AP Language and Composition
Independent Summer Reading/Vocabulary & Writing Assignment 2013
Welcome to AP Language! I’m excited that you’ve all chosen to challenge yourself, and I hope
that we’ll all have a fantastic year together. The first key to a successful year is to ensure you all
keep practicing your critical reading skills over the summer. I would hate for your brains to turn
into mush! It is vital that you complete all parts of this summer assignment as 10% of your first
semester grade will based on the completion of this assignment. You’ve all earned a welldeserved break, and I sincerely hope you enjoy your summer. Just do yourself a favor and
don’t put this all off until August. You’ll be frustrated if you have to spend the last two weeks
of break doing homework instead of enjoying your last summer fun.
Why are we doing this assignment?
 This work is one sample of excellent, award winning non-fiction writing. This is a great
introduction to the types of texts we’ll be reading, discussing, and writing about next
year.
 These assignments will provide you with some review and the language of the text
provides enough depth and complexity to get you thinking about key themes and the
elements used to express them.
 They begin/add to your literary storehouse of knowledge which you’ll need to pull from
when you take the AP exam next spring.
Reading Assignment
Read the work below and take notes while you read in the book about characters, plot,
vocabulary, questions, and observations. While you read, mark particularly important quotes and
events and vocabulary that is unfamiliar. This will help you complete the vocabulary log and
critical reading components of summer reading.

Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence by Geoffrey Canada
I am providing the text so that you can write in the book. Please mark the margins of your book
with your comments, observations, and questions.
* Please see the note on plagiarism and academic integrity at the end of this document!
_________________________________________________________________________
Part I: Vocabulary Building Assignment
You will complete a vocabulary log while you read.
Vocabulary Log
Complete a vocabulary log as you read the book. You will need to complete 20 vocabulary
entries and we have about ten weeks of summer. **You should complete two vocabulary word
entries per week to stay on track for the summer.
Assignment Explanation:
Building our vocabulary is absolutely essential to ultimately succeeding in school, scoring well
on the ACT, and nailing the AP Language exam. Most importantly, building vocabulary
improves your reading skills and allows you to access more and more advanced texts.
What is the Vocabulary Log? Complete the following process for EACH of your 20 words:
A. Copy down the sentence containing the word--be accurate! Underline your word. Use
quotation marks and correctly document your source.
B. Write the definition of your word AS THIS WORD IS USED IN YOUR SOURCE.
Give the part of speech.
C. Write an original sentence using the word. You may change the form of the word
(from adjective to adverb, for example) as long as you spell and use the word
correctly in your sentence. Your sentence must clarify the meaning of the word.
Example
A. "His drinking was becoming intolerable, his financial support sporadic at best…"(3)
B. sporadic: occurring at irregular intervals or only in a few places; scattered or isolated
(adj.)
C. Mrs. Stepanski’s interest in my education is anything but sporadic; she’s constantly
checking in with me about my grades and wanting to know what more she can do to support me.
Part II: Critical Reading Assignment
You will complete a dialectic journal while you read.
Dialectic Journal
Complete a double-entry journal as you read the book. You must do one dialectic structured
journal entry for each chapter. There are 25 chapters and we have about ten weeks of summer.
**You should read approximately two-three chapters and complete two-three journal entries a
week to stay on track. PLEASE NOTE: most chapters are only 3-6 pages each.
Assignment Explanation:
Reading is too often a passive experience for many of us. We sit down with a book or article,
pass our eyes over the words, and say that we have done the reading assignment. One way to get
us involved is through the use of the dialectical journal. The term indicates the conversation
that should occur between the text and the reader as the reader analyzes the text.
What is it? The journal is a double- entry, note-taking process done while reading any genre of
literature. It is an attempt to transfer a reader’s interior monologue (conversation/voice) on paper
by providing two columns which are talking with one another, not only developing a method of
critical reading but also encouraging habits of reflective questioning/thinking.
Why is it important?
In the right-hand column, the reader “comments” on important text that has been identified. The
dialectical journal helps readers critically think about the text they are reading. By keeping a
dialectical journal, students are brought to think “for themselves” about a text and offer their own
interpretations.
How is it done?
Draw a line down the middle of a piece of notebook paper (or create a table with two columns in
a computer document, thereby making two columns. The left column, labeled “text” or “note
taking” is used for traditional note forms of direct quotations and citations or summaries. Thus,
when you finish you have a summary of the material you have read.
The right column is used for commenting on the left-column notes. Here you record your
questions, comments, and ideas next to the text that has drawn your interest. As you take notes,
regularly re-read previous pages of notes and comments, drawing any new connections in a right
column summary before starting another page of note-taking/note-making.
