Dear families,
I am writing to inform you about the ninth-grade Capstone / Independent Reading Project. This project has been a staple of the English curriculum at Lexington High School for many years. The purpose of the project is to prioritize reading for pleasure and to try to encourage a community of readers. To that end, the students are being asked to choose a text from any genre and have it at school every day to read independently. I will dedicate some class time every week to in-class reading. Independent reading will also be assigned as homework on occasion. These reading sessions have been thoughtfully planned as we will also continue with our literature and composition curriculum.
Considering how much screens are a part of students' lives now, I am asking them to read bound, physical books. While I know e-readers are popular, I want to make a pointed effort to put the electronics down during this chunk of time each week. If this is going to present a challenge for your student, please let me know, and we can work something out. I am also a huge fan of audiobooks and think they can be a good resource, but I am going to require that they are used alongside the printed text. If you have any questions, please let me know.
On a personal note, I find this to be an incredible part of our year together because it gives me a chance to get to know each student in a more individualized way. Getting to share the joy of reading with my students is part of what hopefully shows them that we read simply to have a richer experience in life.
I have (or depending on timing, will be) explaining the project to the students in class in the coming days; quite soon, we will start looking at books and considering what types of books we enjoy. I am reaching out to you to explain the spirit of the project and to ask for your support in encouraging reading at home. Please try to talk to your child about what they are choosing to read and encourage them to read things that are: age-appropriate, written in English, things they have never read before, and perhaps are outside of the genres they traditionally gravitate toward.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
Marshall Dury
ELA teacher, Lexington High School