Our school district has always required students who are in the Gifted and Talented Program and any advanced placement programs to participate in a summer reading program. To make the program more meaningful we have had the students respond in journals about their reading. We've also offered reading groups in partnership with our local librarians to help the kids benefit from the reading.

This year I have the honor (yes that is sarcasm) of retooling this program for our district. I have come up with what I think is an interesting program -- using The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, along with a choice of one of 10 novels about teen-heroes. The students will respond in a forum (I'm currently setting it up) to guided questions from a team of teachers.

As I sat there today and worked on this forum I had another teacher tell me that they felt it was unfair to require reading during the summer. As a student I always had summer reading, as a teacher it's always been a requirement of the districts I taught in.

We all know why there are summer reading programs. Students lose skills and spend weeks trying to rebuild them. This is especially true of both reading and math. The purpose of these programs has always been to allow the student to maintain their skill level over the long break without the classroom activities.

How do you guys feel about summer reading for students? Is is fair to the kids, the parents, or the teachers that have to check the assignments? Other things to consider, should the reading be specific, should it be age specific or ability driven, should there be written assignments, and should they have summer math problems as well?

There are way to many thoughts there to put in a poll, so I made the poll very specific, but tell me how you feel about required summer reading for students? (I also asked about secondary school students -- 12 years of age and up)

Doris

I'm not a teacher, but as I was reading your post, a couple of things struck me, one being that the G/T and AP students were requried to do summer reading. This is just my humble opinion, but I feel that they are requring the wrong students to do that. I may be in the miniority here, but if I had to choose a group (and I hate saying this because it's labeling) that was required to do summer reading, it should be the 'remedial' and 'average' students.

That said, I think all students should be required to do summer reading. Of course, I was always one of those kids who the teacher had to pull out of a book at the end of SSR or DEAR, and was encouraged NOT to bring a book outside for recess!

I'm not so sure how I feel about required summer practice for other subjects, like math and history. I'd kind of lean on the edge of remedial students being required to do that.

I worked as a teacher aid last year, and there was a summer program for the students. For some students who needed more attention, it was manditory. For others it was reccomended. Still others it was completely voluntary. Sadly, I left the school before I saw the program in action, but I hear it went very well.

Well, thats just my $.02. Sorry for the rambling nature of this post.

I, of course, fully support summer reading, as I run the youth summer reading program at our public library. I agree that ALL AGES AND LEVELS (including adults--we have an adult program as well) should continue reading to maintain their skills, but I also really believe reading needs to be fun again.

Somewhere along the lines we lost the sheer joy of a book. There's a thread in Waxflatter's about books you read in school, and most of the comments are negative--kids hate having to over analyze or discuss (certain) books to death. I support reading fluff every once in a while, especially if you can use the fluff to hook a child or teen onto another great piece of literature. For example, say they really enjoy Goosebumps; you can use this series as a base, and then suggest anything by John Bellairs, and gradually work them up to Edgar Allan Poe.

So I don't know that I would say they have to go through a list by the end of August, but they should log a certain number of hours, using a list if they need ideas. I love the idea of a buddy system, or using a book on tape/cd to follow along while reading or finding creative ways to get kids and teens (and adults, for that matter) to read.

I voted for summer reading for all, and here's why.

The ability to read is a wonderful gift; the joy of reading is something that never leaves you once you're hooked, I think. I was lucky enough to be introduced to reading at an early age; I can remember sitting on my dad's knee, and him holding my index finger under the words as he read from whatever he was reading - either one of my story books, or his newspaper, or something else he was reading. When the jumble of letters began to form into words, I was off - there was just no stopping me!!

I work with adults who want to brush up their reading - and writing, spelling and maths amongst other things. Most of them aren't confident readers, and nearly all of them say that this is because they weren't encouraged at school, or they were asked to read things which didn't interest them. Personally speaking, as a tutor/teacher, I wouldn't mind marking extra assignments if this helped to foster a love of reading. Reading should be ability driven, I think - we've got books in our resources library which are geared towards emergent readers; this means that popular novels or even the "classics" are condensed into 2,000 words or so (sometimes more) and are made available to learners to encourage them to try something new. Just a bitesize chunk of a bigger book, if you like. So far, we've had good results with them. The key, though, is to find something they enjoy. If that means going through every book we have in our library, so be it, or maybe it means that I take them to our local libraries in the towns where they live and we have a look around the shelves for inspiration. It's a good way of overcoming their fears about reading being for "clever" people. Reading is universal - it's for anyone and everyone who wants to read.

