123 West Johns Road
Boerne, Texas 78006
www.boerne-isd.net
830-357-2000
FAX: 830-357-2009
May 2013
Dear Student,
Welcome to the Advanced Placement English III class. The class’s curriculum is designed to increase your
reading, writing, and analysis skills, to help you have success in college courses, and to prepare you for the AP
English Language and Composition Exam given in May 2014.
Essays written on the major works read throughout the school year, as well as practice on numerous sample
questions and prompts from previous AP English Language and Composition Exams, will be the basis for most
of the written assignments during the year. We will also work on reading skills and survey the development of
American literature.
An important first requirement of the course is that you read and annotate The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel
Hawthorne this summer. You do not need to read “The Custom House” at the beginning; instead, start with the
first chapter of the novel. Working with this novel will help you understand the nature of the reading and
analysis requirements in AP English Language and Composition. Please avoid any supplemental materials like
Cliff’s Notes which tell you what to think; we want you to think for yourself.
On the first day of school, have your annotated copy of The Scarlet Letter with you and be ready for class
discussions. We will spend the first few weeks of class working with this novel. Even though many of us enjoy
reading on our e-readers, please have your assigned annotations completed in a hard copy of the novel.
We are looking forward to getting to know all of you. Have a relaxing and fun-filled summer.
Sincerely,
Cindy Waldrop, Boerne-Samuel V. Champion High School
and
Gina Ivens, Boerne High School
Annotating The Scarlet Letter



Characterization: There are four major characters: Hester Prynne, Pearl, Roger Chillingworth,
and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. You need to annotate how they conflict with each other, what
attributes they possess, and how they change over the course of the book. Annotate important
events, conversations, and character motivations.
Symbolism: Look for specific symbols or motifs in the novel. Comment on how and why
Hawthorne uses these symbols and how they help communicate a theme.
Theme: Classic novels teach us something about life and humanity. What themes about life, sin,
and humanity does this novel depict? Annotate where you infer these themes and messages.
Annotation Techniques
Annotating a text is like having a conversation with a book—it allows the active reader to ask questions,
comment on meaning, and mark events and passages he or she wants to revisit. Annotation allows the reader to
organize their understanding of a text.
Annotation Instructions- Of the following suggestions, do what seems most useful to you.











Give brief summaries or your own titles (such as “On the Scaffold at Night”) to each chapter to
better help you navigate the book as we discuss it.
Make brief notes at the top, bottom, or sides of the page that comment on the assigned topics.
On the pages, write questions that occur to you about the assigned topics.
Highlight words, images, and details that relate to the assigned topics.
Mark key ideas and note your reflections about them.
When you have an idea while reading the text, note it in the margin.
If you have a question about an assigned topic, write it on the page when it first occurs to you.
Don’t mark too much. If you mark everything, nothing will stand out.
Use brackets, checks, stars, bullets, or asterisks to mark very important items or details you want to
return to later.
Move beyond the text to connect to universal meaning. Ask, “How does this connect with my
life—with all human beings—in the world today?” and note these thoughts.
Connect the assigned topic with your own experiences and with universal meaning.
Laying the Foundation: A Resource and Planning Guide for Pre-AP English Grade 9. Dallas: Advanced
Placement Strategies, Inc., 2004.