**ATTENTION AP LANGUAGE 1st and 3rd BLOCKS SPRING '18--ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS and **EXTRA CREDIT REMINDER**

AP Language Christmas Break 

**
AND/OR 
ASSIGNMENT DUE THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS WED. JANUARY 3rd! 

1) Thoroughly read O'Brien's fictional Vietnam account, The Things They Carried (TTTC)

2) By 11:59 pm, TUESDAY, JANUARY 2nd, those of you who email me via WORD .DOC or share via GOOGLE DOCS/Drive your THREE (3) EXTENDED PARAGRAPHS will receive an EXTRA CREDIT 100% to begin the class! YAY!!!

3) ***Please use the TTTC ASSIGNMENT SHEET with information/instructions you were given in May/this past month RE: the assignment requirements, general MLA style, formatting reminders, etc. (***copied below)

***AS USUAL, BE PROACTIVE AND DO YOUR BEST WORK...BUT, DON'T WORRY: 

We'll spend the first week of class revising your responses, learning the 'basics' and 
adding to your understanding of RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 

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PRE-COURSE Reading Response WRITING

AP Language and Composition

The Things They Carried, O’Brien

Your commitment to AP Language and Literature sets you apart from your peers; it acknowledges you as one who welcomes an academic challenge.  I applaud your decision and look forward to a productive year.

I’ve included here your summer reading and writing assignment: to begin our class, we will study O’Brien’s fictional (yet all-too-real) text exploring the realities that coincide with war and our perhaps misguided perceptions of the battlefield; read The Things They Carried with the following concepts in mind:

• take into account the author’s audience, purpose, and context
• recognize strategies and tactics employed to broaden the civilian understanding of the atrocities of war
• understand the myriad of ethical dilemmas associated with war and the

different perceptions of TRUTH and reality that arise within the text

**PRE-COURSE Reading THREE EXTENDED ¶ RHETORICAL ANALYSIS RESPONSES

After reading, choose THREE (3) chapters from the text that strike you as significant and  complete a TYPED reading analysis response on EACH ONE (MLA heading/“text” citations (#), double-spaced, ONE extended ¶/8-12 sentences).**  As we discuss this summer writing the first week of class, these preliminary responses will become the basis for revision and more advanced, AP Language-driven assignments. NOTE: This assignment is NOT to be mistaken as a forum to rant about your personal opinions/responses to the text!  Stay within the realm of rhetorical analysis; we will have other personal response assignments this semester to serve as 1^st person, argumentative writings.

AP Language serves to broaden students’ understanding and use of rhetoric in writing; or, simply put, the art of speaking or writing effectively.  According to Aristotle, rhetoric is "the ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion." While writing your journals, consider the following helpful concepts and strategies to guide you through rhetorical/close reading analysis of the text:

·       HOW authors create meaning in the text

·       techniques in the text that help achieve rhetorical appeal

·       appeals to the three main forms of rhetoric; ethos, pathos, logos;  for a basic primer on these, go to:  
The OWL: Understanding Rhetoric
The OWL: Aristotle's Rhetorical Situations (Ethos/Pathos/Logos) 

·       SOAPSTone/DIDLS

·       identifying rhetorical terms, schemes, tropes as appropriate for the text