dunmeyera-ap.weebly.comdunmeyera-ap.weebly.com/uploads/7/5/7/8/75785571/... · Web viewAdvanced Placement Language & Composition/ American Literature & Composition. Welcome to Advanced

Contact Ms. Dunmeyer at [email protected] for any questions or concerns regarding the summer assignment

Advanced Placement Language & Composition/ American Literature & Composition

Welcome to Advanced Placement English Language/ American Literature and Composition. The focus of AP Language is understanding, analyzing, and writing non-fiction prose, connecting fiction prose (drama and novels) to rhetoric and argumentation, and using multiple sources to develop and support your own arguments. The required preparatory reading and assignments for this class includes reading two books on understanding and crafting arguments, a memoir and reading selections from periodicals.

As you work on these assignments, you may contact Ms. Dunmeyer via [email protected]. In your email please clearly articulate your concern or question and include your full name. All emails will be responded to

on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the summer.

AP Language & Composition... At a Glance

Focus on nonfiction (personal essays, autobiographies, news articles etc.)

You will write (and write and write and write). AP Language and Composition is a writing and research intensive course so writing is a MUST

You will analyze other author’s pieces, writings produced by your classmates, and your own personal writings

You will study grammar

This is considered a college-level course, therefore, students will be treated like the mature, honest, responsible, self-motivated people they are (I will reiterate mature, honest, and responsible)

You MUST be able to trust yourself to keep up with the workload

For the summer assignment, you will have to:

1) Read the required number of books2) Complete your dialectal journals3) Write the assigned essay

All assignments are to be completed as outlined in this packet and are to be submitted on the first day of class. No late assignments will be accepted.

Here’s what you can expect in AP

Language

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mailto:[email protected]



The summer assignment will be the initial focus of the course. Failure to complete the summer assignment will seriously affect your fall semester grade.

The summer assignment is due on the first day of school during the fall 2017-2018 school year.

* If you transfer into the class, from another school, or into the class late you are still required to complete the summer assignment. Your assignment due date is September 6, 2017 at the beginning of your class period.

Assignment 1: Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs

Note-taking/ Dialectal Journal: This portion of your summer reading assignment must be completed in the format described below

1. Read Chapters 1-172. Take notes on each chapter in a Dialectal Journal. This journal should be

typed in Times New Roman 12 pt. Font.

Create a heading with your name, the book title, and the book author.

Select 9-12 meaningful passages that adequately draw from the beginning, middle, and end of the text.

Type the entire passage to which you will refer and include the page number from which it came.

Paraphrase or summarize the passages. It will be helpful to provide the context in which it came. In other words, what is happening before and after the passage appears in the text.

Analyze and react to the passage in full sentences—not notes. This should NOT just be personal reactions or a summary; rather, you should attempt to analyze the methods that the writer uses to make his or her argument. This is where you will show your engagement and reflection. Your analysis should be longer than the selected quote or passage.

*On the following page you will find an example of how your notes should be arranged from Thank You for Arguing

Student Name: Jane Doe

Additionally you must:

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Book Name: Thank You for Arguing Author: Jay Heinrichs

Quotation/ Passage from the text with page number

Paraphrase or Summary Analyze and React

“I played a lot of Monopoly growing up. Like most players of the game, I loved drawing a yellow Community Chest card and discovering a “bank error” that allowed me to collect $200. It never occurred to me not to take the cash. After all, banks have plenty of money, and if one makes an error in your favor, why argue? I haven’t played Monopoly in twenty years, but I’d still take the $200 today. And what if a real bank made an error in my favor? That would be a tougher dilemma. Such things do happen.” (1)

The author is remembering that a common childhood game had a positive moment when a player received “free” cash because a bank made a mistake. This is the way the book begins and sets up the idea of the Cheating Culture.

By beginning with a reference to a childhood game, the author reminds the audience of something that most people probably remember—not just the game, but the excitement of a “bank error” card. He also issues the question that “banks have plenty of money” so “why argue?”This really mimics what most people would probably say in real life to justify why they should keep money that isn’t rightfully theirs. He moves from this game topic to a suggestion that it could really happen (which he will explain later) and suggests that it would be a “tougher dilemma.” It almost seems like this could be a sarcastic remark. I think many people would just take the money.We tend to view banks as huge institutions that they will not miss a few rogue dollars here and there. This idea that Wall Street continues to pay out bonuses while the “little guy” is barely getting by or may not even have a job is especially prevalent now. By this question, the author seems to be trying to get us to ask if we can even justify that type of thinking. Is this the right decision to make?

