Fort Myers High School 9th Grade Pre-IB Summer Reading Project
Our focus for summer reading will be analytical reading of literary texts; we are interested in quality over quantity.
Step 1: Choose four of the short story titles below. You may find the story using the provided link or by finding the
story in a print source. (Note: Stories by Marquez and Maupassant have been translated into English, so if you find the
story in a different source, you may be reading a different translation.)
Title
Author
Link
“A Very Old Man With Enormous
Wings”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/Creati
veWriting/323/MarquezManwithWings.htm
“Two Kinds”
Amy Tan
http://s3.amazonaws.com/scschoolfiles/400
/two_kinds_by_amy_tan.pdf
“An Occurrence at
Owl Creek Bridge”
Ambrose Bierce
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/375/375h/375-h.htm
“The Story of An Hour”
Kate Chopin
http://my.hrw.com/support/hos/hostpdf/ho
st_text_219.pdf
“The Necklace”
Guy De Maupassant
http://americanliterature.com/author/guyde-maupassant/short-story/the-necklace
http://web.archive.org/web/20131017173955/http://
etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccernew2?id=HawBirt.sgm&images=images/modeng&data
=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&
division=div1
“The Birthmark”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Lottery”
Shirley Jackson
http://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandth
esociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf
“The Masque of the Red Death”
Edgar Allan Poe
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/masq
ue.html
Step 2: Print, read, and annotate each story (make marginal notes that show your observations, particularly about the
literary elements you’ll be asked to comment on in the dialectical journal mentioned in step 3). These printed copies
with your handwritten notes on them will be part of the project you submit to your teacher.
Step 3: Prepare a Reading Log/Dialectical Journal of each short story you read making 12 entries per story for a total of
48 entries. This may start as a handwritten rough draft, but ultimately it will be typed. Your objective should be to learn
the assigned works inside and out and then make perceptive observations about them. To achieve this goal, you’ll need
to read the work more than once. Annotating the stories (making handwritten notes in the margins) as you read will
help you organize your thoughts as they pertain to the different areas of focus for the journal. You may also want to
collect handwritten notes on notebook paper, sticky notes, or notes cards until you decide what observations will be
part of your typed dialectical journal.
Your final dialectical journal should consist of a typed 12-part chart that you’ve created for each of the four stories
followed by a brief author note (detailed in step 4).
The journal chart for each story should fit the following requirements:
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List the title and the author at the top.
Be broken into two columns: one for literary element and a supporting quote, one for your own commentary on
that element and quoted example.
The commentary should be significant – 75-100 words for each corresponding element and quoted example.
AVOID SUMMARIZING!
Number your entries using the following elements:
1) Theme
2) Setting and Mood (as well as imagery used to create it)
3) Narrative Point of View
4) Problem/Conflict (and whether it is internal or external)
5) Characterization of the Protagonist
6) Characterization of another Key Character (an antagonist, character foil, etc.)
7) Foreshadowing
8) Climax (as well as how it relates to the problem and hot it connects or leads to the resolution)
9) Irony
10) Resolution/Denouement (not just how it ends, but how the problem/conflict is resolved)
11) Author’s Purpose (Why do you think the author wrote the story? What is the author’s message?)
12) Literary Movement
You should refer to the literary elements list at the end of the full directions (on our school website) for help. And you
should also look at the provided sample (also part of that full version) as a model.
Step 4: Do some quick research on the four authors you chose, and add a brief author note after the dialectal journal
for each story. This should be just a few sentences and should include when and where the author lived as well as some
information that might help you understand why the author might create this kind of story. Include an informal citation
that mentions your source, which can be a scholarly website connected to a university or an organization dedicated to
literature (but it cannot be a site such as Wikipedia or Ask.com, which is not authenticated or peer-reviewed).
Step 5: Create an 8x10, hand generated poster/visual which should illustrate one of the stories you chose and serve as
the cover page for the hardcopy of the work you will submit. You should also clearly include your name and the titles
and authors you chose somewhere on this visual.
Step 6: Submit the hardcopy of this project to your teacher during the first week of school.
Step 7: Submit the dialectal journal/charts with author notes to Safe Assign. Your teacher will either give you
directions for doing this or have you do it during class once you have enrolled in your teacher’s Blackboard course in
August.
Visit the school website for more detailed instructions that include a list of literary elements with definitions as well as a
sample dialectical journal: http://fmh.leeschools.net/summer-assignments .
