I remember as a student in high school having required summer reading, and I remember hating it. The one book I specifically remember struggling to care about and get into was The Great Gatsby. I didn’t understand the names of West Egg and East Egg, thinking they were stupid names for places. I remember laying out on my parents’ deck as I tried to both read and get some semblance of a tan. I found the two ventures completely incompatible. As it turns out, I found it very difficult to care about Nick and Gatsby’s problems as I was trying to live a life--for however long it took to get some sun--without any of my own.
As a student, I never understood the point of summer reading. Sure, I read the argument that it would help me stay intellectually engaged and maintain any skill set I learned over the school year. And, I read the same argument regurgitated to today's students. Along with the same argument comes the “research” that “shows students ‘typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation.’” One has to ask themselves exactly which state of the union it is that requires students to take standardized tests at the beginning of the school year, and how it is that politicians in that state get re-elected. It would be no wonder that students weren’t prepared for the likes of the CRCT or EOCT given the fact that courses over which those tests hang like storm clouds are essentially year-long prep courses for the test.
Students need a break. They need to read what they want to read, without an assignment attached and without a deadline. They need to be able to pick up a book and quit halfway through because they don’t like it without fear of failing some test or being ill-prepared for an in-class essay assignment on the arc of the narrative. They need to be able to judge for themselves what’s worth their time to read, what’s worth their effort to get from the library or worth their money to buy from a book store. Students need all of this without some bubble sheet awaiting their completion of a text that probably harbors little of interest to them in a time of their life where only that which is exceptionally interesting should make their way into their lives. Summer is about freedom, choice, and an actual, honest-to-God break.
But, the amazing thing about current technological advances is that teachers can be available if a student needs a recommendation. At very little cost in terms of time and effort, teachers can engage students on Twitter and Facebook to recommend what to read next or in a brief conversation about what they’re reading. It seems unfair to say that we as teachers can intrude on the students’ summer with summer reading lists and assignments if the door of communication can’t swing back open to us.
Above all, I believe that students want to and will engage the world in a meaningful way. We the Teachers have to see the way in which they want to do that and meet them there with openness and honesty that will build trust between the two groups of readers. It is this, and perhaps only this, that will drive quality instruction and a deeper, more impactful beginning to the school year.
As a student, I never understood the point of summer reading. Sure, I read the argument that it would help me stay intellectually engaged and maintain any skill set I learned over the school year. And, I read the same argument regurgitated to today's students. Along with the same argument comes the “research” that “shows students ‘typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation.’” One has to ask themselves exactly which state of the union it is that requires students to take standardized tests at the beginning of the school year, and how it is that politicians in that state get re-elected. It would be no wonder that students weren’t prepared for the likes of the CRCT or EOCT given the fact that courses over which those tests hang like storm clouds are essentially year-long prep courses for the test.
Students need a break. They need to read what they want to read, without an assignment attached and without a deadline. They need to be able to pick up a book and quit halfway through because they don’t like it without fear of failing some test or being ill-prepared for an in-class essay assignment on the arc of the narrative. They need to be able to judge for themselves what’s worth their time to read, what’s worth their effort to get from the library or worth their money to buy from a book store. Students need all of this without some bubble sheet awaiting their completion of a text that probably harbors little of interest to them in a time of their life where only that which is exceptionally interesting should make their way into their lives. Summer is about freedom, choice, and an actual, honest-to-God break.
But, the amazing thing about current technological advances is that teachers can be available if a student needs a recommendation. At very little cost in terms of time and effort, teachers can engage students on Twitter and Facebook to recommend what to read next or in a brief conversation about what they’re reading. It seems unfair to say that we as teachers can intrude on the students’ summer with summer reading lists and assignments if the door of communication can’t swing back open to us.
Above all, I believe that students want to and will engage the world in a meaningful way. We the Teachers have to see the way in which they want to do that and meet them there with openness and honesty that will build trust between the two groups of readers. It is this, and perhaps only this, that will drive quality instruction and a deeper, more impactful beginning to the school year.