To:All Students Enrolled in Advanced Research and Writing and AP English 12 for 2012-2013

From: Dr. Gibbons

Date: May 18, 2012

Subject: Required Outside Reading and Related Assignments

First, I want to congratulate you on your decision to take Advanced Research and Writing and AP English 12: Literature and Composition. These classes will challenge you to take your reading and writing abilities to the next level and develop fluency that will serve you well throughout your college career and your life. Additionally, the AP Exam provides you with an opportunity to earn college credit before you leave high school.

The following pages provide you with the information you need to complete the required outside reading assignments. If you have questions, please come and ask me, and I will be glad to provide further assistance. During the summer months, you can contact me via e-mail at Lgibbons@tcss.net but please understand that I will be checking e-mail on a weeklynot dailybasis.

Overview of Required Outside Reading Assignments

The curriculum in AP Literature and Composition focuses on a wide array of British, American, and world literature from the sixteenth century to the present time. To make the most of the time we have in class, all students are required to complete outside reading assignments. (Note: On-line discussion forum postings and Major Works Data Sheets are due by specific deadlines you will see when you login to the on-line component of this class. You may post your responses as soon as you are prepared to do so. Late submissions are not accepted, and the Moodle course shell sets deadlines at 11:55 PM.)

Please be advised that using Cliffs Notes, Spark Notes, or any other similar type of study aid is strictly prohibited. Because Advanced Research and Writing and AP English 12 are reading and writing intensive courses, students who have difficulty completing and comprehending the required outside reading or are reluctant to do so are strongly advised to take an advanced or a regular English 12 class.

Specific Requirements for the Required Outside Reading Assignments

(1) Required Reading and Major Works Data Sheets

Students will choose one work from each of the three lists provided--a list of American literature, British literature, and Continental and World literatureand complete a Major Works Data Sheet and related on-line discussion postings for each of the three chosen works. When the school year begins, we will have some activities related to the outside reading, so having a copy of the books you read will be helpful.

American Literature

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren

The American by Henry James

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Another Country by James Baldwin

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Billy Budd by Herman Melville

Black Boy by Richard Wright

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Equus by Peter Shaffer

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin

The Golden Bowl by Henry James

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Light in August by William Faulkner

Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene ONeill

Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Native Son by Richard Wright

Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

Our Town by Thorton Wilder

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Sula by Toni Morrison

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Typical American by Gish Jen

Wise Blood by Flannery OConnor

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee

British Literature

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

King Lear by William Shakespeare

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Othello by William Shakespeare

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

Persuasion by Jane Austen

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Tess of the DUrbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee

The Winters Tale by William Shakespeare

Continental and World Literature

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Cats Eye by Margaret Atwood

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes

Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Mythology by Edith Hamilton (see note below)

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Pre Goriot by Honor de Balzac

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

The Plague by Albert Camus

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Sister of My Heart by Chitra Diva Karuni

Snow by Orhan Parnuk

The Trial by Franz Kafka

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

(Note: Because literature contains so many mythological allusions, this work is a good choice for students who do not already have extensive knowledge about classical mythology.)

Guidelines for Major Works Data Sheets (MWDS)

In addition, students will create a separate Major Works Data Sheet (MWDS) for each of the three works, guidelines for which are listed below. You will upload your MWDS into the appropriate place in the Moodle course shell by the stated deadlines: No exceptions, no excuses. You must include the following information on every MWDS:

1. Title and author

1. Biographical information about the author--a one paragraph summary is sufficient.

1. Relevant historical information about the time period during which the novel or play was published--a one paragraph summary of relevant events is sufficient. (Note: Relevant historical information refers to information that you can see reflected in the novel or play.)

1. A minimum of five quotes and reflections, each of which must include this information:

1. The chapter(s) from the novel or act(s) and scene(s) from the play to which you are responding.

1. Five significant quotes, accompanied by related reflections and analysis. You must include one significant quote for each of the following literary elements: setting, imagery, characterization, symbolism, and theme, and an explanation of how the chosen quote exemplifies the literary element. Underline the literary device in each entry and discuss how it builds meaning in the work as a whole. Asking yourself these questions will guide you in writing your reflection: Why is the quote important? What does the quote reveal? Why does the author say things this way? What is the tone/mood of the passage?

(2) Required On-Line Discussion and Supplementary Resources

Because competency in twenty-first century technology skills is essential to success in college and the workplace as well as in the larger society, students will be learning in an on-line component of Advanced Research and Writing and AP Literature and Composition as well as in the traditional school-based classroom environment.

Students who already have an active Moodle account can simply login and add AP Literature and Composition 2012-2013. However, Moodle accounts that have been inactive for an extended period of time will have been deleted, so creating a new account may be necessary.

To Create an Account in Moodle

The first step is to register as a student for the on-line component of AP Literature and Composition. Follow these steps:

(1) Go to the following URL: http://moodle.accessdl.state.al.us

(2) Follow the instructions on the first sheet that follows entitled Creating an Account in Moodle

(3) Follow the instructions on the second sheet that follows entitled Confirming Your Registration and Enrolling in a Course

After