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Welcome to Honors English II! This course will build upon what you learned as freshmen to sharpen your reading,writing, speaking, listening, and thinking skills. The summer reading assignment will apply your skills as a reader to oneof five possible memoirs (which Merriam Webster defines as a narrative composed from personal experience).

What are the tasks in the assignment, and why are we doing them?

Task Learning Objectives Connections to Curriculum

1. Actively read anarticle about memoirwriting.

● I can read non-fiction text with a specific purpose. Honors English II will require you to read different genres fordifferent purposes. This article will also prepare you forwriting a personal narrative in the first quarter.

2. Actively read amemoir from the listincluded in thispacket.

● I can read non-fiction text with a specific purpose. This class will show students how to look at texts as mentors,which will require students to notice the moves writers maketo achieve their purposes. Students will analyze the movestheir author makes in preparation for their own personalnarrative writing.

3. Write three bodyparagraphs about yourreading.

● I can answer a given prompt, showing myunderstanding of the text.

● I can support my responses with relevant evidence.● I can include quotations from the text that are

introduced and embedded in my writing.

In order to be successful in this class, students must be ableto answer a prompt with sufficient and integrated evidencefrom texts.

What is in this packet?● Page 1: Objectives and Assignment Overview● Page 2: Reading● Page 3: Reading Tips● Page 4: Writing Format● Page 5: Writing Requirements● Page 6: Rubric● Page 7: Academic Integrity

If you would like a printed copy of any of the resources listed / linked in this assignment,please contact one of the teachers listed below.

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1. Before reading your chosen memoir, read this excerpt from “How to Write a Memoir” by William Zinsser.

2. Then, select ONE of the following memoirs to read. Before making your selection, the Honors English II teachersencourage you to explore the memoir options through this Book Tasting activity, where you can read a summary ofeach book and preview the first few pages.

Memoir options:● Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan● Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer● The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore● Born a Crime by Trevor Noah OR It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (Young Readers’ Edition) by Trevor Noah

○ The Young Readers’ Edition is the same book but has been adapted to exclude language and sexualcontent. Either version of this book is acceptable for this assignment.

● The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

You will need to obtain a personal copy of your chosen book. When purchasing the book, consider supporting a localindependent bookstore such as Rainy Day Books in Fairway or The Raven in Lawrence. If you need assistance obtaining acopy, contact one of the teachers listed on page 1 as soon as possible.

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The purpose of this page is to help to guide your reading and clarify purpose. Nothing on this page is required or will be

collected by your teacher. However, we recommend at least reading through these suggestions to help you be successful!

Reading Tips:Reading for an academic purpose means that you are...

● Considering your environment. To set yourself up for success to read without distractions, think about whereyou are and what’s around you. For example, if you find yourself checking your phone every other paragraph, putyour phone away for a certain amount of time. If you get distracted with noise, move to a quiet location. If youfall asleep while reading, sit in a place where you won’t get tired as easily.

● Slowing down. Reading for fun, where you skim the text for overall ideas, is different from reading for anacademic purpose, where you read closely to process all information.

● Monitoring your own comprehension. If you don’t understand something, stop. Re-read that section, useresources like online dictionaries, collaborate with other students reading the same book, and/or reach out to ateacher for assistance.

● Strategizing your progress through tasks. Sit down with a calendar, look at conflicts you have over the summer,and look at the date the assignment is due. Chunk the reading and writing tasks into smaller pieces and put themon your calendar so that you’re not cramming everything at the last minute. And stop telling yourself you’ll justdo it later.

Processing Tips:● One effective strategy to process your reading is to annotate the text. Consider annotations such as…

○ Color-coding by writing prompt and highlighting evidence in your chosen memoir according to thosecolors

○ Starring, underlining, circling, etc. evidence in your chosen memoir that would help you answer thewriting prompts

● Another effective strategy to process your reading is to fill out a graphic organizer like this one to keep track ofyour thoughts as you go.

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The paragraph responses to your body paragraph questions, like most work in Honors English II, must be in MLA format.

Other MLA Format Requirements:● One-inch margins on all sides● Double space the entire document evenly● Use Times New Roman or Arial 12 font only● Left-align your questions and responses● Indent the first line of each paragraph

Helpful Resources:● MLA Basics from Purdue University● MLA Video Tutorial● How to Embed Quotations Tutorial

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To show your understanding of the text as well as certain writing skills, you will compose THREE body paragraphresponses. All three of your responses should be in the same document, formatted in MLA style according to therequirements on the previous page. Most of the prompts will be best answered after you’ve finished reading the book,but you can follow the suggested reading tips / annotation directions on page 3 of this document to help you keep trackof and process your reading as you go.

