Advanced Placement Language Composition
Summer Enrichment Assignments 2014-15
Welcome to Advanced Placement Language and Composition. The purpose of this class is to prepare
you for the AP test in May; however, the greater goal is to prepare you for college and career by
helping you to develop critical reading and writing skills, to help you raise awareness of your own
composing processes: explore ideas, reconsider strategies, and revise your work. Toward this end,
we will emphasize the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing that forms the basis of
academic and professional communication, as well as the personal and reflective writing that fosters
the development of writing facility in any context.
Reading complex texts*: It is essential that students focus on the close, sustained analysis
of complex texts. Close, analytic reading stresses engaging with a text of sufficient
complexity directly and examining its meaning thoroughly and methodically, encouraging
students to read and reread deliberately. Directing student attention on the text itself
empowers students to understand the central ideas and key supporting details. It also enables
students to reflect on the meanings of individual words and sentences; the order in which
sentences unfold; and the development of ideas over the course of the text, which ultimately
leads students to arrive at an understanding of the text as a whole. Close, analytic reading
entails the careful gathering of observations about a text and careful consideration about
what those observations taken together add up to — from the smallest linguistic matters to
larger issues of overall understanding and judgment. (*adapted from the PARCC Framework)
ASSIGNMENT
Your responsibility this summer is to read the listed memoirs, annotating as you go.
You are required to read at least 3 books this summer:
 The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
 Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
 Student choice: memoir of your choice.
There is a short writing reflection below for The Glass Castle due August 15, 2014. Writing for the
other two works will occur once school begins.
Although these books are challenging—and you may be attempted to take shortcuts—restrain
yourself. I have seen the movies, as well as many online sources. Allow yourself the time needed to
do ALL the reading, annotating and journaling—you will benefit when it comes time to be tested. (In
other words, DO NOT leave this project until August.)
Please contact me if you have questions (mabeshaus@northlandprep.org).
The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
I.
In some ways, The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, is a Bildungsroman, which according to
Victorian Web, is “the story of a single individual's growth and development within the context of a
defined social order. The growth process, at its roots a quest story, has been described as both ‘an
apprenticeship to life’ and a ‘search for meaningful existence within society.’” As you will see, the
Walls family moves from place to place providing the route to Jeanette’s growth. More significant,
however, is the role Jeanette’s parents play on this rocky journey. Typically, we expect parents to
be caretakers and nurturers, yet Jeanette’s eccentric parents are not traditional in their role. As
you work your way through the memoir, keep track of Jeanette’s parents—both how they are
nurturers and how they are not, how they are inattentive and even negligent—and write your
response to their parenting choices.
II.
In his Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir, William Zinsser explains:
A good memoir requires two elements—one of art, the other of craft. The first
element is integrity of intention. Memoir is the best search mechanism that writers are
given. Memoir is how we try to make sense of who we are, who we once were, and what
values and heritage shaped us. . . .
The other element is carpentry. Good memoirs are a careful act of construction. . . .
Memoir writers must manufacture a text, imposing narrative order on a jumble of halfremembered events. With that feat of manipulation they arrive at a truth that is theirs
alone, not quite like that of anybody else who was present at the same events. (6)
Consider The Glass Castle in light of both of these elements: art (integrity of intention) and craft
(carpentry).
SUPPLIES FOR THE 2014-15 SCHOOL YEAR
 Novels and plays throughout the year. Please let me know if this is a problem for you.
 Binder: You will receive a new section for Writing Reminders to add to the sections you
already have (short stories from Lit may be removed). You will not receive another binder.
 College rule notebook paper (no spiral)
 Dividers (pockets are nice for keeping organized)
 Pens (blue or black, plus at least one alternate color for editing)
 1 box tissues (please donate for classroom use)
 1 dry erase marker (please donate for classroom use)
 Recommended but not required: post-it notes, small ruler, computer access, thumb drive,
highlighters
Course Fees: ~$24 for AP Writing Reminders
Tentative 2014-15 Reading List: AP English Language and Composition
The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Memoir: student choice
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
Tortilla Curtain, T. C. Boyle
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Animal Farm, George Orwell
The Awakening, Kate Chopin
King Lear, William Shakespeare
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver
Food book: student choice
The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey
Brave New World, A. Huxley (if time allows)
Assorted informational texts
A very limited number of these novels are available from my lending library. First come, first serve.
