AP Language & Composition
Summer Reading Assignment 2014-2015
Welcome to the world of Advanced Placement English Language & Composition! We are glad that you have made the
commitment to take a course that we truly love teaching. It just may change the way you see the world and your Self.
We will be preparing for next year’s course by reviewing last year’s materials and making choices about how to enrich the
course. To help you prepare for one of the main intellectual activities of this course—active reading—we have chosen two
books for you to prepare for the first day of class: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and In Cold Blood by Truman
Capote. We would like to give Mr. Kaplan credit for inspiring this assignment.
We recommend that you purchase the books, but you may also go to a library to check them out. It is critical for you to
have the texts in your possession for the first day of class. We will be modeling the active reading process.
The key to this course is to recognize and utilize three one-word questions and three words.
What? How? Why?
Part / Pattern / Meaning
If you “get” them, you will have an enriched view of the world and of yourself. You will see the way that pieces fit together
to make beautiful things – to make any meaning at all – to make all meaning.
In the next few days, please take a few minutes to review the directions for the assignment. We have included explanation
of key ideas about reading in general and the parts/pattern/meaning model. We have tried to make everything clear because
we want to help you understand how to gain as much as possible from the summer reading—and earn a good score on the
assessment, too. Yes, this is a challenging task: enjoy it!
If you have any questions, then please email us (pottsk@doversherborn.org or donohueg@doversheborn.org); we will be
checking our email over the summer.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Donohue & Mr. Potts
A Note about Study Guides
Yes, they are out there –Spark Notes and other study guides are there. Easy to access. But if you need them when you read
a text, well, you are a pretender, not a contender. The key to this course is to work with texts – essays about many topics,
stories, short readings of non-fiction (oodles of non-fiction), and the point of the course is to teach you close reading. We
do not assume that you know how, though some of you undoubtedly do. Many of you are partial readers: you get parts, but
you do not see patterns. It does not help if others show you the patterns: others should show you HOW TO FIND the
patterns. Thus, you have to become friends with healthy confusion. You have to figure things out, to look at parts of a text
many times. Study Guides do not help you in this process. Please do not use them.
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AP English Language and Composition: Summer Reading Assignment.
Not your typical assignment. You have to read several pages of material to place what you are doing in context.
To this end, please read “The Reading Before the Reading” before you begin. Read carefully. There will be comprehension
checks at various stages. Do not skim. Do not assume. These ideas are simple, but they are not easy.
Begin here: The Reading Before the Reading.
Before reading the texts, consider the essential question for your summer reading: What happens when realities conflict?
Reality, for our purposes, is defined as how an individual thinks the world is or how the world works. It is a model. Our
ideas about the reality of the world, because they are couched in words or numbers or image – must be different from a
world that has no words or numbers until we assign them to the world, from a world that is at least three dimensional.
As you read and complete your 3 Cs (our first type of analytical exercises to be explained later), consider how characters in
these readings create their own realities, as well as what happens when there is incongruity (if you do not know the word,
please look it up) between one character’s view of reality and another’s alternate view of reality. Is this incongruity ever
resolved?? What results when different people, who interact with each other, have different views of reality? Can one
person’s view of reality change as he/she lives his/her life? If so, how so?
How can realities conflict? Is there one actual reality that trumps all other realities?
All conflicts could be considered conflicts in perspectives; perspectives are the ways of seeing the world. Most fiction
(including our summer reading) features conflict(s) based on differing views of reality.
Oh, by the way, language essentially creates reality, but more on that later in the course.
Consider ways that the two texts grapple with this question: What happens when realities conflict?
Pause here: this is the first “question stop.” If something is unclear to you at this time, please write Mr. Potts or Mrs.
Donohue (it doesn’t really matter which, though Mr. Potts does not have a small child at home). Ask the question. Be
specific. Review, to this point, the key concepts. What do you get? What do you not understand?
Thus, the first order of business is established: what is a reality?
For the purposes of this course, please consider it as a world model, a series of parts arranged in a pattern based around a
“meaning,” a sense of how the world “works,” how it functions, how it guides, how it deceives, how it clarifies (what
aspects of it seem “true” and congruent?) and confuses (what are the model’s limitations? What is wrong with its parts, its
pattern, its meaning). History is a model. Science is a model. Reading and writing are models. Math? Of course.
