FLHS English Language Arts Summer Assignment
For students entering Grade 9 (Fall 2021)
Summer Assignment Due: Monday, September 20, 2021
Click here to download the assignment.
Instructions for Incoming Ninth Graders
The 9th Grade Francis Lewis High School summer reading and writing assignment has been designed to provide students with the opportunity to further develop their reading and writing skills during the summer months, to promote college and career readiness, and to help prepare students for the 9th Grade English Curriculum. The assignment provides choices of texts appropriate to the grade level that students will be entering in the fall and promotes college and career readiness. Students will write a Text-Analysis Response (one of the two writing tasks for the English Regents tasks).
**Both of your writing pieces should be typed and saved – preferably as a Google Doc or a Word Doc.
Submit your work to your ELA teacher during the first week of class (be prepared to share this work virtually if you are asked to do so). This will count as your first homework grades for the fall semester.
Assignment Guidelines and Requirements
If you have any questions about the assignment, please email the Assistant Principal of English, Carrie Huggins: chuggins@schools.nyc.gov
- Read one short story from the list provided for English Language Arts (see below). You may find the stories online or access the PDF files of the short stories on this page.
- Write a Text-Analysis Response, based upon your selected short story, following the directions provided (see below)
**Both of your writing pieces should be typed and saved – preferably as a Google Doc or a Word Doc.
Submit your work to your ELA teacher during the first week of class (be prepared to share this work virtually if you are asked to do so). This will count as your first homework grades for the fall semester.
Assignment Guidelines and Requirements
- All work must be your own. Do not plagiarize. You will not receive credit for the assignment if your work is copied from any source.
- The Text Analysis Response must be based on the short story you read from the choices below. This assignment is one of two required written responses for the English Language Arts Regents
If you have any questions about the assignment, please email the Assistant Principal of English, Carrie Huggins: chuggins@schools.nyc.gov
Directions for the Text-Analysis Response:
Your Task: Closely read one of the short stories below and write a well-developed, text-based response of three paragraphs. In your response, identify a central idea in the short story and analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy (literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) develops this central idea. Use strong and thorough evidence from the short story to support your analysis. Do not simply summarize the text.
Central Idea: The central idea is the central, unifying idea of the story, which ties together all of the other elements used by the author to tell the story. The central idea can be best described as a universal truth found in the story.
Guidelines: Use these guidelines when writing your Text-Analysis Response.
Be sure to:
· Identify a central idea in the short story
· Analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy (literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) develops this central idea. Examples include: characterization, conflict, denotation/connotation, metaphor, simile, irony, language use, point-of-view, setting, structure, symbolism, theme, tone, etc.
· Use strong and thorough evidence from the short story to support your analysis
· Organize your ideas in a cohesive and coherent manner
· Maintain a formal style of writing
· Follow the conventions of standard written English
Short story choices:
"Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes (Click here for PDF)
or
“Mother and Daughter” by Gary Soto (Click here for PDF)
Your Task: Closely read one of the short stories below and write a well-developed, text-based response of three paragraphs. In your response, identify a central idea in the short story and analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy (literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) develops this central idea. Use strong and thorough evidence from the short story to support your analysis. Do not simply summarize the text.
Central Idea: The central idea is the central, unifying idea of the story, which ties together all of the other elements used by the author to tell the story. The central idea can be best described as a universal truth found in the story.
Guidelines: Use these guidelines when writing your Text-Analysis Response.
Be sure to:
· Identify a central idea in the short story
· Analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy (literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) develops this central idea. Examples include: characterization, conflict, denotation/connotation, metaphor, simile, irony, language use, point-of-view, setting, structure, symbolism, theme, tone, etc.
· Use strong and thorough evidence from the short story to support your analysis
· Organize your ideas in a cohesive and coherent manner
· Maintain a formal style of writing
· Follow the conventions of standard written English
Short story choices:
"Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes (Click here for PDF)
or
“Mother and Daughter” by Gary Soto (Click here for PDF)