PreIB ENGLISH 1 – Summer Reading 2009

 

 

Listed below are the requirements and expectations for your summer reading assignment.

 

Required Text:   

 

Tuesdays with Morrie – by Mitch Albom (1997) - ISBN-13: 9780767905923

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it.  For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.

 

Summer Reading Breakdown (a detailed explanation follows):

1.  Read and annotate Tuesdays with Morrie.

2.  Complete 10 dialectical journals using quotations provided from Tuesdays with Morrie.

3.  Complete a reader’s response journal (divided into 3 sections). 

 

NOTE:  DO NOT WRITE ON THE BACK OF ANY PAGE!!

              Hand write neatly or type using 12 Roman Times font.

 

1.  Annotations – Tuesdays with Morrie

 

Annotate Tuesdays with Morrie thoroughly, for we will be working extensively with specific details and passages in class discussions and tests.

 

Moreover, you will be able to use your book as a resource on the timed writing portion of your test, and an annotated book will allow you to quickly locate important information without having to painstakingly search for details. Methods of annotation include the use of post-it-notes, symbols and abbreviations used to mark common elements and ideas, highlighting of important passages (highlighting does not work well by itself), and any other way that you have been taught or have picked up; however, the single best method is the writing of notes in the margins of the book in coordination with these previously mentioned suggestions.  Use the following tips to help you with the annotations:

 

·         Make notes at the top of the page or on a sticky note to mark important plot events.

·         Circle or highlight words that are unfamiliar or unusual.

·         When new characters are introduced, highlight phrases that describe them.

·         Highlight words, images, and details that seem to form a pattern throughout the text (a motif).

·         Highlight passages you think might be symbolic.

·         Highlight passages in which figurative language appears.

·         When you get an idea while reading the text, note it in a brief form in the margin.

·         Use brackets, checks, stars, bullets, or asterisks to mark very important items.                                                          

·         Use different color highlighters for different items (put a key in the front of the book).

·          Don’t mark too much.  If you mark everything, nothing will stand out!

 

 

 

 

 

2. Dialectical Journals – Tuesdays with Morrie

Dialectical journals are based on the Socratic method of questioning.  Socrates believed that it is through pointed questions that we come to a full understanding about an idea.  You will be creating a journal for the novel based on the reading and your understanding and interpretation of the reading.  From the link below (“Life Lessons from Tuesdays with Morrie”), you will choose ONLY TEN (10) of the 31 quotations to respond to in the  dialectical journal format. 

 

Constructing a dialectical journal:

On notebook paper (or preferably typed), you will need to make two vertical columns.  On the left side of the paper will be the quotations from the novel.  You will also include the chapter and page number on this side as well.  On the right side will be your personal response/reaction to the quotes.  Explain the quote in the context of the passage consider if the quotes express an important theme, imagery, insight about a character, or how the quote speaks to you personally.  Responses/reactions should be a minimum of five sentences each.  (Approx. 100-125 words minimum).

 

See the web link and the sample format below.

 

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson824/life-lessons.pdf

 

Quotation (include chapter and page)

Response/Reaction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Lessons From Tuesdays With Morrie (Doubleday, 1997)

1. “Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do.” (p. 18)

2. “Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it.” (p. 18)

3. “Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others.” (p. 18)

4. “Don’t assume that it is too late to get involved.” (p. 18)

5. Find someone to share your heart, give to your community, be at peace with yourself, try to be as human as you can be. (p. 34)

6. “Love always wins.” (p. 40)

7. “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.” (p. 42)

 

 

8. “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” (p. 43)

9. “ . . . if you really want it, then you’ll make your dream happen.” (p. 47)

10. “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” (p. 52)

11. “Love is the only rational act.” (p. 52)

12. “I don’t allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that’s all . . . . It’s horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it’s also wonderful because of all the time I get to say goodbye.” (p. 57)

13. “Sometimes you can’t believe what you see; you have to believe what you feel.” (p. 61)

14. “What if today were my last day on earth?” (p. 64)

15. “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” (p. 82)

16. If you accept you are going to die at any time, then you might not be as ambitious as you are. (p. 83)

17. There is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family. (p. 91)

18. “Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent.” (p. 103)

