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Summer Academic Work

Each summer, we ask students (returning and incoming) to engage in important summer academic work in preparation for the school year ahead. Each student is expected to complete a summer math review (see information below) as well as complete the summer literacy activities. Those students enrolled in AP Courses for the upcoming year should complete the required AP Readings listed below. If you have any questions about Summer Academic work, connect with the Academic Dean’s Office at academicdean@proctoracademy.org. 

Summer Math

Course specific summer math work can be found HERE. Please reach out to Math Department Chair William O’Brien with any questions you may have. 

Summer Literacy: Climate Change

Please complete the following two steps as a part of Proctor’s Summer Literacy program. All students will complete Step 1 and then have a choice to complete Step 2 or Step 3. 

Step 1. Read One of the Four Books Below and Journal

  • Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults/ Kimmerer (NF)
  • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Young Reader Ed./Kamkwamba, Mealer, Hymas (NF)
  • Birnam Wood / Catton (Fic)
  • Psalm for the Wild Built / Chambers (Fic)

You may purchase one of the 4 selected books independently. If you prefer, Proctor will gladly order and ship your selected book to you (click HERE) if you order by July 19th.

Explain which part of your book best describes the ideas below & give examples of HOW it does that. (select 5 - 8  to write about - you may use the same prompt multiple times): 

  • Collective Action Collaborating to solve problems
  • Responsibility 
  • Understanding how humans impact the environment
  • Impacts of technology/pollution on the environment
  • Describe examples of the above you see in the world around you.
  • Give your own definition of any of the above and why it is important to you. 
  • Describe some solutions that can help with the global climate situation today
  • Find some differences / solutions / changes in how people interact with the environment over the last 5 decades.   
  • Talk to someone who was alive in 1971 about the changes they may have seen or noticed and capture what they said in your journal.

Journal entries should take about 10 minutes each and may be digital or hand written.  Bring your journal in the fall to your English class for review. If you choose a digital format please be sure to print it for your English class review. 

Reduce , Re-use, Respect, Research, Renew, Rethink, Replenish, Reflect, Remind
 

Step 2. Artifact Creation (complete this OR Step 3)
Create an art piece of any type (playdough, foil sculpture, drawing, collage, song, dance….) inspired by an aspect of your book and one of the R-words above.  Bring the artwork or a photo of the work and you creating it with you in the fall. 

Step 3. Micro-Writing and Climate Change (complete this OR Step 2)

Reflecting on the R-Words above and climate, write and bring a 6 word memoir OR Haiku in the fall.  See details on these unique micro-writing styles below.

6-Word Memoir  
Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that novelist Ernest Hemingway responded: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."  (npr) ...Or maybe he didn't.  Either way, everyone in the Proctor Community will get their chance at this compressed literary art form when they write a 6-word synopsis of their climate literacy exploration.  Follow this link to read 6 word memoir examples from UPenn.  

NOUN haiku, haikus (from lexico/oxford)
1. A Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world. Yours can be written in English. Generally, haiku are unrhymed. Bring one with you to advisory meeting in the fall!  Some examples HERE.

AP/Honors Reading

  1. AP English Language: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (Dover Thrift edition); Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs (actively read first 10 chapters). 
  2. AP English Literature: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
  3. AP Environmental Science: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. 
  4. AP European History: Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
  5. AP Government: Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon
  6. Honors Human Geography: Move by Parag Khanna
  7. AP Spanish assignments can be found HERE. 
  8. AP French: Learn THESE most common French expressions and be ready for a quiz. Read La Petite Fille de Monsieur Linh by Philippe Claudel (French edition) and be ready for a quiz. Listen to at least one podcast a week from Inner French and write a brief  summary (3-4 sentences in French) about each podcast. 

Off-Campus Program Reading

  1. Proctor en Segovia summer reading materials can be found HERE. 
  2. Ocean Classroom summer materials can be found HERE. 
  3. European Art Classroom pre-term reading materials can be found HERE.