John Handley High School
Learning for all, whatever it takes
Mrs. Mary Tedrow, English Department Porterfield Endowed Chair
April 1, 2014
Dear Scholars;
Congratulations on accepting the challenge of Advanced Placement English Literature and
Composition for your senior year. By accepting this challenge and working toward
independence in your study habits, you should be well prepared for the independent work and
study expected in college.
As you are probably aware, the course is designed to fulfill requirements for English 243 at Lord
Fairfax Community College and can also earn college credit with an acceptable score on the AP
test to be given in May. Please consider this a college level course. My expectations are that
you already know how to manage your time so that assignments are complete when you arrive
in class. By this stage in your academic career you should have also adopted a method for
acquiring information and the ability to apply that information to new experiences.
The AP test also assumes that you have read widely throughout your years in high school. This
does not mean a familiarity with Cliff Notes or Spark Notes. No amount of cribbing can
compare with the experience of meeting the text as written and thinking about that literature in
the context of your personal experiences and any reading you have done in the past. Repeatedly
throughout this course you will be asked to confront new literature and draw conclusions of your
own. Without rehearsal in both reading and thinking you will find this task difficult at best –
impossible at worst. To that end, your summer assignment is informal writing that should
reflect your personal thoughts and reactions to the literature.
IN ADDITION TO READING, you will need some background knowledge about the history
of England and the history of the English language itself. Please visit the website below and
then devise a method of NOTETAKING that will help you remember the information
contained in the BBC “Ages of English” Timeline located on this webpage. (You should be
able to both hear and interact with the timeline.) You may also explore the “British History
Timeline” at your leisure. You may want to bookmark this page for further reference throughout
the course.
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/timelines/
The following TWO texts should be completed before classes begin on August 11, 2014. And a
THIRD book MUST BE CHOSEN from the accompanying list and logged and read before
class starts.
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heany (do not use any other version)
MacBeth by William Shakespeare
You MUST do a response log for all THREE books. Turn the logs AND the notes you have
made on the History of English on the FIRST DAY of class.
“A New Tradition Begins”
The Assignment:
Keep a literary response log AS YOU READ. Do NOT wait until you have finished the book to
do your writing. All logs must be Word Processed. Please include your name, date, and an MLA
formatted entry for the book you read:
Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Pages each
log covers. Medium of Publication. (Medium means the manner in which the text is
delivered: Web. Print. E-Book. Speech. Personal Interview.) If the citation is more than
one line, use the Hanging Indent option as is exemplified with this entry.
Divide each reading into roughly three sections and then write your response log after reading
each portion of the piece. Write a MINIMUM of 500 words each time you write. (In Word, go
to Tools/ Word Count to check your word count.)
This is NOT an essay assignment. These are informal writings. In these writings, reveal your
thinking about the reading you have done. Consider what active readers do as they read to guide
your thinking. Readers connect the literature to their lives, make predictions, evaluate characters
and events, visualize, ask questions, and clarify what they have read.
Plot summaries WILL NOT receive full credit.
The log for each piece and the notes from the timeline are due on the FIRST DAY OF CLASS.
You will be given a completion grade using the rubric enclosed. In addition, there will be a
graded Socratic Seminar on the two required texts.
Part II: Marking Text
The books may be borrowed from a library but you may prefer to purchase them so you can
mark in the text. Marking text becomes an important skill in college and you should begin to
form this habit now. Mark your text appropriately and have it with you at the seminars on the
summer reading. Students without marked text will not be able to participate in the seminar.


If you are using a borrowed book DO NOT WRITE IN IT. Mark your text using post-it
notes. Make any notes to yourself on the post-its, not in the book.
If you own the book, you may mark the text with a highlighter, pen, or pencil and make
notations in the margins.
Please enjoy these texts for the literary hallmarks that they are. I look forward to sharing the
challenge of AP English with you next year. If you have questions over the summer, please feel
free to email me at mary.tedrow@verizon.net
Sincerely,
Mary K. Tedrow
Mrs. Mary Tedrow, M.Ed., NBCT
John Handley High School
Learning for all, whatever it takes
Mrs. Mary Tedrow, English Department Porterfield Endowed Chair
AP English 12
Summer Reading Scoring Rubric
The grading of this assignment is based on its completion in accordance with the instructions given. It is hoped that
the student will gain the most insight into the literature and have a clear record of their thinking if the assignment is
completed as requested.
3
2
1
Completion
All logs completed and
brought to class on first
day.
Includes MLA style heading
Late (one-two class days)
OR No MLA heading
More than two days late
OR: Partial/incomplete log
Logs written after reading
is completed.
Directions ignored
Few reading tools used.
