AP LIT SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
Your task: Read deeply for meaning and complexity, and create a mature, sustained conversation about some aspect of the texts in the form of blogging.
READING
Your two assigned novels this summer are:
MUDBOUND by Hillary Jordan
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (You’ll definitely want your own copy for the AWIR event at MHS!)
What makes this year’s summer reading unique is that you’ll have a chance to engage in conversations with BOTH authors. I am beyond excited about this important and meaningful opportunity. I will provide you with more details fall, but please know that I have chosen these novels purposefully.
*I recommend ordering both of these books from Amazon, but Books-a-Million will work for a few more dollars.
WRITING
This summer you will begin your very own AP Lit blog. Your blog will be an off-shoot of my (brand new) Edublog. Edublogs is a platform serviced by WordPress, so not only is it user-friendly and completely legit, but it uses all of the major elements of WordPress, which is a really good thing to know as you continue to advance your education.
You will be responsible for THREE POSTS.
Post 1 – About Me
For this initial post, you will introduce yourself to me, your classmates, and anyone else who may visit your blog. Some ideas on how you might approach this getting-to-know-you post are:
- Who you are and where you come from
- Why you love reading or writing
- Your most favorite or least favorite word and why
- Your six-word memoir and an explanation
- Your most embarrassing moment
- An important or pivotal moment in your education
- A lyric, verse, or stanza that resonates with you and why
- An explanation of your hidden talent
- Anything else that is unique and specific to YOU
Post 2 – MUDBOUND
This post will be your analysis of MUDBOUND. You’ll need to do the following:
- Identify one aspect of the text you’d like to explore, discover, and uncover. Any prominent literary feature will work, but what you explore is completely up to you.
- Write a minimum of 700 words discussing, analyzing, and presenting your ideas.
- Use clear, precise language, but keep it conversational. No smart guy stuff. Just a genuine and thoughtful conversation about the text. That is, use first person and your own unique, individual voice to narrate your ideas.
Post 3 – COLD MOUNTAIN
*Same task as MUDBOUND post.
**IMPORTANT INFORMATION**
First off, don’t hesitate to email or Tweet me if you have any questions or issues whatsoever. Don’t sweat it; we’ll work it out – whatever the issue, so long as you’re doing the work. But…
Understand that I expect you to make every attempt possible to complete the assigned work.
BLOG INFORMATION
You’re in the right spot!
Your log-in AND password is:
firstname + ap17
– Your URL is www.firstnameap17.edublogs.org (e.g. www.katieap17.edublogs.org)
– Your Office 365 address is set up as your default email with Edublogs.
– For a few of you, I’ve used your nicknames (Kat, Juneau, Trey, Sam), and for a few others, I’ve used your last or middle name initial. You can find out your official username looking at the list of student blogs in the right hand column (if you’re on desktop) or by scrolling alllllllllllllll the way down on your mobile.
– After you’ve logged in, you should familiarize yourself with the platform. Watch tutorials, click around, experiment. You’ll learn by doing, so have some fun with it.
Blog rules: I think this ought to go without saying, but ALL content MUST be school appropriate. You should make every attempt to be your best self in your posts. I encourage you to share your writing and to visit one another’s blogs. Your interactions should be mature and thoughtful. Remember: we’re all in this together.\
Sharing: If you wish to share, remember to Tweet to #APLit17.
DUE DATES & DEADLINES
POST 1
Sometime between now and Friday, July 8
POST 2
By Friday, July 8
POST 3
By Friday, August 19
*I have set these deadlines to help you pace yourself and to encourage you to do your best, most thoughtful work.
Some context:
Here’s a bit of context for this year’s assignment:
- I believe students should study literature that is ambiguous, provocative, complex, and personally and emotionally challenging –literature that places demands on the reader, may not have clearly defined elements of plot, has probably won some awards, and may experiment and manipulate language in timeless and poetic or fresh and engaging ways.
- I believe students need to write WAY MORE than the dozen or so formally assigned essays in the course of a school year. Volume matters. You need a chance to find your voice and use your voice, to explore ideas and refine them, and most importantly, to write for an audience not for a teacher.
- I blog on my class blog, the WVCTE blog, the AP Lit Help blog, and a blog called Moving Writers. I can tell you with certainty that blogging has made me a stronger, more aware writer. It is one thing to blast through an essay for a good grade; it is quite another to effectively communicate your thoughts for a living, breathing audience.
You should absolutely go to HERE and read Brian Sztabnik’s post on student blogging. But if you don’t make it there, here is a quote he features:
Andrew Sullivan earned a Master in Public Administration in 1986 from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in government from Harvard in 1990. He is a former editor of The New Republic and the author or editor of six books, is widely viewed as a pioneer of political blogging. He once said,
“Blogging is to writing what extreme sports are to athletics: more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive. It is, in many ways, writing out loud.”
All that said, this year’s summer assignment asks you to get your feet wet with the essential AP Lit skills: to read deeply for meaning and to explore your ideas in writing. This year we will develop effective ways to analyze passages and works as a whole. But for now, let’s open the door to the world of literature and to your wealth of thoughts and ideas.
