Honors English 9/10 Summer Homework

Please read this entire page CAREFULLY as soon as you receive the link. Do not wait to begin. Former students will tell you that procrastinating with your summer homework is not a great way to start and causes undue stress down the road.

The summer homework consists of four parts:

  1. Watching a video
  2. Doing the readings (two novels)
  3. Taking Notes (both novels)
  4. Writing About Key Passages (both novels)

You will complete the reading, Notes, and Key Passages for The Time Machine and submit the written assignments to atyp-info@wmich.edu by Sunday, July 7.

Check your WMU email after July 10. The instructor evaluating your summer work will give you suggestions on how to improve your work. Use those suggestions as you edit and revise the work for your second novel.

You will complete the Reading, Notes, and Key Passages for Challenger Deep and submit the written assignments by Sunday, August 4.

 If you finish an assignment early, feel free to submit it early. This causes less of a backlog for the instructor giving feedback. Each part of the summer homework is explained in detail below.

Watch this Video

Students should begin their summer homework by watching the video linked below. This introductory video from the English 9/10 instructors includes specific instructions on formatting your papers, etc. In the video, tow tutorials are referenced for formatting Word and Google Docs. You may watch the video corresponding with your way of writing: Word or Google Docs. Please watch the video and follow all of the instructions on this page carefully before turning in your first assignment. 

The Readings

Students must read TWO selections before class convenes in the fall. They must also select a recommended text that will be read the first three weeks of class. Please read the first two novels and email your written assignments (Notes and Key Passages) in the prescribed order to atyp-info@wmich.edu. 

These readings will provide the basis for discussion, group work, and presentations during our first unit, as well as your first major essay. Read carefully, complete the reading notes and written homework below mindfully, and be sure to refresh/reacquaint yourself with all three texts before we meet in September. This schedule asks you to read about one book every 4 weeks; know thyself and thy summer schedule, and plan accordingly.

  1. Required Reading #1:"The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells: ISBN 9780486284729
  2. Required Reading #2: "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman: ISBN 9780061134142 
  3. Recommended Readings - Choose one and bring to class the first day. You do NOT need to have read this book by the first day, you just have to bring it with you:
    • "Persepolis 1" by Marjane Satrapi: ISBN 9780375714573
    • "Clap When You Land" by Elizabeth Acevedo: ISBN 978-0062882776
    • "Show Me a Sign" by Ann Clare LeZotte: ISBN 9781338255829

About the Readings

  1. Parents should be aware that some of the recommended texts contain mature content. We encourage students to discuss what they’re reading with their parents. While ATYP faculty agree that our students are ready for this content, we understand each family is different in its beliefs. To review the books, we suggest looking for the titles on goodreads.com or commonsensemedia.org.
  2. As you will see, writing in a physical book that you can keep is highly recommended.
  3. It’s absolutely OK to purchase used copies—but see if you can find copies that don’t have other people’s annotations in them.
  4. In the spirit of supporting local business…please consider purchasing your texts from a local store!  We have given our titles to this is a bookstore/Bookbug and Kazoo Books so they can help you. In addition, there will be a special book purchasing day on Saturday, June 1, at this is a bookstore, 3019 Oakland Drive, Kalamazoo. The store will donate a percentage of the purchase amount for that day back to the program if you tell them that you’re purchasing for ATYP. This is also a great time to buy your summer beach reads!
  5. Zhang Scholarship recipients can have summer reading novels purchased for them. The ATYP office will send an email regarding obtaining the books. If you are not a scholarship recipient but purchasing the texts is a hardship, please contact the ATYP office. We will help!

Notes Assignment Details

  1. Take notes in a word processor (e.g., Google doc or Microsoft Word document) while you read. Use the reading notes templates below. This assignment needs to be:
    • typed,
    • 1.5 line spacing,
    • Times New Roman or Calibri font with 12-point font size,
    • 1” margins,
    • A separate document for each book. File Names should follow this general structure:
      •  <First and Last Name> - Summer - <Novel’s Title> Notes
      • Example: Joe Coffee - Summer - The Time Machine Notes
    • Length will vary from novel to novel, but a 1/4 to 3/4 page per chapter (at 1.5x spacing) is a decent unit of measure to help you determine how much you should be writing.
    • Be aware: formatting is important in our class. Please revisit the introductory video to ensure you are meeting those formatting requirements. It may seem fussy, but there is reasoning behind it that we will discuss in class.
  1. Required Reading #1: "The Time Machine" Template/Example (Due Sunday, July 7, email to atyp-info@wmich.edu)
  2. Required Reading #2: "Challenger Deep" Template/Example (Due Sunday, August 4, email to atyp-info@wmich.edu)
  3. "Challenger Deep" information
  • "Challenger Deep" has 161 chapters. You may break this novel into 10-15 chapter chunks.
  • When taking notes on this novel, identify where every chapter chunk is taking place …either the ship, the hospital, house, mall, school, or in a mental space/thoughts. 

