One School, One Story

A major Teaching & Learning Goal in our Strategic Plan is to “seize upon meaningful interdisciplinary connections…to enhance student engagement.” Based on recent educational research & data, the criteria that has the most positive impact on student engagement are student choice, personal relevance, the student-teacher relationship, and connections to the real world outside the classroom.

One initiative we launched during the 2017-18 school year to build in those criteria while cultivating meaningful interdisciplinary connections was a new approach to Summer Reading. One School, One Story (OSOS) is a program whereby community members submit suggestions for books for the entire school to read together over the summer. This year, we aimed to make the process even more student-directed. Our Director of Library Services, Mrs. Ashley Rivers, invited students to join the One School, One Story Student Committee to generate the initial list of books for the voting bracket. The OSOS Student Committee discussed options, reviewed the books with one another, and developed the "Sweet 16 Summer Reading Bracket."

Overwhelmingly, the students wanted to select books that would generate reflection and discussion on topics and issues that are of interest and importance to them as students. As you will see from the list of books chosen, that includes issues such as school shootings, political uprisings, and environmental activism. We are proud that our students want to engage in meaningful classroom, school-wide, and community discussions about powerful topics that have real-world and personal relevance for them. We are also committed to engaging in those discussions with sensitivity and always through the lens of our Catholic teachings on Social Justice and our Values of compassion, dignity, justice, excellence, and integrity.

Goals of One School, One Story

The goals of the One School, One Story school-wide initiative are to:

increase student engagement by emphasizing student voice and choice
develop opportunities for interdisciplinary learning in and outside the classroom
cultivate opportunities for larger community-wide conversations on relevant topics & issues
enhance our already strong sense of community by providing a way for students to immediately connect with their peers, teachers, and staff
set students up for academic success by honing essential cross-curricular skills of empathy, critical reading, and textual analysis

Thank you to Mrs. Ashley Rivers and our One School, One Story Student Committee.
2019 OSOS STUDENT COMMITTEE
Sarah Vargas ‘19	Kendall Fields ‘21	Julia Villanueva ‘21
James D'Atri ‘20	Maryjane Lopez ‘21	Emma Wilson ‘21
Jessie Hayano ‘20	Olivia Robinson ‘21	Sophia Wright ‘21
Alexus Malabanan ‘20	Larissa Siswanto ‘21	Dominic Brown ‘22
Crystal Sanrow ‘20	Katharine Terbush ‘21	Nathan Fruman ‘22

Students, faculty, & staff vote during the open windows for each round, with Round 1 starting February 4, 2019. By April 8, we will have a winner! Faculty will then read the winning novel and spend in-service time in the spring brainstorming innovative approaches to interdisciplinary discussions, activities, and community outreach involving the major themes of the novel.

We are excited about the additional opportunities to connect with community organizations and engage in school-wide discussions in the fall of 2019. We invite and encourage parents to join in and read the winning book as well this summer, though parents will not be voting in the selection process.

This initiative is just one way that we seek to carry on the legacy of the Pioneering Sisters of Providence, charting our own unique path as we strive to respond to the signs of the times for our students here at Providence High School. Go Pioneers!

One School, One Story

Documents & Forms