AP English III Summer Reading

AP English III Summer Reading Assignment – 2018

Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Kelley, Creekview High School

Email:

stevensj@cfbisd.edu
kelleyw@cfbisd.edu

Twitter:

@MrsStevensELA
@GoodyKelley

Welcome to AP English III; we’re so excited to get to work with you over the course of the next year. One of the purposes of this course is to teach you how to analyze the way that authors use language to achieve their various purposes. With that in mind, you’ll spend the summer perusing newspapers and online news sites to find editorials about current events/topics. You’ll also read one book that you’ve chosen for yourself and choose some meaningful quotes to explore more deeply in class.

1. Self-Selected Summer Reading Book: Choose at least one book that you want to read this summer. Then READ IT!

As you read the book, write down 5-7 quotes from the book (including page numbers) that convey a truth/claim/lesson about humanity/society/life. Be prepared to bring these quotes with you to class by Wednesday, August 22nd. You don’t necessarily need to bring the book, but you must have the quotes. At least one summative grade will be associated with this assignment. See the 2018 Creekview High School Summer Reading – Mandatory Assignment for more information about how to access books over the summer.

2. Editorial Folder: This assignment will introduce you to the process of reading non-fiction for the purpose of analyzing the author’s purpose, as well as the strategies he/she uses to achieve that purpose. You will:

• Use a folder with 3 brads to collect at least five editorials/commentaries/essays (all opinion, not news articles) that you find from reputable newspapers or issues-based magazines. “Editorial” means that the authors are asserting their own opinions about a topic in their writing.
  • The editorials should pertain to relevant current events happening around the world.
  • Your editorials should come from at least 3 different sources. Please do not bring in 5 editorials all published in the same source.
  • The following sources might be helpful:
    •  The New York Times
    • The Washington Post
    • The State
    • The Herald-Journal
    • The Post and Courier
    • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    • The Miami Herald
    • The Los Angeles Times
    • The New Yorker
    • Atlantic Monthly
    • Harper’s
    • The Economist
    • Newsweek

• For each editorial, you will also include a response page. This should be a hand-written, one page response to the editorial. Avoid merely summarizing each editorial; please write in complete sentences, organize your responses into multiple paragraphs, and address the following questions:
  •  What is the author’s purpose for writing this editorial? What does he/she hope to achieve? What’s the message or call-to-action?
  • Do you agree or disagree with the writer’s views on this topic? Why?
  • Did the editorial make you want to know more about this issue? What other topics/issues/events might be related to the ideas expressed in this editorial?
  • What are some of the author’s best points?
  • Are there any weaknesses in the argument that this author is presenting?

• This assignment is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, August 23rd. At least one summative grade will be associated with this assignment.

Read and follow the directions as they are written above. They matter. This is a college-level class, and you will be scored according to the AP rubric.