As the summer winds down, I’d like to remind all rising 9th graders to complete the summer assignment, due on the first day of school, August 25. You can download a .doc of the assignment, or just read it below.
Summer Reading Assignment
DSA English I and Honors English I, 2009-2010 School Year
The Assignment
Over the summer, select, read, and respond to a book that is either a memoir or an autobiography. Bring the book and response with you on the first day of school. You will continue to need the book over the first two weeks of school.
Many assignments in the first few weeks of school will stem from the reading of this book. Therefore, completing this summer assignment is a key component to your engagement and success in the course. In addition, any student signed up for Honors English who does not complete the summer assignment cannot remain at the Honors level of the course.
Selecting a Book
1. The book can be from home, a public library, or a new or used bookstore. (If the book is from a library, you will most likely need to renew it so that you can have it with you during the first two weeks of school.)
2. Make sure your book is an autobiography (in which an author tells his or her own life story) or a memoir (in which a person tells about a specific part of his or her life, such as childhood, going to war, the time she climbed Mount Everest, etc.) Memoirs and autobiographies are written in first person, so the narrator should be telling his or her own story. Make sure you do not choose a biography (in which a writer tells about someone else’s life) or a novel (which is fictional).
3. Choose a book you are excited about reading! It seems that everyone has a memoir or an autobiography these days – no matter what you are interested in, someone has done it and then written a book about it. Spend some time browsing through the titles to find one you like. I like to read the back of the book and the first page. If I am not hooked by the opening page, I usually don’t buy the book.
4. Choose a book that is written at a level you are comfortable with. If you are not sure, read the first page. If you can count more than five words that you don’t know, you might not enjoy reading the book, even if it is about your favorite subject. On the other hand, if the language is very easy for you, you might want to challenge yourself more; however, this is a judgment call on your part – some of the most powerful stories are told in the simplest words.
5. Explore a new topic– or not. Reading a memoir can be an excellent way to dig deeper into a subject you love OR to see through the eyes of someone completely different from you.
Response
Keep a response log. You will need twenty-five entries. (This means that if you use the attached book log, you must do 5 pages of entries.) For each entry, copy down a sentence or two from the book that stands out to you for any reason, the page number, AND a sentence or two of your thoughts about it. The entries should come from pages throughout the entire book.
What if I need help from a librarian or a book store employee? What should I say?
Tell the librarian or clerk that you need to find a memoir / autobiography for a school assignment. You might want to have an idea of a person, topic, or time period that interests you. If you are unsure, take this paper with you. The librarian or bookstore clerk will be able to read over it and help you find the appropriate section.
What if I have questions about the assignment?
Contact Mrs. Del Dotto, one of the Ninth Grade English teachers. She will be happy to answer your questions in person before the end of the year or over email this summer.
Teresa Del Dotto: teresa.deldotto@dpsnc.net
Directions from DSA to the Durham Public Library:
Start out going EAST on W CORPORATION ST toward FULLER ST.
Turn RIGHT onto FOSTER ST.
Turn LEFT onto E CHAPEL HILL ST.
Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto CHAPEL HILL-LIBERTY CONN.
End at 300 N Roxboro St Durham, NC 27701-3414
Directions from DSA to Nice Price Used Bookstore:
Start out going NORTH on DUKE ST
Turn LEFT onto MARKHAM
Turn RIGHT onto BROAD ST
The bookstore is on the left, next to the gas station.
Directions from DSA to The Regulator Bookstore:
Start out going NORTH on DUKE ST
Turn LEFT onto MARKHAM
Turn LEFT onto NINTH ST
The bookstore is on NINTH ST.
Using Response Logs
Response logs are designed to help you think about what you are reading without slowing you down too much. The more carefully you do them, the more you will learn about your own metacognitive processes as a reader—and the more deeply you’ll read.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Make a bunch of copies of the log form on your computer so you can just fill in the spaces. Or, if you choose to do logs on notebook paper, just make sure you include all the parts. You don’t have to rewrite the questions; just make two columns labeled “Q” for quotations and “R” for responses, and then use “GC” for the general comments section.
2. Begin by filling out all parts of the heading.
3. The “Quotation” sections: You may use any phrase, sentence, or group of sentences from the book. They do not have to be in quotations marks (dialogue) in the book. When you copy them down on your log, you are quoting the book, so that’s what I mean by quotation. Use quotations that interest you for one of the reasons mentioned at the top of the “Response” section. Otherwise you won’t have enough to write about.
4. The “Response” section: Use the response questions to help you think about the quotation you have chosen. The more complete your response is, the more you are probably learning. Writing down what you are thinking helps you to recognize your own metacognition and leads you to more ideas.
5. The “General Comments” section: Use this section to step back from the details of the book and ask yourself what patterns you are finding in the book. Again, the more complete your comment is, the more you are probably learning.
6. Since you are completing twenty five entries, and each log has room for five entries, you would need a total of five response log pages.
Created by Dagney D. Bloland
Name:_______________________________ Date:___________________________
Book Title:___________________________ Pages Read: from_____ to _____
Log #___________ on This Book
Quotation:
Response: What does it remind you of, what seems important about it, what questions does it suggest, what images do you get, what connections does it make for you, or what’s puzzling about it?
Page:____
General Comments: What is this book teaching you about reading, about literature, about writing, about ideas, about life?
You would complete a total of twenty five quotation responses.
ALEXA GARVOILLE 