2 22220 00001 11113 3333- ----2 22220 00001 11114 4444P PPPPR RRRRE EEEE- ----R RRRRE EEEEQ QQQQUI UIUIUIUISI SISISISIT TTTTE EEEER RRRRE EEEEA AAAAD DDDDI IIIIN NNNNG GGGGA AAAA. ....P PPPP. ....E EEEEN NNNNG GGGGL LLLLI IIIISH SHSHSHSHI IIIII IIIII IIII DUE FIRST DAY OF ENGLISH CLASS P PPPPA AAAAR RRRRT TTTTO OOOON NNNNE EEEE You should choose one novel from the list below. You may use local libraries to borrow these titles, if they are available, or you may be able to find these novels in bookstores in the area, including used bookstores. They are also available as eBooks. Ordering them from sites such as amazon.com, bn.com, and other online bookstores is a possibility. Since our class will focus on writing and reading nonfiction, these titles are all nonfiction. The author deftly ties in many primary sources (letters, historical documents, personal interview, journals, etc.) to tell the story of some amazing times in our history. His use of source material and the engaging storytelling makes these much better than your typical “history” book. They also model good research writing. This is important since you will be completing the research part of the Graduation Project and the A.P. Test will require you to compose a Synthesis Essay using different primary sources to create an argument. All Books are by Erik Larson. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin Thunderstruck The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America PLEASE NOTE! Some of these novels may contain adult language and situations you find uncomfortable. Please preview the text before you purchase it. If the language or situations offend you, stop reading and select another title. No specific title is required for everyone to read! A AAAASSI SSISSISSISSIG GGGGN NNNNM MMMME EEEEN NNNNT TTTT: Keep a dialectical journal on this book as you read –I repeat, AS YOU READ. We will also have small group and class discussion on these texts. The purpose of a dialectical journal is to identify significant pieces of text and explain its significance. It should be used to think about, digest, summarize, question, clarify, critique, and remember what is read. It is a way to take notes on what is read, using the actual text without writing on the actual text, so that when you are asked to write an essay, take a test on, or participate in a seminar, you do not have to reread the entire piece (or cheat). Instead, you can search your notes for direct quotes to use as supporting evidence for your opinions. The key guideline to remember is that the purpose of keeping a dialectical journal is to develop critical reading (close reading) skills, not to document your personal responses. Close reading is an essential part of developing and articulating a legitimate reading of a text. You become satisfied with your abilities as a reader by working through the process of developing an interpretation that often begins in puzzlement, then passes through approximations of interpretations and misreadings, to developing a clear understanding of what are (and what are not) valid and legitimate readings of a particular text. To create a dialectical journal, fold a sheet of paper in half o oooor rrrrmake a table with 2 columns in a word document or use two columns in an Excel spreadsheet. On the left side of the page (the 1st column), title the column “Quotation.” On the right side of the page (the 2nd column), title the column “Response/Discussion.” If you have a Kindle, you can make notes in text after highlighting and you may use this to help create your journal. You can connect your Kindle to a computer and copy and paste the highlighted text and your comments into the appropriate format. I don't know if iPad or Nook can do this. The left side is where you will write the text you have selected. If the passage is more than five sentences, you may abbreviate using ellipses (three dots indicating that there is missing text) but include the essential text if you use ellipses. Below the text, write the page number the text is from. The following are ideas to help you get started making entries on the left side of the page. Be creative in your use of the journal. I realize that initially you want to know what your teacher wants you to do and whether you are approaching the task correctly. However, once you become comfortable with journaling, you will have your own ideas and guidelines. i You see something you didn't before i Note when something just doesn't fit with your i You begin to recognize a pattern (images understanding of the text overlap, words or ideas recur, details seem i Note when things do not make sense: be associated with each other) specific about what confuses you i The story seems to be about something other i Note details that seem important and worth than what it seemed to be before another look i You discover your own misreadings i Note ways in which the text teaches you about i You discover a new context or perspective life or makes a connection to another work of i Note when you are puzzled or surprised art or even another academic discipline i It is a sign of intelligence to recognize your lack of understanding, particularly in an initial i Note rhetorical devices: how are they used, and how they contribute to the meaning reading. The right side (2nd column) is where you will respond to the text you have chosen. You will have your discussion with the text searching for meaning. In this column you should follow a three-step process. First, comment on how you are developing an understanding of the text. Second, reflect on why you chose this piece of text. Third, discuss your emerging sense of how this text works and what it means. This could take up an entire page or more – depending on your writing. This is a sample entry