I've also had great results with Philosopher's Stone in my groups. One young man I work with had seen the films but confided in me that he wasn't confident enough to try and read PS because he was scared that he wouldn't understand all the vocabulary. So I've been working with him on chapters of PS, usually one at a time; getting him to read slowly, and if he gets stuck, explaining the word, breaking it down into syllables, working on phonics, etc. He's been fascinated by it, and has now finished PS and has moved onto CoS. He's reading more and more on his own, and has even written his own theory about how the books end. Just one page, but from a young man who was so embarassed about his writing that he wouldn't even put pen to paper before, that is a huge step, and I'm delighted for him.

I also think that students should have summer maths problems. Again, speaking from my experience of working with adults, I find lots of people coming to me for help with budgeting and shopping, banking, paying bills, and it's terrifying for people when their own kids go to school, start bringing their homework home - and they find they can't cope with fractions, percentages, etc. Mind you, when they start asking me questions about algebra, that's when I look like this but it's a learning curve for me too and I love it.

Finally, family literacies is another key area of interest for me. I'm trying to encourage parents to come along to groups to learn more about what their kids do in school, and to help them brush up their own skills if required so that they have the confidence to help out. Literacies is fundamental to everyday life - confidence, skills, self esteem, potential - and if summer reading can help improve student skills for the longer term and help them as they move on through school and out into the world, I'm all for it.

Whew - long post. Steps off soapbox ...

At my highschool, only the AP and advanced classes (normally known as HA or High Ability) are required to read to read over the summer. That's the reason I voted for "Only for the advanced students". I've never seen it any other way.

When I was in elementary school, there was this over-the-summer reading contest. Every time you read so many hours, you would fill in this bubble with a sticker, and win some sort of prize. Eventually recieving a medal (which I am proud to say I got and still have ).

I voted that every student should do a summer reading program.

I had to move this year after hurricane Katrina. when I got to my new school I found out I was really far behind. I had to do a lot of extra reading just to catch-up.

I know that if I would have been forced to read I would have hated it, but my parents would have made me do it. Why only require it of the gifted students? At my school those students will read anyway!

Dwriter

I think that the assignments should be for extra credit and not required.

The main reason is that I moved around a lot as a kid, and I would've hated to have a school assign reading or other subjects that I wouldn't have known of because I wasn't there the previous school year. Assignments over summer assume that students will be in the same school each year, or at least that they know at the start of summer where they will be the following school year which isn't always the case.

My perspective on this is a little bit different, in that I teach at the Elementary level in Year-Round schools. However, both of my children are in 9-month schools (Elementary and High School), so I have a parent's perspective to consider as well. Having said all that, I am in support of summer reading programs for all students. The more advanced students will probably be reading anyway, and should get credit for their work. Those that do not fall into that category should be encouraged to continue reading.

I don't think I'm talking Chaucer or Tolstoy here of course, but more of the "reading for pleasure and enjoyment" category. There are a very large number of "fun" books that could be included on a suggested reading list, as well as more serious titles, and let the student decide where he or she wants to go with it. That presupposes a wide variety of genres and reading levels on such a list as well.

Additionally, I find that giving time goals, rather than page goals, allows students to work at their own level and speed, and can help increase the pleasure of reading (especially for slower readers). That is certainly the case with 5th grade students and weekly reading logs (again, consider my background--I require my students to read a minimum of 30 minutes a night, and don't give page goals), and I would think this carries over to secondary level as well.

Sorry, I feel like I'm rambling a little here. As an inveterate reader myself, I'm always in favor of things that increase literacy.

Edited because a teacher really should be able to spell, don't you think?

I will admit I am not a teacher, however I do have an opinion on this as I was an AP student and went to a school that did require summer reading. I have to admit I voted to elect it for extra credit. If you step back and think for a moment, the most joyful part of being a child (or even a teen for that matter) is having summer vacation. Imagine what your life would be like living like an adult going 40 hours a week and never getting a break? Let children be children, when you REQUIRE something, you make it seem un-enjoyable. Although I love reading, I know many children whom I have tutored that hate to read, and most of them site forced reading as their reason for its dislike.
Reading is wonderful, and every person on earth should enjoy it. I just don't think you should force children to do it over the summer. Or else what's the point of having a summer vacation in the first place?

Since I was taking an AP English course this year I had to read two books over the summer (Crime and Punishment & Catch-22), as well as analyze them and answer questions. Though it was grueling and I didn't enjoy either, I can now make parallels between tragic characters like Raskolnikov and laws in other literary works that function like the "catch-22." It really does help to be able to sit down and spend as much time on a book as you want for a period of two months. I think you absorb more since you don't have classes and whatnot to worry about.

