Summer Reading Information

Summer Reading Rationale

The English II Honors teachers have worked to ensure that students' summer reading is relevant to the most widely used allusions in Western Literature.  Below is our rationale for assigning English II H summer work.

• The English II Summer Reading assignment has been approved by the OPHS School Board as it exposes students to important literary allusions by assigning portions to be read and discussed as literature.

• The assignment is in line with California EdCode 51511 which states: "Nothing in this code shall be construed to prevent, or exclude from the public schools, references to religion or references to or the use of religious literature, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts or other things having a religious significance when such references or uses do not constitute instruction in religious principles or aid to any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose and when such references or uses are incidental to or illustrative of matters properly included in the course of study."

• English II Honors is a foundational class, designed to set students up for success in advanced language arts courses such as honors and AP English.  Most of the texts students will read this year and in years to come will make reference to mythological and biblical characters, stories, and themes.  The summer reading list has been carefully selected to provide them with an invaluable body of reference for understanding Western Culture and its literature, as they continue their education here at OPHS, in college, and beyond.

• Classical influences are impossible to ignore. There are more than a thousand biblical references in the works of Shakespeare alone. Influential Western authors draw on mythology and the Bible in their works.   Any student of literature should be exposed to these texts, or they risk missing important references essential for a deep understanding of Western literature.

• Additionally, while some of these stories could be found in encyclopedias and in online sources, it is more educationally sound to read the whole, primary source when possible. Just as readers gain a more thorough understanding from reading a whole article versus an abstract, students are better served if they read the biblical and mythological stories in whole and in context rather than piecemeal. We recognize that some students and their families may choose to gather information without reading the Bible directly. If that is their choice, they will still be able to achieve success in the summer work assignments and in the class as a whole.

• One of the most essential elements of English II Honors is that students begin to learn how to find allusions and other literary elements themselves, in the context of the literary works, rather than to have them pointed out by the teachers. Therefore, it is vital students are exposed to these foundational stories during the summer so that they can then apply what they read and find connections on their own, and with the guidance of the teachers, during the school year.  Students find great satisfaction in applying, independently, what they have learned and read over the summer to the works we read as a class during the year. This ability is also a California Common Core Reading State Standard.

• According to the California Common Core State Standards, a “key feature” of the reading standards is an increasing ability "to discern more from and make fuller use of text, including making an increasing number of connections among ideas and between texts.”  Additionally, the reading standards ask that students "analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare)."