for incoming freshmen …

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To get a head-start, complete this writing diagnostic and, if you’d like, some subsequent skill practice over the summer: just join up with our class on Quill.org with the class code swan-egg. (Once you complete the diagnostic, Mr. Benton will open up some activities to help you brush on your conventions.)

And — while there’s no assigned reading — I highly encourage all of my incoming students to find books of their choice to read over the summer. If you’re not sure where to start, here are some recommendations from this year’s Florida Teens Read list.

If you read a great book, watch a thought-provoking movie, or binge a compelling series — try cranking out an analytical thesis statement.

Oh, and here’s the syllabus for curious minds.

Should you need any help at any point, or if you have any questions about the year ahead with Pre-IB English 2, feel free to email Mr. Benton anytime at bentonro@pcsb.org.

Literature Improves Thinking

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Are you uncomfortable with ambiguity? It’s a common condition, but a highly problematic one. The compulsion to quell that unease can inspire snap judgments, rigid thinking, and bad decision-making.

Fortunately, new research suggests a simple antidote for this affliction: Read more literary fiction.

A trio of University of Toronto scholars, led by psychologist Maja Djikic, report that people who have just read a short story have less need for what psychologists call “cognitive closure.” Compared with peers who have just read an essay, they expressed more comfort with disorder and uncertainty—attitudes that allow for both sophisticated thinking and greater creativity.

“Exposure to literature,” the researchers write in the Creativity Research Journal, “may offer a (way for people) to become more likely to open their minds.”

Djikic and her colleagues describe an experiment featuring 100 University of Toronto students. After arriving at the lab and providing some personal information, the students read either one of eight short stories or one of eight essays. The fictional stories were by authors including Wallace Stegner, Jean Stafford, and Paul Bowles; the non-fiction essays were by equally illustrious writers such as George Bernard Shaw and Stephen Jay Gould.

Afterwards, each participant filled out a survey measuring their emotional need for certainty and stability. They expressed their agreement or disagreement with such statements as “I don’t like situations that are uncertain” and “I dislike questions that can be answered in many different ways.” Continue reading →

Literature Improves Empathy

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Mr. Benton

Have you ever felt that reading a good book makes you better able to connect with your fellow human beings? If so, the results of a new scientific study back you up, but only if your reading material is literary fiction; pop fiction or non-fiction won’t cut it.

Great Expectations from great literature … empathy occurs in the spaces between characters, such as Joe and Pip, pictured here in the 2012 film adaptation. Photograph: Moviestore/Rex Features

Empathy occurs in the spaces between characters, such as Joe and Pip in Great Expectations. Photograph: Moviestore/Rex Features

Psychologists David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano, at the New School for Social Research in New York, have proved that reading literary fiction enhances the ability to detect and understand other people’s emotions, a crucial skill in navigating complex social relationships.

Continue reading →