for the novel The Great Gatsby . Notice the response is longer than the quote!! Quotation Response/Discussion “He didn't say any more but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence I'm inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores.” (1) This is the start of the novel, so I am trying to get a feel of what it will be like. It's in first-person, which makes me wonder how much I can trust the narrator, but this quote caught my eye. It is great because I totally understand the kind of relationship he is describing – my dad is like that. But more than that – I wonder if the author is introducing the idea that the narrator is going to be impartial in the telling of this story. Otherwise it is a very profound statement to make on the first page. I suppose Gatsby is going to be one of those “curious natures” he says few get to know because of their judgmental behavior. Are we going to have to understand what is being told -the way the narrator is with his father? It's like the author is telling us up front that we are going to have to focus and pay attention if we are going to see the “great deal more' in this text. You should have 16 entries in your clean and clearly organized dialectical journal and you should represent the entire text and show a clear understanding of the text overall–be careful you don't have all of them in the beginning or leave out large sections of the text. The four underlined elements of the sentence prior will be used to grade this assignment. P PPPPA AAAAR RRRRT TTTTT TTTTW WWWWO OOOO You will read at least 15 essays from One Hundred Great Essays by Robert DiYanni. I have listed 6 essays that you must read. You can choose from the rest to complete the assignment. Don't just read the first essays you come to. Read the titles and the introductory information and try to find topics that interest you. We will continue to use this text throughout the year, so you will have to purchase it. If this is a problem, email me over the summer BEFORE the start of school (tjudy@haywood.k12.nc.us). It should be available used online for a reasonable price (as cheap as $0.99 plus shipping $2.95). There is no reason to purchase a full priced, new copy of this text. You can purchase a the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th edition. The required essays are in all editions. Ordering the text from sites such as abebooks.com, alibris.com,amazon.com, bn.com and other online bookstores is the simplest way to obtain this text. These essays range from 2 pages to 15-20, so don't wait to start this assignment at the end of the summer. We will be looking at these non-fiction essays to help us begin to understand tone. The t tttto oooon nnnne eeeeof a literary work is the perspective or attitude that the author adopts with regards to a specific character, place or development. Tone can portray a variety of emotions ranging from solemn, restrained, bitter and critical to witty, fanciful, irreverent and humorous. Tone helps the reader ascertain the writer’s feelings towards a particular topic and this in turn influences the reader’s understanding of the story. T TTTTo oooon nnnna aaaal lllla aaaan nnnna aaaal lllly yyyys ssssi iiiis ssssis the study of the techniques used by a writer to convey his tone. For the AP test, you will be analyzing prose writing which includes: speeches, historical documents, autobiographical works, essays, and narratives. A good preliminary technique to use in order to begin the tonal analysis of a writing sample is the SOAPS technique. SO SOSOSOSOA AAAAP PPPPS SSSSstands for the following: S SSSS– the Subject the writer is describing O OOOO– the Oc ccasion for the writing A AAAA– the specific Audience the writer addressing. P PPPP– the Purpose of the writing (entertain, inform, argue, persuade) S SSSS-the Speaker and their characteristics/attitudes/views (The speaker can be the author or a persona the author assumes.) The SOAPS information is useful in helping you to determine the tone of the writing. All prose writing has a tone, and good prose writing usually has a very specific tone which the writer is trying to convey. The tone is conveyed in many different ways, but we will concentrate on four specific techniques that writers use. They are imagery, diction, syntax, and structure. I IIIIm mmmma aaaag gggge eeeer rrrry yyyy– These are the descriptive details that were used by the writer. You must learn to understand the reasons why the writer selected the details in the writing. Do the details create a certain atmosphere or mood? Usually, imagery is carefully controlled by the writer to convey a consistent tone. For example, if I wanted to convey how much I hated something, I would only use negative details to describe it. These negative details would make my hatred clear to the reader. Pay attention to the details which are used. Try to see what unifies them and why they were selected. D DDDDi iiiic cccct tttti iiiio oooon nnnn– This refers to the words which are used by the writer in his writing. There are many words in the English language which are highly connotative—that is, they have meanings and associations which go beyond the literal definitions. For example, look at the following list of words which essentially describe the same thing (beauty) and see how the words differ in their connotative meaning: lovely, attractive, cute, beautiful, hot, pretty, sexy. Usually, the diction helps the writer to convey his tone clearly. Learn to distinguish which words are used by the writer to make his tone clear. Sy SySySySyn nnnnt tttta aaaax xxxx– This refers to the sentence structures present in a piece of writing. Some common syntactical features which are used by writers include repetition, juxstaposition and parallel structure. The use of