English I Honors
Summer Reading Assignment
(08-09)
English I Honors is a UC approved college preparatory course designed for students who are capable of demonstrating exemplary performance in Language Arts. This standards based program offers opportunities for ANY student who has the motivation, interest and ability to work at a rigorous pace. Students will be expected to demonstrate critical thinking skills, depth and complexity of thought, insight, and creativity with exemplary academic success as the goal. The purpose of the Summer Reading Assignment is to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities as readers and writers and their commitment to the acquisition of knowledge.
Recommended Prerequisites:
· Grade level MAP reading score and middle school District Writing Score of 3 or 4 (or teacher recommendation)
· 3.5 English GPA
· Commitment to achieve academically
On the first day of school, English I Honors students will
- Take an objective test on the first 19 chapters of the text, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
- Bring your vocabulary-Personal Word List (Part 2)
- Bring the poster-chart of the character you followed (Part 3)
- Bring your answers to the questions about Dickens (Part 4)
During the first and second week of school, English I Honors students will
- Write a character analysis for each character you followed
- Create a character map with partners
- Write a literary analysis of a theme from the book
- Analyze literary devices such as tension, characterization, tone, character tags, symbol, metaphor, foreshadowing, etc.
- Analyze style and language such as repetition, tags, description, detail, humor, satire
- Begin to collect research materials on Victorian England-- assigned topics
During the third week of school, English I Honors students will
- Collect research materials on Victorian England
- Write a mini-research paper on Victorian England in class
The Summer Reading Assignment:
NOTE—The four bulleted items for the first day of school will be worth 10% of your Fall Semester grade. Students who arrive either unprepared or perform very poorly will not be eligible for a grade of “A” at the semester, and should adjust their expectations accordingly.
The Assignment: Four parts
Part 1. READING:
A. The McDougal-Littell edition of Great Expectations is available at GHS. You may check it out from the Book Room. Read the first 19 chapters of the book only. We suggest you read 50 pages each session . Note: The Book Room will be CLOSED for the month of July.
Part 2. VOCABULARY:
A. Make a Personal Word List. To do this, collect at least 30 words or phrases that you find hard to understand. Then
1. list the word or phrase with page number where you found it
2. write the sentence from the book containing the word or phrase
3. find & write the meaning of the word/phrase and the part of speech
4. write a comment about the word or phrase that shows how you connect to it, now that you know what it means.
An example how to do 1, 2, 3, and 4 for the Personal Word List follows.
Personal Word List (EXAMPLE)
1. Page 11 connubial
2.“She concluded by throwing me--I often served as her connubial missile--at Joe.”
3. Adjective-- matrimonial—pertaining to marriage
4. I wonder what other things Mrs. Joe tries to throw around. Isn’t this child abuse?
WARNING—Be sure you use the Glossary at the back of the book. (Pages 614-630) Words and phrases that may be new to you are included there and are marked in the book by an asterisk to show you they are explained in the Glossary. DO NOT USE WORDS FROM THE GLOSSARY IN YOUR PERSONAL WORD LIST.
Part 3. TRACK A CHARACTER:
A. ADOPT A PRIIMARY CHARACTER from the following list and become an authority on that character. You are assigned your primary character by the first letter of your last name. The goal is to discover the strengths and weaknesses of each character you investigate. It is especially important to note whether your characters change over time or not as some characters are dynamic and change while others are static and stay the same. As you follow the characters note factors A through H listed below.
PRIMARY CHARACTER ASSIGNMENT
If your name is from A-G, choose Pip
If your name is from H-L, choose Miss Havisham
If your name is from M-R, choose Estella
If your name is from S-Z, choose Joe Gargery
B. To demonstrate that you have followed the character in the areas of A through H below, develop a large poster-chart with one column for each question A through H. Transfer your notes about the characters to the poster charts. As you read, I suggest you use color coded post-its, one color for each question area and note your finding on the post-it and then attach the post-it to the page where you found it. This should make it easier for you to create the poster-chart that summarizes what you have found out about your character in all seven areas, A-H. If you have a method that works better for you than post-its, use that method instead.
C. Develop notes around these seven questions listed next, A through H.
A. What does your character look like?
B. Who are your character’s friends and or enemies?
C. How does your character behave? Include habits, expressions, and mannerisms.
D. What does your character say?
E. How does your character interact with others and they with him/her?
F. What are your character’s conflicts?
G. What are your character’s motivations?
H. How does your character change over time?
Part 4. THE LIFE OF DICKENS
Finally, each student is required to investigate the life of Dickens. Know when he lived, where he lived, what he wrote, and how he wrote-serial. What things did his writings criticize? What kind of people read his writing when he was alive? What was the economy like during Dickens’ life? What things would a person see on the streets of London if you could visit Dickens while he was alive? What ruler had such a great impact on people’s lives during Dickens’ era? What was that impact? To help answer these questions go on-line to The Dickens Project centered at UC Santa Cruz. The website is located at http://humwww.ucsc.edu/dickens/ Bring the answers to these questions the first day of class. Please check with me at carol.singleton@gusd.k12.ca.us and email me if you have trouble with this assignment. Tutoring/study sessions can be arranged.
**You will need to check out the book(s) at the GHS bookroom before the end of school. Bookroom closed for the month of July**
