BY CHRISTINA FLUEGEL
As the school year is wrapping up, AP English teachers are already anticipating the upcoming 2017-2018 school year. To ensure that students become familiar with the course content before the school year begins, summer assignments are given. Here’s a brief overview of each course’s summer work for this year.
AP Language and Composition
Students should obtain a copy of Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers by Prestwick House and complete the first 8 lessons in the “Strategy” category. Then, depending on the first letter of your last name, you’ll be assigned to read a rhetorical discussion text by Malcolm Gladwell, noting the major points and significant details.
A-H: The Tipping Point
I-Q: Outliers
R-Z: David and Goliath
Further, students have the choice to read either Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich OR Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Students are instructed to keep a dialectical journal while reading, noting important elements. Both of these texts are about social issues, so reading either of them will prepare you to discuss relevant topics happening in our world.
The fourth and final assignment for prospective AP Language students is to make flashcards to use to study rhetorical devices with a definition and an example with MLA citation.
The following is a supply list for AP Language:
1-inch binder with 5-7 dividers
1-2 100 page spiral notebook(s)
Index Cards
Sticky Notes
1-2 packages of 5 color highlighters
Barron’s AP Language Prep Book (7th Edition)
AP Literature and Composition
Students are instructed to read How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines, Revised Edition by Thomas C. Foster and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Have a spiral notebook handy to compose a dialectical journal for Frankenstein, with 1-2 pages of notes per chapter, as well as outlines for How To Read Literature Like a Professor.
