Samohi Summer Reading 22-23

Samohi Summer Reading: What factors shape our values and beliefs?

This year Samohi's Summer Reading is focused on a single, essential question: What factors shape our values and beliefs? This open-ended essential question invites you to question your own values and beliefs and how those came to be. How do you define "values?" Why do you believe what you believe? Exploring the resources on this site will help you begin to answer these questions.

Our Summer Reading Committee has worked to create a curated list of resources related to our essential question. These resources are presented here in a variety of modes: short stories, poems, articles, videos, and podcasts. Each of these resources is accessible to all students through the links on these pages. It is our expectation that each student will engage with at least FIVE of these resources, one from each category (short stories, poems, articles, videos, and podcasts) Of course, students are encouraged to work with more. Along with each category, there is a supplemental activity that students can use if they choose. We have found these activities helpful for students to take notes and engage more closely with the sources. These are similar to activities that many teachers will use in class.

At the beginning of the Fall semester, all English classes at all grade levels will spend the first couple of weeks working with this essential question "What factors shape our values and beliefs?" Teachers will use some of the resources included here along with other supplemental activities and resources. The daily assignments and early assessments during the first few weeks of school will focus on the essential question.

Along with these resources, Samohi students are encouraged to continue reading on their own over the summer. Parents, please help your student make time to read -- a half-hour a day is perfect -- and ask your child regularly about what they've read or encourage them to write about it.

Summer Reading Selection Committee: Ryan Blanck, Gilda De la Cruz, Kathleen Faas, Nathan Fulcher, Tenesha Masaitis.