Course: 12th Grade AP Literature / 12th Grade College Literature
Teacher(s): Camarinos AP Literature / Camarinos-Vlasov College Literature
12th Grade Literature Google Classroom Code: (As AP courses often change in the beginning of
the year, we will upload this after the 25-26 school year begins)
Essential Question: How can independent reading challenge our thoughts and beliefs
while allowing us to escape into a world either similar or vastly different from our own?
Learning Targets:
● I can distinguish between the literal and figurative meanings of words and phrases.
● I can identify and explain the function of various literary elements
● I can explain the function of a significant event in a plot.
● Identify and describe details and diction in a text that reveal a character’s perspective
Task Description:
Welcome to 12th Grade AP and College Literature! An important component of the
both courses is the summer reading assignment. The three main goals of this assignment
are to keep you active in reading, broaden your horizons, and challenge your
independent thinking skills. As you are seniors, the work you choose is primarily up to
you. You may choose from the lists provided or venture out on your own to find a work of
literary merit. If you are enrolled in AP Literature, this novel will also act as the first of the
works that you will read in preparation for your AP Literature exam in May.
Reading Lists:
Suggested Classics List
Cam’s Favorite Contemporary Novels
Your reading will be assessed in two ways
● Journal - to be done during the summer while you read
● Essay - to be written once school begins (week 2)
1) Dialectical Journal: This will provide information for us, as your teachers, in
regards to how you interact with text, think, organize, and prepare your work. You
will create one journal of AT MINIMUM 20 entries for the novel of your choosing.
● The double entry journals will be evaluated according to the following
criteria:
○ Quantity- Variety: There is a wide variety of the kinds of notes and
questions ranging from specific literary device analysis to broad
themes. I will look, too, for your personal reactions and thoughts.
○ Quantity- Quality: The quantity and quality of questions and notes
demonstrate a strenuous effort to contemplate, and to respond to the
complete text. It should be informative and helpful to you, not
burdensome, and not the bane of your summer break.
○ Searching for Patterns and Themes: Questions and notes
demonstrate an excellent awareness of patterns and themes developing
in a text.
○ Plagiarism: Such as copying another student’s journal, use of AI
(ChatGPT), Sparknotes, etc. will result in disciplinary action in
accordance with Scholars’ Academic Dishonesty Policy.
○ A minimum of 20 journal entries need to be present to receive a
passing mark.
Use the following format below to complete your journal: (Notice the bold, italics, and underlining
used to show parts of the response. This is indicative of the type of annotating you will do
throughout the course.)
Success Criteria:
Analysis of the text for use of literary devices (tone, structure, style, imagery etc)
Making connections between different characters or events in the text
Discussing the words, ideas, or actions of character(s)
Considers an event or description from the perspective of a different character
Analyzes a passage and its relationship to the story as a whole.
Model:
Novel: Night
Author: Elie Wiesel
Year Written: 1956
Source Material Author What are Respond: Analyze and Evaluate (Why do you
(Provide a Direct and you find this passage interesting or important?)
Quotation) Page analyzing?
“The snow was like (Wiesel Simile I can picture the men standing in the
a carpet, very 83) concentration camp, watching the snow
gentle, very warm” blanket the ground. It is silent here. The
snow-covered ground is smooth and soft.
Elie describes the snow as being “gentle” and
“warm”. The comparison is not what one would
expect. Standing barefoot in the snow would be
very painful. The cold would cut deep into one’s
feet. So why does he say it is warm? Maybe his
feet are frozen, numb to the pain. Perhaps the
snow provides insulation from night’s bitter cold.
This comparison creates a sense of peace, a
moment without terror and fear. Is is as if he is
home again, safe and warm.
“Death wrapped (Wiesel Personificati This is a sad moment for Elie. He has fought
itself around me till I 84) on/ Internal to survive, but cannot fight any longer. I can't
was stifled. It stuck Conflict imagine being fourteen and wanting to die. I
to me. I felt that I can’t imagine being fourteen and losing my
could touch it. The family, my dignity, and my soul. What a
idea of dying, of no tragedy. In this passage, Wiesel personifies
longer being, began death to show the control it has over those who
to fascinate me. are suffering in the camps. In this case, Death
Not to exist any silences him, overpowering his will and subduing
longer.” his hope of survival. Wiesel is conflicted. He
wants to survive and take care of his father but
he doesn’t know how much more he can take.
This is important because we see that Wiesel
has reached a breaking point. Death has come
for him so many times but has failed. This time,
however, Wiesel is too tired to run, too tired to
fight. He has had enough. Death is offering a
gift- an escape from the existence that is
torturing him.
Name Date
Scholars’ Academy AP Literature and Comp.
Suggested Pacing
Task: Completion Date:
Enjoy the first two weeks of summer June 28 - July 14
Complete ⅓ of Novel and Journal Entries 1-7 July 17 - July 28
Complete 2/3 of Novel and Journal Entries 8-14 July 31 - Aug 11
Finish reading Novel and Journal Entries 15-20 Aug 14- Sept 1
Use the following format below to complete your journal: (Notice the bold, italics, and underlining
used to show parts of the response. This is indicative of the type of annotating you will do
throughout the course.
Success Criteria:
Analysis of the text for use of literary devices (tone, structure, style, imagery etc)
Making connections between different characters or events in the text
Discussing the words, ideas, or actions of character(s)
Considers an event or description from the perspective of a different character
Analyzes a passage and its relationship to the story as a whole.
Your Turn:
Novel:
Author:
Year Written:
Source Material Author What are Respond: Analyze and Evaluate
(Provide a Direct and you (Why do you find this passage
Quotation) Page analyzing interesting or important?)
?
1
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
