AP US History Summer Assignment 2012-2013

AP US History Summer Assignment 2012-2013

Mr. Krumel (robert.krumel@cmcss.net)

Montgomery Central High School

            Welcome to Advanced Placement United States History.  You are about to begin a rigorous and challenging study of the history of our great country.  You can expect to read and write extensively this year.  Because our time together in class is limited and extremely valuable, you will be required to go ahead and begin your study this summer.

            You will be assigned our textbook The American Pageant: Thirteenth Edition and its related Guidebook: A Manual for Students (think workbook) before you leave school this May.  The workbook is yours to write in.  You will need to see Mrs. Watson in Bookkeeping to pick up your these materials.  To be successful this year in class and on the AP test in May 2013 you will need to become very familiar with both books.

            Good luck on your assignments.  If you have any questions or need guidance, please send me an email.  I will be checking it frequently this summer.

Assignment #1: Outline Chapters 1-4

            It is vital that college-bound students practice the skills of identifying key information in a given text and the ability to organize that information effectively.  The AP US History test is very thorough and you must have a clear understanding of all historical themes covered in your textbook.  To that end, your first assignment is to create detailed outlines of Chapters 1-4 from The American Pageant.  These outlines must be done by the first full day of school.  You may outline in any format that is comfortable to you, but you need to be thorough.

Assignment #2: Multiple-Choice Review of Chapters 1-4

            A major portion of the AP US History test consists of multiple choice questions designed to assess your knowledge of American history.  To practice this task your second assignment is to answer the multiple choice questions in the Guidebook (workbook) for Chapters 1-4.  You will have 15 questions to answer per chapter for a total of 60.  These need to be answered correctly by the first day of school.  At some point during the first week of school you will be taking a test that I will create by selecting questions from each chapter.

Assignment #3: Memorize our Presidents

            A common method of organizing information in American history is the use of the American presidents as “compartments” into which we can classify events and themes.  As such, it is vital that you learn the correct order in which our presidents have served.  Your third assignment is to memorize all 44 of our presidents in the correct order.  Note: Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms so he counts twice.  You will have a test over this list early in the first week of school.

Assignment #4: Learn US Geography

            Much of the United States’ history has been determined by its geography.  To fully understand the themes and events we will cover this year it is critical for you to know the locations of major geographical features.  Your fourth assignment is to memorize the correct locations of the following geographical features.  You will be tested over this information early in the first week of school.

·      all 50 states

·      Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

·      Gulf of Mexico

·      the Great Lakes

Assignment #5: Flash Cards

            You must first know your history in order to effectively write about history and writing makes up about half of your AP test next May.  To be successful on that test you will need to draw on your knowledge of thousands of different people, places, and events.  A constant review of this information is vital to keeping things organized in your head.  A common method of review is the flashcard.  Your fifth assignment is to make flashcards for the items below.  Write the term on one side and a thorough identification on the other.  The information can be found in Chapters 1-4 of your textbook.  You must present these flashcards on the first full day of school for a grade.

1. land bridge
2. Mound Builders
3. Hiawatha
4. caravel
5. Ferdinand and Isabella
6. Christopher Columbus
7. Columbian Exchange
8. conquistadores
9. Francisco Pizarro
10. encomienda
11. Hernán Cortes
12. mestizos
13. Father Junipero Serra
14. Jamestown
15. Roanoke Colony
16. Elizabeth I
17. Virginia Company
18. Powhatan
19. Lord De La Warr
20. John Rolfe
21. House of Burgesses
22. Lord Baltimore
23. Barbados slave code
24. James Oglethorpe
25. Iroquois Confederacy
26. Martin Luther
27. John Calvin
28. predestination
29. Puritans
30. Anglicans
31. Separatists
32. Mayflower Compact
33. William Bradford
34. Great English Migration
35. Massachusetts Bay Colony
36. Anne Hutchinson
37. Roger Williams
38. Wampanoag Indians
39. Pequot War
40. King Philip’s War
41. Charles II
42. Dominion of New England
43. Sir Edmund Andros
44. Glorious Revolution
45. salutary neglect
46. New Netherland
47. New Amsterdam
48. Peter Stuyvesant
49. Quakers
50. William Penn
51. tobacco
52. indentured servants
53. Bacon’s Rebellion
54. middle passage
55. slave codes
56. Gullah
57. Stono Rebellion
58. FFVs
59. midwifery
60. Harvard College
61. Half-Way Covenant
62. Salem Witch Trials

