IMPORTANT NOTE: STUDENTS WILL RECEIVE THREE MAJOR GRADES FROM THEIR SUMMER READING AND WRITING ASSIGNMENTS (THE TEST ON BOTH BOOKS COUNTS AS TWO MAJOR GRADES, AND THE PROJECT PROPOSAL COUNTS AS ONE MAJOR GRADE). SEE THE ATTACHED RUBRIC BY WHICH THE PROJECT PROPOSAL WILL BE ASSESSED.
BOOK #1: Required
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Burton Raffel (This is the only version that will be accepted!)
Instructions: As you read, take notes about the characters, their motivations, the symbolism, the plot episodes, the settings, the seasons of the year, the knights’ responsibilities, temptations, the themes of the story, the allusions to other works of literature, etc. Be sure to keep a list of the characteristics of this romance that give it a medieval flavor and reveal more about King Arthur’s court. Review the notes you have made before you come to class.
Assessment: Objective quiz on Tuesday, August 12, 2008. *
BOOK #2: Your choice of a text based on the following assignment:
Instructions: The senior year is a busy year insofar as literature and writing are concerned, but an extremely important part of your work as a senior includes the many facets of the senior project. To prepare you to think and plan for your senior project before the year begins, please select a book, either fiction or non-fiction, that will help you design a senior project proposal.
Any of the following may be chosen, but this list is primarily an example of the kinds of books that can be read in preparation for the many kinds of senior projects that can be designed: It is imperative that you bring your book to class on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.
Assessment: After you read the book and plan a project based on it, complete the senior project proposal (from the Senior Project Manual at http://rcu.blackboard.com/ USERNAME: thssenior; PASSWORD: ths) that is attached, using your original idea for a potential senior project based on the book you have read. In no way are you committed to this project for your senior year, but this summer reading assignment may help you in this very important planning and designing phase of the senior project.
*This one test on both texts will count as two major grades. (See rubric for writing prompt part of this quiz.)
BOOK TITLE and POTENTIAL SENIOR PROJECT PROPOSAL TOPIC
Living Green: A Practical Guide to Simple Sustainability by Greg Horn
After reading the book, design some specific behaviors that will change your family’s attitude and home to be more environmentally responsible. Get their six-week commitment in a contractual form, and make a video of the process and the outcomes. Show your video to your family and a class at school.
Baseball's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series) by Paul D. Staudohar
Starting a neighborhood baseball (or any kind of sport) team for children and conducting it for one month. Create a scrapbook of the endeavor and have a cook-out for the team at the end. Get the participants’ comments regarding their experiences as part of this group.
Uncle Percy's Blessing by Loni Slaughter
Interviewing a group of older people in your neighborhood, family, church, etc., in preparation for writing a play about an imaginary family’s best reunion ever. Present the play to a group at school or in the community.
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott Mccloud
Plan a comic strip that will be given to one of your classes on Mondays for six-weeks. Use the principles of this book to accomplish a goal you set for your comic strip series. Plan with the teacher to assess whether or not you achieved the curriculum goal you had established in the beginning.
Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion by Alan Flusser
Create a wardrobe for business and casual that includes interchangeable pieces that are classic yet affordable. With the help of a local clothing store, present a fashion show for freshmen young men that includes instruction about “how the clothes make the man.” Include information on grooming and appropriate behavior in various situations as well. (A similar book is available for girls.)
Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators, Second Edition by Mike Mattesi
Write a short story that includes much action, include at least five original illustrations, and present it to a class at school to achieve a goal of that course’s curriculum.
Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration by Marcia Ann Gillespie, Rosa Johnson Butler, Richard A. Long, Oprah Winfrey
Choose five people in this community who have made a difference in your life; interview each and plan one tribute party during the year to honor all of them. Make a video of photos obtained from each person’s family members to create a “This is Your Life” kind of production to show during your tribute party. Include a scrapbook with letters to each member from various people in whose lives they have made a positive impact.