Secondary Activity:

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Flashcards: Thank You for Arguing is the text that will cover the central focus for this course—the art of argumentation. Therefore you must become extremely familiar with the wide variety of rhetorical strategies discussed throughout this text. These terms can be found in bold, in the margins, as well as in the glossary. Additionally, attached is a list of terms you should become extremely familiar with in preparation for this class. It is strongly suggested that you create flashcards and begin reviewing them regularly to prepare you for the course. These terms will be referenced repeatedly throughout the course of the year.

Assignment 2: Annotations and Dialectal Journal

Choose a book from the list provided below:Black Like Me by John Howard GriffinThe Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex HaleyThe Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBrideA Child Called “It” by Dave PelzerSteve Jobs by Walter IssacsonThis Boy’s Life by Tobias WolfBossy Pants by Tina FeyAnd Still Peace Did Not Come by Agnes Kamara-UmunnaThe Soloist by Steve Lopez

1) For this portion of the summer reading assignment students will need to read and annotate their chosen book. Proof of annotation must be clear. If you buy the book, you can write in it. If not, use post-it notes. Please take a moment to research and read the summary of each book and select the text that interests you the most.

2) For each text, students will also need to complete a dialectal journal (see the instructions on the previous page for the dialectal journal example). This journal is also due on the first day of school and will be extremely helpful during the first few weeks of class as you will have a related writing assignment.

Assignment 3: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

This assignment should be completed in a composition notebook.Material is to be handwritten in black or dark blue ink pen only: you may copy and paste passages into your notebook, but not any of your analysis. Please make sure your assignments are clearly labeled.

Address the overall purpose of the Lamott’s text and explain how effectively the writer achieves this purpose through literature analysis as well as materials addressed in Heinrich’s Thank You for Arguing. Your response should be no less than 350 words and should include a thesis statement and textual evidence.

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Identify three excerpts from the text to compose individual, close reading analysis. You must begin by including the excerpt (this can be copied down, or printed out and pasted into the notebook). These analyses should address the passages in close analytical detail using the information gleaned from Heinrichs’ Thank You for Arguing.

Assignment 4: Opinion/ Current Events Essay Journal

Success in Advanced Language and Composition will depend on your knowledge of current issues and events. To be successful in this course, you MUST read widely and continuously about current events, local, national, and international issues. This portion of the assignment must also be completed in your composition notebook. If you have room in your notebook from assignment 3, you may use the same notebook. However, if you choose to do so, please label your notebook clearly.

1) Over the summer, read from a variety of reputable sources (see the list below) and clip/collect twelve (12) news/current event articles and twelve (12) editorial articles from these sources. They may be taken from print or online sources but you should use at least two different sources (i.e. The New York Times and The New Yorker for instance).

2) All articles must be printed, glued in your journal, and opinion/editorials annotated for the writing and persuasive strategies outlined in Thank You for Arguing (be sure to reference this text throughout your summer assignment). These annotations must be detailed and insightful, not labels. Additionally, your annotations should be written in black or dark blue ink. All articles must be prefaced by their appropriate MLA citation. Please see the online Purdue owl resource to see how to cite a newspaper or an editorial.

Examples of suggested newspapers/magazines:The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, National Review, The Nation, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Arts and Letters Daily

If you are unsure on how to annotate or “mark-up” a book, please see the attached documents

Annotations: How to mark up a text

For your use and reference:

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A User’s Guide to Active ReadingAs you work with your text(s), consider all of the ways that you can connect with what you are reading. Here are some suggestions that will help you with your annotations:

Circle and Define words or slang; make the words real with examples from

your experiences; explore why the author would have used a particular word

or phrase.

Make connections to other parts of the book and write about it in the

margins. Feel free to use direct quotes from the book.

Make connections to other texts you have read or seen, including:

Movies

Comic books/graphic novels

News events

other books, stories, plays, songs, or poems. Again remember to write about

it in the margins of the pages

Draw a picture in the margins when a visual connection is appropriate.