Format for Dialectical Journal
DIALECTIC JOURNAL- Sample
Mrs. Stepanski
Fist Stick Knife Gun (FSKG), Preface
TEXT/NOTE TAKING
In this column, answer the following for each
chapter you read. Please follow the
numbering and format shown below in each
entry.
PERSONAL RESPONSE/ANALYSIS
This is where you document your personal
response and meaning making as a reader. In
this column, answer the following using the
number and letter format shown here:
1. What happened in this reading section
overall? Summarize the main plot changes
and actions of the characters.
1. Why are the events of this chapter
important? What connections can I make to the
rest of the text? What predictions do I have
about what will happen next?
2. List one important quote from the
reading. Follow the following format:
a. Geoffrey says, “Sample quote” (page
number). Please note the punctuation. This
is MLA citation style (VERY
IMPORTANT!).
2. For each quote you have chosen in the left
column from the reading selection, answer the
following:
a. What is the context of this quote? (In other
words, when in the story does this quote appear
and under what circumstances?)
b. What is the significance of this quote?
(How does the quote affect the characters, plot,
setting, or theme? In other words, why is this
quote important? )
3. Please include any other notes, lists,
images, evaluations, judgments,
comparisons and contrasts that you feel are
important- not required for every entry.
This is a great place to include any
additional notes for your self.
3. What connections can you make to your
own life in this selection? Is there a character
or event that is like you or someone you know?
What did you connect with while reading?
Why?
Here is an actual sample of a dialectic journal entry:
Mrs. Stepanski
FSKG, Preface
TEXT/NOTE TAKING
PERSONAL RESPONSE/ ANALYSIS
1. In the preface of FSKG, Geoffrey Canada
begins by recounting the number of innocent
victims of violence from a summer in New York
City. Many of these victims were killed
accidentally and during retaliation violence. He
goes on to explain why America is so obsessed
with violence. He elucidates on why most of the
people in this country are either unaware or
don’t care about how violent many parts of the
country are, “…because most people in this
country don’t have to think about their personal
safety every day…”(viii). He consistently makes
his own connections to violence growing up in
one of the hardest neighborhoods in New York
City.
1. These statements in the preface of FSKG give
the reader real insight into Canada’s purpose in
writing this book. Geoffrey Canada has a strong
belief system about America and violence that
developed from his experiences growing up on
the streets of New York City. This belief system
contributes to his many assumptions about
poor urban neighborhoods, American history,
American people, gun manufacturers, and
violence. These assumptions are not exactly
stereotypes because they arise from actual
experiences and observations.
2. In the preface of FSKG, Geoffrey Canada
states, “America has long had a love affair with
violence and guns. It's our history, we teach it
to all of our young. The Revolution, the "taming
of the West," the Civil War, the world wars, and
on and on. Guns, justice, righteousness,
freedom, liberty--all tied to violence. Even
when we try to teach about non-violence, we
have to use the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., killed by the violent. I'm sorry,
America, but once you get past the rhetoric
what we really learn is that might does make
right. Poor people have just never had any
might. But they want it. Oh, how they want it.”
(viii)
2. A. Context: These statements in the preface of
FSKG give the reader real insight into Canada’s
purpose in writing this book. Geoffrey Canada
has a strong belief system about America and
violence that developed from American history
and his own encounters from violence growing
up.
B. Significance: Ultimately Canada wants the
reader to understand that regardless of the
history, regardless of how prevalent violence
continues to be, violence is never the answer.
Canada also reveals his own connection to
being poor and growing up thinking, at least at
first, that having power is the only way out of an
undesirable situation. He believes that people
living in poor urban sections of America equate
violence to power and freedom.
3. I have a connection to this quote because as
a teacher in an urban school, I’ve long seen the
effects of violence on my students and how
difficult it can make their lives and education
when they’re constantly exposed to scary
circumstances.
Please make sure that you take CONSISTENT NOTES as you read. If it appears that you
have been lazy or chosen to skip around to complete the assignment at the last minute, you
will receive ONLY PARTIAL TO NO credit.
__________________________________________________________________________
All assignments are due on the first day of class. There will be a test on the book within the first
week of class.
I look forward to working with you in this exciting and challenging experience.
Best,
Mrs. Stepanski
* Note Regarding Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
It is my expectation that you will not use outside sources, such as study guides (Internet or
otherwise), to aid you in producing your summer assignments. However, if you do choose
to visit such sources for help or to affirm your own thinking it is absolutely imperative that
you properly document any sequence of ideas or direct quotations that you may take from
them. Failure to do so is an act of plagiarism and a violation of SciHigh’s academic integrity
policy. This violation will result in a permanent zero on the assignment!