The Summer Slump – a guest post by Justice Jennifer
I am super excited today to welcome Jennifer on the blog for an amazing guest post!
Jennifer has been one of my favorite bloggers for years now; her posts always offers interesting insight on books, teaching and life, and seeing new content on her blog always brightens my day. Head on to http://www.justicejennifer.com/ to get to know her if you haven’t already!
Today, she shares with us her thoughts on the summer slump and summer reading selections for students. Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts on this at the bottom of the post, or visit Jennifer on her blog to meet her!
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Have you guys heard of the summer slump? It is this idea that students actually lose some of their smarts over the summer when they aren’t actively engaged in learning and practicing skills in school. Well, it’s a real thing. And once teachers realized this, they started assigning homework over summer. For high school English teachers like myself, this homework is called summer reading. Now for me, summer reading wasn’t really a huge deal because I was already devouring books over the summer. But back then those books were likely of the Gossip Girl caliber so summer reading ensured that I read something scholarly. But more and more, schools are shying away from the classics and into the contemporary. Now I doubt any school would assign Gossip Girl as summer reading, so what are the criteria that teachers use to select summer reading choices?
I can only wish that I could say that the selection process is simple. But it isn’t. Now I can only speak from the limited experience I have from my school (which is private), but the summer reading selection process can be super difficult. At its core, teachers have one goal: make students read more. But from this main goal come expectations (some more realistic than others). We hope that students will remember to read critically. We really hope that maybe these books will be the ones that make students care about (and possibly even enjoy) reading. My school also happens to require that students use summer reading to practice close reading skills and prepare for the very high possibility of having to discuss and take a test on said reading. So it also is supposed to be working those comprehension muscles. Under these criteria it seems like almost any novel would do.
But if you thought that, you would be wrong. College prep schools want to pick high caliber books that will impress parents and challenge students. This means shying away from anything in the young adult category. I desperately wanted my incoming freshmen to read John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars but the book is considered young adult and some of the material in the novel was considered a tad bit too risqué. The reading level and material of the novel must be appropriate for the age group. Now I find myself at least a little bit baffled by this one. I know for a fact most of my students are going to see movies that contain much more explicit material than most of the books that were considered (definitely more explicit than the risqué scene in question in The Fault in Our Stars). But schools apparently send out a message with the books that they select. The books must be an extension of what the school wants students to learn.
And so the selection process begins. Teachers bring in suggestions and then discuss the merits and drawbacks of each selection. Lately, the push has been to include more modern selections that will help students to harness the skills they need to succeed (and avoid the summer slump) but also hopefully captivate them and convince them that reading is cool. For incoming freshmen, summer reading is especially vital because it seems to set the tone for the expectations that freshmen have for the school. This book is like a little window allowing students a sneak peak of what awaits them.
Now as we are fielding options which means a lot of reading, we aim for balance. Ideally the books will be connected to the focus of the English class students are going in to. Also, ideally the books will help the level accomplish that well-roundedness all English departments are trying to achieve. You need to have voices from multiple genders and races. This doesn’t always happen but it is the goal. We are shying away from the dead white men.
And last but not least, we have to consider movie adaptations. Rarely is this a deciding factor. Usually if there is a move adaptation, we just make sure that we watch it and tailor quiz questions to target the inconsistencies. However, we do need to consider it because this is a trick a lot of students love using.
I was on the summer reading selection teams for both the freshmen and sophomore levels this year. We chose the following summer reading selections:
Freshmen: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NIghttime replaced The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. We do take the time to survey students on their summer reading every year which is what prompts us to replace books as needed. Usually every book gets a two year trial before being replaced. Kingsolver’s book didn’t hit it off with the freshmen. Perhaps it was too mature for them. Perhaps it just paled in comparison to the excitement of Ender’s Game. I happened to really enjoy Bean Trees. Although I understand the intrigue and excitement about Ender’s Game (it’s my boyfriend’s favorite book), the book doesn’t sit will with me. But altogether, I feel pleased with these selections. Although we are missing a strong female protagonist in these selections, I absolutely adore Curious Incident of the Dog in the NIghttime.
Sophomores: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult and Life is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman
I don’t know if I’m super thrilled about either one of these books. They are page turners but neither one really speaks to me and so I don’t have too much to say about them. They definitely don’t carry the spark that would convert me from a non reader to a reader. Still, sophomores are a tough bunch so maybe they will sit well with the once freshmen.
Did you have summer reading assignments in high school? Did you love the selections? Hate them? Did they help you avoid the sophomore slump or were you already a bibliophile like so many book bloggers?
Thanks Jennifer! I didn’t have summer reading when I was in high school, so that was definitely interesting to read. I feel like The Curious Incident is a great pick, though I do feel like The Fault in Our Stars has a lot to offer too.
Interesting. When my son was in high school he was given a choice for his summer reading. He would bring home 2 pages of books, listed by genre, and he had to select 2 of the books to read and write papers on. There were all sorts of choices on the list, including classics and modern books. Each teacher would highlight the books that were their personal favorites. I usually made a copy of the list and used it to help me select books as well.
I love the idea of giving students a choice. Unfortunately, there are a lot of complications with making that “fair.” Typically, the books need to be similar length and reading difficulty. And we tend to test on summer reading instead of letting the students just write a paper (many of them can figure out ways to write decent papers without actually reading the book). It seems to me that as kids get sneakier and discover more and more ways to “game” the system, teachers are forced to take away a lot of cool options. It’s a major bummer!