English III AP Summer Assignment 2011 Students will read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck over the summer in preparation for English III AP in the fall. This novel will be the basis of your learning during the first weeks of school, so it is important to your success in the course for you to read it carefully and to complete the assignment below. As you read The Grapes of Wrath, you need to annotate passages that are important. (See the categories below.) In the margin, record your personal connections, predictions, questions, explanations, and evaluations. In addition you should complete the dialectical journal available on this website. All reading and written work (i.e., annotations and dialectical journals) must be completed prior to the first day of class in August. Your annotation and journal should prepare you to answer the questions below: • Form, Structure and Plot: What is happening? Make notes on the chronology of the plot: opening situation, complicating incident(s), main events in the rising action, climax, outcome (denouement). How much time is covered? If the action is framed as a flashback, explain. Mark anything else involved in form, such as dream sequences, stream of consciousness narrative, parallel events, significant patterns of foreshadowing, anything else interesting. • Characterization: Describe central characters: name, age, three descriptive adjectives, appearance, personality, function in novel, a short quote that reveals character. • Setting: Where (continent, region, state, house, room?) and when (year, month, time of day?) does this novel occur? How does the setting affect the plot or ideas of the novel? What atmosphere is created by the setting? • Themes: Identify major themes, a different one per week, if possible. What moral and ethical questions are being explored in the novel, and how are they resolved? What is the author saying about life, about mankind, about nature? What’s the big lesson we’re to learn? • Imagery: Those words that appeal to one or more of the five senses. What is the effect? Look also for recurring images or motifs (light/darkness, colors, clothing, odors, sounds, whatever). How are these motifs or images used? • Symbolism: An image used to suggest complex or multiple meanings. When something is used metaphorically, like using a conch shell to represent authority, it becomes a symbol. Point out images in the novel that are used as symbols. What is the effect of the symbol? Are there patterns? Do these symbols advance one or more themes? • Figurative Language: Word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another. Quote and identify effective examples of these devices: metaphors, similes, personification and/or allusion. An allusion is a reference to someone or something known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science or some other branch of culture. The title of Sandra Cisneros’s essay “Straw into Gold” is an allusion to the folk tale about ??????? Rumplestiltskin. Comment on effectiveness. We recommend that your reading of this novel be spread out over a six week period, thus ensuring that you are allowing yourself time for close reading and reflection. Remember that this summer assignment is the basis of your learning during the first weeks of school, so it is important for you to read it carefully and to complete the assignment. If there are any questions or concerns, please contact us. Have a good summer! Cedar Park High School Rouse High School Virginia Rose ([email protected]) Beth Welge ([email protected]) Vista Ridge High School Leander High School Ellen Bickling ([email protected]) Greg Shaw ([email protected]) Vandegrift High School Holly Raffaeli ([email protected] ) Please sign the document below and return it to your current English teacher or to one of the teachers listed above. Signing this document indicates that: 1. The undersigned has received a copy of the summer reading assignment. 2. The undersigned understands that instruction and assessments during the first weeks of school will be based on this reading assignment. Completion of this assignment is necessary for success in this program. I have received the summer reading assignment for AP English III. I understand the requirements for completion prior to the first day of class, August 23, 2011. Student name (print) ____________________________ HS Campus I will attend: ______________ Student signature ____________________________________ Date ________________ The Grapes of Wrath—Dialectical Journal
A dialectical journal is used to record your reactions to a written text. Also known as a reader response journal, it is a
place to document the conversation or dialogue which occurs between the ideas in the text and your own ideas.
Directions: Find a quotation to represent the specified category. Use a quotation only once in your entire journal.
Remember -- Commentary should be in response to meaning, not simply a repetition/summary of content.
I. Form, Structure and Plot: What is happening? Make notes on the chronology of the plot: opening situation,
complicating incident(s), main events in the rising action, climax, outcome (denouement). How much time is covered?
If the action is framed as a flashback, explain. Mention anything else involved in form, such as dream sequences,
stream of consciousness narrative, parallel events, significant patterns of foreshadowing, anything else interesting.
Form, Structure and Plot
Use quotes from the text -- partial (…) or full
sentence(s) from the text in “quotation marks”
followed by page number in (parentheses).
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Your Commentary/Reaction (40 words minimum per response)
Personal Connections
Evaluate/Question/Explain
Predict
II.
Character: Describe central characters: name, age, three descriptive adjectives, appearance, personality,
function in novel, a short quote that reveals character.
Character
Use quotes from the text -- partial (…) or full
sentence(s) from the text in “quotation marks”
followed by page number in (parentheses).
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Your Commentary/Reaction
(40 words minimum per response)
Personal Connections
Evaluate/Question/Explain
Predict
III.
Setting: Where (continent, region, state, house, room?) and when (year, month, time of day?) does this
novel occur? How does the setting affect the plot or ideas of the novel? What atmosphere is created by
the setting?
Setting
Use quotes from the text -- partial (…) or full
sentence(s) from the text in “quotation marks”
followed by page number in (parentheses).
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Your Commentary/Reaction
(40 words minimum per response)
Personal Connections
Evaluate/Question/Explain
Predict
IV.
Themes: Identify major themes, a different one per week, if possible. What moral and ethical questions
are being explored in the novel, and how are they resolved? What is the author saying about life, about
mankind, about nature? What’s the big lesson we’re to learn?
Themes
Use quotes from the text -- partial (…) or full
sentence(s) from the text in “quotation marks”
followed by page number in (parentheses).
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Your Commentary/Reaction
(40 words minimum per response)
Personal Connections
Evaluate/Question/Explain
Predict
V.
Imagery: Those words that appeal to one or more of the five senses. What is the effect? Look also for
recurring images or motifs (light/darkness, colors, clothing, odors, sounds, whatever). How are these
motifs or images used?
Imagery
Use quotes from the text -- partial (…) or full
sentence(s) from the text in “quotation marks”
followed by page number in (parentheses).
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Your Commentary/Reaction
(40 words minimum per response)
Personal Connections
Evaluate/Question/Explain
Predict
VI.
Symbolism: An image used to suggest complex or multiple meanings. When something is used
metaphorically, like using a conch shell to represent authority, it becomes a symbol. Point out images in
the novel that are used as symbols. What is the effect of the symbol? Are there patterns? Do these
symbols advance one or more themes?
Symbolism
Use quotes from the text -- partial (…) or full
sentence(s) from the text in “quotation marks”
followed by page number in (parentheses).
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Your Commentary/Reaction
(40 words minimum per response)
Personal Connections
Evaluate/Question/Explain
Predict
VII.
Figurative Language: Word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another. Quote and identify
effective examples of these devices: metaphors, similes, personification and/or allusion. An allusion is
a reference to someone or something known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science or
some other branch of culture. The title of Sandra Cisneros’s essay “Straw into Gold” is an allusion to the
folk tale about ??????? Rumplestiltskin. Comment on effectiveness.
Figurative Language
Use quotes from the text -- partial (…) or full
sentence(s) from the text in “quotation marks”
followed by page number in (parentheses).
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Your Commentary/Reaction
(40 words minimum per response)
Personal Connections
Evaluate/Question/Explain
Predict