Assignment #6: Ft. Defiance Visit and Clarksville’s Civil War Experience

            History has left behind many reminders of its role in shaping the communities around us.  For your sixth assignment you will be required to visit one such site in Clarksville, Ft. Defiance.  Your first task is to tour the grounds and interpretive center at Fr. Defiance.  As you tour the site read over all of the information that is presented to you.  You may want to take notes as well as you have an assignment to complete about your visit. 

            In a short handwritten essay (around 2 pages) briefly describe how the Civil War affected Clarksville.  Focus on the war’s effects on the people of our town.  The exhibits in the interpretive center will be especially helpful for this assignment.  As proof of your visit to Ft. Defiance, you will be required to pick up a brochure about the site from the front desk in the interpretive center.  Have the museum attendant sign and date the front of your brochure.  Just tell them your teacher needs a signature as proof of your visit.

            Your short essay and brochure is due on the first full day of school.  See http://www.fortdefianceclarksville.com/index.html for more information about Ft. Defiance including directions and operating hours.

Final Reminders and Comments

1.     Due on the first full day of school: outlines, multiple choice questions, flash cards, Ft. Defiance brochure, Clarksville Civil War essay.

2.     Tests to prepare for: Multiple-choice questions from Chapters 1-4, US presidents, and major geographical features.

3.     Watch the news and keep up with national / international events.  History is being made every single day and what happens in the present is almost always connected to something that happened in the past.

4.     A great way to connect yourself (literally) to history is to do research on your genealogy.  It is very likely that you have ancestors who participated in the events we will be studying this year.  Ask your older relatives what life was like when they were your age.  Trust me, they will love to talk about it and you can learn a lot simply by listening.

5.     Taking a trip this summer?  A great way to learn about history is to trace its footsteps across our country.  Read the historical markers that you pass and try to appreciate the roles these sites played in creating our great nation.

6.     Feel free to read past Chapter 4 if you would like.  You will be reading the entire book eventually anyways, so why not get a head start?

7.     Do not procrastinate!  I know it is tempting, but we both know you will regret it in the end, so go ahead and get started now.

8.     If you need assistance or guidance with your summer assignments, please email me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

9.     Enjoy your summer!  Next year is going to be demanding, so take some time this summer to relax and visit with friends and family.

AP Literature & Composition

                                                                                                May 2, 2012

Dear Parents and Students:

            I am very excited about teaching next year's senior AP Literature & Composition classes.  The information below describes your summer reading and writing assignments.  While I am busy this summer planning next year's work, I hope you will enjoy reading the works and doing the assignments indicated. The summer reading program is an important feature of the AP English program as it allows us to cover a maximum number of titles, and to begin the year with meaningful discussion.  This important requirement will ease your transition into the AP Literature Program.   Some important advice:  Don't let things go until the last minute.   Trust me.

The Assignment

The Journal:

            Each student is required to have a journal-style notebook to use throughout the year with ALL of the reading.  The purpose is for you to focus your reading and process what you think about the work.  Your journal should end up filled with thoughts, reactions, notes about style, questions to bring to class, favorite quotations, etc.  I will be checking them periodically (for a grade) and asking you to use them in class discussions.  The journals will also be vital to our pre-test review.  We will start our year working out of the journaling you do with the summer reading, so be sure not to neglect them all summer.  I expect the journal to be with you in class every day.

The Novels:  All novels are available for check out from Ms. Hazen – first come, first served!

The Things They Carried                     Tim O’Brien

The Poisonwood Bible                         Barbara Kingsolver

Wuthering Heights                              Emily Bronte

            The events of The Things They Carried surround a group of men brought together by the Vietnam War.  Understanding the war itself is an important part of interacting with the novel.  Google interviews with Tim O’Brien to learn more about his point of view in writing about Vietnam and include information from them in your journaling.