Retelling of plot only
Assignment
Logs obviously written as
story is read
Log Quality
Shows range of thought
using numerous tools
of a strong reader. Written
in student’s own voice.
Scant thought exhibited
Length
A page or more (300 words)
For each entry. A page is
considered approximately
300 words.
Does not reach
300 wd. minimum
Half page or less per entry
(150 words or less)
Any copied logs or logs taken from Cliff or Spark Notes
will result in a zero for this assignment.
“A New Tradition Begins”
How to Write a Response Journal
When assigned a response journal, use the following guidelines:
Divide your reading into three parts. If you are reading a three act play, the division should be obvious – write a
response at the end of each Act.
Write your first response at the end of the first third, your second response at the end of the second third, etc. Do the
writing AS YOU READ. Don’t wait until finishing the work to complete the writings. The response journal is just
that: a record of how you are responding emotionally and thoughtfully to the work and combining it with your
experiences.
Your response should be one page in length or approximately 300 words. Please word-process your response, unless
you have made other arrangements with me. Make a header for your pages that includes an MLA style citation for the
book you are responding to.
What should you write about? If you get stuck for topics you may use the following questions as a guide. Do not,
however, feel yourself limited or directed by these questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
What are your feelings after finishing the section?
Does the story make you laugh, cry, smile, cheer, explode? Where and why?
How is this book like or not like your own life?
What are the best parts? What are the worst?
What seems most believable? What is incredible?
What is the author saying about life and living through this book?
Do you think the title fits the book/play/poem? Why or why not?
Did you like the ending? Why or why not?
What is the most important word, sentence, or passage? The most important event, character, feeling, or
decision? Why?
In what ways are you like any of the characters?
What makes you wonder in this book/play/poem?
What came as a surprise in the book?
Has this book helped you in any way? Explain.
How do you picture the author of this book/play/poem? Why do you picture him/her this way?
What questions would you like answered after reading this book/play/poem?
Clarifying:
Tools that Active Readers Use
Retelling yourself what has occurred (summary – low on Bloom’s Taxonomy – AP must go
beyond summary)
Predicting:
Using past events and personal knowledge to guess an outcome. Builds suspense and gives
a reader a reason to keep reading.
Visualizing:
“Mental movies” – the chief reason we read for pleasure, yet it rarely shows up in logs.
(You might describe a scene or your vision of a character.)
Connecting:
Drawing connections between the text and your experiences (or other books, or current events)
Questioning:
Asking questions of the author, text, or reliability of the text.
Evaluating:
Making analytical statements which might include notice HOW the text is written,
determining the quality of the text,
John Handley High School
Learning for all, whatever it takes
Mrs. Mary Tedrow, English Department Porterfield Endowed Chair
The Classics
Choose ONE for your THIRD book. Choose a book you have NOT read from any previous lists offered or
courses taken. (Brief synopsis taken from amazon.com)
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 1958. A relentlessly unsentimental rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and
after the coming of colonialism. Achebe sketches a world in which violence, war, and suffering exist, but
are balanced by a strong sense of tradition, ritual, and social coherence. His Ibo protagonist, Okonkwo, is a
self-made man. The son of a charming ne'er-do-well, he has worked all his life to overcome his father's
weakness and has arrived, finally, at great prosperity and even greater reputation among his fellows in the
village of Umuofia. Okonkwo is a champion wrestler, a prosperous farmer, husband to three wives and
father to several children. He is also a man who exhibits flaws well-known in Greek tragedy.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1850. Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead and subject to the
cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. She
takes up the post of governess at Thornfield Hall, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the
impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman's passionate
search for a richer life than that traditionally allowed women in Victorian society.
Camus, Albert. The Plague. 1947. The Nobel prize-winning Albert Camus, who died in 1960, could not have
known how grimly current his novel of epidemic and death would remain. Set in Algeria, in northern
Africa, The Plague is a powerful study of human life and its meaning in the face of a deadly virus that
sweeps dispassionately through the city, taking a vast percentage of the population with it.
Camus, Albert. The Stranger. 1942. Albert Camus's landmark novel traces the aftermath of a shocking crime and
the man whose fate is sealed with one rash and foolhardy act. The Stranger presents readers with a new
kind of protagonist, a man unable to transcend the tedium and inherent absurdity of everyday existence in a
world indifferent to the struggles and strivings of its human denizens.
Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim. 1900. The eponymous Jim is a young, good-looking, genial, and naive water-clerk on the
Patna, a cargo ship plying Asian waters. He is, we are told, "the kind of fellow you would, on the strength
of his looks, leave in charge of the deck." He also harbors romantic fantasies of adventure and heroism-which are promptly scuttled one night when the ship collides with an obstacle and begins to sink.
