The project I chose to demonstrate my journalistic skills was an article focusing on the freshmen class of BHS’ overall opinion on summer reading. My article consisted of interviews with students in the 9th grade, and I was able to gather different perspectives on summer reading. Also, I was able to record the student’s unique reasons behind why the student as an individual disagrees with summer reading and their personal obstacles keeping them from completing it. Furthermore, when choosing my topic for the article, this project itself helped me to display my understanding of newsworthiness. I chose the topic of summer reading for the student and teacher interest.
I also chose it for its timeliness, considering the school year will be ending come June 22. I have learned that the two most important things to keep in mind while composing an interesting opinion piece are (target audience) interest as well as timeliness. Understanding how to tell a good and effective story was also something crucial I kept in mind when I wrote my article. Although my article's topic was opinion, composing an appropriate storyline for the article is still crucial. I did this by including different parts of the school year, different summer activities, and the student voice in my article. Lastly, this project further reflected on my journalistic ethics.
There are many ethics to keep in mind in journalism. A few ethics I paid close attention to while composing my project were truth and accuracy. Remembering to not alter the words of the interviewees or report fake information is extremely important. I made sure to keep on topic and keep the interviews accurate. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this project and it definitely helped me to keep in mind the importance of having journalistic ethics and what it takes to compose a good, interesting piece.
The 2021-2022 school year is quickly coming to an end, which means many students will soon be traveling, swimming, relaxing on the beach, and not worrying about school or any of the work that comes with it. That is, besides summer reading.
Summer reading is a common assignment several school districts distribute to their students, typically making it mandatory to read a certain book and write an essay on it beginning at the summer going into middle school. While most students have been accustomed to this task every summer, how do Freshmen students here at BHS truly feel about it?
“I dislike summer reading because I’m really busy and summer reading is just stressful,” Amelia Nagel, BHS Freshman says, “Having to annotate the reading and worry about the assignment that goes along with it is a lot.” She adds.
Having the pressure of remembering to read a book and write on account of that novel is not enjoyable for most students, especially those in high school. High schoolers spend days and days on end doing projects, studying, doing homework and classwork and testing for the vast majority of the year. Studies from TheGillnetter proves this point by stating that summer reading is actively demotivating students instead of keeping them intact with their schoolwork. It also adds that several students don’t even bother completing their summer reading assignments because they don’t even expect to go over it in their upcoming English class. Furthermore, students should be allowed to enjoy a stress-free free time for the two months that summer break consists of. The majority of students can also agree that summer reading should be optional.
“I do not like summer reading because I like to relax during the summer and I don’t like to have to stress about doing extra assignments along with reading a book,” Freshman Bella Fine says, “I feel as if we should have (summer reading) assignments only if we’re in or planning on taking AP English.”
Several students are beginning to argue that only having summer reading for a higher-level class such as AP English would be much more appropriate than giving CP/Honors students work over their summer. Summer is meant to be enjoyed, not being spent reading a book students don’t find much interest in. Taking away summer reading entirely would be beneficial to everyone, even the teachers who have to plan an extended assignment to follow up with all of the summer reading book options provided to students.
“It’s kind of difficult to make time to do summer reading over the summer, especially when you have different activities planned. I think it's not appropriate at all to get summer reading for classes that aren’t AP. (Administration) should not be expecting students in lower-level classes to complete summer reading for just one class (English), especially when none of the other classes expect work turned in for the beginning of the school year.” Noora Thotathil, BHS Freshman says.
In conclusion, the vast majority of the freshman class has come to agree that summer reading is too much to ask of students in CP/Honors classes. If anything, students would much rather have a more creative and stress-free assignment like watching a movie or making a poster. Summer is meant to be a time of fun and relaxation, which is why summer reading should be banned in public schools.