19. “ . . . If you’ve found meaning in your life you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.” (p. 118)

20. “Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.” (p. 125)

21. “ . . . love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.” (p. 133)

22. “Love each other or perish.” (p. 149)

23. “ . . . the big things—how we think, what we value—those you must choose yourself. You can’t let anyone--or any society—determine those for you.” (p. 155)

24. “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on too long.” (p. 162)

25. “Be compassionate. And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place.” (p. 163)

26. “Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others.” (p. 164)

27. “As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on—in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.” (p. 174)

28. “Death ends a life, not a relationship.” (p. 174)

29. The important questions have to do with love, responsibility, spirituality, awareness. (p. 175)

30. “You’re not a wave, you are part of the ocean.” (p. 180)

31. “ . . . there is no such thing as ‘too late’ in life.” (p. 190)

 

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson824/life-lessons.pdf

NCTE/IRA  ReadThinkWrite copyright 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  READER’S RESPONSE JOURNAL – Tuesdays with Morrie

 

Divide the chapters in the book into three sections and respond to the literature using the suggestions below.  Each section will contain approximately 200 words.  Put the number of the suggestion next to your answer (#1-#13).  You should use more than one suggestion with each section.  You may use quotes from “Life Lessons from Tuesdays with Morrie” that you did not pick for your dialectical journal.  Handwrite neatly or type in 12 Roman font. 

SECTIONS:

Section 1:  “The Curriculum” through “The Second Tuesday – We Talk About Feeling Sorry for Youself”

Section 2:  “The Third Tuesday- We Talk About Regrets” through “The Eighth Tuesday – We Talk

About Money”

Section 3:  “The Ninth Tuesday – We Talk About How Love Goes On” through “Conclusion”

 

REMEMBER:  Use a VARIETY of the suggestions listed below. 

 

 1.  First impressions:  Immediately after you finish reading a section or a text, take some time to write down anything that comes to you in relation to the text -- your initial reactions or responses.  Don't try to puzzle them out.  Just write freely.  If the reading bores you, write that down.  If you're intrigued by certain statements, if you're attracted to characters or issues or problems, write them down.  Just keep writing.  This writing should last 5-15 minutes.

 

 2.  Ask questions about the text.  What perplexes you about some passage or point the author makes?  Do you wonder why the author said a particular thing, in a particular way?  You might begin with:  I wonder why... or I'm having trouble understanding....

 

 3.  Make connections with your own experience.  What does the reading make you think of?  Does it remind you of anyone or anything?

 

 4.  Make connections with other texts or concepts or events.  Do you see any similarities between this material and other books that you have read?  Does it bring to mind other issues or incidents or people or descriptions that are somehow related?

 

 5.  Jot down ideas, images, details, moments, things that strike you.  Speculate about them:  why are they there?  what do they add?  why are they memorable?  do they have anything in common?  Can you make an assertion about them?  In response to images, begin:  I see... I hear... I think... I feel....

 

 6.  Copy passages, long or short, which strike you for any reason whatsoever.  Underline key words or phrases.  What is striking and WHY?  How do the words and images work?

 

 7.  Write down words you do not know or find particularly effective.  Make an educated guess as to the meaning of the word.  Then write the dictionary definition.

 

 8.  Draw pictures in response to what you read or make collages, adding words from the text.

 

 9.  Try agreeing with the author or a character; add details to support his/her ideas.

 

10.  Try arguing with the author or a character; where do you disagree?  Choose details to support your points.

 

11.  Identify the conflicts the characters face.  Explain how the conflicts are resolved.  Do you agree with the way the  character handles these conflicts?  If not, why not?

 

12.  Identify the tone, the author's attitude toward the characters--the purpose behind the piece of writing.  Use evidence from the story to support your answer.

 

13.  Copy any statements by any characters that may be considered a specific truth about life or about typical human behavior (a theme directly stated in the novel).  Tell who said it and how it relates to the story.  Also, discuss how it applies to real life.  Give the page number for any quotation you copy. 

 

IMPORTANT!!!!

1.    All assignments will be due on the FIRST day of class. 

2.    Bring your book the first day and every day until we have completed the unit on this book.

3.    Also, be prepared to work with, discuss, and test Tuesdays with Morrie the first day of class.