My school actually assigns a reading list for English classes, and a Harry Potter book is on every one of them!

Except AP.

Note: I voted all students should read on summer hols by the way.

Students should definitely read over the summer, but there should be some choice. As I discussed in the Books they read in school thread in Waxflatter's, I, as a student, hate being forced to read books and overanalyze them. Like Tanaqui said, students should be able to read fluff once in a while, especially if it's over summer, a season which is a break from school. Although students should read some over summer, summer should still stay a sort of lax season, because I know I need a time just to relax. I think the forum is a good idea, because it's on the internet, a setting that most people of my generation enjoy.

Students should be able to choose what they want to read for summer reading, within a certain regimen (for instance, number of pages). At the very least there should be a list of twenty to fifty acceptable books that kids can choose to read. I once had to choose from a list of four books, and that was very annoying, because htey were all the same sort of book. I know that it's annoying for teachers to have to read those books, but if it were discussed in a forum setting, the teachers that enjoyed or had read certain books could mod those discussions. The thing with summer homework, is I think it should be fun and enjoyable as opposed to annoying and forced. We shouldn't let our brains rot over the summer, but we should have fun.

I'm all for reading over summer break and feel all kids should do it. I am, however, against a required reading list. My husband was in the Navy for several years, so we moved frequently. A set reading list would've been very hard to do as we moved near the beginning of each school year. Now that he is out of the service, I find that families are not nearly as stationary as they historically have been.
Furthermore, what is the aim of the summer reading? Fluency? Same content so that the reading can be used as a common springboard toward other language arts activities? Protection against loss of skills? If it is skill retention, I think this can be accomplished without any extra activities, so a required list isn't necessary or desired.

My kids have always participated in the local library's summer reading program which is usually based on reading for a specific amount of time or number of pages. If the library doesn't also require reading in different genres, I adapt the program as part of "Mom's Summer School", so my kids are reading a variety.

Having just graduated from high school not too long ago, I remember required summer readings quite well. I was in all the AP classes and had to do loads of summer reading. I feel I'm quite qualified to give a reasonable student's prospective on summer reading.

Requiring summer reading does absolutely nothing for a student. Yes, while it requires them to read and (in theory) write a well thought out response, whether it be in a journal or an essay, the students get nothing out of it. Most, if not all, of the students will not take the time to carefully consider the books, nor to really think about what they are reading. They simply blow through the books, or even the spark notes, and write out a quick answer that satisifies the requirements and are done with it. And yes, believe it or not, even the "good" AP kids copy responses from one another, or from the internet. The only difference is that they are smart enough to copy and not get caught by their teachers. No thought, no effort. Someone, please tell me, how is this good for a student?

I may be a little biased aganist this topic, however. In two of my four years of required summer reading, the projects I did never even got graded. Nothing was ever mentioned about them after the first day of class when we turned them in. This was by far the most irritating part of it all. Not only did I give up part of a glorious summer day, one that I could have been spending outside having fun, to do a task that I didn't enjoy nor want to do, but to not have it graded was simply infuriating.

Overall, I feel that if a student wants to get something out of summer reading, that'd be the type of student that would read over the summer of their own free will. And those that won't read over the summer, get nothing from required projects.

I'm a total bookworm. I'm the one who has an arm load of books going from class to class and who brings a book to lunch ( I do talk to my friends though ). So I voted for reading during the summer, but they should pick what they want to read, but yes like they need to have a certain number of pages or something.

At my school we're required to read thoughout the school year depending on what team (basically the group of teachers you get for your RLA/ English, Math, Social Studies/ History, and Science classes) your on. They use the Scolastics Reading Counts Program and you either read a certain number of books or the books are worth a certain amount of points so some teachers do it that way. Also, on the team i was on last year in 7th grade they had you take this test on the computer to determine what level books you should be reading. There's a list of books you could choose from with the points, levels, and any other info you needed to know. Thank goodness Harry Potter was on my level (just barely)! And again depending on what teacher you have you either get to do an extra activity or it counts towards your grade if you get or don't get the books read. The teachers do encourage us to read over the summer as well but we don't have a set program and my teachers this year are not doing it we just read books in RLA class.

Also, I don't know if anyone else thinks this but when you read over the summer your brain tends not totally shut down and you can remember stuff better. Like if you read something about history you tend to remember dates and stuff that ends up on a test.

And really the kids in the AP classes are the one who constantly read something anyway so it really doesn't make sense to only require them to read over the summer. It's the kids in the other classes who never read to begin with.

