10th Grade

Honors Literature and Composition II, Honors World History, & AP/DC World History

Please note that ALL work is DUE AUGUST 22, 2025.

How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor

by Thomas C. Foster

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

by Ishmael Beah

Directions:

First read Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Nonfiction like a Professor. This will help provide insight on how to better read and analyze nonfiction that will be part of the Honors & AP/DC curriculum.

For the summer assignment, read the chapters listed below. Make a copy of the Cornell notes to capture important information from the text.

Read the following chapters (click on the chapter read the PDF copy):

Read The Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah. HERE is a PDF copy to read. HERE is the audiobook. While reading Beah's memoir, take Cornell notes of the books and apply what was learned from reading How to Read Nonfiction...
Then, choose at least 2 text options from the provided list of "Supplemental Texts" to read in order to enrich your experience with The Long Way Gone. Vary your selections by choosing from category/genre: Informational Texts, Poetry, Podcasts, and Videos. All supplemental texts selected should not be from the same category/genre. Complete Cornell notes for each supplemental text chosen and apply How to Read Nonfiction...to the texts selected. All supplemental texts should not be from the same category/genre.
All work is DUE AUGUST 22, 2025.

Be prepared to write an in class essay at the start of the school year using these text as evidence.

Supplemental Texts

Informational Texts:

10th Grade Focus: "A child of Slavery Who Taught a Generation"
10th Grade Focus: "When Good Comes From Bad"
10th Grade Focus: "The Sierra Leone Civil War"

Literary Texts:

10th Grade Focus: "Crowd"
10th Grade Focus: "The Things They Carried"
10th Grade Focus: "David & Goliath"

Poetry:

10th Grade Focus: “Still I Rise”
10th Grade Focus: “If We Must Die”
10th Grade Focus: "The War Works Hard"

Podcasts:

If you choose a podcast, select only one of the following to read (listen to) and analyze. Use the notes organizer to capture your ideas and understandings.

The Re-Readables; “A Long Way Gone”Listen to The Re-Readables; “A Long Way Gone” on Spotify. We are here talking about Ishmael Beah’s book, “A Long Way Gone.” We discuss and evaluate the book, then make segments that retain to the book that we think fit best. Our first segment we talk about his Scariest Moments (Top 3), How He Finds Hope In Dark Times, Most re-readable Moment, Best Quote and the Saddest Moments (Top 3) to end the podcast. I hope you all enjoy!

Muhammad Ali: A Case Study in Purpose-Driven Decision MakingHow the sports legend and civil rights icon made decisions throughout his career to leave a lasting impact on the world.

Music /Videos/Spoken Word

If you choose a music /video/spoken word, select one of the following texts to read (listen to) and analyze. Use the notes organizer to capture your ideas and understandings.

8 secrets of successWhy do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

The leaders who ruined Africa, and the generation who can fix itBefore he hit eighteen, Fred Swaniker had lived in Ghana, Gambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. What he learned from a childhood across Africa was that while good leaders can't make much of a difference in societies with strong institutions, in countries with weak structures, leaders could make or break a country. In a passionate talk the entrepreneur and TED Fellow looks at different generations of African leaders and imagines how to develop the leadership of the future.