Independent Novel Study
| Site: | Cowichan Valley School District - Moodle |
| Course: | English 11, CVOLC, Online, 21-22 |
| Book: | Independent Novel Study |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Wednesday, 5 February 2025, 12:06 PM |
Independent Novel Study
The purpose of an individual novel study is to read a novel that you are interested in for the purpose of study. Though you should enjoy reading this novel, your goal here is to get something more out of it than if you were just reading for pleasure. Ideally, you should push your reading abilities by studying a novel with a focus.
This is a good time to read a novel that you had been planning to get to sometime. You might look at classic literature or award-winning fiction. You might want to explore a genre, such as science-fiction, mystery, fantasy, or historical fiction, that you have been wanting to learn more about.
Above all, you should choose a novel that is new to you in some way and at or slightly above your reading level. This isn't the time for re-reading a favourite or whipping through something easy.
You will need to discuss your choice with your teacher. Since this is individual, don't expect your teacher to have read the novel. However, you may decide to read a novel that your teacher has read before. Ask for suggestions.
Here is a list of Suggested Titles for English 11
Getting a novel
Start by asking at your school for copies of the novels. Otherwise, head to your local public library or thrift store once you have an idea of what you are looking for.
If you would like to read a classic and have a tablet or e-reader, you could look at Project Gutenberg which has over 45,000 books in the public domain. It is a good place to find classics by authors such as Mark Twain, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens.
Some other excellent sources are CBC Books 108 Indigenous Writers or Canada Reads past winners.
Introduction
For your English Language Arts 11 Novel Study you will be required to do the following:
- Choose a book: See the list of suggested titles.
- You are responsible for finding a copy of the book.
- Write a Reading Connection Log
- Write a Reflective Journal - Literary Analysis
- Create a Project
This is a quick overview of the assignments for this unit. However, be sure you read over the specific assignment instructions that follow for each one. Review the marking rubrics for the assignments before you start.
Daily Reading
DAILY READING
"Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself.
You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world.
You bring your history and you read it in your own terms."
Angela Carter
You are encouraged to read every day, and what you read will be your choice. Here are some guidelines to help you get the most out of your reading.
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You should read a fiction book or non-fiction biography/autobiography- magazines, newspapers, and comic books don't have the volume of text to enable you to develop fluency in your reading, nor will they help you discover who you are as a reader of literature.
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Don't read a book you don't like. There are plenty of great books out there waiting for you.
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If you don't like your book, find another one. Give it a chapter or two, but after that, if you are not engaged, abandon it.
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Realize that reading is thinking - read actively NOT passively. Don't read while you are doing something else.
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REMEMBER: This needs to be a book you have NOT read
Making Connections
For this novel study, we will be focusing on Making Connections. We will be looking to identify connections in three groups:
- Text-to-Self
- Text-to-World
- Text-to-Text
Text-to-self connections are highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader's own experiences or life. An example of a text-to-self connection might be, "This story reminds me of time spent on my grandmother's farm during a vacation when I was young..."
Text-to-text connections occur when readers are reminded of other things they have read, other books by the same author, stories from a similar genre or perhaps on the same topic. "This character has the same development pattern as the previous novel I read by the same author..."
Text-to-world connections are the larger connections that a reader brings to a situation. We all have ideas about how the world works that goes far beyond our own personal experiences. We learn about things through television, movies, magazines, and newspapers. An example of a text-to-world connection would be when a reader says, "Last night on the news they were talking about similar things to this article or story...."
As you are reading your novel stop and ask yourself some of these leading questions:
| Text-to-Self | Text-to-Text | Text-to-World |
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ASSIGNMENT 1: Reading Connections Log
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Learning Target(s):
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Go to "2.1 Reading Connections Log" Assignment on the main page of the course to complete this section.
ASSIGNMENT 2: Reflective Journal - A Literary Analysis
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Learning Target(s):
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ASSIGNMENT 3: Final Project
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Learning Target(s):
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Go to "2.3 Novel Study PROJECT" Assignment on the main page of the course to complete this section.