Though I don't think students should be over loaded with summer reading, I do believe that it is beneficial. I know that my students come back from summer break and its almost as if they hadn't been to school in two years, not two months! I believe that it would help to avoid the total brain shutdown that occurs.

I'm the exact same way! Therefore, I did vote for required reading over the summer. I think it's ok if there are a few required books, but I think most of it should be optional. I like the idea of having to read a certain number of pages, though.
Being an education major, especially since I am a middle school English major, this topic is really near to me! It is important for students to read over the summer... since some kids will simply forget things they have learned the year before. (My brother for example).

Yay for reading!!!

I'm a sixteen-year-old junior in highschool, and out of the eight classes I take a day, six of them are honors or AP (advanced placement) courses. I had to read four books this summer, and do a 50 problem study packet for my precalculus class. Yet, I still voted that summer reading should be required for everyone.

I live in a small town, and the honors classes in my highschool all have the same core group of students in them. When our group is mixed with the average and special-ed students, most of us feel like banging our heads against the wall because of their apparent lack of intelligence. Especially for this group of students, reading should be absolutely necessary. Having to read a book over the summer will insure that they do not go completely brain dead, and perhaps give them something to think about it.

That being said, I would also like to make the point that summer reading books should NOT be the "classic novels" that have multiple levels and need to be deeply analyzed. One of the assigned boooks I had to read before eighth grade was The Pearl by John Steinbeck. It was a struggle to get through, and I used spark notes for my entire report. If the students can choose different, more modern books, they will enjoy the reading more, and actually have to write their own report.

I really have mixed feelings on this topic. As a parent, I always hate when summer projects come home. It means I'm going to have arguments with my kids over it. From a teacher perspective, I can see the merits (although my kindergartener's were never required to read over the summer). When my kids first came home with them I was not working at their school. They were given quite a long list of required books to choose from, and had to pick 4 books and then pick from a list of projects they could do. They had to do 4 different "required" projects. The next year I was working at the school and was very disappointed with the follow up of the "required" summer reading. If a student turned in all 4 they got an A grade in the record. If they did 3 they got a B. If they did 1 or 2 they got a C. If a kid didn't turn in a project at all, it had no impact, they were not given a grade at all. To me, this was totally unfair. You start off worse if you do 1,2,or 3 projects than if you blow the whole thing off. The teachers never looked at the projects, and I know the work my kids put into theirs, all basically for nothing.

I'm lucky in that alll 3 of my kids are voracious readers. I often have to take books from them to get them to go to bed. As has been stated, mine are not the ones (the AP students) who need the summer assignments. They are going to read anyway, and in the summer we still try and do a family reading every night (especially when new HP books come out). For the High School here only the AP students have summer reading. Again, it was a disappointment. When we went in to meet the teacher, she herself told me she didn't like the book choices or projects that the kids had to do. To add to the problems, our high school is in blocks. This means that you only have 4 classes a semester. My son had to do a reading projuect and turn it in on the first day of school, even though he didn't have any English class at all until second semester. That of course brings up a whole new topic of discussion - I see no point in the block scheduling. Anyway, she didn't like the projects, so didn't grade them. Another waste and he didn't even get to read a book he enjoyed or liked. Some of the books on the list I didn't even want him to read as they were a bit more than a 9th grader needed to be dealing with.

I guess the whole point to this rambling, is that if the program is set up right, it would have great merits. I haven't seen a well run program though, and so voted that it should be at the student's choice for extra credit.

As a person who just was a student in highschool and will soon be a student in college, I more or less don't believe in Summer Reading.

I do not think it is unreasonable for advanced classes to require that students read certain course books so that they have a jumpstart when the school year begins, but aside from that, forcing people to read during the summer is a bad idea. It makes perfect sense for the teacher of an advanced Shakespeare class to ask that students come to the first class ready to discuss say, The Tempest, or another reasonaly easy one of his plays. Or the the teacher of an advanced Joyce class to ask that students be familiar with at least some of the stories fo Dubliners or something along those lines. This is preparation for the class, with direct purpose, not busy work.

My freshman year, about to enter a new school (a boarding school no less--I was sure everyone spent hours and hours on their summer reading!) I worked as hard as I could on my summer reading, i read and analysed the three assigned books (some of them were so painful I actually had to buy them on tape and read and listen at the same time to keep myself from zoning out), I was, I figured, well prepared for my first ever class. And then they were never brought up. By my senior year, I didn't touch the list, I don't even know what was on it, I never even read the whole list. I figured, I read, I write, that's what is comes down to and I have better things to spend my summer doing.

