Summer Reading for Students in Light of Readicide?

[KMAnderson]

Even those of us still (yes, still) in session have already developed our summer reading policies for this year, but I wonder how our decisions about summer reading will and/or should change for next year in the light of the huge issues raised by Readicide and our discussion of it.

Whatever we decide/discover about best practices, in many districts (including mine) policy about summer reading is district-wide. In some districts school committees require it and parents expect it. School districts wanting to look serious about achievement perhaps can't afford NOT to have a summer reading requirement, so if we change our requirements substantially -- especially if the change appears less rigorous -- we'll need to be ready to back it up.

What kind of data or other evidence would we need to support changes? For that matter, what data supports summer reading now, and what kinds?

Also, how will we change the way we discuss or assess summer reading this fall, having had this discussion? What will we say to the students who resent or refuse to do summer reading, blow it off, save it for the last minute, bull their way through? Will we respond differently, grade differently now that we've discussed Readicide?

[Robin Turner]

I have, in the past, done summer reading weighed down with too many activities. This year, my incoming sophomores will have read Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor. We prepped the kids at the end of this year by doing some Kelly Gallagher Reading Reasons mini-lessons and communicating the value of summer reading. Then I introduced some of the themes of the book by having kids discuss their own family histories and bringing in small bites of Mexican history (no lecturicide here).

We reviewed all the strategies used in Literature Circles and Reading Workshops (questioning, challenging, predicting, connecting, etc.) and I asked them to do three things over the summer: 1) show the strategies used while reading in a log (no more than 1 per chapter), 2) interview a family member about the journey to California, 3) be prepared to take those interviews into a biographical paper in September when we return. I tried to get out of the way of their reading as much as possible and move them as far into independent reading as they could handle.

Hopefully, scaffolding the book so that they are mentally prepared to read it and having them take part in activities that will nourish their connection to the novel will produce a meaningful educational experience, rather than an act of Readicide.

Robin Turner

[Ann Marie Rice]

I grew up in a school district that did not require summer reading. I was an avid reader on my own, so I read for fun, but my friends did not. They would have laughed in your face if you handed them a reading list to complete over the summer. I believe that in order for the students to have a good attitude about summer reading, we, as the teachers, need to understand that some students just will not have the time or the energy to read. I grew up in an agrarian community, the boys usually work on farms or truck shops in the summer, and girls usually babysit; even some of them work on the farms. Reading is not a priority for these students. With a "here are a few titles that would be good for you to read this summer" list, and not "complete all titles by the beginning of next year," students may be more apt to reading at least one, or attempting to read. This way they wont feel helpless when they literally just don't have time. More like, they will feel proud of themselves for trying and completing a text they weren't REQUIRED to read. I know I enjoy books so much more if I pick it up and read it on my own terms. Having my degree in English, I know the difference. I know when I start teaching, if my school district has a summer reading policy, I will try to work with the students to make it seem like they are choosing the books and that there wont be dire circumstances when they don't complete all the texts.

[Fran Prather]

I'm new to the forum, having just finished Readicide today. This thread really caught my interest because my school has given up on summer reading for "regs" but still requires it for honors. I've long argued that the students in regular classes need it more than anyone else, but most refused to read the assigned books, for obvious "readicide" reasons. The teachers felt it set up a negative student-teacher relationship at the beginning of the year, and finally gave up. I'm hoping that we might revisit the issue given the ideas in Readicide.
For those of you using online blogs, I'm wondering, what about the students who don't have home computer access? Many of our reluctant readers are also low-income students who do not have home computers or Internet access. They consider the public library a place where "I might catch nerd" (the real words of a junior in high school!). What type of alternate assignment would you suggest for these students?

[James Miscavish]

Our school library is open during the summer. They can use a friend's computer. I'd tell them to go ahead and catch nerd...

If you're only assigning one book, with an assignment, they don't need daily access to the computer. My assignment could be finished in about an hour-if that. I strongly, strongly urge them to find a computer some how. I don't think it's unreasonable for the students to find internet access for one afternoon over three months.

However, I'd just give them the same assignment on paper. Whatever you were going to do, give it to them old-school style.