Examples of part/pattern/meaning
In your life, think about the roles you play. Each role is a part in a pattern that has a purpose.
As a son or daughter, you are the children (part) in a family (pattern).
As a student (part), you are the consumers of public education in the school (pattern), and institution (part) of a pattern
(society/community/city/town) . . . .
A sentence (pattern) is a group of words (each word having a part of speech function that is a part of sentence function)
designed to present a “complete thought.”
Dessert? Part of a pattern (meal) though a sweet treat (part) may also be a snack (pattern), though snacks and meals are
parts of the human nutrition pattern (and the food service business pattern). Purpose is again obvious.
A math equation? A physics equation? Numbers, like letters, adore the part-pattern-meaning model.
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And all parts and patterns thus serve a purpose, have a function, a reason. A family raises children, instilling values and
providing essential resources to foster the children’s eventual productivity and purpose in adulthood. The family and
schools shape the students (parts) into a pattern (employable adult; creative adult; servicing adult). The same process
applies to each of the part/pattern examples we’ve provided.
Now it is your turn: look at the world though the lens of parts and patters. Remember that parts can also be patterns – and
that patterns can also be parts. Consider how a child (part) is part of a family (pattern) that is also a part when considered in
terms of community or society (pattern) which is also a part of state or nation (pattern) . . . do you see?
Why part and patterns matter
Parts cannot represent reality as a whole (I’m not sure whether anything can. (Let’s consider such a reality ABSOLUTE or
OBJECTIVE reality. It may exist, but we have limited access to it, in part because we are incapable of grasping everything
at once (thus our senses are limited and we are aware of time). Thus, a premise for this course is that ALL REALITY IS
CREATED REALITY; meaning is subjective rather than objective. Perhaps you touched on some of these ideas in your
English II course last year.
Because we cannot take in everything at once – think of how much happens in a single instant anywhere at anytime, things
on all scales and in many forms of “intelligence” – rational, intuitive, spiritual, emotional, artistic, kinetic
Pause here: this is the second “question stop.” If something is unclear to you at this time, please write Mr. Potts or Mrs.
Donohue. Ask the question. Be specific. Review, to this point, the key concepts. What do you get? What do you not
understand?
Looking at a text through the parts-pattern-meaning lens
Let us consider our summer reading texts. Novels. Fiction. Stories. Familiar patterns, I believe.
And these patterns are made up of parts called “the elements of fiction.” You are familiar with fiction so you are familiar
with these parts: point of view, setting, characters/characterization, plot, conflict, theme, symbol.
But, of course, as with all writing, there are also these familiar parts: words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters.
Much of our attention in this course will be focused on the nuances of language – of words, sentences, and paragraphs.
Nuances of a text are based on one important idea: that meaning is created when some things are more important than
others. Writers use words carefully, and in a sentence it is evident that some words matter more than others. In paragraphs
we see that some sentences matter more than others. And in a series of paragraphs, we see that some matter more than
others.
As we look closely at meaning, you will need to practice two skills:
1. determining which words/sentences/paragraphs matter more than others (recognizing what we call “rhetorical sizzle)
2. determining why these words/sentences/paragraphs matter more than others
Parts= components, details, specifics, nouns (“whats”) and adjectives
Patterns=arrangement, order, verbs, “hows”
Meanings=function/purpose, “whys”
About words—Words of connection and words of content
Another way of looking at words: you have the parts of speech, of course, which really explain the function of words in
sentences.
All sentences are built around NOUNS (subjects) and VERBS (verbs or predicates). Other words, often less important,
serve nouns (pronouns) and verbs.
So words of content are the essence of sentences: nouns and what the nouns are doing. Nouns verb. Get used to it.
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But other words, words of CONNECTION matter almost as much as the nouns and verbs being connected. Conjunctions
(fanboys): subordinating conjunctions. These words help us recognize patterns of content, explain the structure being used,
how a series of clauses or sentences are linked together. Are ideas being compared, contrasted, listed in a sequence; is a
word being defined, a place being described?