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations One School at a Time (audiobook) by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
Find a need within this community that is due to poverty or lack of education. Create a way for you to start to help others by meeting some aspect of their need (tutoring program, grocery coupon exchange, etc.).
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
After reading the book and keeping note of Carnegie’s tips, create a video with your friends by illustrating specific examples of each tip. Present to a group of younger students at school during a club period.
Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying by David Bach
Choose at least ten of the tips in this book to put into practice on the campus at THS. Spend the entire 2008-2009 year reminding students and faculty (with flyers, presentations, announcements, bumper stickers, etc.) of ways to protect the environment. Make a video of all the stages of your year-long strategy and the concrete, measureable outcomes.
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts
Choose two mothers, two sisters, two wives, and two daughters of influential men in our community and interview them. Write their story in a way similar to this book; with family photos and their actual words and recorded speech, create a video production to use on Mother’s Day in a class or club meeting or church group to honor their influence.
Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition by Abigail R. Gehring
After reading the book, select five of the skills to attempt. In a presentation for a group, show the processes and the final outcomes of these skills you did not have before. Conduct the group in completing the steps for one of the skills during that meeting (have all products needed at hand and practice your instructions ahead of time).
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
After reading the book, plan a weekend hike on the Natchez Trace for a group that includes some friends your own age, an older person or two, a younger person or two, and an experienced outdoorsman/woman. Include five of the activities mentioned in the book and videotape/audiotape some of the best parts of the hike. Have the hiking group create a journal when they return home of their experiences. Create a film of the hike, quotations from the book that helped you plan the hike, video of the hike itself, and journal comments from the participants. In your film’s conclusion, address some of the issues presented in the book from your hiking experience.
The Heart & Soul of the Next Generation: Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Teens by Michael J. Bradley
After reading the book, write three original but fictional stories showing how the courage of teenagers helps them triumph over adversity. Have ten other teens read and write responses of at least one-page in length in regard to your stories. Present to a school club, civic, or church group. Videotape your presentation.
Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer by Jamie Smith
After reading the book, select a sport that you have never done and know little about. Educate yourself and practice learning this sport for six months. Videotape and keep a journal of your experience. Make a film of your experience to share with a school club during the year.
Insomniac by Gayle Greene
After reading this book about how sleep deprivation affects so many aspects of our lives, conduct a study of ten of your same-gender friends (this will take real commitment, so let them know in advance what you expect of them). Have them keep a six-week record of the number of the time they go to sleep and the number of hours they sleep each night. Before they go to sleep each night, have them write in a journal covering the following topics: How did I think creatively today? When did I have trouble thinking clearly? How did I feel physically today? Was there an episode in which my stamina, either physically or mentally, felt diminished? When did I feel an overwhelming need to sleep today? What did I eat today and when? How did I feel immediately after eating? Could I detect that my achievement at sports or school work was affected in any way today by my sleep the night before?
At the end of the six-week period, study all the journals and draw conclusions based on your knowledge from the book. Make an appointment to visit a sleep lab and learn about all of its treatments. Finally, get the ten friends who participated in your experiment together and present the conclusions of your research at a special slumber party planned especially as a thank-you for them!
Books to be read throughout the school year
1st quarter:
Lord of the Flies by William Golding - A thought-provoking novel written in 1954, which describes in detail the horrific exploits of a band of young children who make a striking transition from civilized to barbaric. It commands a pessimistic outlook that seems to show that man is inherently tied to society, and without it, would likely return to savagery.
2nd quarter:
The Lion in Winter by James Goldman - Keenly self-aware and motivated as much by spite as by any sense of duty, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine maneuver against each other to position their favorite son in line for succession.
3rd quarter:
Inspirational book
4th quarter:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - Published in 1958, its most striking feature is to create a complex and sympathetic portrait of a traditional village culture in Africa. Achebe is trying to inform the outside world his own people about Ibo cultural traditions. over time.
RUBRIC FOR SUMMER WRITING IN RESPONSE TO READING : Download Rubric 