S S I G N M E N T

For Incoming 7th - 12th Grade Students

2020-2021

All DCS students must participate in the summer reading assignment. This is an integral part of their

reading experience that provides exposure to varying literature. Research shows that reading throughout the summer helps to combat the “Summer Slide”. This is where students lose academic achievement gains made in the previous school year. In addition, as students read more, they will develop their use of the spoken and written word, achieve higher test scores and be better prepared for success in college and in life.

Students will be responsible for obtaining a personal hardcopy of the book (cannot be an eBook) from the "Required Summer Reading List" for their incoming grade level before the start of the 2020-2021 school year.

The first three weeks of school will be devoted to the review and presentation of your Summer Reading Assignment.

Your Summer Reading Assignment includes two parts:

1. Assignment One: Book annotation (see sample) - due week 2 2. Assignment Two: Keep a Dialectical Journal (See samples)-due week 3

Students must be prepared for class discussions, critical analysis, comprehension and vocabulary quizzes, critical essays, and final tests for their novel.

THE NOVEL MAY BE TESTED BY THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL.

*Attached to this packet are the guidelines on novel annotations, due the second week of school and the dialectical journal, due the third week of school.

DOCTORS CHARTER SCHOOL Reading List for the school year

2020-2021

Required Summer Reading List 7th Grade: Finding Chika

by Mitch Albom

8th Grade: The Outsiders,

by S. E- Hinton

9th Grade: Their Eyes Were Watching God,

by Zora Neale Hurston

10th Grade: Shift, by Jennifer Bradbury

11th Grade: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

12th Grade: Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Required English Class Reading List

6th Grade: Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of Greek

Myths, by Bernard Evslín

*Supplemental reading announced in class

7th Grade: Romeo and Juliet, Oxford School

Shakespeare Edition

*Supplemental reading announced in class

8th Grade: Hamlet, Oxford School Shakespeare

Edition

*Supplemental reading announced in class

9th Grade: Macbeth, Oxford School Shakespeare

Edition *Supplemental reading announced in class

10th Grade: Othello, Oxford School Shakespeare

Edition *Supplemental reading announced in class

11th Grade: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott

Fitzgerald

*Supplemental reading announced in class

12th Grade:

*Supplemental reading announced in class

Name: _______________________ Grade:_____

DOCTORS CHARTER SCHOOL Language Arts Department

Annotation Rubric Grade 6: A majority of pages have: *highlighting (main ideas,

important characters, sensory details)

*academic comments *circle unfamiliar vocabulary (define in margin) *point of view (first or third person narration)

Grade 7: See above and add the following elements: *character traits (honest, brave,

leader, selfish, etc.) *setting *make predictions/ask questions

*identify figurative language (allusions, metaphors, personification, etc.)

Grade 8: See all above and add the following elements: *genre of literature *plot development (exposition,

*rising action, climax, falling action, resolution)

*theme Grade 9-12: See all above and add the following elements: *tone/mood *symbolism/imagery

*figurative language *text connections * character analysis *author’s purpose *puns, irony/sarcasm

Scale: 1 – 5 5 = 90 - 100 (Excellent) - ENTIRE book annotated per grade level requirements; 1 or 2 minor elemental errors

4 = 80 - 89 (Good)- MAJORITY of book annotated; Includes MOST elements with only a few errors

3 = 70 - 79 (Fair)- Annotation demonstrated; Includes SOME elements; more than a few elemental errors 2 = 60 - 69 (Needs Improvement)- Number of pages annotated is less than 70% AND/OR includes very few

grade level elements

1 = 50 - 59 (Unsatisfactory/Did not complete as assigned)- 50% or less number of pages completed;

many errors

0 = 0 Did not submit OR pages do not demonstrate annotation

Your score: ____________ Comments: _____________________________________

Summer Reading Assignment #2

Dialectical Journal

What is a Dialectical Journal? The term “dialectic” means “discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual

investigation. The purpose for a dialectical journal is to help you develop a deeper understanding of the texts you’re reading.

