For the majority of students at Cascade High School, the English Language Arts (ELA) class is a mandatory class to graduate and to pass on pace. For all students, it is required to get at least four credits for ELA throughout the four years of high school. These classes are crucial in developing important reading, writing, and analyses skills. As part of these classes, specifically freshman and sophomore, teachers assign independent reading projects for the student to analyze and respond to a specific prompt. The best results are correlated to if a student does his or her work on time and if they read the book, while also being able to tie summaries to the prompt.
“I read The Absolutely True Dairy of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi. Basically, he is this kid, and he lives on an Indian reservation. He decided he wanted a better education, so he went to a white school. The stories describe his good and not so good moments going to that school. I recommend this book because it is really entertaining and fun to read compared to other honors books,” said by Audrey Slatta (9).
“Independent reading is assigned in order to foster a love of reading for all students and to give students an opportunity to read texts that supplement the themes/concepts being explored in class. Unlike time spent on social media or electronics, reading is associated with reduction in stress and is typically considered a healthy habit for students to adopt. For college-bound students, independent reading allows them to experience people, places and situations they may be unfamiliar with and creates a general sense of empathy and understanding,” said Cascade High School ELA teacher Ms. Robison.
As part of 9th grade English, honors students must select books from the College Board Recommended Reading List and those seeking core credit must select an at-reading-level text. The two projects at this level are Matchbook Summaries and contributing to a CHS Reader’s Blog.
As part of 10th grade English, which is American literature, students read a memoir, biography or autobiography first quarter. For honors students, this text must be about an influential American. The project that student produce is a speech answering the following prompt: What aspects of this text fit into a larger conversation about what it means to be American. Second quarter, honors students must select books from the 100 Best American Literature titles for college bound students, while core students must read a piece of American fiction. The project at this level is a podcast completed with a partner who read the same text.
Because EWU English 101 involves so much rigor, independent reading is not a requirement of this course. however, students taking World Literature, the core 11th grade English class must read a piece of world literature and produce a food truck mock-up related to their text.
There are not requirements for independent reading the senior year.
For many students it can be hard to find a book that speaks to them for their independent reading project. Here are recommendations from upper-class men and students that have already passed these courses:
“For sophomore English, quarter one, I read the book Educated by Tara Westover. It is about a girl who grew up with extremist parents on a mountain and her education journey. She ended up getting a degree in college when none of her prior siblings had really any education except for home schooling. They had extremist views. Her dad was bipolar, and mom was not very educated. I recommend this book if you really want to be inspired,” said Jewel Leroy (10).
“I read The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. It is about a lady whose husband died from a heart attack while they were eating dinner. The book goes through her life dealing and overcoming with the grief and reflecting on her life with him. It was really interesting as it goes into the stereotypes of processing grief and how she felt when she needed be in those stereotypes,” said Cordelia Freeland (10).
“I read The Absolutely True Dairy of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi. Basically, he is this kid, and he lives on an Indian reservation. He decided he wanted a better education, so he went to a white school. The stories describe his good and not so good moments going to that school. I recommend this book because it is really entertaining and fun to read compared to other honors books,” said by Audrey Slatta (9).
“Freshman year I read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. At first, it’s like really confusing cause it’s like a lot of messages hidden throughout the story. They talk in like older time so it is a little confusing and what’s really cool about this book is it talks about animals but in all reality it’s all a hidden message. This is one of the easier and more fun books to read,” said Mylee Hobbs (10).
There are just a few reviews and summaries of books that will be interesting, give another perspective on life, and that will benefit students in their independent reading projects.
Comments