Now I don't say this as a lazy person: I read obsessively. fantasy, memoir, fiction, childrens' books, science books, history, picture books, poetry, obscure books I pick out at used bookstores because they are veyr old, or smell nice, or have a good feel in my hands, I read it all (i've even read textbooks for classes I wasn't takign), every night before I sleep, every morning before I get up, most days during the day. And I write, a lot; often about what I. So I felt like there was no sense in ruining reading for me by forcing me to read books I didn't want to read (it's amazing how much I can not want to read a book as a person who reads constantly).

I also feel like summer is time to turn off the brain, unwind, run around barefoot for three months and hang out with friends and family, not to mention summer jobs and projects there isn't time for during the school year. School claims, for most of us, the majority of twelve consecutive years (I got lucky by not starting until I was almost nine and it hasn't set me back at all). So why must it also claim our summers?

Has anyone read Amy Tan's article "On the Evils of Required Reading?" It's a very interesting perspective which one of my teachers made us read before handing out the homework for over our winter vacation.

I suppose I can see why teacher would want to keep kids 'learning' or reading or 'thinking' during the summer but I think that enforcing reading upon people who don't want to do it is a terrible idea and may really turn people away from reading (after being forced to read Great Expectations at far too young an age, I will probably never read a book by the man again if I can help it).

I do think it's a good idea to require that everyone read SOMETHING, say within limits (as in more advanced tha comic books).
Okay, these are my two cents...or thre cents as the case may be.

I am a teacher of a multi-age classroom, which means that I have had the same students for the past two years. Research shows that students who do not read over the summer lose 1 - 3 months on their reading level. This number can be very significant because if a student is on a beginning 3rd grade reading level at the end of the school year and then they lose 3 months over the summer that student would be on a end 2nd grade level at the beginning of the school year in September. I have seen this in my classroom and it is frustrating for the teacher as well as the student.

I fully support summer reading; however, I think that students should get a choice of their book. I mean there should be a list of books to choose from. The "book report" should be a choice too. Students need to be held accountable for what they read but it should be relaxed and enjoyable. We want students to enjoy reading. We want them to be life long readers.

Wow, how disheartening.... it sounds as if the problem with summer reading for many isn't the assignment itself, but teachers who are too lazy to bother with them!!!

I agree fully that summer reading books should be something that makes you think a bit, but most importantly is interesting!!!! I teach ninth & twelfth grade students, and I'm happy to say that the books my deparment picked don't 100% suck!!! My seniors in particular loved Brave New World, and it was so much easier to begin the year with a common experience.

I fully support summer reading for many, many reasons, but the teachers have to spend time on these things if they really expect their students to work with them. Shame on those people!! We have to give our students a pretty exhaustive test, which is not fun at all, but then we are required to work with the book in at least one other way. My students had to write in-class essays (they were able to use the books), for which they did some pre-writing in groups, and then we compared the society with their first book for the course: Beowulf. It made for some seriously interesting discussion about where values and morals are headed versus where they were in the 8th century.

I agree, and I think the program should include something that makes it more a highly interesting and unusual program and something that is used during the schol year. I also think the teacher (or a teacher) should be available during the summer in some way in case a child has a problem.

That is one of the reasons we include our local library in our assingments. We give the library the assignments and book list well in advance. They offer book clubs led by thier librarian on our books. This was started before I came to this district, but I can't imagine a better partnership for the students and for us.

I've included the use of a forum (like this one) for the students to respond in and ask questions. This gives them an experience that allows them something exciting and different, yet a good way to communicate with teachers if they have questions. Again our local library has computer access for them if they don't have it as home, and all of our schools are open during the summer for short periods where the computer lab is made available for students without computer access. They don't have a "pen and paper" assignement during the summer at all. It's all computer related. There is one graphic organizer assingment, but again that is completed over the internet and left in a folder for the teacher to grade.

In the grade that I teach, the "hero's journey" is the theme of the year. With that in mind I have the students read The seven habits of highly effective teenagers. The entire school year we pull those habits into every lesson asking the students how a character may have demonstrated certain habits. I think this makes their reading more meaningful to them.


Doris

Doris, it sounds as though you have a wonderful program set up. If my son could do something on the computer, he'd be all over it. If our experiences had been positive, I'm sure I'd be happier about the summer reading, and so would my kids. I really liked the people who mentioned how the summer reading was incorporated into the reading for the year. That makes it more worthwhile for the kids. I'll be curious to see what we end up with again this year.