FYI, I have very few copies of many of these texts, especially Tortilla Curtain, Lord of the Flies,
and The Awakening.
ANNOTATING TEXTS
What to Annotate
Literary Elements
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Character
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Setting
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Point of View
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Plot
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Theme
Literary Devices (apply to novels, short stories, drama, poetry)
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Connotation/Denotation
(Diction)
Metaphor/Simile
Personification
Apostrophe
Metonomy/Synecdoche
Symbol
Allegory
Paradox
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Overstatement/
Hyperbole
Understatement
Irony
Allusion
Imagery
Anaphora
Polysyndeton/Asyndeton
Parallelism
Analogy
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Repetition
Apposition/Variation
Rhetorical question
Oxymoron
Alliteration
Assonance/Consonance
Onomatopoeia
Cacaphony/Euphony
Phonetic intensives
Common Literary Themes
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Man versus self (alienation, arrogance, growth and initiation)
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Man versus man (human relations)
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Man versus Nature
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Man versus the gods
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Man versus society
How to Annotate
Read actively. Take advantage of the cues provided by the text: title, author, publication date, cover notes,
and table of contents.
Read with a pen or pencil in hand to underline important and/or interesting passages and to make notes in the
margins. You may also choose to annotate passages on sticky notes marking important notable pages.
The goal is active, involved reading:
Reading and constructing meaning from a text is a complex and active process; one way to
help students slow down and develop their critical analysis skills is to teach them to annotate
the text as they read. What students annotate can be limited by a list provided by the
teacher or it can be left up to the student’s discretion. Suggestions for annotating text can
include labeling and interpreting literary devices (metaphor, simile, imagery, personification,
symbol, alliteration, metonymy, synecdoche, etc.); labeling and explaining the writer’s
rhetorical devices and elements of style (tone, diction, syntax, narrative pace, use of
figurative language, etc.); or labeling the main ideas, supportive details and/or evidence that
leads the reader to a conclusion about the text. Of course, annotations can also include
questions that the reader poses and connections to other texts that reader makes while
reading. (Greece Central School District, www.greece.k12.ny.us/ instruction/ ELA/6-12/
Reading/Reading%20Strategies/annotating%20a%20text.htm)
Watch for main ideas and for the way the ideas are organized. Also, underline any new vocabulary, adding
definitions as needed. You will be graded on your marginalia.
Remember there is no one right way to annotate: create a system that works for you, complete with your own
symbols and shortcuts (but keep track of your own code).
*****
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Highlighting or Underlining (a passive activity)
o Must be selective to be effective: mark only those words, phrases or sentences worthy of further
consideration; pertinent to your position or area of study
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Interesting passages—writing that catches your attention
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Key words of the discipline or topic
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Sentences
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Quotable, making significant points in well-worded phrasing
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Establish or shift an argument
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Evidence or proof
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Convincing (or questionable) conclusions
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Examples that help analyze or might be worth referring to
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Challengeable comments—questionable positions or unsupported arguments
o To ensure effectiveness, add a comment in margin explaining reasoning behind highlighting; that
is, what it is about the section that caught your eye
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Marginal Notes (Annotation): making use of text margins or sticky notes (a more activity, thoughtprovoking activity encouraging you to get more involved in the text)
o Define words
o Ask critical questions
o Clarify complex sentences by restating or rephrasing
o Interpret unclear words, sentences, ideas
o Evaluate: respond with reasoned commentary
o Trace a particular motif
o Note areas of confusion (?)
o Be aware of patterns (repeated themes or patterns)
o Make notes about your ideas (MINE). For example, something you read makes you angry—or
otherwise passionate—record your response so you remember how the text made you feel—and
why
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Circling or Dog-Earring important pages (or using a sticky note)
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Brackets to block our several lines (or even a paragraph) of key writing
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Asterisks: use one or more * to point to important passages/points. Using arrows  provides a similar
indicator
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Summary Notes
o List page numbers inside covers or in notebook
o Particularly useful for tracing a certain theme, character, symbol, particular rhetorical strategy,
etc. (especially if you are reading with a specific assignment in mind)