Eliot, George. Silas Marner. 1851. This is a tale of betrayal, gold, and love, encased in the elegant symmetrical
structure so popular in traditional English fiction, featuring Marner, the weaver, who is framed for theft by
his best friend and becomes a recluse, focusing his strong affections only on the store of golden coins he
receives in payment for his work.
Green, Roger Lancelyn. King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. 1956. King Arthur is one of the greatest
legends of all time. From the magical moment when Arthur releases the sword in the stone to the quest for
the Holy Grail and the final tragedy of the Last Battle, Roger Lancelyn Green brings the enchanting world
of King Arthur stunningly to life.
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. 1916. This brilliant novella introduces Joyce's alter ego,
Stephen Daedelus, the hero of Ulysses, and begins the narrative experimentation that would help change
the concept of literary narrative forever. It describes Stephen's formative years in Dublin; as Stephen
matures, so does the writing, until it sparkles with clarity.
Kafka, Franz. The Trial. 1915. The story of The Trial's publication is almost as fascinating as the novel itself. Kafka
intended his parable of alienation in a mysterious bureaucracy to be burned, along with the rest of his
diaries and manuscripts, after his death in 1924. Yet his friend Max Brod pressed forward to prepare The
“A New Tradition Begins”
Trial and the rest of his papers for publication. From its gripping first sentence onward, this novel
exemplifies the term "Kafkaesque." Its darkly humorous narrative recounts a bank clerk's entrapment —
based on an undisclosed charge — in a maze of bureaucratic roadblocks.
Kazuo, Ishiguru. Never Let Me Go. 2005. From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes
a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were
students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of
mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how
special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life.
And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that
makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving,
beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.
O’Connor, Flannery. Wise Blood. 1952. Flannery O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel, is a classic of
twentieth-century literature. Focused on the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an
unending struggle against his innate, desperate fate, this tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets,
blindness, blindings, and wisdoms gives us one of the most riveting characters in twentieth-century
American fiction.
Orwell, George. 1984. 1949. Thought Police. Big Brother. Orwellian. These words have entered our vocabulary
because of George Orwell's classic dystopian novel, 1984. The story of one man's nightmare odyssey as he
pursues a forbidden love affair through a world ruled by warring states and a power structure that controls
not only information but also individual thought and memory, 1984 is a prophetic, haunting tale.
Remarque, Erich M. All Quiet on the Western Front. 1927. If you had Mr. Anderson and already read this,
choose another book. Germany's Iron Youth, represented by Paul Baumer and his friends, begin the war
as teenagers sure of the justice of their cause and the glory that will be theirs. When these young men are
confronted with trench warfare, dying in hellish agony, Paul must face the reality in which he finds himself
and prepare for the world to which he will return, irrevocably changed.
Scott, Sir Walter. Ivanhoe. 1819. Ivanhoe, a trusted ally of Richard-the-Lion-Hearted, returns from the Crusades to
reclaim the inheritance his father denied him. Rebecca, a vibrant, beautiful Jewish woman is defended by
Ivanhoe against a charge of witchcraft--but it is Lady Rowena who is Ivanhoe's true love. The wicked
Prince John plots to usurp England's throne, but two of the most popular heroes in all of English literature,
Richard-the-Lion-Hearted and the well-loved famous outlaw, Robin Hood, team up to defeat the Normans
and regain the castle.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Happily for movie-goers, Frankenstein movies resemble this book only slightly.
The plot in the novel is simple enough---a young ardent man steeply soaked in "natural philosophy" creates
a monster with his genius, regrets his doing, asunders it and then suffers the agony of his own architecture.
Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. 1889. A hit on the head that sends protagonist Hank
Morgan back through 13 centuries does not affect his natural resourcefulness. Using his knowledge of an
upcoming eclipse, Hank escapes a death sentence, and secures an important position at court. Gradually, he
introduces 19th century technology so the clever Morgan soon has an easy life.
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. 1911. This story takes place in the cold, bleak winter farmlands of Massachusetts.
Ethan Frome, a poor farmer, has a hard life tending to his land, trying to make a meager living, and also
taking care of his ungrateful, demanding, sickly wife, Zeena. When her cousin, Mattie, comes to help her,
Ethan's life changes completely.
White, T. H. The Once and Future King. 1958. The series is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, from Arthur's birth
to the end of his reign, and is based largely on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D’arthur.
OR: You may choose any book that has received the Man Booker Prize. Go to this website to
browse through the titles: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/archive At the website, you will see
John Handley High School
Learning for all, whatever it takes
Mrs. Mary Tedrow, English Department Porterfield Endowed Chair
the cover of each book. If you click on the book, you can go to a page where you can learn more about the
author by clicking on the name. A synopsis of the book is available by clicking on the book’s title.
“A New Tradition Begins”