            The Poisonwood Bible follows a family of Baptist missionaries into the heart of Belgian Congo in the 1950s and 60s.  Doing some research about the colonization of the African continent will add to your experience as you read.   Point of view is also acutely important in the novel.  Be sure to include your thoughts on POV in your journal.

            Wuthering Heights is a classic Gothic romance.  In addition to reading the novel, I have provided information about the elements of Gothic romance and the Byronic hero for you to read.  You should read this information PRIOR to reading the novel so that you can address it in your journaling.

The Essay:

            Choose ONE of the summer novels and ONE of the AP prompts listed below it.  Write an essay response of 500 words (1 ½-2 typed, double-spaced pages).   You DO NOT have to write an essay for each book, JUST ONE OF THEM.  Which book you choose is entirely up to you.

            I am sure that I will have a lot of great work turned in to me the first week of school and that you will be ready to hit the ground running.  AP is an intense course of study, but it will be well worth the effort.  Please feel free to stop in and see me if you have questions, or email me at:  melanie.hazen@cmcss.net.

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                Sincerely,

The Things They Carried

A.         Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.

B.         In works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes or values of a character.  Select a character from the novel who must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal.  Write an essay in which you show how the character’s relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work.

C.         In many novels and plays, minor characters contribute significantly to the total work. They often have particular functions, e.g., as instruments in the plot, foils to the main characters, commentators on the main action and theme, and the like. Write a well-organized essay showing how three minor characters function in the work in which they appear.

D.         Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in  which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reason for its effectiveness.

E.         The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

The Poisonwood Bible

A.         Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in  which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reason for its effectiveness.

B.         Critic Roland Barth has said, “Literature is the question, minus the answer.”  Choose a novel or play and, considering Barth’s observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers.  Explain how the treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole.  Avoid mere plot summary.

C.         In works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes or values of a character.  Select a character from the novel who must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal.  Write an essay in which you show how the character’s relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work.

D.         Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures – national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional.  Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question.  Select a novel or play in which a character responds to such a cultural collision.  Then write a well-organized essay in which you describe the character’s response and explain its relevance to the work as a whole.

Wuthering Heights

A.         Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character’s actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

B.         A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.

C.         Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

D.         Works of literature often depict acts of betrayal.  Friends and even family may betray a protagonist; main characters may likewise be guilty of treachery or may betray their own values.  Select a novel or play that includes such acts of betrayal.  Then in a well-written essay analyze the nature of the betrayal and show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.    Avoid mere plot summary.

E.         One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.

Please use MLA format for the Works Cited page and in-text citations. 

Try to embed quotes within your sentences as much as possible.  Free-standing quotes are discouraged.

The Works Cited page should include ONLY ONE entry: your chosen text.  No outside sources are to be used in the writing of this paper.

 * The purpose of the summer essay is NOT for you to plagiarize something online to impress me with writing skills you don’t have.  It is not my way of punishing you in the first week of school.  It is a tool I use to determine the level at which you currently function and where I will need to begin in your writing instruction.  Each year is different, and I try very hard to tailor the course to the needs of the current students.  PLEASE be honest with yourself and with me.  Write the essay without Sparknotes. 

Thank you!

Honors English IV Summer Assignment for Class of 2013

Honors English IV Summer Assignment for the Class of 2013

You will be required to read two books in completion BEFORE the first day of school.  You need to purchase and read Jane Eyre and Things Fall Apart.   There is no written work required.  You need to read and think about (some note taking wouldn’t hurt) the things that may be tested and discussed when we return to school.  Have ideas about the following:

·      Characterization

·      Major and Minor Themes

·      Setting

·      Imagery and Symbolism

·      Conflicts

·      Important Author Information

·      Important Quotes

The first day of school will consist of tests over both books.  You will have multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions to be answered.  If you read the books in June, you may want to do some review before the test.  It is super important that you do not wait until the last minute and try to cram it all in.  This course mainly consists of you reading independently and being able to discuss in class.  I look forward to an exciting senior year!!     M. Davis

Dual Enrollment Honor English IV Summer Assignment

Dual Enrollment Honors English IV

Assignment- Read Lord of the Flies by William Golding and respond to the following prompt: Choose at least three of the following and discuss the symbolic importance: the conch, the fire on the mountaintop, the Lord of the Flies, the beastie, the chanting and dancing, and Piggy’s glasses.