At times the words of content may confuse, but the words of connection, often overlooked and taken for grated, should
become your new friends. Know your conjunctions and other such connectives.
About words —Denotation and Connotation
As you begin to look at words more closely than you have before, you need to understand the difference between
DENOTATION and CONNOTATION.
A text has a literal meaning, the surface meaning, the first layer of “what” the text is saying. Mastery of the literal level is
the first step to unlocking a text’s meaning.
Denotation is the literal meaning of a word. Connotation is an associated meaning, a nuance that goes beyond the literal
meaning. The example I use to describe the difference came from a conversation I had with my son, who is, I believe, a
picky eater. No so, he countered: I am a selective eater.
Two words, same DEONTATIVE meaning – but one clearly has a negative connotation, the other a positive connotation.
Selective has a refined feel to it – rational, sensible, reasonable, well-considered. Picky? Irrational, bratty, immature,
capricious, hard to get along with, plenty of attitude.
As you read, you want to be aware of words that are rich in connotative meaning – words used out of normal context,
words that seem to “sizzle” as they sit, words that attract you somehow – sound, rarity, context.
Pause here: this is the third “question stop.” If something is unclear to you at this time, please write Mr. Potts or Mrs.
Donohue. Ask the question. Be specific. Review, to this point, the key concepts. What do you get? What do you not
understand?
Almost ready: Now, onto the 3C’s: Clarity, Confusion, and Connection.
The three (3) C’s are ways of interacting with a text. Much of our class discussion is based on these three ideas. As you
read, you should be looking for parts of the text that lead you to deeper understanding of the text, the inferential (implied)
level of meaning.
CLARITY: Clarity sections of the text are those sentences/paragraphs that lead you from the literal level of meaning to the
inferential level of meaning.
Clarity DOES NOT MEAN that you “understand what the author is saying,” a common mistake made by students early in
the course. It is analytical, not observational. You observe AND make a connection, explaining how this PART of the text
clearly connects to the PATTERN of the work as a whole. That connection should be evident in two ways: first, within the
context of what is happening AT THE TIME in the text and the plot/theme of the work as a WHOLE (PATTERN); and
second, the way that SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE in the sentence or paragraph –words or phrases rich in
CONNOTATIVE meaning.
You cannot really see clarity until you have read the work as a whole: you may be able to identify specific parts that seem
important, but their importance may not be clear until you get to a different part of the text, when you begin to see a pattern
of language.
Thus, as you read, sticky note those passages that seem significant – but once you have finished, review those passages to
see which offer something that works its way through the text.
In this way you will ANALYZE the text.
CONFUSION: Confusion arises in a section where the parts do not seem to add up, where their connection to the work as
a whole is NOT clear.
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Confusion requires a bit of work. In the beginning, students often look at confusion as part of the story they do not quite
understand. This can be a plausible approach EXCEPT that students give up to easily, not looking at CONTEXT (what is
going on in the story at the time of the excerpt – what happens in the prior paragraphs, what happens in the following
paragraphs.
Before giving in to confusion, you as a reader need to look carefully at the confusing elements; you need to attempt to sort
out the confusion. What do you understand – and where does your understanding go astray?
And please do not, as some students do, say that nothing in either novel confuses you. If that is the case, write me, Mr.
Potts, and I will point you to a few areas worthy of your confusion.
CONNECTION: Connection in this case focuses on a linking a part of the text to both the colliding reality essential
question –and the other text. In this way you will synthesize the two texts, focusing on the essential question.
You are looking for those areas in the text when the reality of one of the characters does not align with the “dominant”
reality. Consider the tragic heroes who suffer from “mental blindness,” a mistaking of reality. Connect such a moment to a
similar moment in the other text. Consider context (what is going on in the story at the time), the two realities in conflict,
and the effect that this incongruity creates.
Treat the text you cite with the same scrutiny that you give your clarity and your confusion.
Pause here: this is the fourth “question stop.” If something is unclear to you at this time, please write Mr. Potts or Mrs.
