Honors English 9
Summer Reading Assignment 2022
To: Incoming Honors English 9 Freshmen
From: Honors English 9 Teachers
You are responsible for reading TWO pieces of literature (Ender’s Game AND a choice work) and completing TWO appropriate assignments. Please take your time reading through this packet. Assignments will be collected, graded, and count as your first project grade on the first day of school; failure to submit these requirements may result in removal from the course. It is not required that you purchase your literature, however, you will need to have access to it when we begin class-please plan accordingly. We will be discussing plot, theme, character development, etc.
Present your assignments in a professional manner. Formal documents should be organized, numbered, neat, and easy to follow. Avoid starting a question on the very last line of a page and then having it spill over to the next page. Your final drafts must be in MLA format: Times New Roman 12-point font, double spaced, with a 1-inch margin all the way around. Printing should only be done on ONE side of the paper. Also, include the appropriate MLA formatted heading in the top left-hand corner on the first page only: student name, teacher name, course, and date.
Enjoy and have a great summer! Feel free to contact Dr. Lindley-Soucy at the high school if you have any questions: [email protected]
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Assignment 1: Choice Literature
Click here for the list of reading choices.
Select a piece of literature from the attached list. Along with the reading, select 10 significant passages. These quoted passages should be typed and arranged in the order they appear in the novel. After each quote, write 1-2 paragraphs that explain why you think this quote is significant making a text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world connection, etc. Be sure to develop and expand your ideas. You must also document your quotes using MLA citations. Here is an example from Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
TEXTUAL EXAMPLE
“The street is lined with cars. There’s not a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. The grass don’t grow anymore, you can’t raise a carrot in the back yard. They should’ve had a law against apartment houses. Remember those two beautiful elm trees out there? When I and Biff hung the swing between them?” (Miller 6).
PERSONAL CONNECTION PARAGRAPH
I am reminded of my grandparent’s house when reading this. They lived in an apartment building that was surrounded by several other tall city-like buildings. However, there was some natural beauty my siblings and I enjoyed just around the corner. Instead of elm trees, there were HUGE pine trees. The pinecones that dropped every year were the size of grapefruits and…
Assignment 2: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Throughout the year, we will focus on several essential questions and how they relate to each unit. Using these essential questions, analyze Ender’s Game.
1. Is freedom free? Does a symbiotic relationship exist between freedom and responsibility?
2. What is the dark side of power?
3. Does gender influence or determine an individual’s potential?
4. Must the strong care for the weak?
5. How essential is education to a free society?
6. Does conflict lead to change?
7. How do physical and cultural landscapes influence and shape our perspectives?
8. Does fate have an impact on the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
9. Can a structure survive in isolation?
10. How can the power of the media affect the power of the message?
Find textual evidence to support each question, provide analysis that shows depth of understanding and critical thinking, and offer one outside connection. This connection can be very specific or something that is very broad; everyone will find different ways to connect to the evidence. Be sure to document your quotes using MLA citations. Here is an example from I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai.
QUESTION
Is the protagonist an insider or an outsider to the culture of this work?
EVIDENCE
“I was a girl in a land where rifles are fired in celebration of a son, while daughters are hidden away behind a curtain, their role in life simply to prepare food and give birth to children” (Yousafzai 1).
ANALYSIS
Malala understands her culture and heritage because she grew up in a family that valued and supported the religious focus, the gender beliefs, the cultural relationships in her village, and her father’s value of education. Within Pakistan, she is both an insider and an outsider in that her father’s beliefs about women and education remain outside the beliefs of the majority.
Conversely, while Malala is living in London, she feels like an outsider to the culture of this Western, world-class city, despite the fact that London is multi-cultural. She misses not only the landscape of Pakistan, which gave her comfort and security, but also feels isolated because of the necessary measure taken to protect her and her family.
OUTSIDE CONNECTION
Anyone who moves to New England from another part of the country is going to feel a disconnect from the culture of New England. The language – pronunciation and vocabulary – the weather, the school calendar with its two vacations and longer resulting school year, all serve to make the newcomer feel out of place.
MLA In-text Citations
A major requirement as you enter Londonderry High School is the correct use of MLA (Modern Language Association) formatting and citing. Appropriately citing your sources when quoting specific passages is mandatory to avoid plagiarism. Pay VERY close attention to the following formats; incorrect formatting on your final draft will result in a reduced grade.
FOR PAPER COPIES OF THE TEXT, include the author’s last name and the page the passage comes from. Here is an example from The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
“It is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight. Just this nervous weakness I suppose” (Gilman 21).
FOR E-READERS (Kindle, NOOK, etc.), include the author’s last name, a comma, and the chapter [ch.] the passage comes from. Here is an example from Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
“Towards evening of that day, the Pequod was torn of her canvas, and bare-poled was left to fight a Typhoon which had struck her directly ahead” (Melville, ch. 119).
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MLA Works Cited Page
In conjunction with your in-text citations, be sure to include a works cited page at the end of EACH assignment. This is printed on its own, separate page. Here is the appropriate format for A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, a classic novel we will read in the spring. Again, pay VERY close attention to the following format; incorrect formatting on your final draft will result in a reduced grade.
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Tom Doherty Associates, 1988.
Some great resources to use for assistance are:
http://www.easybib.com/
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
http://lib.pstcc.edu/citation/mla