Cleveland Heights High School Library
Summer Reading

Twelfth Grade Advanced Placement
English Language and Composition
Summer Reading 2009
Mr. Swider

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Directions: Students enrolling in Advanced Placement English Language and Composition for the 2009-2010 school year

A. All Students must read both of the following books
  Title Author
  Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Dillard, Annie
  Up From Slavery Washington, Booker T. (Note: This book is available online for free)
 
B. Assignment: Reading Journal (from "The Journal Conference: From Dialectic to Dialogue" by Gary Lindberg)
(click this link for a Word copy of the assignment).
    Purchase a new, single subject, spiral bound, college ruled notebook
    Take all notes only on the right-hand pages; leave the opposing pages blank for later. (This rule may be reversed if the student is left-handed!). This is one rigid format rule I would like all students to follow regarding the notebook.
    The right hand pages are for comments on the readings. The left-hand pages are for comments on the right-hand pages.
 
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  What to put on the right-hand pages -- here you are paying close attention to the text
     1. Times when your reading changes:
        I see something I didn’t see before;
        I recognize a pattern;
        the story suddenly seems to be about something different from what I thought;
        I discover that I was misreading the text;
        the author introduces a new context or a new perspective.
    2. Times when I am surprised or puzzled:
        something just doesn't fit;
        things don't make sense (state explicitly the question or problem I have)
    3. Details that seem important and that make me look again.
    4. Ways in which the narrative makes me speculate about life
    5. My first impression of the ending.
  What to put on the facing pages, or the left side -- here you are paying close attention to
how you read
      The right hand pages are for your direct reactions to the text.
The left hand pages are for something entirely different.

When you finish a chapter in either of the books assigned, go back and re-read the comments you originally wrote on the right hand pages, asking yourself questions similar to these::
        Is there a pattern to the changes I experienced?
        Does the ending tie the changes together?
        Why did I misread where I did?
      Then reflect on yourself as a reader:
  What did I focus on?
What do I care most about?
What did I disregard?
Where did I have to strain to follow the story?
      Finally, as you make these observations on your reading experience, journal your understanding of your emerging sense of how the narrative is working on you as you read.
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  Tips on  keeping a Reading Journal
  In general
    Write in full sentences. Because no writing is designed to make the reader read straight through at a uniform speed (only machines do that!), we are allowed to stop occasionally and think about, comment on, or disagree with what the author has written. Writing in full sentences helps you to draw your thoughts out fully.
    The journal is a device to help you make more of those moments of reflection and to preserve them for later consideration.
  How much and when?
    Journal (respond to) each chapter of each book. How much you respond depends upon you. I would expect a student entering in to a college level AP course to respond in a thoughtful manner. We will address your written journal entries on the first or second day of class.
  Bring the notebook with you on the first day of class, and each day thereafter.
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In addition:
 
  • Each student enrolled in AP Language and Composition needs a rich and varied background in essay reading.
  • My suggestions include any quality magazines or newspapers such as Harper’s, Atlantic, American Scholar, New Yorker, The New York Times—all of these and more are available at the local library.
  • Make a habit of reading at least one essay, not article, per week in addition to the two non-fiction selections.
  • Compile a list of essays read and attempt to determine the following for each: the author’s purpose, the author’s intended audience, the author’s tone. Notice also the diction.
  • An ideal list falls between six and ten essays.
 
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