Donohue. Ask the question. Be specific. Review, to this point, the key concepts. What do you get? What do you not
understand?
Now you are ready for your challenge.
The Summer Reading Assignment
YOUR MISSION is two-fold:
1. To provide evidence that you have actively read our two texts, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and In Cold
Blood by Truman Capote. Active reading means you concurrently read, think about and reflect on the given texts,
about what they say at the literal level and at the inferential level, about the way their patterns create meaning.
2. To apply the part-pattern-meaning model of analysis to specific sections of the two texts to demonstrate that you
understand the concepts and skills characteristic of ANALYSIS and SYNTHESIS.
Your written evidence will be in the form of two marked up texts,
and in your completing of two explications of each type of –2 clarities and 2 confusions for each text, and 3 connections
that will involve BOTH texts (11 total).
Your explications must be typed; you must email them to me the weekend before the first day of class. Always save
copies of typed materials for this course, by the way. Please keep the ESSENTIAL QUESTION in mind as you complete
this assignment.
Once again, the THREE Cs are:
CLARITY – You will note at least two groups of related words (a minimum of one LONG sentence, no more than a
paragraph) for each text where you see a clear connection among three elements: WHAT (literal meaning, specifics
words as parts) the author is saying, HOW (patterns of arrangement – how words/ideas are connected in sentences,
among sentences) the author is saying it, and WHY (purpose of this sentence/paragraph – how does it function in
terms of argument and effect/audience manipulation).
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The key is to look at parts of the text that have what we call “rhetorical sizzle.” You read the sentence or paragraph or
chapter and the author has somehow gotten to you – there has been a moment of “truth.” You have been surprised or
saddened or somehow just “wowed” by a pattern of words.
But of equal importance is that you selected excerpt must prove to be connected to something later in the text – another
scene, another sentence. Thus you cannot really determine what to write about until you have read the work as a
whole. Note potentially rich excerpts as you read; when you have finished, review what you chose and see which ones
matter most.
You can’t really fake this (and many have tried). DO NOT SIMPLY SUMMARIZE. You response should address the three
elements – what/how/and why, should identify parts/patterns/and meaning. You cannot do this section well without looking
closely at the text – and without reading the text as a whole.
Pay attention to specific words that matter (diction), words that seem to go beyond the literal, words that seem to grab you.
Look at sentences (syntax) that seems to make you stop and read it again – either because it was so beautiful or too hard to
understand (save those for the Confusion C –read on). Or a series of sentences that work together particularly well.
Throughout this course, you are going to be asked how writing works. It assumes that writing matters because through it we
create reality. Words and world are connected in powerful ways.
What images does he use? What figurative language do you see? What words of phrases stick out to you as important? This
C asks you to look at the author’s style (the patterns of arrangement), not just the content (the parts). It may help you to
think about the identified word(s) as a “part,” and this “C” asks you to think about how this “part” connects to the whole
text, and how this connection creates meaning for you (the reader).
Intellectual Task: As you read, mark up (or use post its) to find places where HOW the author is saying what he
is saying seems interesting or noteworthy to you.
Written Task:
1. First, please identify the context (what is going on in text, plot wise – where are we, when are we, who is
involved, and what are they doing), in no more than a sentence – but a rich sentence;
2. Second, write the explicit textual evidence (the entire sentence/paragraph) and then, in no more than six or
seven sentences, identify what you believe the author is doing in this part of the textual evidence and how he is
doing it, and how it connects to something later within the text.
Really Serious Caution: Please do not merely summarize or restate your textual evidence. You are not proving to
us that you can read; you are proving to us that you are willing to look at the author’s words and sentences (what),
his style (how), and his message (meaning). Keep the analytical model in mind as you proceed. Clarity does not
simply mean that you understand what you have read: it indicates that you understand the what, the why, and the
how.
Also, though we only want eight sentences overall (one for context, the other for analysis), we want them to be
really good sentences. Be effective and concise.
CONFUSION – You will have marked up TWO different sentences/paragraphs in each text that either puzzled or
perplexed you.