Each body paragraph response should include the following requirements:● A topic sentence that is a claim answering the prompt / question.● At least 2 pieces of evidence in the form of embedded quotations that support your topic sentence. Be sure to

include internal citations with the author’s last name and the page number(s)!● Commentary that explains how each piece of evidence supports the topic sentence. These sentences should NOT

just be a summary of the evidence but rather explanations of how the evidence proves your claim.● A concluding sentence that summarizes your main claim from the topic sentence (don’t just copy and paste the

topic sentence--try to reword it!).

REQUIRED QUESTION (You MUST answer this prompt):1. ZINSSER CONNECTION: In the excerpt from “How to Write a Memoir,” Zinsser expands on three pieces of advice:

“[b]e yourself, speak freely, and think small.” How did your author follow--or not follow--each of these pieces ofadvice?

CHOICE QUESTIONS (You must select TWO of these prompts to answer):2. EMOTIONAL JOURNEY: What moment in the story is most important to the emotional journey the author

describes in the memoir? Why?

3. OBSTACLES: What is the biggest obstacle that stood in the way of the author in achieving their goals? Howsuccessful are they in overcoming this obstacle?

4. RELATIONSHIPS: What is the most important relationship between the author and a particular person, place,animal, object, etc.? How is this relationship significant?

5. THEME: What is the overarching theme or lesson the writer conveys in their story? How does the author developthe theme throughout the story?

Some questions adapted from a similar assignment by Mrs. Kuper at Point Pleasant High School

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10 9 8 7 6 5

Answering thePromptW.10.2a

The responsesanswer theprompt,showing aunique and / orinsightfulunderstandingof the text.

The responsesanswer theprompt,showing asufficientunderstandingof the text.

The responsesanswer theprompt,showing ageneralunderstandingof the text.

The responsesanswer theprompt but maydo so in anuneven or vagueway.

The responsesare related tothe reading butmay justsummarize theprompt ORshow amisunderstanding

of the text.

The responsesare not presentor not related tothe prompt.

SelectingEvidence

RI.10.1

The responsesproviderelevant,thorough, andconvincingevidence toanswer theprompt.

The responsesprovide relevantevidence toanswer theprompt.

The responsesprovideevidence, but itsconnection tothe prompt maybe uneven orvague.

The evidence isnot relevant tothe prompt ORthe evidencemay show amisunderstanding

of the text.

The responsesdo not includeevidence fromthe text.

QuotationIntegration

W.10.8

The responsesinclude at leasttwo quotationsthat areintroduced withsufficientcontext andembeddedcorrectly.

The responsesinclude twoquotations thatare introducedand embeddedcorrectly.

The responsesinclude twoquotations thatare introducedand embeddedbut notsmoothly.

The responsesinclude twoquotations, butthey lack eitherintroduction orembedding.

The responsesinclude twoquotations, butthey aredropped in (nointroduction orembedding) ORThe responsesinclude only onequotation.

The responsesdo not includequotations fromthe text.

IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THIS RUBRIC

● The rubric assumes that you completed 3 body paragraph responses. If you complete fewer than that, your gradewill reflect your partial completion.

● The points you earn on this rubric will count for about 5% of your first semester grade.● Revisions on this assignment will be offered, but you should try to do your best work the first time around.● All of the work you do for the summer assignment will also contribute to your success on additional work in

Honors English II.

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Academic integrity refers to honesty and responsibility when completing and turning in work. Honest work buildsself-esteem, knowledge, and skills. Use academic integrity when completing your summer assignment!

For this assignment, academic integrity means:

● Reading the entire book○ While using sites with book summaries are helpful in clarifying the reading when you don’t understand,

reading a summary of the book is not an acceptable substitute for actually reading the book.● Asking an Honors English II teacher if you are struggling● Ensuring that your written work reflects your ideas and skills

○ While collaboration between students is encouraged, what you write should not be the same as anotherstudent. The ideas and examples you use should be in your own words or quoted appropriately from thetext.

● Not allowing your work to be copied or used by another student○ You should never email or electronically transfer the file for your responses to another student.

Consequences for Academic Dishonesty on the Honors English II summer assignment are as follows:

● A parent phone call● A written office referral to be included in your permanent disciplinary file● Reduced points on the assignment

If you have questions or concerns about academic integrity, please contact one of the teachers listed on page 1.