The English Department at HHS encourages all students to read books of choice this summer. Because of our unique situation this year, we are not assigning specific books for our students to read. We believe in the value of choice and that continued reading builds better readers. We hope to discuss your reading adventures with you when we return for instruction in August!
"Independent reading is a routine, protected instructional practice that occurs across all grade levels. Effective independent reading practices include time for students to read, access to books that represent a wide range of characters and experiences, and support within a reading community that includes teachers and students. Student choice in text is essential because it motivates, engages, and reaches a wide variety of readers. The goal of independent reading as an instructional practice is to build habitual readers with conscious reading identities" (National Council of Teachers of English, 2019).
"It is imperative that students develop reading stamina—the ability to sustain mental effort without scaffolds or adult support—that allows them to comprehend increasingly complex texts (Hiebert, 2014). Independent reading offers students abundant opportunities to take responsibility for extracting meaning from text and therefore build this reading stamina. Because reading long passages of writing is important not only for college preparation but for many career skills, it’s important that students have a chance to practice with reading material of their own choosing. Likewise, students should have opportunities to practice that do not initially include summative assessment so that students can authentically develop their reading abilities. All reading communities should contain protected time for the sake of reading" (National Council of Teachers of English, 2019).
Ebooks & Audiobooks
- Install the Sora app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, or go to soraapp.com.
- In Sora, find Homewood High School, then sign in using your HHS Google credentials.
- Browse the Explore tab to borrow a book. Your book will open, and you can start reading right away.
- Close the book to go to your Shelf to see all your books. From there, you can tap Open Book or Open Audiobook to read or listen to the book. Tap Options to return or renew the book, get to your notes and highlights, and more.
Tip #1: Add the Jefferson County Library Cooperative as your public library for access to the Homewood Public Library's collection, using your HHS Google credentials--no library card needed!
Tip #2: Set your Preferences to search by Audience if you want to filter out Juvenile books and only see Young Adult books.
How to connect to HHS and Homewood Public Library ebooks and audiobooks
How to check out ebooks and audiobooks from the public library
Sora Tips & Tricks
Need reading inspiration? Don't know where to start? Need a recommendation?
Sources Cited
Cullinan, Bernice E. "Independent Reading and School Achievement." American Library Association, Nov. 2000, ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol3/SLMR_IndependentReading_V3.pdf
"Statement on Independent Reading." National Council of Teachers of English, Oct. 2019, ncte.org/statement/independent-reading/.
Credits:
Created with images by Unknown - "Books in Black Wooden Book Shelf · Free Stock Photo" • Kyle Glenn - "Awesome stencil on a book cart outside of Green Apple Books in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond district." • Unknown - "Free photo: Book, Stack, Library, Reading - Free Image on ..." • Jaredd Craig - "Spent a week in Los Angeles with my friends and decided to visit the Last Bookstore as one of our stops. I came up with the idea of floating the book with help of my friend. I took two shots one without the book and one with the book being held up from my friend. Photoshopped his arm out of the shot later in post and this was the outcome." • Annie Spratt - "Child reading books"