Saturday, September 02, 2006

Summer Reading

My students turned in their summer reading assignments the first day of school. At least, lots of them did. They had to read three books and fill out a short form about each one, answering questions like: would they recommend this book to someone else? Did any of the characters remind them of anyone they knew?

Some of the kids said that the summer reading ruined their whole summer. Now, remember, we're dealing with middle schoolers here, and they are prone to hyperbole. But still, I've been thinking about the whole issue of summer reading assignments. I just found two interesting blog posts on the subject.

This teacher's daughter read a lot more when the school district didn't require summer reading. And here the same teacher writes about how sad it is that we send the message to our kids that reading is such an onerous activity that we have to check up on them (in the form of book reports or the kind of questionnaires we gave our kids) to "prove" that they did it.

What do you guys think? I want my students to read, but more importantly I want them to read for the rest of their lives, not just when I'm standing over them. That's why I gave them loads and loads of choices, and accepted any alternative titles they suggested, and tried to make the forms they filled out easy to do. Three books over the whole summer - come on! That is not such a horrible thing to ask, is it?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Ruth -

I've never had a class in which summer reading was required, but I know friends who have & have listened to them complain about it. I really enjoy reading so it wouldn't have been a big deal for me.

The one thing I do know is that reading a book I am uninterested in does then turn it into an 'assignment' - where as if it's a book I picked, then I will just be able to read it & enjoy it -without forcing myself to complete it just because it is required.

It sounds to me though, that you let your students have a pretty free-range of choices. You should point out how many people worldwide don't even get the privelege of literacy, maybe that will make them think twice about complaining.

That's my two cents -
~Britt (Tara's daughter)

Ruth said...

Hi Britt,

You're absolutely right that the fact of a book being required automatically makes it less enjoyable. This is why I try to give my students lots of choice about what they will read.

As for your idea on reminding students what a privilege literacy is - you're singing my song there. I do try this, and I hope it's one of those things that will start to make sense to the kids later. You'd think, surrounded by illiterate people as they are, that they would appreciate more how fortunate they are, but somehow it doesn't seem to happen.

Deb said...

That's an interesting question...

Our kids, who are bookoholics like their parents, DESPISE the summer reading requirement. Mind you, the assignment was not as bad this summer as many have been in the past!

Our 6th grader had to keep a 'log' of all of the books she read. They were required to read 8. She read probably 30. ANY book qualified, including a "graphic novel" (aka a comic book?) Then, she had to pick a book and create a 'story map' using a pre-made graphic organizer. See their summer reading assignment here.

Our 10th grader had to read a book from the subject area of "science" and there was a list of possibilities. She chose a favorite, "All Creatures Great and Small" by James Herriot. She had read it before and loved it. But having to parse it and dissect it down to a nanite made it, well, a book she doesn't want to re-read any more. And THAT'S a shame!

One daughter put it this way, "Mom, I LOVE to read. I just hate English class!" Interesting...

DebV

Ruth said...

Hi Deb,

Thanks for writing. Thanks, too, for posting a link to your daughter's school's requirements. It's always interesting to see how others handle this.

What you're describing is EXACTLY what I don't want to do. I fear making the non-readers hate reading even more and the readers hate reading. I really really don't want to do that.

What kind of report did your 10th grader have to do? The "story map" you linked to doesn't look too arduous to me, but I think you mean that your 10th grader had to do more than that?

Anonymous said...

Hi Ruth - I know this might make zero sense, but I am one of those students who loves to read but hates English! I have no english classes this semester, but next semester I am forced to take two. I probably shouldn't be saying this to an English teacher! :D Really, what I dislike about English is the tedious, boring grammar work. I like literature - but I dislike having to dissect it. I also dislike 'paper planning'. I know it is useful - but I'd much rather just sit down and write the paper than spend all that time planning to write it. Does your school stress grammar and paper planning/outlining?

~Britt

Anonymous said...

Ruth, having a son in the 8th grade who was required to read three books over the summer, I have seen what you describe from the parental perspective. In fact, my son had the same requirement the previous summer when he was entering the 7th grade.

You raise a good question. Does it somehow send a negative message to require something that's negative (like a written report) as part of the book reading requirement (which we all hope they find to be fun or at least not negative)?

Like most complicated matters, the answer is "Yes and No." The yes part applies to the fact that up-front there is a negative attitude towards the assignement because it is assigned (required). I think there is a certain amount of negativity just by requiring students to read a certain number or type of books. But, that is overcome why they actually do read the books and get into it. That was my son's reaction. Once he began reading one of the assigned books he started taking out time from other activities in order to see what happens to the characters in the book. So, he got hooked.

I think the assignement (like the requirmenet to write a book report) is necessary to get them motivated enough to pick up the book so they can see what they were missing and get interested in reading.

Ruth said...

Hi Matsu,

Yes, I hope this is true. That's how I try to justify coercing the kids to read. And lots of times it's true - many students have said to me, "I would NEVER have picked this book up by myself, but since you made me read it I enjoyed it."