I agree, and I think that the majority of kids would feel the same way. Even if it it the exact same assignment, most students will like it better on the computer, from my experience!

My school, unfortunately, swears against ALL technology. It's quite annoying, really. They seem to be of the mindset that they have been a top-notch school for nearly 100 years, and they didn't use computers then, so it must be fine. Makes me want to pull my hair out!!!

However, I think that this idea is particularly a good one! If I was still to teach next year, I would start this program, and I think I'm going to steal introduce your idea to my friends who would be willing to try it.

Admittedly I'm not a teacher, nor have I been a student for quite sometime (but boy do I miss it), but as I recall we never had a summer reading program, but the kids who liked to read did it anyway. Literacy is a HUGE issue but I don't think forcing kids to read things over the summer is the way to go. I could see that encouraging a certain amount of time per day would be good, but you need to let the kids read what interests them. Reading is reading, so if they pick comics over the great novels of the 19th century so be it....sooner or later they will advance. My younger brother was never a reader in school, but now that he is working full time, and is more socially conscious, he always has a book on the go--he may not be fast, but he absorbs what he reads and more importantly he enjoys it.

I'm also concerned with the teachers that assign the programs, but don't follow through. What does that teach kids about resposiblity and work ethic? If I spent a good part of my summer writing papers, I sure as heck would like some legitimate acknowledgement!

Which brings me to another concern---spending so much time inside! Where I live, you really only get a few good months to be out and about without fear of freezing to death! OK, maybe its not quite that bad. Obesity is just as big a concern in NA as literacy is, so we need to be getting the kids outside and away from computers as much as possible in the good weather. Having fun and playing in a relaxed environment (not just organized sports) is just as important to our development as being able to read Chaucer---who I've never read and I consider myself a relatively intelligent and well rounded individual--most days

The joy of reading as Tanaqui wrote is the key. I voted for reading for all kids to do reading, but I think it should be stuff that kids like--even comic books would count. I like the idea of the community library being involved.
The young ones in the elementary grades can get a lot out of this.
As a teacher and a former student, I think of summer as play time. I agree with pumpkins, get those kids outside playing. I think evening time is good for the read before you go to bed. Nice habit.
I take my son to the library and have ever since he was 2. But I am a descendent of a reader. My whole family--even in the "old country" --were readers.
I think of my students who are not readers. Who HATE reading. How can this help and be an encouragement? How do you take that teenager and help him to enjoy reading so that later on he will teach his children to enjoy too? If I had the answer to that, I would be a millionare.

While not a teacher, I am the parent of a middle schooler. I voted that all kids should be required to read over the summer holidays. However, I would structure a program like this: provide a list of books to choose from, but allow a selection outside of this list if it meets certain requirements (like # of pages); require students to write a couple of sentences highlighting what they liked best/least about the book - something minimal but enough so you a)know they really read it and b)get them to think a bit about what they've read. I wouldn't expect them to do a lot of analysis (while a long-time voracious reader I always hated having to analyze books, I just like to read!). I think the primary goal of a summer reading program is to create life-long readers and so it should be more of an enjoyable experience rather than a project.

I also think that it's great to get parents involved (probably works better for elementary, possibly middle schoolers) For example, our library has a summer reading program where the parent signs up as well as the child. We simply kept track of the books we read and got a certificate and the choice of a new paperback at the end of the summer. It's important for parents to set an example for their kids - to show them that they too read, and don't spend all their relaxation time flopped down on the couch watching TV.

As a student, I must admit that i despise summer reading. I'd rather read Harry Potter. I'm not close minded, it's just that nothing compares.

I'm not a teacher, but both of my parents are. Like many on this list, I'm a total bookworm and won the "Best Reader" award at my local library so often when I was little that the library took me out of the running to let other kids have a chance. Reading is absolutely beneficial and helps students at all levels retain knowledge they've gleaned in and outside of the classroom. It was a tough call, but I voted for extra credit, at least as the question pertains to high school students, for a simple reason that only a few people have touched on: Work.

I worked manual labor 40 hours a week in the summertime starting when I was 14 years old (and before you start talking about how it was in the olden days--this wasn't that long ago). All of my friends did the same thing. It's hard enough to make the transition to working in the hot sun for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week without having to worry about being a student when you get home. (Most of time, I was so exhausted, watching TV took too much energy.) There are a lot of reasons why American high school students work, but most do out of necessity--not just to have some extra spending money. I think it's fine if teachers say, "We're studying this next year and if you read this book over the summer, it might help you understand things better." To force high school students to read in addition to other responsibilities, though, is pretty overwhelming.

