AP English Language & Composition
Summer Assignment
2014-2015
The purpose of this summer assignment is to establish the foundation for our Advanced Placement English
Language and Composition course, a course that focuses on rhetoric, philosophy, nonfiction and fiction from a
wide variety of time periods and genres. Below you’ll find your assignments for the summer, and you will find a
general listing of our course readings for the year should you want to get a head start.
Part 1: READ PHILOSOPHY THROUGH THE AGES, CHAPTERS 2-4 AND 6.
In chapters 2-4, you are introduced to the “Big 3” in Western philosophy: Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. These
chapters correspond with our reading of Sophocles’ The Theban Plays. Chapter 6 focuses on the Medieval
philosophers, and we will focus specifically on St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. This chapter corresponds
with our reading of Dante’s Inferno, which we will study later in the semester. For each chapter, I want you to
complete the following tasks:
1) Pause for Thought: Write two Pause for Thought responses per chapter, making a total of eight
responses. (You will find these writing prompts within each chapter). These are meant to be informal,
thoughtful responses to the philosophical issue(s) being presented. When you finish, merge all of your
Pause for Thought responses into one Word document that you will upload to a Turn-It-In drop box for
your class. This will be due two weeks after Day 1 of the school year. I recommend that you get this
finished BEFORE school starts.
*Make sure that each of your responses contains a central claim followed by reasoning that supports your
claim. This will be good practice for writing arguments. Each response is worth 3 points (24 points total).
2) Optional Study Questions: The end of each chapter contains a summary and a list of study questions.
While you are not required to complete these questions, I recommend that you either do the majority of
them and/or take good notes over each chapter. We will have two objective tests over these chapters
st
(One on chapters 2-4, and one on chapter 6), and there will be questions on your 1 Semester Final that
come directly from your philosophy readings.
AGAIN, THE DUE DATE FOR READING THE PHILOSOPHY CHAPTERS AND WRITING YOUR PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
RESPONSES IS TWO WEEKS AFTER DAY 1 OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. YOU WILL MERGE ALL OF YOUR RESPONSES INTO
ONE WORD DOCUMENT THAT YOU WILL UPLOAD TO THE TURN-IT-IN.COM DROP BOX FOR YOUR CLASS. THE
ASSIGNMENT WILL BE DUE BY 11:59PM ON THE DUE DATE.
Part 2. READING ASSIGNMENT: THE THEBAN PLAYS
Read Sophocles’ The Theban Plays. As you read King Oedipus, which is the first play we will discuss, pay
particular attention to all of the light and darkness imagery, as well as to all the sight and blindness
imagery. Consider the following questions as you read and annotate: What purpose(s) do the images
serve in this play? What do they add to our understanding of Sophocles’ purpose(s) in King Oedipus?
While I will not be collecting all of your annotations, I recommend that you take good notes as they will be
essential to the construction of your first out-of-class essay, which will be a developed argument in
response to the questions stated above in bold. When you read Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, pay
particular attention to the many great speeches and how the speakers use rhetorical strategies to achieve
their purposes. You will write at least one in-class essay on either Oedipus at Colonus or Antigone. In this
essay, you will be asked to analyze the rhetorical strategies a speaker uses to achieve his/her purpose.
We will begin discussing King Oedipus right away, so you MUST have the play read by Day 2 of the school
year.
(OVER)
CURRICULUM: Following is a list of the “big stuff” we will be reading this year.
ST
1 SEMESTER: KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM
Sophocles’ The Theban Plays
Don DeLillo’s White Noise
Dante’s Inferno
Shakespeare’s King Lear
nd
2 SEMESTER: SOCIAL INJUSTICE AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar
Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit
Albert Camus’ The Stranger and/or Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot
Selected Works of Franz Kafka
Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning
OTHER READINGS
In addition to your philosophy text, we will also be making extensive use of our new class textbook, The Language
nd
of Composition, 2 Edition. This text was designed specifically for AP English Language & Composition, and it has
received lots of praise from students and teachers alike. Other readings will be announced.
CONTACT INFO:
Should you need to contact me for any reason over the summer, I can be reached by email (listed below). Also, IF
YOU MOVE INTO ZCHS OVER THE SUMMER AND CANNOT OBTAIN A COPY OF THE THEBAN PLAYS AND/OR
PHILOSOPHY THROUGH THE AGES THROUGH OUR GUIDANCE DEPARTMENT, YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT ME
ASAP SO THAT WE CAN WORK ON ARRANGEMENTS FOR GETTING YOU THE MATERIALS.
Enjoy your summer!!!!
Mr. Fisher
sfisher@zcs.k12.in.us