a short sentence can emphasize a point clearly, while a long sentence can be used to delay or obscure the main point. A good writer uses different syntactical strategies to convey his tone clearly. St StStStStr rrrru uuuuc cccct ttttu uuuur rrrre eeee– This is a term which covers a broad category of devices a writer can use to manipulate his writing. Structure includes such things as organization, arrangement of ideas, point of view used, style of writing used, etc. In this class, we will be studying writing samples to determine what tone is present in them and then analyze how the aforementioned structures are used to make this tone clear. This first step—learning to see and understand these structures is the most difficult. Tonal analysis requires “active reading” in which you ask questions about the reading. It requires you to ask “how” and then “why” questions instead of “what?” While an understanding of the content of the writing (the "what") is important, the emphasis is on how the writer conveys his tone (the "how" and "why") and then why the author uses that tone. We learn mostly though observation and imitation, so first we become proficient at tonal analysis by reading others, then we move on to using that knowledge in our own writing. A AAAASSI SSISSISSISSIG GGGGN NNNNM MMMME EEEEN NNNNT TTTT: For each of the required essays, you must complete the following tonal analysis for each essay: Tonal Analysis -Author and title of the essay -One to two sentences identifying SOAPS for the essay. -Describe the author’s tone (i.e. her/his attitude towards the subject). You may refer to a tone word list on the internet for ideas if you choose. -Examples of two different strategies employed by the author to achieve his or her purpose. Some examples of these sorts of strategies would relate to imagery, diction, syntax or structure. Examples would be parallel structure, hyperbole, antithesis, exemplification, appeal to authority, imagery, metaphor, analogy, effective word choice, appeals to ethos, pathos, logos, etc. More of these terms can be found online at sites such as The Forest of Rhetoric, though these larger lists can be overwhelming. Sticking to the above suggestions is just fine as long as the analysis is not repetitious. Make sure to cite the text edition and page number from which each example is taken. Example of in-text citation "quoted text" (3rd ed. 276) Example of Tonal Analysis: Gloria Anzaldúa, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” -Anzaldúa addresses an audience of educated Americans, some of whom may be bilingual, exploring the relationship between language and her Chicano cultural identity and asserting that Chicano Spanish, a blend of Spanish and English, is a language in its own right because she hopes for change in perceptions. -Anzaldúa’s personal and authoritative tone is created by her use of personal anecdotes, Spanish words, and confident assertions. -Anzaldúa makes frequent use of fragments of poetry to elaborate her points. One example is when she quotes Irena Klepfisz’s work: “And our tongues have become/ dry…” (3rd ed. 33). -“They would hold us back with their bag of reglas de academia”(3rd ed. 33), is an example of how Anzaldúa freely mixes Spanish words and phrases into her predominantly English essay, in order to embody the sort of linguistic mixing that she advocates. You must read the following essays: "Of Studies" by Francis Bacon "The Morals of the Prince" by Niccolo "Road Warrior" by Dave Barry Machiavelli "Lights of the Long Night" by Andre Dubus "Politics and the English Language" by George "You Are What You Say" by Robin Tolmach Orwell Lakoff *The rest of the essays (9 of them) you read are your choice. Through the course of the year we will read a majority of these essays. It would not hurt you if you read more than the required reading. P PPPPA AAAAR RRRRT TTTTT TTTTH HHHHR RRRRE EEEEE EEEE Finally, the last part of your assignment is to help you understand the idea of style. For this, you will read The Bad Beginning from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. You must have a copy of this book in class. It is easily found at used book stores and is not expensive in its paperback form. It is available as an eBook. If you borrow this book or use a library copy, be sure you have access to it at the start of school. This novel will be found in the children's section of a bookstore, but that is one of the reasons we will be able to easily focus on the style with which it is written rather than having to struggle to comprehend the text as well. This series of novels was written, much as the great Disney films were made, with two audiences in mind – the child and the adult with the child. Therefore, the novel will, hopefully, be amusing to even a teenager. BTW -The movie combines the first three novels of this series and is not a substitute! When the author was asked who he would hate to see playing Count Olaf in a movie of his novels – he said Jim Carrey…Guess who Hollywood put in the part! A AAAASSI SSISSISSISSIG GGGGN NNNNM MMMME EEEEN NNNNT TTTT: ::::Collect five style samples for Lemony Snicket. You should type up 5 samples of text, single-spaced with 1.5 inch left and right margins (so we can mark them up) in garamond 12 or century gothic 11 (they use less ink). You should choose text which you think show great “style” from the writer, samples you think are good examples of how he writes –we will use these for study in class as we introduce the elements of style. Please do not have the exact same five samples as your friend(s) or you will all lose credit. The novel is long enough for there to be more variety than that. Samples should be at least 3-6 sentences in length (a paragraph), but not more than a half page single-space typed.