Essays should be five paragraphs in length and contain an introduction, three support paragraphs, and a conclusion.  The introduction should give general information about the author and the novel and end with a thesis statement.  The thesis statement should contain the three symbols you are going to discuss.  Each support paragraph should introduce the symbol in a topic sentence.  The symbol should then be explained using examples from the text.  The conclusion is a restatement of the ideas discussed earlier. 

Honors English III

Honors English III Summer Assignment 2012

All of the following must be read by the first full day of school:

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

Testing:  Tests will be given on the first full day of school.  I will not be reviewing.  Reading and studying while doing the assignment is your review.  BE READY!

Grading:  Summer assignments and summer reading tests will count 20% of your 1^st nine weeks grade.  CAUTION:  Failure to do summer assignment is not a reason to drop this course.  No one will be allowed to drop until 2^nd semester. 

Book Checkout:  I have enough books to provide them to all students.  If you choose to buy your own copy, you may find them online and at Books A Million. 

Book Assignment:  Book cards for both novels due the first full day of school.

Book Card Requirements: 

Fill out large 5X8 index cards (Wal-Mart carries them) for each of the following: 

1. Author – One full card that covers the author’s professional career and his motivation for writing the novel.  His motivation could be his background.
2. Setting- ½ card that includes physical setting, time period, and historical background not included in #1.
3. Main Characters – One full card for each main character in the work (see below) including basic identifying information and deeper meaning of the character’s role in the work.   
4. Symbolism- Two full cards listing and fully explaining symbols in detail.  Include at least two quotations that show the symbol(s) being used in the work.
5. Themes- Two full cards that list and fully explain at least two themes. 
6. Literary Devices- Two full cards that discuss important literary devices found in the novel such as foreshadowing, metaphor, simile, irony, etc.  Give at least two quotations that show examples of these literary devices.

Main Characters to include: 

The Great Gatsby: Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, Tom, Myrtle

Cold Sassy Tree: Will, Rucker, Miss Love Simpson (your choice on the last two)

Note cards must be completely filled (according to above amount) or you will not be given credit.  Note cards must be handwritten.   Only 5X8 cards may be used.

MCHS 2012 Summer Assignments Honors English II

Honors English II Summer Assignment 2012

All of the following must be read by the first full day of school:

1. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
2. The Chosen by Chaim Potok

Testing:  Tests will be given on the first full day of school.  I will not be reviewing.  Reading and studying while doing the assignment is your review.  BE READY!

Grading:  Summer assignments and summer reading tests will count for 20% of your 1^st nine weeks grade.  CAUTION:  Failure to do summer assignment is not a reason to drop this course.  No one will be allowed to drop until 2^nd semester. 

You may check out books in my classroom before school is out for summer.  Supplies are limited.  The public library, Books-A-Million, and Hastings will have copies available.  Amazon.com and other online sites sell books at discounted prices.  If school copies are lost, they must be replaced or paid for at current market value.

Book Assignment:  Book cards for both novels due the first full day of school.

Book Card Requirements: 

Fill out large 5X8 index cards (Wal-Mart carries them) for each of the following: 

1. Author – One full card that covers the author’s professional career and his motivation for writing the novel.  His motivation could be his background.
2. Setting- ½ card that includes physical setting, time period, and historical background not included in #1.
3. Main Characters – One full card for each main character in the work (see below) including basic identifying information and deeper meaning of the character’s role in the work.
4. Symbolism- Two full cards listing and fully explaining symbols in detail. 
5. Themes- Two full cards that list and fully explain at least two themes with quotations that reflect each theme. 
6. Literary Devices- Two full cards that discuss important literary devices found in the novel such as foreshadowing, metaphor, simile, irony, etc.  These devices should be shown in quotations from the novel and be discussed.
7. Quotations- One full card that includes quotations you think are important with a rationale for including each quote.

Main Characters to include: 

A Separate Peace: Finny (Phineas), Gene, Leper, Brinker

The Chosen: Reuven, Danny, Mr. Malter, Reb Saunders

Note cards must be completely filled (according to above amount) or you will not be given credit.  Note cards must be handwritten.   Only 5X8 cards may be used.