Assignment
#1: Read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
(available through the Nova Library). Keep
a journal as you read, in which you record your impressions of the novel. Demonstrate through your entries that you are
seriously engaged in the text. For each,
this will be a different experience.
Refrain from summarizing (I have read the book many times). What I’d like to see is: you grappling with
the serious issues that Pecola Breedlove (the main character) and Claudia
MacTeer (the narrator) are forced to grapple with. They must learn to
differentiate between what is right and wrong.
At certain times, the lines get blurred.
At others, the language used to explore morality in a white supremacy
gets blurred. These are just a couple of examples of areas that you may wish to
focus in on in your entries.
Your Bluest Eye journal is to be 4-5 pages, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-ed, and is due on the first day of school in September 2013. I look forward to reading them.
Assignment #2: Read the collection of essays from Everything’s an Argument. There are five (in your copies; come and pick them during exam week). Annotate each essay as you read, underlining and commenting on areas you feel are particularly significant or meaningful. Include your reactions to the text and any questions that arise in the margins. We will be studying many of the techniques writers use to construct convincing arguments throughout the year. Come to class ready to discuss these essays.
Assignment #3: Select a book from the following summer reading booklist (titles are available through the Nova Library). There are some real gems on here. Keep the attached reading log as you go, working with the sheets provided. Be prepared to write an essay on your book upon your return to school in September.
Your Bluest Eye journal is to be 4-5 pages, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-ed, and is due on the first day of school in September 2013. I look forward to reading them.
Assignment #2: Read the collection of essays from Everything’s an Argument. There are five (in your copies; come and pick them during exam week). Annotate each essay as you read, underlining and commenting on areas you feel are particularly significant or meaningful. Include your reactions to the text and any questions that arise in the margins. We will be studying many of the techniques writers use to construct convincing arguments throughout the year. Come to class ready to discuss these essays.
Assignment #3: Select a book from the following summer reading booklist (titles are available through the Nova Library). There are some real gems on here. Keep the attached reading log as you go, working with the sheets provided. Be prepared to write an essay on your book upon your return to school in September.
List:
Black
Boy (Richard Wright), In the Skin of a Lion (Michael Ondaatje), Banker to the Poor (Muhammad Yunus), Mountains Beyond Mountains (Tracy Kidder), The Color Purple (Alice Walker), Slaugherhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut), In Cold Blood (Truman Capote), Their
Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)
