ENGLISH For Students Entering 11th Grade (OIB English) Summer Reading Assignment: Dialectical Journal DIALECTIC means the “art or practice of arriving at the truth by means of question and answer.” This summer, as you read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, you will be required to keep a dialectical journal. Your dialectical journal is a way for you to develop and deepen your understanding of the novel. Think of your dialectical journal as an opportunity for you to have an ongoing conversation with the novel, a conversation that we will continue when you return to school in the fall. Your dialectical journal will be checked when you return to school in the fall; therefore, it is imperative that you either dedicate a slim notebook to your journal, or keep a set of organized, numbered, and stapled loose leaf pages. You may handwrite or type your journal. The Procedure: • Divide each page into two columns. Label the top of the left hand column “Notes” and the top of the right hand column “Response.” • As you read, use the left hand column to copy down passages that stand out to you. Be sure to include the page number of the passage. • Once you’ve copied down the passage, use the right hand column to provide your response to the passage. You should write your response immediately after you’ve copied down the passage, or you may forget why you chose the passage in the first place! • Each response may take any of the following forms: 1. Question—ask genuine questions about plot, characterization, relationships, setting 2. React—provide reactions to plot, characterization, relationships, setting 3. Predict—anticipate what will occur based on what is in the passage 4. Analyze—provide commentary on the literary qualities of the work, including descriptive language, figurative language, diction, plot development, or characterization 5. Clarify—answer earlier questions or confirm/disaffirm an earlier prediction 6. Evaluate—make a judgment about a character, a character’s action, or what the author appears to be saying 7. Connect—make a connection to your life, the world, or another text 8. Reflect—discuss how the passage relates to the larger ideas or themes of the novel At the beginning of each response you should label it as one of the eight types of forms above. Ideally, your dialectical journal should consist of a mixture of these different responses. The more effort you invest in responding to the novel, the richer your reading experience will be. (Simply summarizing what a quote says is not a sufficient response!) • Your journal should contain 20 entries and should be representative of the entire book. Entries drawn from the just a portion of the novel (the beginning, middle, or end) will be considered inadequate. Have a great summer and read, read, read! For Students Entering 11th Grade (non-­‐OIB English) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: In a journal, write down vocabulary words and definitions. Writing assignment: One of the important themes of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the battle between good and evil. This battle can be fought, as in the story, in the mind of a single person, or it can be waged on a grander scale, between individuals or between countries. Using this novel as your basis, discuss the nature of "good" and "evil" in 500-­‐word essay. For Students Entering 11th Grade (intermediate English) Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Award Life of Pi is a masterful and utterly original novel that is at once the story of a young castaway who faces immeasurable hardships on the high seas, and a meditation on religion, faith, art and life that is as witty as it is profound. Using the threads of all of our best stories, Yann Martel has woven a glorious spiritual adventure that makes us question what it means to be alive, and to believe. Choose nine significant moments with explanations of why those moments are significant. What makes a moment significant? That’s up to you as a reader/interpreter/thinker. Consider moments that: • reveal a truth about a character, the theme of the novel, or life in general. • indicate a major change in the character, plot, tone, etc. • demonstrate the writer’s craft (consider major literary devices). • strike a chord in you or grab your attention, for whatever reason. What should your entries include? Significant moment quotations range in length from one great sentence to a short Please take a look at the samples. You should have a total of 9 entries. Three entries should come from Part 1 (Pi’s life in India). Three entries should come from Part 2 (Pi on the lifeboat). Three entries should come from Part 3 (the aftermath of the story). Sample Entry 1: Significant Moment (+ page number): “The sun was beginning to pull the curtains on the day. It was a placid explosion of orange and red, a great chromatic symphony, a color canvas of supernatural proportions, truly a splendid Pacific sunset, quite wasted on me” (124). Explanation of Significance: This image captures a personified sun in the middle of a metaphor, “pull[ing] the curtains on the day” like one might end a play. It’s interesting that what is real, nature, is being compared to something imagined or make-­‐believe –like actors on a stage. In fact, there are several contradictions in the passage. The imagery of a natural phenomenon, a sunset, is compared to man-­‐made works of art like drama, music, and art. The “explosion of orange and red” is also described as “placid,” meaning calm. The narrator uses language to describe things merging together (curtains, a symphony, a canvas on which brushstrokes exist together), while he is actually quite removed from the event. The layers of the metaphor all end with the abrupt phrase “quite wasted on me.” On some level he realizes what he is missing in life, but staying alive—survival—is his only reality. Sample Entry 2: Significant Moment (+ page number): “The hippos. With those soft, flabby mouths of theirs they’ll crush your body to a bloody pulp” (46). Explanation of Significance: Martel contrasts words like “soft” and “flabby” with more violent diction like “crush” and “bloody pulp.” This is similar to his description of “cuddly” bears that can scoop your innards out with one strike of the claw! The beginning of the sentence softens the reader and makes the hippo sound lovable, but the second half of the sentence horrifies the reader. SOCIAL STUDIES For Students Entering Grade 11 (OIB History-Geography)
The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great
Economic Thinkers, by Rober Heilbroner.
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Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Touchstone; 7th Revised edition (August 10, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 068486214X
ISBN-13: 978-0684862149
Why:
This work introduces students to some of the major economic philosophies that
accompanied, shaped or narrated the industrial revolution. The views of these thinkers
maintain their relevance as we bring our study up to the present day. (1ere, Histoire
Theme 1 as well as globalization in Geography.)
Assignment:
1. Annotation: Each of these “philosophers” was setting forth visions of the developed
world’s organization in an original way. Annotate the book as you read: Mark up each
chapter, pointing out ideas and examples that you find illustrate the thoughts of each
“worldly philosopher.” React to their views in the margins.
2. Written assignment: For each of chapters 2 through 10, select 3 short passages and
explain why they are particularly relevant to the economic philosophies or visions of the
economist/s in question.