Happy Reading!!!
Dialectical Journals
The term “dialectic” means “the art or practice of arriving at the truth by using conversation involving
question and answer.” This process is meant to help you develop a better understanding of the texts we read
as well as to help you learn to incorporate your personal responses to the texts, ideas about themes, etc.
Journaling is a useful way to prepare you for a group discussion and to gather textual evidence for your literary
analysis assignments.
The Process:
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As you read, choose passages that stand out to you and record them in the left-hand column on the
chart. Be sure to always include page numbers.
In the right-hand column, write your response to the text, including ideas or insights, questions,
reflections, and comments on each passage.
Label your responses using the following codes:
o (T) Theme
o (SMI) Setting and Mood, along with the imagery used
o (POV) Narrative point of view
o (Con) Problem/conflict – is it internal or external?
o (CP) Characterization of the protagonist
o (CC) Characterization of another key character (antagonist or another foil)
o (F) Foreshadowing
o (CX) Climax
o (I) Irony
o (R) Resolution or denouement
o (P) Author’s purpose/message
o (LM) Literary movement/ era in which story was written
Choosing passages from the text – Look for quotes that seem significant, powerful, thought provoking,
or puzzling.
Responding to the text – Remember your commentary should be specific and detailed. To begin the
process, you may:
o raise questions about the beliefs and values implied in the text
o give your personal reactions to the passage
o discuss the words, ideas, or actions of the author or character(s)
o tell what it reminds you of from your own experiences
o share how it makes you feel or what you think
o agree or disagree with the character or the author
Higher Level Responses (what we are looking for!) may:
o analyze the text for specific use of literary devices
o explore connections between different characters or events in the text
o make connections to a different text (or film, song…)
o discuss the words, ideas, or actions of the author or character(s)
o consider an event or description from the perspective of a different character
o analyze a passage and its relationship to the story as a whole
Sample Dialectical Journal entry: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Passages from the text
1.”they carried like freight
trains; they carried it on their
backs and shoulders-and for all
the ambiguities of Vietnam, all
the mysteries and unknowns,
there was at least the single
abiding certainty that they
would never be at a loss for
things to carry.”
2. “On the morning after Ted
Lavender died, First Lieutenant
Jimmy Cross crouched at the
bottom of his foxhole and
burned Martha’s letters. Then
he
burned
the
two
photographs. There was a
steady rain falling, which made
it difficult, but he used heat
tabs and Sterno to build a small
fire, screening it with his body,
holding the photographs over
the tight blue flame with the
tips of his fingers.”
pg.#s Commentary
p. 2
p. 25
1.(P, T) O’Brien chooses to end the first section of the novel
with this sentence. He provides excellent visual details of
what each solider in Vietnam would carry for day-to-day
fighting. He makes you feel the physical weight of what
soldiers have to carry for simple survival. When you combine
the emotional weight of loved ones at home, the fear of
death, and the responsibility for the men you fight with, with
this physical weight, you start to understand what soldiers in
Vietnam dealt with every day. This quote sums up the
confusion that the men felt about the reasons they were
fighting the war, and how they clung to the only certainty things they had to carry - in a confusing world where normal
rules were suspended.
2. (SMI) Here, the harsh realities of war with the desire to
extinguish elements of sadness and loss seem juxtaposed
against the triumph of the human spirit. Crouched in a tiny
foxhole in the middle of a Vietnamese war zone, Cross seeks
to eliminate memories of his own life after his friend’s death,
but he’s struggling to keep the fire going in the rainy
conditions.
He finds himself, in true military style,
improvising a flame using the very supplies he carries.
Ultimately deciding not to destroy his own memories, Cross
forges ahead. O’Brien sets the somber mood not only
through the physical description of Cross’ surroundings, but
in the effort Cross puts into burning his memories. Obvious
visual and kinesthetic images are used to convey the
character’s experiences.
Literary Terms and Explanations
(T) Theme – a central idea woven throughout a literary work, not to be confused with the subject or topic.
Theme statements must be written as complete sentences. The subject of Romeo and Juliet is young love, but
a theme could be, “Passion blinds us to the truth”.
(SMI) Setting and Mood, along with the imagery used – the time and place in which the events of a story,
novel, or play occur. Through the use of imagery, setting helps create an atmosphere or mood and is not just
physical; it includes ideas, customs, values, and beliefs of a particular time and place.
