Summer Assignment for
Rising 10th Graders
2008-2009
Assessment:
Affective/Cognitive
Response Explanation:
Rationale:
So
many writing assignments in school are cognitively oriented (that is, oriented
to reason and analysis), but this assignment asks for a mix of responses, from what
psychologists call the affective and the cognitive domains. Respond to the
reading based on your emotions and
your thinking. Your teacher is interested in seeing your personal response to
literature. Write in a natural and relaxed manner!
Assignment:
Compose
an essay of 200-400 words in which you respond to the work of literature you
have chosen from
emotional (affective) and thoughtful (cognitive) perspectives. The essay should
be word processed and double-spaced. Use both sides of your brain! You may
choose to respond to the two aspects separately—first emotionally and then analytically.
Or you may wish to integrate the responses. Be sure that you have addressed both
approaches. You may see some overlapping in the categories below; if so, you
are seeing how these often disparate domains can be integrated.
Your personal reaction is what counts! Do not consult any outside sources on your text or your author; just read the book and respond to it by yourself.
Examples
of Affective Responses: You may consider these questions as you
formulate your affective response. You need not address all these questions in
your response.
1. Did you
like the reading? Why or why not?
2. What
was the best part of the reading? the worst?
3. Would you
have liked the author to have done something differently (e.g., changed the
ending, altered a character)?
4. Would
you recommend this work to someone else? To whom (a friend, a
relative, a teacher)? In what circumstances?
5. Did the
reading change any attitudes or positions you hold?
Examples
of Cognitive Responses: You may consider these questions and other
elements of literary analysis as you formulate your cognitive response. You
need not address all these questions in your response.
1.
Examine, briefly, one of the main elements of fiction: plot, character,
setting, point of view, or theme.
2. Focus
on the author’s use of language. Does the author use metaphors and similes effectively?
Analyze how the author uses description of places or characters.
3. Does
the author create an emotional response (pathos) to events or characters?
4. Is there a theme (usually expressed in a sentence) or a
thematic topic (usually expressed as an idea like kindness
or
selfishness) that strikes you as important?