5-4-3-2-1 Assignment for All Souls by Michael Patrick MacDonald

Here's the assignment for All Souls (a book students tend to like a lot & which they demand I keep on the summer reading list). The assignments are designed to help us practice skills that are important in AP English Language and Composition.

WHAT TO DO WHILE YOU'RE READING ALL SOULS BY MICHAEL PATRICK MACDONALD.
While reading All Souls make note of the following using post-it notes, bookmark notes, or writing in your own copy of the book:

·         the writing style MacDonald uses (consider how he creates intimacy and a sense of trust with word choice, sentence structure, tone),

·         the narrative structure MacDonald uses (consider how he begins and ends the book, consider how he organizes events into chapters, consider how he introduces stories within the larger story and builds to climaxes),

·         the way he characterizes people (by describing their actions and their physical appearance, by including their own words, by describing how others react to them, by comparing and contrasting people’s behavior, by showing changes over time, etc.),

·         and the way he characterizes places (particularly South Boston).

Overall how do MacDonald's choices as a writer contribute to the purpose, meaning, and effect of the book?

By taking notes you'll be better prepared for the seminar.

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WHAT TO DO AFTER YOU FINISH READING ALL SOULS.

Complete this part of the rhetorical analysis entry ticket (#5 & #4) before class on July 13. Share it with me on July 13 in a Google Doc (entitled "All Souls 5-4-3-2-1") or on paper.

5=Choose five scenes in MacDonald's memoir that are significant to the development of important ideas in the book. (A scene is an event that occurs in one place at one time.) Summarize each scene, including key details and page numbers. Then, explain how each scene contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book. (Quoting key details is often necessary to support explanations.) When planning your explanation consider, how the following characteristics contribute to the significance of the scene: the way the author uses point of view (the point of view of the author looking back, the point of view of the author as a child experiencing the scene, the imagined point of view of other people), the way the scene relates to previous and subsequent scenes, the way the scene itself is structured (or organized), the way the scene is written (the subjectivity/objectivity of the voice, the informality/formality of the language, the particular phrasing of key moments in the scene), and the selection of details (physical descriptions, emotional descriptions, etc.)
  

(Note: you should choose scenes from throughout the book--not just the beginning.)

Summarize scene #1, including key details. Type the passage and write the page numbers.	Explain how the scene contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book). 75-100 words or so.
Summarize scene #2, including key details. Type the passage and write the page numbers.	Explain how the scene contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book). 75-100 words or so.
Summarize scene #3, including key details. Type the passage and write the page numbers.	Explain how the scene contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book). 75-100 words or so.
Summarize scene #4, including key details. Type the passage and write the page numbers.	Explain how the scene contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book). 75-100 words or so.
Summarize scene #5, including key details. Type the passage and write the page numbers.	Explain how the scene contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book). 75-100 words or so.

4=Choose four people who are characterized in MacDonald's memoir. Find a significant passage for each of the four people. Explain how in each passage MacDonald reveals something significant about the character that also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.

#1 Person's Name: _________________ Passage typed out with page number:	75-100 words or so explaining how the passage reveals something significant about the character that also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.
#2 Person's Name: _________________ Passage typed out with page number:	75-100 words or so explaining how the passage reveals something significant about the character that also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.
#3 Person's Name: _________________ Passage typed out with page number:	75-100 words or so explaining how the passage reveals something significant about the character that also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.
#4 Person's Name: _________________ Passage typed out with page number:	75-100 words or so explaining how the passage reveals something significant about the character that also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.

Complete the next part of the rhetorical analysis entry ticket (3-2-1) during class on July 13. (Note: If you are in class, you will add this part (3-2-1) to the same Google Doc or attach it to the same paper (where you completed #5 & #4). If you are not in class you will have to do this work on your own in the same Google Doc or on the same paper as the work described above.)

3=Choose three different places that are characterized in MacDonald's memoir. Find a passage that describes each of the three places. Explain how in each passage MacDonald reveals something about the place that is also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.

#1 What place? _________________ Passage typed out with page number:	75-100 words or so explaining how the passage reveals something about the place that is also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.
#2 What place? _________________ Passage typed out with page number:	75-100 words or so explaining how the passage reveals something about the place that is also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.
#2 What place? _________________ Passage typed out with page number:	75-100 words or so explaining how the passage reveals something about the place that is also contributes to the development of an important idea (or ideas) in the book as a whole.

2=Quote two passages that create two different moods or two different feelings in the reader. Explain what the mood/feeling is, how MacDonald creates the mood/feeling, and how the mood/feeling is related to the rest of the book. Consider MacDonald's selection of detail and his style (subjective/objective, informal/formal, intimate/distant, serious/humorous, concrete/abstract, prudish/vulgar). #1 What mood/feeling? Passage typed out with page number:

#1 What mood/feeling? Passage typed out with page number:	Explain what the mood/feeling is, how MacDonald creates the mood/feeling, and how the mood/feeling is related to the rest of the book. 75-100 words or so.
#2 What mood/feeling? Passage typed out with page number:	Explain what the mood/feeling is, how MacDonald creates the mood/feeling, and how the mood/feeling is related to the rest of the book. 75-100 words or so.

1=Narrate and reflect on one story from your own personal experience or personal observation that either shows a way that Gloucester is similar MacDonald's description and characterization of Southie or a way that Gloucester is different from MacDonald's description and characterization of Southie. (Show off your storytelling, description, and reflection skills.) 300 words or so.

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If you cannot attend the July 13 seminar you must (1) send an email to Mr. James Cook with the reason you cannot attend (some of you have done this already), (2) turn in your responses through Google Docs (shared with jcook@gloucesterschools.com), and (3) after the session read the description of the session posted on the class website and complete the activities. If you do not attend the session and do not stay in touch with me through email, I will have to send you, a parent, and your guidance counselor an email to discuss the possibility of you taking a different English class. Start reading and stay in touch!

I look forward to seeing you on July 13.