By Grace LamoureuxIf you participated in the optional “Read Across Barrington High School” summer reading extra credit assignment this year, you may have noticed a change.
In June, students received a list of books curated by teachers in several BHS departments. Reading a book of their choice with a trusted adult reader, discussing it with them, and completing a video assignment would award successful students with an extra credit quiz grade in the subject whose recommended book they picked.
These subjects included the Arts, English, Social Studies, Science, and World Languages.
However, unlike last year, students now had to “create and submit for review a five-minute video of you reflecting on and discussing your engagement and experience with the text as a reader.”
In this way, the summer reading program became a “senior project” of sorts, according to some students. Ironically, the improved summer reading program was part of BHS alumnae Ryan Barney who made improving the program the focus of her senior project last year.
Part of this change was to hold students more accountable for their reading as last year all that was required was a summer reading “pledge” form signed by both the student and their trusted adult reader. The idea was to get students and their adult partners more invested in their reading experience and demonstrate their understanding gained from their collaboration.
Library Media Specialist Dr. Suzanne Costa reported that 322 students completed the extra credit assignment this summer, submitting videos for review by her and Dr. Kevin Blanchard, the English department chair.
Over the two previous years, when just a signed pledge form was required, 420 and 363 students successfully completed the assignment in 2021 and 2020, respectively, according to Dr. Costa.
During the course of her senior project, Barney found that a common response from students when asked what would improve the BHS “Read Across BHS” program was that they wanted to present their work in a unique way. Many thought a video would provide a more unique and personalized way to present the summer reading.
Barney also reported from her survey data that students enjoyed the “extra credit” option of the 2020-2021 version of the program and chose from multiple reading options.
Both of these aspects of the program were continued this year with students having more than 50 titles from which to choose.
And according to the American Library Association, the benefits of summer reading for students include encouragement that reading becomes a lifelong habit, reluctant readers can be drawn in by the activities, and reading over the summer helps children keep their skills up.
Junior Harry Golden said he enjoyed the assignment and said it gave him an excuse to start reading on a regular basis during summer. “However,” Golden added, “ I found the recording assignment to be more tedious than enjoyable, mostly because uploading the video was a struggle.”
Jacob Greenberg, also a junior, agreed saying that the video component made the summer reading assignment more of a chore than a fun activity.
Ultimately, the new assignment did not seem to be the problem, but the submission of the video was the issue that made it difficult and less enjoyable for the students participating.
And just like Barney did in 2021-2022, students again have the option to work with Dr. Costa and Dr. Blanchard to improve the summer reading experience for students next summer and they encourage those interested to reach out to them before the end of the semester.