Welcome to English 9 Honors!
I am Mrs. Carmichael, your English 9 Honors teacher for the upcoming school year. I am so glad you have accepted the challenge of English 9 Honors. This is the first step in an excellent program that will help prepare you for future endeavors. The Honors English program through Tecumseh Junior High School and Jefferson High School will provide you with skills, conversations, and experiences necessary for becoming a global scholar and citizen. You have the unique opportunity to improve and hone your skills in the many facets of language arts: vocabulary, literary study, comprehension, grammar, speaking, research, and the writing process. This ninth-grade course lays a foundation intended to help you succeed in not only the next three Honors English classes at Jefferson High School, but also in life beyond high school. Work hard, take advantage of the resources at your disposal, and ask questions!
Honors English requires the completion of a summer assignment. The summer assignment has three parts. Each part is outlined below. Please read each description carefully, and contact me with any questions or concerns.
1. Part One: Flip Introduction Video
Record a video on Flip to introduce yourself to your teacher. This video should be at least one minute long, but cannot exceed two minutes in length. See Canvas for the assignment details, rubric, and the link to Flip.
2. Part Two: Letter to Educator
Write a letter to me, Mrs. Carmichael, about your strengths and weaknesses in regard to Language Arts skills. Specifically, include information about you as a reader (favorite genre(s), authors, series, etc., and specifically in regard to comprehension, frequency, etc.) and writer (favorite genre to write, how often you write outside of school, grammatical skills and struggles, knowledge of MLA format, etc.). Include information about your goals for the coming year, as well.
Please be honest in your letter. You will not be graded on your answers; that is, if you “totally hate reading”, your grade will not be penalized. The purpose of this assignment is to help me better understand you, your goals, and your needs as we enter our year together.
3. Part Three: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
There are several components to this assignment. You must complete each component in order to remain enrolled in English 9 Honors. The following components must be completed independently by the first day of school. This means that you may not complete the assignments in pairs or groups; students who do not complete the assignment independently will be removed from English 9 Honors on the grounds of cheating.
You will read the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Ideally, you should purchase a hard copy of the novel because you will be annotating as you read. Hard copies of the book can be purchased in person from nearly any place that sells books, but are often cheaper online from places like Amazon, Better World Books, or ThriftBooks. All three of the sites listed are trustworthy, reliable sites that I have used to purchase books previously.
I will also post a PDF version of the novel on Canvas. If you choose to use the PDF version of the novel, you must follow the steps below completely. If you need additional explanation or have questions, please contact me immediately at jcarmichael@lsc.k12.in.us. Failure to follow the steps below may result in loss of points or removal from English 9 Honors.
A. Annotate the text as you read. That is, highlight/underline significant and interesting passages, write notes in the margins, and record a running list of questions and connections as you read.
B. Complete the comprehension questions posted to Canvas with page numbers to support each answer. If you do not submit the finalized questions digitally before the first day of school, a hardcopy of the completed questions will be collected on the first day of class. If you opt to submit the questions/answers as a hardcopy, you are expected to have the materials prepared before the start of class on the first day of school. If you choose to submit your questions/answers digitally, you must have the document(s) submitted prior to the start of class on the first day of school. All of the questions must be answered independently, in your own words — no exceptions. To be frank, I am an expert when it comes to identifying plagiarism/ cheating. If you are found plagiarizing and/or cheating, the minimal consequence will be removal from English 9 Honors, including an explanation forwarded to your high school counselor(s). The answers to the questions may be handwritten (every other line) or typed — remember that length does not matter so much as quality content.
C. The first full-length writing assignment for the novel is a literary analysis of literary themes. You must complete the Literary Analysis Pre-Writing sheet (Canvas) prior to the start of school. You do not need to complete the composition associated with the pre-writing until after class resumes. Again, your answers may be handwritten (every other line) or typed — remember, length does not matter so much as quality content.
D. Be prepared to discuss the novel on the first day of school.
HELPFUL ADVICE:
— Do NOT wait until the last minute to complete the summer assignments. You have the whole summer to complete the assignments to the best of your ability. If you wait until a week or even a few days before the start of school, you will not be able to finish all of the components of the assignment. Furthermore, your quality of work (or lack thereof) will quickly reflect your desire to be enrolled in English 9 Honors.
— You may submit any of the aforementioned assignments prior to the first day of school — this is certainly preferred! Please submit the assignments via email or Canvas.
— Failure to turn in ANY part of the assignment the first day of school will result in removal from the Honors English program immediately.
If you have any questions, please e-mail me at any point over the summer. My goal is to help you make a smooth transition from 7th grade to 9th grade Honors — a mighty feat, but certainly a manageable task if you are determined to succeed! :) I am looking forward to meeting you this fall, but also look forward to aiding you as much as possible over the next couple of months.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Carmichael jcarmichael@lsc.k12.in.us