(POV) Narrative point of view – the relationship of the narrator to the story. In a story with first-person point
of view, the narrator is a character in the story, referred to as “I”. In a story with third-person limited point of
view, the narrator reveals the thoughts, feelings, and observations of only one character, referring to that
character as “he” or “she”. In a story with third-person omniscient or all-knowing point of view, the narrator
is not a character in the story but someone who stands outside the story and comments on the action.
(Con) Problem/conflict – the struggle between opposing forces in a story or play. An external conflict exists
when a character struggles against some outside force, such as another character, nature, society, or fate. An
internal conflict exists within the mind of a character who is torn between different courses of action.
(CP/CC) Characterization - the methods a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character. In direct
characterization the writer makes direct statements about the character’s personality. In indirect
characterization the writer reveals a character’s personality through the character’s words and actions and
through what other characters think and say about the character.
(F) Foreshadowing – a hint, in advance, of what is to come in a story or play. Titles, dialogue between
characters, setting, and events throughout a story may be used to foreshadow important happenings. In
Great Expectations, Dickens uses a description of weather in chapter 39 to foreshadow the momentous
changes in Pip’s life and outlook: “Stormy and wet, stormy and wet; and mud, mud, mud, deep in all the
streets. Day after day, a vast heavy veil had been driving over London from the East…as if in the East there
were an Eternity of cloud and wind.”
(CX) Climax – the point in the narrative in which the problem reaches its highest point. The climax helps the
reader better understand the rising action and lays the foundation for the events leading to the resolution or
denouement.
(I) Irony - a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different
from the way the words are actually used, often referred to as that unexpected twist in a work. On the
grounds of the above definition, two basic kinds of irony exist, i.e. verbal irony and situational irony. A verbal
irony involves what one does not mean. When in response to a foolish idea, we say, “what a great idea!” it is a
verbal irony. A situational irony occurs when, for instance, a man is chuckling at the misfortune of the other
even when the same misfortune, in complete unawareness, is befalling him. Dramatic irony occurs when
characters on a stage are oblivious to a situation about which the audience knows.
(R) Resolution or denouement - Denouement is derived from a French word called “denoue” that means “to
untie”. The denouement is a literary device which can be defined as the resolution of the issue of a
complicated plot in fiction. Majority of the examples of denouement show the resolution in the final part or
chapter that is often an epilogue.
(P) Author’s purpose/message - the reasoning behind an author’s choice of writing, for example to persuade,
to inform, or to entertain. Understanding author’s purpose is essential to understanding the meaning of a
work and the message contained therein.
*Commentary – your opinion or comment about something, not a concrete detail. Synonyms include insight, analysis,
interpretation, inference, persona response, feelings, evaluation, explication, and reflection. Commentary will compose
the right column of your dialectical journal.
Literary Movements
Renaissance Literature
The Enlightenment
Romanticism
Transcendentalism
Victorian Literature
Realism
Naturalism
Modernism
Existentialism
Beat Generation
See the next page for the rubric your teacher will use to score your project.
Exemplary (1)
Adequate (.5)
Commentary is authentic, thorough,
and reflects deep insight into the
literary elements. Literary
movement and author’s note are
included and are accurately
identified.
Commentary is authentic, adequate
in length and reflects partial insight
into the literary elements. Attempt
is made to identify and explain
literary movement and author’s
note.
I. Literary Element:
Story 1:
Inadequate (0)
Commentary relies too much on outside resources
and is inadequate in length and/or reflects minimal
insight into the literary elements. Response includes
too much summary. Inadequate attempt to identify
literary movement and/or author’s notes.
Story 2:
Story 3:
Story 4:
1
0
Comments
Theme
Setting/Mood- Imagery
Narrative Point of View
Problem/Conflict – I or E?
Characterization - Protagonist
Characterization – Antagonist
Foreshadowing
Climax
Irony
Resolution/Denouement
Author’s Purpose
Literary Movement
Author’s Note
II. Visual – Cover page
2
Cover is 8x10, hand
generated.
Illustration is artistic,
colorful, representative of
story elements.
Story title and authors are
clearly identified, along
with your name.
Printed, annotated copy is
complete.
Total: _______/60
Reminder! You will be submitting your work to Safe Assign to help you better understand
plagiarism and ways to avoid it. Be sure your work is your own; authentic, critical commentary
should be evident here. Avoid taking too much from outside sources and remember to cite
sources that you do use.