AP Language and Composition: 2014

AP Language and Composition: 2014-2015 Summer Reading and Writing Assignment
Teacher: Ms. Kelsey Bochenek – [email protected]
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Purpose: As a first-year, college-level course on rhetoric, the ultimate purpose of the AP Language and
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Composition course, according to The College Board’s AP English Course Description, is to enable students to
“read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to
communicate effectively with mature readers.” Students become “skilled readers of prose written in a variety of
periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of
purposes.” Additionally, students become “aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience
expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to
effectiveness in writing.”
Due Date: All materials are due Friday, August 29th. Bring your materials with you to class on that day.
Task One: Preview this document in its entirety. Set yourself a timeline and follow through with it. AP
English 11 summer homework is absolutely manageable; However, I do not recommend you leave this until the
week before school starts.
Task Two: Purchase/obtain texts and materials:
1. Moser, Joyce P., Watters, Ann. Creating America: Reading and Writing Arguments. Fourth Edition
2004, Prentice Hall. (This is one of your two textbooks for class. Do not obtain a book that is already
annotated).
2. Covey, Sean. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. 1998, Fireside. (Get the full text, not compact
version).
3. A stack of note cards to use as vocabulary flashcards
4. A book from the list in Task Four
5. A spiral notebook in which you will keep a reading journal
Task Three: Read and annotate The 7 Habits … and come to class in September prepared to team with other
students to present a chapter in the text. Annotations need to be thorough and include a key and margin notes.
Walk in to class prepared to recite and characterize the seven habits. Flashcards would work well.
Task Four: Make rhetorical vocabulary flash cards and gather examples:
An awareness of rhetorical terms is critical in AP English Language and Composition. Please refer to the
“Rhetorical Terms” document (in PDF format and available in hard copy). For each term:
1. Create a hand-written flashcard with the term on the front and the definition on the back.
2. In the course of summer, find at least one example of each term in use, and copy the examples (as you
find them) into your summer spiral reading journal. The purpose of this task is to be aware of each term
and to identify each in context.
Task Five: Choose, purchase/obtain, and read a book to suit your own interests and/or complement another
course you are taking next year. There are many options, so browse online summaries and reader reviews if you
are unsure what might engage you. Consider checking out one or two from the library before making a purchase
decision. This is the ENJOYABLE part of the summer assignment, so choose something you would LIKE to
read.
1. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (Amy
Chua)
2. In Our Image: America’s Empire in the
Philippines (Stanley Karnow)
3. The Coldest Winter: America and the
Korean War (David Halberstam)
4. The Things They Carried (Tim O’Brien)
5. The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the
Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous
Legacy (David E. Hoffman)
6. Generation RX: How Prescription Drugs
Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and
Bodies (Greg Critser)
7. Fat Land: How Americans Became the
Fattest People in the World (Greg Critser)
8. Everything Bad is Good for You: How
Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making
Us Smarter (Stephen Johnson)
9. The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to
Our Brains (Nicholas Carr)
10. Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the
Making of the Constitution (Jack N.
Rackove)
11. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in
America (Barbara Ehrenreich)
12. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster
Capitalism (Naomi Klein)
13. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist
Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
(Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner)
14. The World is Flat (Thomas Friedman)
15. The World Without Us (Alan Weisman)
16. Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell – also “Blink”)
17. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara
Kingsolver)
18. The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Michael Pollan)
19. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of
Human Societies (Jared Diamond)
20. Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over
Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full
of Men (Mara Hvistendahl)
21. The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration
of Apartheid Schooling in America
(Jonathan Kozol) OR Amazing Grace: The
Lives of Children and the Conscience of a
Nation
22. The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the
Modern World (Lewis Hyde)
23. The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of
Cartographic Crime (Miles Harvey)
24. The Places in Between (Rory Stewart)
25. Arabian Sands (Wilfred Thesiger)
26. The Soccer War (Ryszard Kapuscinski)
27. Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer)
28. Any title by Bill Bryson (observation/travel)
29. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah
Parker and the Rise and Fall of the
Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe
in American History (S.C. Gwynne)
30. Washington: A Life (Ron Chernow)
31. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
(Manning Marable)
Keep a reading journal in your spiral notebook. You might notice something that is completely new, and it’s
worth noting. The text may confirm something you already think and believe, and it’s worth noting. The text
might give a particularly interesting example to help support a point, and it’s worth noting. Basically, read and
relax, but make casual notes as you come across notable items. I suggest you read for an hour, then reflect on
what you read. Decide what you wish to journal, and record the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Page numbers read
Chapter title(s) or number(s)
Topic-at-hand (an overview of what the author is discussing)
The notable item (aha! moments)
Why you think it’s notable (What’s interesting about this? Examine it from multiple perspectives!)
Complete at least ten such journal entries, each a page or more of observation and reflection.
Note: this assignment requires you to make a plan and to use time management skills.
A note from Ms. Bochenek: “Nothing worth doing is ever easy.” With that said, it’s okay if you struggle at
some point during this summer homework. Be aware of the causes of your struggles (personal choices,
extenuating circumstances, etc…). Persevere, succeed, and come to class in the fall prepared to debrief your
experience. If you have questions over the summer, please use your resources. Communicate with fellow
classmates, intelligently use the internet, and do contact me if you must. Use my SHS email and please be
professional in your communication; I will check my email weekly. I look forward to seeing you in the fall!
- Ms. Kelsey Bochenek