Additional Annotation Ideas

So, say you don't like writing in your books, another way you can annotate your text is using post-its. I like the smaller flag post-its while annotating my books. For the summer work, you could use different colors to represent different concepts you are required to find. For example, you may designate the blue post-its for Skeeter's narration. You may use yellow for setting. You may use purple for theme, or you may use green for symbolism. The possibilities are endless! I usually get a big pack of the post-its and have them handy while I'm reading. So, when I am ready to write my summer work assignment, it's easier for me to go back to what I have annotated or "flagged" as theme. Again, annotation is not a requirement, but it is a very helpful tool and time saver! I have provided some pictures of the post-it flags I use along with what my current book that I am reading looks like. Hope this helps! Happy reading!

Stop, Annotate, and Listen!

Annotating is a great way to remember what you read. Each person has his or her own markings that mean something specific to him/her. When needing to reference the text, annotation makes it easier to find a specific reference. My books look like coloring books! As long as it's your book, don't hesitate to write in it! I highlight figurative language, I underline diction, and I make notes about characters and the setting throughout.

Now a comment about summer work. At this point in the summer, you should be about done with the reading to leave yourself plenty of time to finish the assignment. Remember, if you do not turn the assignment in by the due date, you will not be enrolled in Advanced English. Please feel free to email me with any questions about the assignment. Below, you can see my notes for chapter one only to give you some guidance or a blueprint to work off of to help you out while finishing this assignment. Please be sure to complete each component as this is your first grade of your high school career. Good luck!

The Help Notes

Chapter One:

Narrator: Aibileen (identity of Aibleen and how she views society)

·         “I reckon that’s the risk you run, letting somebody else raise you chilluns” (1).

·         “A bitter seed was planted inside a me. And I just didn’t feel so accepting anymore” (3).

·         “I don’t hate much in life, but me and that dress is not on good terms” (4). Shows her dry humor.

·         “I better call Minny tonight, tell her what Miss Hilly said” (8).

Narrator: Skeeter (identify of Skeeter and how she comes to stand up for the help)

·         “Hey, Aibileen,” Miss Skeeter say, cause she the kind that speak to the help” (4).

·         “Maybe we ought to just build you a bathroom outside, Hilly” (10).

Narrator: Minny (identify of Minny and how she views society)

·         “Minny near bout the best cook in hinds County” (8)

·         Problem is, Minny got a mouth on her. She always talking back” (8).

Narrator: Skeeter (physical description of Skeeter)

·         “Miss Skeeter real tall and skinny. Her hair be yellow and cut short above her shoulders cause she get the frizz year round” (4).

·         “Miss Skeeter always look like somebody else told her what to wear” (5).

·         “She don’t look like other ladies, being so tall” (11).

Setting: Jackson, Mississippi

·         “He even start writing his own book, bout being a colored man living and working in Mississippi” (3).

·         “luggin two-by-fours to the truck, splitters slicing all the way through the glove. He too small for that kind a work, too skinny, but he needed a job” (3).

·         “Miss Leefolt don’t pay but ninety-five cents an hour, less than I been paid in years” (4).

·         “What does she think the Jackson League is? Open rush?” (7).

·         “A bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored help. I’ve notified the surgeon general of Mississippi” (10).

Characterization: Aiblieen (sympathy for Aibileen)

·         “I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime. I know how to get them babies to sleep, stop crying, and go in the toilet bowl before they mamas even get our a bed in the morning” (1). The reader may feel sympathetic because Aibileen, a black maid, does all the work to raise a white child while she is persecuted by the white woman and society.

·         “Took three months fore I even look out the window, see if the world still there. I was surprised to see the world didn’t stop just cause my boy did” (3). The reader may have sympathy because Aibileen lost her son due to the poor working conditions and treatment of blacks during this time; she didn’t see how the world could continue without her son.

·         “We start calling his daddy Crisco cause you can’t fancy up a man done run off on his family” (6). The reader could feel sorry for Aibileen because her husband left her alone with their child.