DPAC English I Summer Reading Assignment

Dear Parents and Potential Students of DPAC English I,

You have requested DPAC English I for the upcoming school year. In Deer Park ISD, DPAC courses are intended as a more rigorous option, preparing students for college, and leading to Advanced Placement courses and exams. Such preparation entails mastering advanced academic skills by participating in challenging work that includes out-of-class assignments.

Students at Deer Park High School who enroll in DPAC English I are expected to complete a summer reading assignment from the list below. These assignments provide several advantages for students, including maintaining skills over the summer, fostering independent learning, understanding course expectations, establishing a common framework for discussion and study, and promoting lifelong learning.

In addition to reading one of the five novels listed, all incoming DPAC English I students must also complete the accompanying dialectical journal assignment, which is due by the end of the third week of school. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss and write about the text they select, using their notes and personal observations. This assignment will serve as pre-writing for the essay portion of the summer reading assessment and is part of the overall grade. The assessment will occur during the fourth week of school.

DPAC English I (9th Grade) Summer Reading Assignment

Choose one text to read from the list below and complete a dialectical journal that shows how an author develops believable characters in a text. In particular, your journal entries should focus on answering the following question:

What does the characters’ actions, reactions, thoughts, and words reveal about them? What lessons do they learn throughout the book?

• The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
• The Pearl by John Steinbeck
• Scythe by Neal Shusterman
• Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson

For additional information and resources pertaining to the suggested texts and the dialectical journal assignment, access the link below.

Sincerely,
DPAC English I Teachers