But elementary school students? Sure, make 'em read until their eyeballs fall out, but let them read books of their choosing or they'll never learn to love it!

(Oh, and my parents agree.)

I'm a high school student at a small independant school, and what we did was really cool. All of the teachers pick a book that they would like to sponsor to read. This list is then passed out and each student picks a book to read that they then discous at the beggining of school. Some of the books last summer were, HBP, Memoirs of a Geisha, Kite Runner, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat, The Secret Life of Bees, and others. I signed up for a different one but ended up going to the HBP discousion (it was a mad-house, I think half of the school showed up). I enjoy reading anyway, but this was a really relaxing way to do it, and we got to pic from a wide range of books.

For English class, we had one book to read as well (Gospel According to Larry) which I personally enjoyed but some hated.

I am currently a junior in high school, and am fine with summer reading programs because I love to read anyway, but I don't like journaling about what I am reading. What I dislike is the incredible amount of summer homework AP classes seem to demand. This year I am taking five AP classes, and over the summer I had to complete a twenty page math packet, read three predetermined novels, write a short 200-400 word response over to the book I was currently reading each day.

For me, this sucked a lot of joy out of reading. I love to read, but I hate having to sit and down and write: okay, today I read pages such and such to such and such, I think this happened, and it probably symbolizes this, etc. I'd much rather gobble down a book in one or two days and not worry about the deeper meaning, just enjoy the book. Then maybe when you arrive at school the teachers could then begin to discuss the themes because the students would already be familiar with the material.

I did like a program that I participated in because of Gifted and Talented. The essence of the program was that every student got to pick any topic he/she was passionate about, research it, and create a little presentation on it that we did the first the week of school. That was a lot of fun and I got to be really creative.

As I've already stated, I also had summer math homework. Although I hated every minute of doing that packet, I think it was probably necessary. Math is very cummulative and when you forget everything you learned the previous year, the teacher is forced to spend precious time reviewing for the first month or so of school.

Oh, and I've read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens and loved it!

I have some pretty mixed feelings about this, too - and I'm a teacher. I used to assign all of my AP Latin Lit students to read Ovid's Metamorphoses (in English) over the summer. Some did, some didn't. If they didn't, they got a bad grade on one project - but other than that, there was no difference that I could see as per their performance on the AP Exam or in my class. The ones who did read it learned a LOT - just not anything that was useful for the class. So I didn't assign it this year.

All that being said, I have a very gut level response to comments like this one:



Here's why. Replace "required summer reading" with nearly ANYTHING and the sentence could still be true. I feel like I spend a lot of my time as a teacher trying to get kids to buy into their own education. I'm all for the idea of telling kids, "Read something you really enjoy this summer" - but many just won't, in the same way they just won't do their homework or whatever else.

In my ideal world, every kid comes to school excited to learn something interesting. That world does not exist - even if the teacher is a GOOD teacher. (You can lead a horse to water...) So, schools have resorted to a combination of bribes and threats to get students to master material. It's sad. I hate grades. I'd love for them to not exist. I'd also love our kids to go out and do community service without us saying, "You've got to get x number of hours to graduate." But that's a fantasy.

OK - sorry about the rant. I'm stuck on a coding project right now and needed to let of some steam. Still, I stand by most of the above

We did something really similar to this in my high school! You had to pick two books to read and write a small paper about each of them (which everyone really hated doing, of course!).

Then, during the first week of school everyone would split up into groups and discuss one of the books we had read with the teacher who had assigned it. I can't remember if you were assigned to a group or if you just went to the discussion for the book you liked better. Anyway, the discussions were usually held outside, and were always relaxing. It was nice to discuss the book with a teacher who was enthusiastic about it. Having the teachers be excited about sumer reading really does make it a more meaningful activity.

And Doris, your summer reading program sounds like a blast! I almost wish I could join it!

I'm sorry but I totally hated summer reading. I have very stong opinions on this issue x). We were forced to read so many dern books during the school year and when we're finally free, WHAM more work! It made me hate the book on principle, rather than if the actual book was good or not. Summer reading was actually the reason I dropped out of my AP lit class after sophmore year to take Regulars with the idiot students, because I just refused to do it. I want my summer vacation to be a VACATION. SO I voted for optional, because I know that some people like to do extra work and would want those extra grades, but if you KNOW how to friggin read already then you shouldn't have to be forced to read crappy books over your summer vacation. Homework and forced reading is for the school year. So there's a AP/GT kid's opinion for you.

I think that students should be required to do some sort of reading.

