Below you will find the summer Reading Assignment. I have also attached a word file to this page for a printable copy. Go to the bottom of this page and click on the summer reading assignment link.
Have a wonderful summer!
8th Grade GT LA Summer Reading Assignment:
Dialectical Journal With Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
(Assignment Due the First day of Class!)
The term “dialectic” means “the art or practice of arriving at the truth by using conversation involving question and answer.” Think of your dialectical journal as a series of conversations with Alas Babylon. The process is meant to help you develop a better understanding of the text as you read. Use your journal to incorporate your personal responses to the text and your ideas about the themes you discover. You will find that it is a useful way to process what you’re reading, prepare yourself for group discussion, and gather textual evidence for your literary analysis assignment and/or Socratic Seminar that we will do in class the first few weeks of school.
Procedure:
- Please do these on lined notebook paper (not spiral paper!).
- As you read, choose passages that stand out to you and record them in the left-hand column of a T-chart (ALWAYS include page numbers).
- In the right column, write your response to the text (ideas/insights, questions, reflections, and comments on each passage)
- Label your responses using the following codes:
- (Q) Question – ask about something in the passage that is unclear
- (C) Connect – make a connection to your life, the world, or another text
- (P) Predict – anticipate what will occur based on what’s in the passage
- (CL) Clarify – answer earlier questions or confirm/disaffirm a prediction
- (R) Reflect – think deeply about what the passage means in a broad sense – not just to the characters in the story. What conclusions can you draw about the world, about human nature, or just the way things work?
- (E) Evaluate - make a judgment about the character(s), their actions, or what the author is trying to say
- The book has 13 chapters. Complete at least one entry for 10 of the 13 chapters. In other words, you cannot do all 10 from the first 3 chapters! They have to be spread out.
- Please look at the sample journal entries on the back
Sample Dialectical Journal entry:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O’Brien
Passages from the text | Pg#s | Comments & Questions |
“-they carried like freight trains; they carried it on their backs and shoulders-and for all the ambiguities of Vietnam, all the mysteries and unknowns, there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at a loss for things to carry”. | Pg 2 | (R) O’brien chooses to end the first section of the novel with this sentence. He provides excellent visual details of what each solider in Vietnam would carry for day-to-day fighting. He makes you feel the physical weight of what soldiers have to carry for simple survival. When you combine the emotional weight of loved ones at home, the fear of death, and the responsibility for the men you fight with, with this physical weight, you start to understand what soldiers in Vietnam dealt with every day. This quote sums up the confusion that the men felt about the reasons they were fighting the war, and how they clung to the only certainty - things they had to carry - in a confusing world where normal rules were suspended. |
Sample Dialectical Journal entry:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Passages from the text | Pg#s | Comments & Questions |
“Mr. Lorry reddened as if he were conscious of having debated the point in his mind, and Mr. Carton made his way to the outside of the bar.” | Pg 82 | (C) I’ve been in this situation before, (no, not in a bar before!) but I have been embarrassed that someone heard my thoughts in my head. Not that I ever think bad things, just things that I would mind if anyone else heard. It makes you uncomfortable to even think that someone could tell what you were thinking. We all have the devil/angel on our shoulders at some point and we are debating issues and choices in our minds, but we wouldn’t want the world to know! So, it is for that reason that I feel bad for Mr. Lorry, because we’ve all been there! |
