vacation. Brooklyn Tech wants students to exercise their minds while they're enjoying time away from school. What do stu
Brooklyn Technical High School
Randy J. Asher, Principal
29 Fort Greene Place ∙ Brooklyn, New York ∙ 11217 ∙ Telephone: (718) 804-6400 ∙ Fax: (718) 260 – 9245 ∙ www.bths.edu
The Summer Reading Assignments are designed to encourage independent reading and critical thinking while students are on summer vacation. Brooklyn Tech wants students to exercise their minds while they’re enjoying time away from school. What do students need to do during the summer? Students should select the OPTION below that most interests them and follow the instructions for that assignment. Each option has an associated writing task that will be done in class on September 18th. Students should bring their reading material to class that day. •
OPTION 1: Read a novel from the OPTION 1 reading list for your grade level (your grade for the 2015-2016 year). Writing Prompt: How does the protagonist change throughout the novel?
•
OPTION 2: Read a nonfiction book from the OPTION 2 reading list for your grade level (your grade for 2015-2016 year). Writing Prompt: What is the main argument of the book, and how is it developed?
How will the summer reading be evaluated? English teachers will explain the details and expectations for the assignment during the first week of school. Regardless of which option students select, they will have to demonstrate that they did the reading. When they return to school, their English teachers will assign an IN-CLASS writing task on the prompt above that corresponds to each student’s chosen option. The task will be used as a diagnostic to assess students’ writing skills and will be calculated into their grade. DO NOT WRITE THE TASK OVER THE SUMMER. What happens if students haven’t completed the assignment before the first day of school? As members of the Brooklyn Tech community, students are expected to complete the reading assignment over the summer, or they will receive a ZERO for the assignment. Students have until September 18th to do the reading. Grade 9 Choices: Option 1 Choices (Fiction) Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevallier Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Option 2 Choices (Nonfiction) The Hot Zone by Richard Preston Leonardo’s Legacy: How Da Vinci Reimagined the World by Stefan Klein Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer Grade 10 Choices:
Option 1 Choices (Fiction) My Life as a Rhombus by Varian Johnson I, Robot by Isaac Asimov Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee
Option 2 Choices (Nonfiction) Visions of Infinity: The Great Mathematical Problems by Ian Stewart Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch—And What it Takes to Win by Judy Dutton Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand Grade 11 Choices:
Option 1 Choices (Fiction) The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Option 2 Choices (Nonfiction) Animals Make us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals by Temple Grandin Physics of the Impossible: a Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester Grade 12 Choices:
Option 1 Choices (Fiction) 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke Speak by Laurie H. Anderson White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Option 2 Choices (Nonfiction) Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing by Hod Lipson The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
