Summer Reading Unit (Pre Unit 1)

The top document is a copy of the letter itself, with the reading assignments and college application work.

Aside from the readings in the letter (Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and The Three Theban Plays by Sophocles), you should read the introduction to "Greece and the Theater" (you should print it out and mark it up for the answers to questions posted below).

As for Carol Dweck's Mindset, if you're not able to get a copy of it, please print all (minus one of the ones labeled Ch. 1-3) of the attached .pdf files found below the text of Ellison's novel.  Annotate and mark each of them up, completing the pages in the "SCENARIOS" file.  If you are able to get your hands on a copy of the book, read it through and annotate it, but also print out the "Growth Mindset Discussion Qs" and "Using Mindset" pdf files, responding to the questions they pose.

When class starts, you will be held accountable for your summer reading assignments, turning in your notes on the readings and one (clearly edited but not necessarily ready-for-submission) draft of a college essay.  Over the summer, you will be (were) required to read two books: Sophocles’ The Three Theban Plays and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.  For Invisible Man, you will take an AP-style test the first week of class: the first half of the test consists of multiple excerpts from the text, accompanied by multiple-choice questions about style, meaning, and connections to the larger themes and incidents of the novel; the second half of the test has several questions from past AP Free Responses fashioned to fit the context of Invisible Man.  For the two books of your own choosing, you were to have done several think-writes per book, examining your reactions to the book, its themes, its characters, the conflicts, etc.  For Sophocles’ play, we will review the introductory essay by Bernard Knox, discussing the purpose and plan for Greek tragedies, and we will discuss the larger themes of the play.  This will lead directly into our first unit of the semester.

At the bottom, you may find a SUMMER CHALLENGE TASK.