What type of Notebook Should I Use? Your journal must either be a composition notebook or a spiral-bound notebook. Loose-leaf paper

and folders are not allowed. Alternatively, you can type your journal. All journals that are typed must be submitted via canvas which will be provided by the teacher. There is a zero tolerance for plagiarism. Any journal entry that has been plagiarized will receive and automatic zero. When I am Writing in my Dialectical Journal, is there a Right and Wrong Answer?

NO! A dialectical journal shows your own thoughts and ideas about what you read. When you write in your journal, you should be as original and creative as you can be.

REQUIRED:

Incoming 7th and 8th grade students are required to complete 2 journal entries per chapter and High School students are required to complete 3 journal entries per chapter.

Instructions:

1. Use a Composition Book. Divide the page into two columns or if typing, create a two column table on the computer.

2. Title the column on the left: Passages from the Text. This is where you will include quotations from the text you found interesting, informative, thought provoking, questionable, etc.

3. Title the column on the right: Commentary/Responses to the Text. Here you will interact with and respond to the texts using any of the following Sentence Starters:

I think the author is trying to say that…

This passage reminds me of… (myself, another person, another text, the world, etc.)

If I were (name of character) at this point, I would…

This part doesn’t make sense because…

This character reminds me of (name of person) because…

An interesting word/phrase/sentence thought is…

Something I notice/think important is…

Something I appreciate/don’t appreciate is…

The detail seems effective/ineffective/out of place because… 4. Each response should be 4-10 sentences and your ideas should be clear. 5. Show us that you have read the entire book by responding to passages throughout. 6. Make sure that you include a citation with the author’s last name and page number. For example:

(Alvarez 68).

Sample Dialectical Journal Entries

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Passages from the Text Commentary/Responses to the Text

“She took my hand and I felt the power of whirlwind sweep around me. Her eyes swept the surrounding hills and through them I saw for the first time the wild beauty of our hills and the magic of the green river. My nostrils quivered as I felt the song of mockingbirds and the drone of the grasshoppers mingle with the pulse of the earth” (Anaya 12). Citation includes the author’s last name and page number where quote was found.

The imagery reveals Tony’s sense of the earth around him. As Ultima touches his hand, he is drawn into what seems to be a new and wondrous universe. This powerful experience makes Tony think that Ultima knows his fate and that they will be close. It can be inferred that their relationship will be a significant part of the novel.

“…But why had the new god, the golden carp, chosen also to punish people? The old God did it already. Drowning or burning, the punishment was all the same. The soul was lost, unsafe, suffering—why couldn’t there be a god who would never punish his people, a god who would be forgiving all the time? Perhaps the Virgin Mary was such a god? She had forgiven the people who killed her son. She always forgave. Perhaps the best god would be like a woman, because only women really knew how to forgive” (Anaya 143).

Tony is having a revelation here about his faith. On one hand, he’s gained a deeper understanding of the God he knows as “unforgiving”. On the other hand, he’s recognizing the role women play in his life and the power they have. Even though his revelation is about the Virgin Mary, it seems as if he sees Ultima as god-like. Since Ultima is a “healer”, this seems to be a strong comparison/conclusion on Tony’s part.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Passages from the Text Commentary/Responses to the Text

“ ‘He might have hurt me a little,’ Atticus conceded, ‘but son, you’ll understand folks a little better when you’re older. A mob’s always made up of people, no matter what. Mr. Cunningham was part of a mob last night, but he was still a man…So, it took an eight-year-old child to bring ‘em to their senses didn’t it?’” (Lee 159-160).

The tone here is matter-of-fact. Atticus admits that Mr. Cunningham could have harmed him, but he explains that Mr. Cunningham’s actions were not entirely his own; he was influenced by the crowd as is common for many people. It takes Scout recognizing him and talking to him to make Mr. Cunningham realize that what he is doing is wrong.

“Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” --Atticus (Lee 105).

As with many of Atticus’s conversations with his children, here Atticus is teaching Scout an important life lesson: We must use our conscience as a moral compass. It doesn’t matter what others may think about the choices we’ve made; what matters is if we can live with ourselves. At the end of the day, we must be able to love and accept ourselves for who we are and what we’ve done. We don’t need society, or the “majority” to accept what we’ve done; we need ourselves. Our own judgment.