Sunday, August 26, 2007

Writing assignments for summer novels (IV & AP)

English IV & AP
Mr. Coon
August, 2007
Summer writing assignments

Write your responses as entries in your blog or as hard copies, as indicated

For English IV students:

1. Write a personal response piece for the novel you have read (your choice of novel if you read more than one title from my list). Reader response involves more than simply saying whether you enjoyed the novel or not. Ideally you are able to identify specific scenes or factors that shaped your overall response and then discuss briefly why the novel affected you as it did. In other words, what is it about this novel that made you react to it as you did? Due Friday, August 31 as blog entry. Length 400-600 words. No turnitin.
2. Instead of #1 above, select a passage you think is important in some way to the novel as a whole. Type the passage, then in approximately 400-600 words of your own explain your choice. Due Friday, August 31. No turnitin
3. Finally, give some thought to the issue of how writers make their characters seem like recognizable human beings. In your opinion, how do the characters in the novel embody traits that you see as fundamentally human? Focus on one or two of the characters in your novel and discuss what you see as their essential humanity. Include specific examples and brief but relevant quotations from the novel. Due Friday, September 7 as hard copy. 500-700 words. Include turnitin.com receipt number

For AP students:

1. #3 above is due Friday, August 31 as blog entry; length 500-600 words. No turnitin.
2. For Friday, September 7, in 600-800 words, hard copy, discuss one specific literary aspect of Pride and Prejudice. Select a character, a theme, or a key scene and discuss Austen's handling and presentation of that element of the novel. See syllabus, section 4 for further ideas. Or show how the writers of Becoming Jane created a version of Jane Austen’s life that would allow her to write Pride and Prejudice. Turnitin.com.