Independent Book

Performance Indicators

P.S ELA-2 Reading Analysis: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

A. Evaluate the relevant themes and synthesize how they are present in the novel in oral and written responses.
B. Interpret the implications of setting and circumstance.
C. Analyze the role of characters in the plot in oral and written responses.
D. Analyze important quotations from the text in oral and written responses.
E. Annotate the text.

P.S ELA-3 Reading Craft and Structure: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of a text.

A. Understand SOAPSTone: Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone
B. Analyze the plot and/or design of the text, following shifts in time and place.

 

The final reading assignment for the Freshmen Honors English program will be a book selected by your parent/guardian pending your approval.  The intent of the selection/approval process is to encourage meaningful dialogue about what the reader values.  An experienced reader, one whose insight and concern for your development who exceeds my own perspective about you is meaningful indeed.  Education is not an isolated practice; the relationship between learners and their parents is perhaps the most intrinsic and nurturing influence that guides attitudes and formulate perspective.  Throughout the academic year, you have been challenged with selected readings by your school department.  A fitting conclusion to that reading experience, I believe, is to encourage your parents/guardian to select a book that compliments their understanding of how you have emerged as a reader.

The selected book may include several genres including novel, biography,  autobiography, nonfiction novel, nonfiction, journalism, informational text.   The reader has approximately four weeks to read the book and to complete the related assignments that coincide with the reading.

Your first task is to have a conversation with your parent(s)/guardian, informing him/her about the expectations of this assignment.  Hopefully, you have already talked about the opportunity and you already have a book in mind.  You will then need to read the book independently and complete the related assignments that validate your understanding of the reading.  I hope that the selected reading is as essential to you as I perceive this process encourages.

REQUIRED WORK:

1.  Read the book.

2.  For those students reading a story summarize the plot according to Freytag’s Pyramid.  Your summary should be computer printed in accordance with MLA standards.  Label each part of the pyramid. Describe each of the steps according to the plot.  For each step include a passage from the reading (along with the page number in parenthesis), that emphasizes your summary.   Include three events for the rising action sequence along with a passage for each.                   VALUE- test grade

OR

3.  Construct an exam for your book that includes at least fifty questions.  Include an answer key for the exam.  The exam should be constructed with Bloom’s Taxonomy in mind.  Label Bloom’s domains throughout the exam in order to demonstrate your incorporation of that hierarchal reasoning.  You need to have a certain amount of knowledge-based questions, comprehension based-questions, application based-questions, analytical based-questions, synthesis based-questions, and evaluation based-questions.               VALUE- test grade

4.  Compose an essay that is provoked by a meaningful insight into the book that you have read.  The essay could be thematically based, symbolically driven or an examination of style, a response to an observation the author makes or an evaluation of the quality of the reading.  The selection of your essay topic is a significant part of your evaluation, a well-written essay with supporting passages from your reading that appears superficial will not inspire a strong assessment.  The essay should be composed according to MLA standards.

Another essay option for this part of your novel assessment is to continue one of the student writing responses that you have composed during the fourth quarter.  Although the writing response likely does not relate to your independent book the opportunity to continue a composition that you desire to complete fulfills the rhetorical emphasis of the second-semester curriculum.  Do not overlook that the revised essay should incorporate passages from the book or text that you are attempting to expound about.  

Finally, you may opt instead to compose an original short story according to the standards of the link included:   Student Short Story  The value for either of the compositions will be the same.                                 VALUE-  performance grade