Take a post it note and re-write, paraphrase, or summarize a particularly

difficult passage or moment.

Take a post it note and make meaningful connections in the margins of

the page to your own life experiences.

Take a post it note and describe a new perspective you may now have. Stick

it on the page where you gained that new perspective.

Take a post-it note and explain the historical context or traditions/social

customs that are used in the passage or even discuss how these customs and

traditions are different from your background.

Take a post it note and offer an analysis or interpretation of what is

happening in the text. Be sure to stick your post-it note inside of your book.

Point out and discuss literary techniques that the author is using.

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Again please feel free to contact Ms. Dunmeyer at [email protected] with any questions or concerns you may have regarding all summer reading assignments. Emails will be responded to on Tuesdays and Thursdays only during the course of the summer months.

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Additional Terms You will need to become extremely familiar with these terms throughout the course

of the 2017-2018 school year (Please see assignment 1 secondary activity).

Alliteration: The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables.Allusion: An indirect reference, often to another text or an historic event.Analogy: An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things. Anaphora: The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses. Anecdote: A short account of an interesting event.Annotation: Explanatory or critical notes added to a text.Antecedent: The noun to which a later pronoun refers.

Antimetabole: The repetition of words in an inverted order to sharpen a contrast. Antithesis: Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas.Aphorism: A short, astute statement of a general truth.Appositive: A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun. Archaic Diction: The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language. Word choice

Argument: A statement put forth and supported by evidence.Aristotelian triangle: A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see rhetorical triangle).

Assertion: An emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument.Assumption: A belief or statement taken for granted without proof.Asyndeton: Leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses.

Attitude: The speaker’s position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.Audience: One’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed. Authority: A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.

Bias: Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue.Cite: Identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source.Claim: An assertion, usually supported by evidence.Close reading: A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text.Colloquial/ism: An informal or conversational use of language.Common ground: Shared beliefs, values, or positions.Complex sentence: A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

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Concession: A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.Connotation: That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s literal meaning (see denotation).Context: Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning.Coordination: Grammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordinating conjunction such as “and”, or “but.”Counterargument: A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.Declarative sentence: A sentence that makes a statement.Deduction: Reasoning from general to specific.Denotation: The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.

Documentation: Bibliographic information about the sources used in a piece of writing.Elegiac: Mournful over what has passed or been lost; often used to describe tone.Epigram: A brief, witty statement.Ethos: A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos).Figurative language: The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.Figure of speech: An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning.

Hyperbole: Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.Imagery: Vivid use of language that evokes a reader’s senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing).

Imperative sentence: A sentence that requests or commands.Induction: Reasoning from specific to general.Inversion: A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject.Irony: A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result.

Juxtaposition: Placement of two things side by side for emphasis.Logos: A Greek term that means “word”; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos).Metaphor: A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison.Metonymy: Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole.Oxymoron: A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.Paradox: A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.Parallelism: The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.Parody: A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule.Pathos: A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).

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Persona: The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing.Personification: Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects.

Polemic: An argument against an idea, usually regarding philosophy, politics, or religion.

Polysyndeton: The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.Premise (major, minor): two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise.

Major premise: All mammals are warm-blooded.Minor premise: All horses are mammals.

Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded (see syllogism).Propaganda: A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.

Purpose: One’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.

Refute: To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.Rhetoric: The art of speaking or writing effectively.Rhetorical modes: Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation.Rhetorical question: A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.

Rhetorical triangle: A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see Aristotelian triangle).Satire: An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.Sentence patterns: The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.Sentence variety: Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.Simile: A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.Simple sentence: A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause.Source: A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information.Speaker: A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.Straw man: A logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable

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position; misrepresenting, then attacking an opponent’s position.Style: The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech.Subject: In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing.Subordinate clause: A clause that modifies an independent clause, created by a subordinating conjunction.Subordination: The dependence of one syntactical element on another in a sentence.Syllogism: A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor).Syntax: Sentence structure.Synthesize: Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.

Thesis: The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.Thesis statement: A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.Tone: The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience.Topic sentence: A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph’s idea and often unites it with the work’s thesis.Trope: Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech.

