2016 Summer Reading List

It's finally finished!

This year, the Student Reading Committee (SRC) chose forty-two books for the summer reading list. We reviewed almost 100 books between November and April. Talk about being particular.  But all joking aside, I think it is awesome that our student members recommended each book on this list. The list has quite an eclectic group of titles. They include memoirs, realistic fiction, science fiction, thrillers, history, biography, and cosmology...just to name a few.

To see the books on this year's summer reading list, click here. When students are finished reading their book or books, they must complete a questionnaire for each book they read so they can get credit from their 2016-17 ELA teacher. The questionnaire can be found here.

While the SRC can vouch for the quality of all the books on this list, there are some I really liked. Even though it was published in 2003 and might seem dated, Ghost ship: the mysterious true story of the Mary Celeste and her missing crew by Brian Hicks is still an enthralling mystery that offers a new, heart-wrenching theory about how the crew and passengers disappeared. Was this ship haunted? After all every captain who manned the Mary Celeste died under dubious circumstances. This is an edge-of your seat thriller.




How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon is told from multiple points of view as each character gives their interpretation of how Tariq Johnson was killed. This is a timely novel and will help to open up a much need discussion about race relations in the United States today.




We have four classics on this year's list. The rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells is a story about how to "make it in America," but Silas Lapham learns that ethics are more important than business. It was recommended to our 11th graders. Years ago I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn and recommended it to one of our student members. She loved it; it's a story about survival while living in totalitarian, Soviet society. Finally, our 12th graders will read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte; this is a truly Gothic romance about unrequited love.

The other books that received much admiration from our students included Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb; The Storm and the Tide by Lars Anderson; Jackaby by William Ritter; and The Circle by Dave Eggers.

Needless to say, there is something for everyone in this year's summer reading list!

Please enjoy the following production I put together to promote summer reading.

Podcasting

So what is a podcast?

Some students know, others may not. Basically it is a radio show and it's a great way to get the word out about a topic, concern or interest. If you're a teacher who wants his/her students to research but does not want to assign the typical paper, this is perfect. Plus, if your students are camera shy but have something awesome to share, it's exactly for them.

Over the past couple of weeks I introduced software to the students to help them create podcasts. The software used to make the podcasts was generally easy to use but the process of creating the podcasts took a lot of preparation time. The most time-consuming aspect, undoubtedly, was the research component of the assignment. Students had to gather sources, read them and form conclusions. When they had their stories, they had to write a script. Therefore, this early process resembled the writing of a research paper, i.e. the need for a thesis, evidence to support the thesis and a conclusion. But instead of handing in their final product on paper with MLA citations, etc..., the students delivered their findings as a podcast.

Because they are using Chromebooks, the students needed an audio editor that would be compatible with their devices. My education tech specialist suggested Beautiful Audio Editor. The software is free and can be found in the Chrome Web Store. Students had to visit the site once and were able to access the editor again by going into their Google Drive. Due to the fact that Beautiful Audio Editor is free, I had to warn the students about saving their work properly. I showed them two ways: 1.) saving the project as an .audioproject file and 2.) as a WAV or MP3 file.

I also used this as an opportunity to discuss copyright and how to find audio files that were not in violation of copyright. Students looked at the site Free Music Archive which provides music with Creative Commons licenses that allowed them to reuse music as long as they gave attribution to the musicians. It was also a great way to discover a new sound or use music that is not cliche. Students can also find royalty-free music searching by searching the Creative Commons website.

In addition to music, the students were encouraged to add portions of audio clips of speeches, interviews, dialogue, etc... from videos. The students used a YouTube video converter to make MP3 files and imported them into the audio editor to extract the audio they wanted. Then they had to save those audio files and add them to their podcasts. As I stated earlier, this is quite a lengthy process yet the students learned how to work with new technologies within their ELA curriculum.

Project ideas:
1. An ELA class had to analyze a famous speech in US history. After reading the speech and gathering information about it, the students had to create a podcast about it. They had to have excerpts of the actual speech, interviews with experts, etc...

2. Another ELA class heard a presentation by Regina Calcaterra, author of Etched in Sand, a moving memoir about Calcaterra's experiences growing up on Long Island. After reading Etched in Sand and researching the topic of foster care, the students created podcasts analyzing the pros and cons of foster care.

So give it a try. I will guarantee that it will be a rewarding experience for you and your students.