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 some videos
2. Doing the readings (two novels)
3. Taking Notes (both novels)
4. Writing About Key Passages (both novels)

Here is a checklist to print out to help you keep track of the items that are due.

You will complete the reading, Notes, and Key Passages for The Time Machine and submit the written assignments to @email by Monday, July 7.

Check your WMU email after July 20. 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 Connecticut Yankee and submit the written assignments by Monday, 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.

To Begin:

1. Students should begin their summer homework by watching the video linked below. This introductory video (please include your first and last name when opening the video) from the English 9/10 instructors includes specific instructions on formatting your papers, etc. Please begin by watching the video titled "ATYP Note taking with Mrs. Carr (Qs)" on EdPuzzle (see below). Be sure to follow all of the instructions on this page carefully before turning in your first assignment. 
2. EDPUZZLES (DUE BY Sunday, June 29): Students will begin by working through a series of short Edpuzzle videos. Once you have created your account in Edpuzzle, you can join the class using the code ipatabk. Make sure that we can tell who are you by your login name (use something with your first and last name included). You should then complete the lessons listed. We will be able to monitor your progress on the modules. Students must answer the questions and submit their results. Students may take the quizzes up to 3 times.

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 @email. 

These readings will provide the basis for discussion, group work, and presentations during our first unit. With these texts as your anchor, you will create your first major essay in September. Read carefully, complete the reading notes and written homework below mindfully, and be sure to refresh/reacquaint yourself with both 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. Formatting is important in our class. Please revisit the introductory video to ensure you are meeting those formatting requirements. 

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 7, 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:

Assignment:

Take notes in your book as you read. You are highly encouraged to actually write in and highlight your texts for easy reference. The type of notes you should be taking (summary, author’s craft, etc.) are described below. 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 typing up these notes with your summer reading homework as part of the graded homework assignment for summer. 

Good note taking practices include:

1. Summary: Pause at the end of each chapter to summarize your reading. Summaries should be 1-2 sentences long.
2. Author's Craft: Identify a type of Author's Craft the author does well. Need some more information? Check out this infographic.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Questions, Wonderings, and Just Plain WOW: 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.
6. Type up these notes in a word processor (e.g., Google doc or Microsoft Word document) after each chapter while you read. Use the correct reading notes template: Time Machine or Connecticut Yankee.

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.

Important: 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:

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. For example: 

• There is a certain feeling described in this Challenger Deep passage, one that I interpret as intense thrill or anticipation. The heart-pounding sensation when I am doing something new! One time when I felt this feeling was a few years ago, at the Cedar Point theme park. My dad and I were going to ride the Millennium Force roller coaster, the tallest one in the park. As we rounded the top, I felt totally free, lost in the feeling of falling many, many feet. Like Caden, I was terrified. What if the roller coaster was unsafe? However, I felt the most free I have ever been. -2024 Student Summer Homework Example

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 in addition to the videos and novel notes. Again, Time Machine by Monday, July 7, and Connecticut Yankee by Monday, August 4. Email your Key Passages to atyp-info@wmich.edu.

Utilize the Key Passages Template. Paragraphs should be formatted as normal paragraphs, not bulleted. Paragraphs are typically 3-5 sentences long and new paragraphs begin with a .5 inch indent on the first line.

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. Note that there are really only six things to do on the checklist! 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.