AP English Language and Composition
You
are to select an historical fiction book set in the
My
email is rkonst@ans.edu.ni or rkonst13@yahoo.com. Please use one of these to contact me with
any questions you might have over the summer.
I also need your email address before June 6. The easiest way to assure that the address is
correct is for you to send me a “test” email before May 30—perhaps you could include
your book title and author.
Over
the summer you will need to read your book and do some research. I want you to conduct your research through
all of the following:
- The actual
facts behind the historical event, person or persons, time period, and/or
place of your novel. You may think
of other aspects that could be included (hobbies, clothing, idioms, etc.). This research can be done through encyclopedias,
non-fiction works, and reputable online sources (Wikipedia is not one).
- Commentary(ies)—these could
be journal articles, news articles, editorials, etc. about the information
in your novel. These could be from
the time period or more recent commentaries.
- A
graphic—graphs, charts, paintings, cartoons, photographs, etc. that relate
to the topic of the novel.
- A work I will
send to you over the summer—either an attached scanned document or, if on
the web, the website.
You
will write a paper about your novel and what it says about the particular
history it portrays. You are to
incorporate what you have learned from your research including the
graphic.
Some
questions to consider:
- How accurate
was the novel?
- What was the
author trying to convey through the novel?
- What can one
learn from the novel?
- Is the novel
misleading and does that make a difference? Is this what the author intends?
- How do people
generally understand this history?
How does the novel impact that?
- What purpose do
historical novels like this one serve?
- How do others’
opinions about historical incidents affect our understanding?
- How do the
other works impact your reading of the novel?
- What word
choices are made that convey the author’s purpose? Do these change
for the type of writing? Do the
word choices impact us in different ways?
Are they effective and appropriate?
- Which is
better: reading the novel first or the factual information first? Why?
Obviously,
the final product should be typed in MLA style with in-text citations and a
Works Cited page. I anticipate the
papers will be four to six pages long. The minimum number of citations would be
the four research avenues listed above plus the novel—though I expect that most
of you will have more than five works cited.
The
paper is due the first day of school, August 6.
Please include copies (run off pertinent webpages,
copy or bring in print sources and the graphics) of your research but do not
staple them to the paper.
Within
the first week of school (by August 9), you are to turn in a graphic
representation of what you have learned.
These will be presented the second week of school when you reveal to the
class what you have discovered. I want
to hang these from the ceiling, so plan accordingly!
Suggested titles:
Drums Along
the Mohawk. Walter D. Edmonds
Ragtime. E.L. Doctorow (and other titles)
My
Antonia. Willa
Cather (and other titles)
The
Immigrants.
Howard Fast (and other titles)
North and
South. John
Jakes (and other titles)
The Eagle
and the Raven.
James Michener (and other titles)
Tallgrass. Don
Goldsmith
The Way
West. A. B.
Guthrie (and other titles)
The
Jungle. Upton
Sinclair
The
Confessions of Nat Turner.
Willian Styron
Captains and the Kings:
The Story of an American Dynasty.
Taylor Caldwell
Gone for
Soldiers: A Novel of the Mexican War. Jeff Shaara (and
other titles)
The
Killer Angels.
Michael Shaara
Jacob’s
Ladder: A Story of Virginia during the War. Donald
McCaig
Dancing
at the Rascal Fair. Ivan Doig
The
Ox-Bow Incident.
Walter van Tilburg Clark
Daughter
of the Mountain.
Vella Munn
Honey in the Horn. H.L. Davis
Daughter
of Fortune.
Isabel Allende
Fallen
Angels. Walter
Dean Myers (and other titles)
Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie. O.E. Rolvaag
Cimarron. Edna Ferber
Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil
War. Howard Bahr (and
other titles)
Sally Hemings. Barbara Chase-Riboud
NOTE:
The statement in parentheses “and other titles” does not mean
Additional summer activity:
Access and read the information on the following webpages. Journal
about your thoughts and concerns as you read these. Please send your journal entries to me via
email before August 1.
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_englang.html?englang
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/english_lang/reading.html?englang
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/english_lang/writing.html?englang
You may also look through other information they have at www.collegeboard.com. I do not recommend accessing the sample exams
and exam questions. We might use these
as timed samples in class, and, if you’ve already gone through them, you will
not get an accurate picture of how you will perform when you take the real exam
next May.
If you DO want to practice more exam samples, purchase one of the
many AP English Language and Composition help books published by various
companies. In fact, bringing those to
class can be helpful as we work together to have everyone learn as much as
possible before the exam.
CRUCIAL summer activity: HAVE