You will find these notes invaluable when you write your first essay. You do NOT need to take notes on every page you read. You will be submitting these notes with your summer reading homework as part of the graded homework assignment for summer. You are highly encouraged to actually write in and highlight your texts, as well, for easy reference. Good note taking practices include:

  1. Type up short passages (i.e., no more than four lines long) that seem significant (including page numbers). You should have 1-2 passages per chapter (Time Machine) or chapter chunk (Challenger Deep).
  2. Annotate those passages. Why are they important (ex. Language is particularly difficult or beautiful, important details, important character details, important setting details, theme, foreshadowing, etc.)? These annotations should be 2-3 sentence explanations and avoid first person.
  3. Pause at the end of each chapter/chapter chunk to summarize your reading. Summaries should be 2-3 sentences long.
  4. Pause at the end of each chapter/chapter chunk to respond to the text. Perhaps that’s sharing an opinion about what happened or it’s asking questions or it’s pondering. Responses should vary and be 2-3 sentences long.
  5. Go BEYOND summary-- your instructor will be looking for you to discuss important passages, include questions, analogies, relevant comments, similarities you find with the outside world, use in-text citations, etc. Notes that only include summary will not earn a passing grade. The annotations and the reactions/questions are just as important as your ability to recall what happened on the page.

Key Passages Assignment Details

This assignment needs to be: 

  • typed,
  • 1.5 line spacing,
  • Times New Roman or Calibri font with 12-point font size,
  • 1” margins,
  • A separate document for each novel. File Names should follow this general structure:
    •  <First and Last Name> - Summer - <Novel’s Title> Key Passages
    • Example: Joe Coffee - Summer - The Time Machine Key Passages
  • Length will vary from novel to novel.

For the last part of your summer homework, you will indicate three key passages for each novel. Your key passages should be no more than 4 lines of typed text. You may truncate the passage using an ellipse to show the omitted portion. Be sure to include a proper citation. (HINT: MLA citations are used in this class. A proper citation will have the author’s last name and the page number where you find the passage. i.e. (Wells, 12)) Then you will write two substantial paragraphs to accompany the passages.

Paragraph one involves objectively analyzing the passage’s importance within the story. You should do this in third person point of view by avoiding the pronouns “I,” “me,” “my,” “us,” “we,” “our, “you,” and “your.” You could discuss characterization, character development, plot, foreshadowing, or other literary devices/elements that help shape a text. Be sure to vary how you explain the significance of the passage. This is your opportunity to show off what you already know about author’s craft and story development.

In paragraph two, make it personal. Connect the passage to something in your life, i.e., personal experiences, experiences you’ve witnessed, connections in books or movies you’ve read/watched, etc. This is your chance to let your teacher in. Though you may use first person pronouns (“I,” “me,” “my”), your connection to the text should be specific, thorough, and thoughtful. Make sure the tie to the anchor text is clear. Point back to it throughout this well-developed paragraph. 

To be very specific: that means you’re writing six paragraphs per book times two books over the summer. That’s 12 paragraphs by summer’s end. Again, Time Machine by Sunday, July 7, and Challenger Deep by Sunday, August 4. Email your Key Passages to atyp-info@wmich.edu.

Utilize the Key Passages Template.

Finally

Every attempt has been made to make these instructions clear, but that doesn’t mean you might not have a question. Check with a trusted adult to see if they can help you if you’re not sure what something means. If you’re still stuck, email the office at atyp-info@wmich.edu for clarification. We will answer the question the best we can or pass it on to an English instructor. We’re here to help!

We know this may seem like a lot, but we have faith in your ability to complete these assignments and start out strong in the fall. Go forth and read!

ATYP English 9 uses Grammar Girl Presents: The Ultimate Writing Guide for Students (Fogarty, 2019 - ISBN 9781250217516) as a classroom textbook. While ATYP will provide a copy for anyone who needs one during their first year, we highly recommend that students purchase their own copy to keep for future reference. To give you an idea of the cost, a new paperback version is available on Amazon for under $11 and used versions are perfectly fine. You are welcome to purchase the book wherever you can find it. Students will purchase/borrow a handful of novels later in the year, but this book is used early in September. If you plan to buy it, you will want to have it in hand the first week of class.