Summer reading isn’t a new requirement for students at ORRHS, but this year brings a series of changes to the program that are aimed towards creating an experience tailored specifically for the high school students.
Since English classes are separated into various levels in the high school – A level, Honors, and AP for the upperclassmen grades – and therefore have different requirements throughout the year, the summer reading choices depend on both grade and class levels.
For example, freshmen entering the English 9A classes only need to read one book from the teacher-approved list located on the library’s website and complete a related assignment. However, incoming English 9 Honors students must not only read a book of their choice, but they must also read and complete a study guide on an assigned book on Greek mythology. This required book ties in with lessons later in the year surrounding Homer’s The Odyssey.
“Honors reads more books and does more work independently than A level classes,” explains English teacher Megan Hall on the differences between the two levels. “For instance, an A level class assigned an essay will break it into sections during class time to organize and draft. An Honors class would be assigned the essay and then runs with it. The two sections do a lot of the same projects, but Honors is more independent with them.”
Because Honors classes are held at this higher independence standard, their summer reading is more concrete so that students can launch right into lessons once the school year begins. Getting into junior and senior years, this standard is more closely shared with the Advanced Placement English classes since they have a set amount of time from the start of the school year to AP tests in May.
This year, the summer reading requirements and assignments for all grades are located on a centralized website. The site also includes information on the area’s local libraries and how to sign up for library cards in the Sails network and Boston Public Library network. This is part of an ongoing initiative to make books not only more accessible to students, but to also encourage reading outside of school.
“I wanted summer reading to be more contemporary and hip,” said ORRHS Librarian Allison Barker. “The website I designed was based off of Instagram, where there is less text and more pictures than usual to grab people’s attention. It was also important to me to include links to public libraries because I think that it’s important students be able to access books for free.”
With the input of teachers in the English Department, the entire program was updated in terms of books and assignments. However, summer reading is only the latest project that Barker has undertaken this past year as the new high school librarian. Barker has also led the “Library Commons” to become an incredibly popular and well-used study space for students and has been steadily increasing the number and genre of books available in the school library. The summer reading program is only the latest reflection of these advancements.
To check out the ORRHS 2017 Summer Reading website, visit orrhssummerreading.weebly.com.
By Jo Caynon