Let’s hope so. Fingers are crossed. You probably think I’m being facetious, but heck no! Summer reading is not the business and needs to go. You know, playing to your opponents’ strengths is way better if you want that opponent to succeed. In this case, a world where our students don’t read much on their own, their strength lies in getting it done with our help (teachers, and all) and not during the summer, where they wait until the last days anyway.
Too much info too fast? Our school and district is still holding onto the antiquated notion of summer reading. It’s great for honors and AP kids, and they are going to keep up with summer books to point out the extra rigor–but regular kids have tons of books to choose from and an assignment that many don’t do. So, we give them a list of MANY books. They pick one, read it, find a quote from an outside source, and integrate it into a paper based on a universal prompt.
Yes, kids should read over the summer. Many do. Offer them optional extra work credit for doing such things. Yes, it’s important to reinforce English over the summer, but is that really happening? We can reinforce immediately upon their return with a short story, an essay, a poem, etc. Hey, kids, remember these?
It was a late start today and I’m not even bitter. Maybe this will get us on the same page and back to the reality that is our job. It’s hard to break with the past, but it’s way worse to beat a dead horse.https://youtu.be/9ePIZugahFc