Honors II English summer reading shortened

Summer reading reduced.

The English II Honors and AP English III summer reading assignments have been shortened for the purpose of reducing student stress.

The English II Honors program has shortened the number of stories assigned in the Bible and Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology,” while the AP English III program has cut “Walden” out of the summer reading altogether.  

Principal Kevin Buchanan said that this change is in part due to Challenge Success’ findings — a program from Stanford’s graduate school that evaluates student data through surveys.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is reduce stress,” Buchanan said. “Revolving around Challenge Success, we’re trying to review all of our homework procedures and assignments and how much stress it’s putting on the kids.”

English II Honors teacher Jan Willis said that knowing biblical and mythological allusions helps students better understand texts studied throughout the year and in other English literature classes.

“If students are able to find these things in the reading before we tell them, ‘Oh this is in the reading,’ they feel proud about it,” Willis said. “I think it’s kind of a good thing that we try to prepare people whether it’s for English classes or just for reading a newspaper or magazine.”

The district is trying to pay attention to students’ stress levels, which was a factor in the change in summer reading.

“We felt like there was still a lot of that information that we pull out in at least the first semester and even the second semester of Honors English. So we decided to keep it, but shorten it so it’s not as stressful,” Willis said.

Another factor in this change to English II Honors was the compromised summer reading test. This forced the English II Honors teachers to make the test open book and open note, along with making it 60 points as opposed to the usual 125.

“We’re [also] adjusting the test [as a result of it being compromised],” Willis said.

Revising the summer reading is a task that the English II Honors teachers have been working on for some time.

“I took out a lot of stuff. I spent a whole summer one time just working on taking things out and I kept tinkering with it over the years,” Willis said.

However, the summer reading isn’t the only aspect of English II Honors being adjusted to reduce student stress.

“It’s not just the Bible/Mythology summer test,” Willis said. “It’s really in all areas trying to take into account the time and the energy.”

AP English III teacher, Kathy Schultheis, said that she is taking “Walden” off the summer reading list, but she is still going to cover six chapters of the novel throughout the school year.

“I wish we could [read all of “Walden”], but we’re trying to dial back everyone’s stress levels,” Schultheis said.

Schultheis said that “Walden” isn’t the only work by Thoreau she’ll be teaching during the school year.

“The new essay for Thoreau that I want to put in is ‘Slavery in Massachusetts,’” Schultheis said.

Sophomore Solei Burgess said that because she has a busy summer, the reduced reading will maker her summer easier.

“I think that it will be a lot more manageable and I will be able to spend more time on ‘Moby-Dick’ instead of rushing through to get to ‘Walden,’” Burgess said.  

According to senior Christian Fernandez, giving students less work over the summer is a “great idea.”

“I’m glad that the school is leaning toward giving students less stress over their summer break,” Fernandez said. “I wish they would have realized this sooner.”

Buchanan agrees that reducing the summer reading for English II Honors and AP English III is the best course of action.

“It’s a step in the direction of meeting some of the goals we have for Challenge Success to reduce children’s stress,” Buchanan said.