Understatement: Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect.

Voice: In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing.Zeugma: A construction in which one word (usually a verb) modifies or governs—often in different, sometimes incongruent ways—two or more words in a sentence.

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Thank You for Arguing Notes

(This rubric is for assignment 1)

Effective (9-10)

Adequate (7-8)

Approaching Standard (5-6)

Inadequate (0- 4)

Student notes are thorough and complete. Obvious time and effort has gone into the production of this journal.Student notes show insight into the text. Rhetorical strategies are identified clearly.The student identifies effective strategies and makes connections to other readingsGrammar, punctuation and spelling are correct.The journal is neat and organized. The specified style of notebook is used. The journal entries are handwritten in blue or black ink.

Total Score for Thank You for Arguing Journal Entries________________________/50

Rubric for memoir selection Journal Notes

(This rubric is for assignment 3)

Effective (9-10)

Adequate (7-8)


Inadequate (0- 4)

Student notes are thorough and complete. Obvious time and effort has gone into the production of this journal.Student notes show insight into the text. Rhetorical strategies are identified clearly.The student identifies effective strategies and makes connections to other readingsGrammar, punctuation and spelling are correct.Thejournalisneatand organized. The specified style of notebook is used. The journal entries are handwritten in blue or black ink.

Total Score for Journal Notes_____________________/50

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Rubric for Opinion Essays Journal Notes

(This rubric will be used for assignment 4)

Effective (9-10)

Adequate (7-8)


Inadequate (0- 4)

Student notes are thorough and complete. Obvious time and effort has gone into the production of this journal.Student notes show insight into the text. Rhetorical strategies are identified clearly.The student identifies effective strategies and makes connections to other readingsGrammar, punctuation and spelling are correct.Thejournalisneatand organized. The specified style of notebook is used. The journal entries are handwritten in blue or black ink.

Total Score for Opinion Essays Journal Notes_____________________/50

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Dialectal Journal Rubric

(This rubric will be used for the dialectal journal in assignment 1 and assignment 2)

Critical Reader (detailed, elaborate responses)—40-50:_________Extra effort is evident._________You include more than the minimal number of entries._________Your quotes are relevant, important, thought provoking, and representative of the themes of the novel._________You can “read between the lines” of the text (inference)._________You consider meaning of the text in a universal sense._________You create new meaning through connections with your own experiences or other texts.

_________You carry on a dialogue with the writer. You question, agree, disagree, appreciate, and object._________Sentences are grammatically correct with correct spelling and punctuation.

Connected Reader (detailed responses)—30-39:_________A solid effort is evident._________You include an adequate number of legible entries._________Your quotes are relevant and connect to the themes of the novel. Entries exhibit insight and thoughtful analysis.

_________You construct a thoughtful interpretation of the text._________You show some ability to make meaning of what you read._________the text._________You explain the general significance._________You raise interesting questions._________You explain why you agree or disagree with the text.

Thoughtful Reader (somewhat detailed responses)—25-29:_________You include an insufficient number of entries._________Sentences are mostly correct with a few careless spelling and grammatical errors._________You selected quotes that may be interesting to you, but that don’t necessarily connect to the themes of the novel._________Entries exhibit insight and thoughtful analysis at times. You make connections, but explain with little detail._________You rarely make new meaning from the reading._________You ask simple questions of the text._________You may agree or disagree, but don’t support your views.

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Literal Reader (simple, factual responses)—20-24: You include few entries._________Entries exhibit limited insight or none at all._________You accept the text literally.

_________You are reluctant to create meaning from the text._________You make few connections, which lack detail._________You are sometimes confused by unclear or difficult sections of the text.

Limited Reader (perfunctory responses)—below 20:_________You include very few entries._________Very little effort is evident._________You find the text confusing, but make no attempt to figure it out. You create little or no meaning from the text.

_________You make an occasional connection to the text, and the ideas lack development.

_________Sentences contain numerous grammatical and spelling errors.

Total score for dialectal journal_____________ / 50

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Documents

dunmeyera-ap.weebly.comdunmeyera-ap.weebly.com/uploads/7/5/7/8/75785571/... · Web viewAdvanced Placement Language & Composition/ American Literature & Composition. Welcome to Advanced