Greetings everyone!
We are excited for all of you to join us in Honors English I for the 2020-2021 school year. It is traditional at CHS for incoming freshman to have a summer reading and writing assignment to keep skills fresh between June and August. This year it is even more critical that you are able to continue your learning throughout the summer. Your assignment will be two parts. The first will be to choose a novel from the following list, annotate and take notes. You will then write an essay that may or may not relate to that novel. The goal of both of these assignments is to keep you developing your critical reading and writing skills.
First and foremost, we would like you to follow the following link to join our classroom Remind. It is a system that you may or may not have used before, but it allows us to contact you with updates throughout the summer as well as allowing you to contact us at any time. Please follow the link and follow the instructions to join.
Honors English I Classroom Remind Link
The following is the full instructions for the summer assignment. Please send any questions that you have through Remind or through our school emails: [email protected] or [email protected]
Summer Assignment for Honors English I – Ward / Schlauch
There are two sections to this assignment that must be completed before school starts, reading plus annotating a novel and writing an argumentative essay. Assignments are due on On the First Day of School, Fall 2020. Keep in mind that the annotations that you are creating are designed to support your paper later. Do not wait until after your have read the book to do annotations.
The following book list is comprised of award-winning novels. You are required to read at least one. This reading will possibly support your summer paper. Do your research into any titles that sound interesting, remember if it is not something you are interested in you can always switch books. These texts can be purchased or found at the Helena Public Library.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
The Goldfinch By Donna Tartt
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrick Backman
Girl at War by Sara Novic
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Annotations of the Text (Novel of Choice)
Requirements for annotations:
1. Write comments to ask questions, relate to characters, make connections to other texts, and/or world events, etc.
2. Write comments about the author’s style, word choice, or graphic elements.
3. Write comments to analyze and interpret the significance of the novel, including themes, motifs, symbols, and character development
4. Write one to three annotations per chapter. (See rubric.)
Suggested types of responses include…
Connection – what does a character or event remind you of in your own life, society, or another book?
Visualizing – what are you picturing in your mind as you read?
Plot/Prediction – Notice and any passages that are very important to the plot: events, decisions, or cause and effect relationships. What do you think will happen with a character or in the plot?
Emotion – what are you feeling about a character or event?
Question – questions, wonderings, or confusions you have about the book.
Good Writing –Notice and record any sentences that exemplify the author’s style, word choice, or where the author includes imagery or figurative language. Write your thoughts about the language. Why do you like it?
Analysis – Notice and discuss any themes, motifs, symbols, or other important moments in the plot or in character development. Why is it important? What is the message?
You do not have to have a sticky-note on EVERY page, but several in a chapter is expected. Find a balance that works for you so that you are able to respond to the book, while still enjoying it.
We are excited for all of you to join us in Honors English I for the 2020-2021 school year. It is traditional at CHS for incoming freshman to have a summer reading and writing assignment to keep skills fresh between June and August. This year it is even more critical that you are able to continue your learning throughout the summer. Your assignment will be two parts. The first will be to choose a novel from the following list, annotate and take notes. You will then write an essay that may or may not relate to that novel. The goal of both of these assignments is to keep you developing your critical reading and writing skills.
First and foremost, we would like you to follow the following link to join our classroom Remind. It is a system that you may or may not have used before, but it allows us to contact you with updates throughout the summer as well as allowing you to contact us at any time. Please follow the link and follow the instructions to join.
Honors English I Classroom Remind Link
The following is the full instructions for the summer assignment. Please send any questions that you have through Remind or through our school emails: [email protected] or [email protected]
Summer Assignment for Honors English I – Ward / Schlauch
There are two sections to this assignment that must be completed before school starts, reading plus annotating a novel and writing an argumentative essay. Assignments are due on On the First Day of School, Fall 2020. Keep in mind that the annotations that you are creating are designed to support your paper later. Do not wait until after your have read the book to do annotations.
The following book list is comprised of award-winning novels. You are required to read at least one. This reading will possibly support your summer paper. Do your research into any titles that sound interesting, remember if it is not something you are interested in you can always switch books. These texts can be purchased or found at the Helena Public Library.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
The Goldfinch By Donna Tartt
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrick Backman
Girl at War by Sara Novic
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Annotations of the Text (Novel of Choice)
Requirements for annotations:
1. Write comments to ask questions, relate to characters, make connections to other texts, and/or world events, etc.
2. Write comments about the author’s style, word choice, or graphic elements.
3. Write comments to analyze and interpret the significance of the novel, including themes, motifs, symbols, and character development
4. Write one to three annotations per chapter. (See rubric.)
Suggested types of responses include…
Connection – what does a character or event remind you of in your own life, society, or another book?
Visualizing – what are you picturing in your mind as you read?
Plot/Prediction – Notice and any passages that are very important to the plot: events, decisions, or cause and effect relationships. What do you think will happen with a character or in the plot?
Emotion – what are you feeling about a character or event?
Question – questions, wonderings, or confusions you have about the book.
Good Writing –Notice and record any sentences that exemplify the author’s style, word choice, or where the author includes imagery or figurative language. Write your thoughts about the language. Why do you like it?
Analysis – Notice and discuss any themes, motifs, symbols, or other important moments in the plot or in character development. Why is it important? What is the message?
You do not have to have a sticky-note on EVERY page, but several in a chapter is expected. Find a balance that works for you so that you are able to respond to the book, while still enjoying it.
Morality in Literature
We like to believe that we live in a black and white society. Where good actions can be clearly defined and evil ones can be easily vilified. We are often told from our friends, family, religion, school or country, that there is one way of viewing the world that is correct and that we must abide by that standard in order to be morally good. Literature, however, seems to challenge this notion time and time again. Authors frequently depict characters that may contradict the notions of morality that we have grown up with and it is our job as readers to choose to accept or reject what is presented to us. Taking the novel you have read over the summer and pick one character to track through your text. Your goal is to determine if they are a morally good character or not based on their actions or intentions. In your opinion, does the author support your traditional understanding of morality, or do they challenge it? Use your novel as a reference point as well as any other experiences or readings you may have done.
Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the effects of morality.
We like to believe that we live in a black and white society. Where good actions can be clearly defined and evil ones can be easily vilified. We are often told from our friends, family, religion, school or country, that there is one way of viewing the world that is correct and that we must abide by that standard in order to be morally good. Literature, however, seems to challenge this notion time and time again. Authors frequently depict characters that may contradict the notions of morality that we have grown up with and it is our job as readers to choose to accept or reject what is presented to us. Taking the novel you have read over the summer and pick one character to track through your text. Your goal is to determine if they are a morally good character or not based on their actions or intentions. In your opinion, does the author support your traditional understanding of morality, or do they challenge it? Use your novel as a reference point as well as any other experiences or readings you may have done.
Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the effects of morality.
Essay Task
Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on the impact of morality on the world. In your essay, be sure to:
Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on the impact of morality on the world. In your essay, be sure to:
- analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
- state and develop your own perspective on the issue
- explain the relationship between your perspective and those given