This is your chance to demonstrate that you sense some importance (you recognize that parts/patterns/meaning seems to
matter) but you are not really clear in recognizing how the parts/patterns work together OR why the sentence/paragraph
matters. You cannot simply throw your hands up and surrender. You have to look at what is there, what you get, and where
your ability to recognize pattern/significance meets its apparent limit.
Intellectual Task: As you read, please mark up (or use post its) to note places where you get a bit lost or
confused. In this course, you will learn that we welcome healthy confusion. Neither of these texts is particularly
easy, so know that we expect you to be puzzled at points.
Written Task:
1. First, please identify the context (what is going on in text), in no more than a sentence;
2. Second, write the explicit textual evidence and then for each of the marked up confusions, explain why these
words/sentences/ideas puzzle or perplex you. (“I just don’t get it” doesn’t cut it.) Discuss your confusion in no
more than six or seven sentences.
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Really Serious Caution: Before you submit to your confusion, do some work. Healthy confusion is not
identifying something that you have the resources to investigate, i.e. we are not looking for you to write “I don’t
know what lugubriousness means,” as you can certainly look it up. If you find a part/pattern that confuses, look at
CONTEXT (placement of part in whole: of word in sentence, of sentence in paragraph, of paragraph in chapter, of
chapter in story). Why this piece in this place? What happens before? What happens after?
CONNECTION – Connection in this case focuses on a linking a part of the text to both the colliding reality
essential question –and the other text. In this way you will synthesize the two texts, focusing on the essential question.
You are looking for those areas in the text when the reality of one of the characters does not align with the “dominant”
reality. Consider the tragic heroes who suffer from “mental blindness,” a mistaking of reality. Connect such a moment to a
similar moment in the other text. Consider context (what is going on in the story at the time), the two realities in conflict,
and the effect that this incongruity creates
Intellectual Task: Identify sections of the each text when characters experience conflicting realities. You will link
three sets of reality incongruence (one from each text) together in three separate CONNECTION sections.
Written Task:
1. First, please identify the contexts (what is going on in each text), in no more than a sentence for each;
2. Second, write the explicit textual evidence from the texts, and then explain in no more than five or six
sentences what the reality incongruities are, how they fit into the work as a whole, and, finally, how they connect
to each other.
Really Important Caution: You need to make sure that you show a command of the colliding realities idea.
Remember the difference between mere dents and collisions.
Bottom Line Expectations:

Actively read Gatsby. Sticky note stuff worth talking about; write up your 2 clarities; 2
confusions; 3 connections (that will be the same for the other book); and some thoughts
about the connection (pattern) between the novel/story/characters/themes and the essential
question; then email them to me the weekend before our first class; and, finally, enter class
on the first day with your book.

Actively read In Cold Blood. Sticky note stuff worth talking about; write up 2 clarities; 2
confusions; 3 connections (that will be the same for the other book); and some thoughts
about the connection (pattern) between the novel/story/characters/themes and the essential
question; then email them to me the weekend before our first class; and, finally, enter class
on the first day with your book.
Process/Format
Please sticky note or otherwise mark sections used for all 3 C’s.
Do not attempt to select excerpts until you finish the task as a whole.
Please use sections of the text that seem to matter. Your six bits of text should come from different parts of the reading,
right? Should cover the full range of the reading (no two from the same chapter).
Please treat the works separately.
Please explain (context) what is going on in the story when this section of the text appears.
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Please include the full excerpt being discussed and cite the page number using parenthetical citation.
Please use your sentences to SAY SOMETHING.
Please handle the texts WITHOUT using outside sources. The point here is to show that you have a skill. You need to do
the thinking. You will have to analyze a variety of different readings this year, so do not fear confusion: our job is to teach
you how to do it.
Be specific. Get to the “so what?” (the why). Go beyond the surface, the obvious. Work with the texts. Recognize – on your
own – what matters and why. Learn how to make your own meanings.
Pause here: this is the final “question stop.” If something is unclear to you at this time, please write Mr. Potts or Mrs.
Donohue. Ask the question. Be specific. Review, to this point, the key concepts. What do you get? What do you not
understand?
As always, when in doubt, email us! (pottsk@doversherborn.org or donohueg@doversheborn.org)
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