SUMMER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL
14000 Weckford Blvd. • Houston, Texas 77044 • 281.641.5400 • Fax 281.641.5417
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading/English Language Arts Department
Dear Parents,
Your student has requested English I PrePre-AP for the upcoming school year. According to the College Board,
the purpose of Pre-AP courses is to prepare every student for college, AP courses, and AP exams. Such
preparation entails demonstrating learning at high levels of achievement with the appropriate amount of
support from the advanced academics instructor.
Students at Summer Creek High School who enroll in the English
English I PrePre-AP course are expected to complete a
summer reading assignment. Summer reading assignments provide several advantages for students, including
maintaining skills over the summer, fostering independent learning, understanding course expectations,
creating an initial common framework for discussion and study, and promoting lifelong learning.
All students enrolled in English I Pre-AP for the upcoming school year are expected to read at least one of the
suggested titles below and complete the dialectical journal assignment that accompanies it prior to the first day
of school, August 26,
26, 2013.
2013 Since there will be an assessment over the summer reading text by the third week
of school, students should come to class prepared to discuss the text they selected, using their notes and
personal observations. The dialectical journal
journal assignment will serve
serve as prepre-writing for the essay portion of the
reading assessment.
9TH GRADE SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
Choose one text to read from the list below and complete a dialectical journal
that explores the relationship between setting and characterization in the text.
In particular, your journal entries should focus on answering the following
question:
How do the cultural, geographical, or physical surroundings in the text
influence characters’ actions, emotions, and beliefs?
(Modified College Board AP Literature Prompt, )
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Iliad by Homer (Stanley Lombardo translation recommended)
For additional information and resources pertaining to the suggested texts and the dialectical journal
assignment, please access the Advanced Academics link on the Summer Creek High School webpage.
Thank you for your cooperation and continuing interest in your child’s education.
Attitude is Everything
SUMMER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL
14000 Weckford Blvd. • Houston, Texas 77044 • 281.641.5400 • Fax 281.641.5417
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading/English Language Arts Department
Dialectical Journal Instructions
The purpose of this assignment is to analyze how authors use settings to create believable characters.
A believable character has “positives and negatives, specific quirks or funny obsessions, a history of
who he or she is, and a community within which he or she exists” (Lattimer, 2003, p.176).
A dialectical journal is a double entry journal that helps one to read critically and develop the habit of
reflective questioning. It is a place to record and explore ideas using writing as a tool for learning. As
you read, you will identify textual examples that show how certain environments or locations affect
characters’ actions, emotions,
emotions, and beliefs.
beliefs.
Guidelines
-
While reading the text, you should make marginal notes about characters’ actions, emotions,
and beliefs in certain settings.
-
You should have at least 20 entries for the assignment, regardless of which text you choose.
-
Your journal should be handwritten and formatted as the example pages illustrate.
-
You may use loose-leaf paper or a composition book to complete your journal.
-
Please copy the text verbatim, include quotation marks around the text, and put the page
number in parenthesis after the quote.
-
Your commentary should be insightful and well-written, connecting the author’s use of
characterization to the psychological and physical effects of war on individuals.
-
Edit for correct punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Make sure to write in complete sentences.
Attitude is Everything
SUMMER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL
14000 Weckford Blvd. • Houston, Texas 77044 • 281.641.5400 • Fax 281.641.5417
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading/English Language Arts Department
Set up each page of the journal in this format.
You may use loose-leaf paper or a composition book.
Name
Date
Book
Chapter
FROM THE TEXT
Direct quotes, details or events from the text
COMMENTARY
Identification and description of the setting
Explanation of how the
the setting influences a
character’s actions, emotions, or beliefs.
(REMINDERS: Please copy the text verbatim,
include quotation marks around the text, and put the (REMINDERS: Your analysis should be insightful
and well-written. Edit for correct punctuation,
page number in parenthesis after the quote.)
grammar, and spelling. Make sure to write in
complete sentences.)
Attitude is Everything
SUMMER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL
14000 Weckford Blvd. • Houston, Texas 77044 • 281.641.5400 • Fax 281.641.5417
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading/English Language Arts Department
Sally Student
June 30, 2013
A Long Way Gone
Chapter: 1
FROM THE TEXT
COMMENTARY
1. “We were first introduced to rap
1. The setting of Mobimbi is Ishmael’s
music during one of our visits to
first exposure to American
Mobimbi, a quarter where the
recreation, with its rap music,
foreigners who worked for the
swimming pool, and television.
same American company as my
One evening in Mobimbi, Ishmael
father lived. We often went to
sees a music video on TV that
Mobimbi to swim in a pool and
sparks his interest in performing
watch the huge color television
rap music. He also begins using
and the white people who
slang phrases that he hears in the
crowded the visitors’ recreational
rap songs. Mobimbi stirs Ishmael’s
area” (6).
musical curiosity and influences
the way he speaks.
Attitude is Everything