As a student I sometimes find it hard to get back into school habits when a new year starts since my brain still wants to be lazy. Reading something required by the school helps me to get back into school-thinking.

Also many students would not read at all during the summer without some assignment. This is quite painful to think about, though it is true.

Also by taking away summer assignments, you add to the assignments during the school-year. Trying to fit another 500 page book into the curiculum is a bit difficult.

It would be nice to get extra credit on books from a suggested reading list though. I'd have a 200% before the year started!

I am in total agreement with a summer reading program for all. I believe in theory it is a good idea. As an educator I fully know the benefits of students maintaining their skills in reading and practicing for improvement. During the summer students regress a little in their reading level and if they actually read they might maintain or improve. However, the books picked have to be on the students' reading level. The nice administrators in my school district decided to start a reading program this year. They picked 8th grade level books for our sixth graders and 4th grade level books for our seventh and eighth graders. If you are going to do a reading program it should be books that are carefully picked and assigned for specific reading levels, not book titles picked out of a hat. I am used to working with struggling readers and the biggest obstacle will be getting them to read the books over the summer. I think the real question here is, How do you motivate students to read over the summer?

First, I love that my district allows the teachers to come up with a reading list. Also, the district-wide head of each department must teach one section of the course they head up each year. If you are a teacher, you know why that is important!

I think this is why summer reading programs have been given such a stigma. The literature placed on the reading lists is often outdated. As educators, we all know our students must be actively involved in their learning process. While I can become actively involved in many novels, most students can't pick up just anything and read it with the passion an the fervor we see Harry Potter discussed in this forum.

If I go to a resturant to choose dinner, and there is only one food item on the menu, chances are good my conditioning will keep me from going there again. I think as teachers it becomes our duty to push for more choice on the items the sutdents can read.

I also think the reading needs to be more purposeful. I know if I feel that what I am doing will have a purpose then I'm more likely to do it well. One of the reasons I like using Harry Potter in my classroom is it gives me the ability to introduce service learning into my classroom. We focus on various service learning projects every year, but our primary purpose is Book Aid. This fits in nicely with our Hero's Journey theme. I find that if my students are doing something for someone else, they'll work harder.


Doris

I'm surprised how many people support this. I am getting my master's to be a librarian, and I would say students shouldn't be required to read over the summer. I don't see what difference a few extra books make when they read in English class all year anyway.

The books I read for school were all very depressing too, Kafka, I know why the caged bird sings, the handmaid's tale...if there's going to be summer reading, at least it should be positive.

I know you all disagree, but that's just my opinion!

The reading programs I've been exposed to have been shoddy at best. In 5th grade, we had to read 3 books and do projects -- you couldn't just do a report even if you wanted to. It was all artistic, which was hard on me because I couldn't draw for the life of me (I did the one available writing project -- write a letter to the author -- and that was Jo!)

In 9th grade, we had to do response journals for EVERY CHAPTER of two novels. The teacher flipped through them to make sure you had something written for every chapter and gave you a '100'. So, naturally, we all BS'ed through our grade 10 journals only to discover that the teacher would READ them! (I got an 86 on that one).

At my school, it's only required for accelerated classes to do summer reading, but honestly, accel kids are more likely to read on our own! If they're going to do it at all, do it for everybody. JMO.

I've always loved to read but these journals take so much time I don't really get around to much other reading during the summer -- sometimes I feel punished for being in Accel. Why don't we do maths packets over the summer?

Every summer I have been required to read at least one book. I don't mind that at all. I love to read, and I could usually finish the required book in a pretty short time, as the book chosen was always easy. What bothers me is the essays that we're always required to write. The essay always leaves absolutely no room for creativity. It is already outlined for us, and it feels like a "fill in the blank" excercise. All the kids who followed the directions turn in essentially the same essay. Luckily, this year they're offering us more choice. At my school, we are required to do summer reading whether we are in Honors or Regular.

Well my summer reading programs we chose our own books which was both good and bad. Good in that I didn't get stuck with something stupid but bad in that I was always feeling it to be unfair.

I mean at nine, I was reading War & Peace. Other kids were reading the Magic School bus or something. But we got graded on how many books we read during the summer. It was completely unfair. The system rewarded kids who read 200 comic books or really easy chapter things that were twenty pages long and had large type. Those of us reading serious literature got the short end of the stick.

They really need to have a system that rewards quality not quantity.

I posted in here earlier that I had mixed feelings about the summer reading. After reading through all of these posts, I've come to a different conclusion. It's not the summer reading that's the problem. It's the programs themselves that are a problem. It seems that if a well thought out, fun, worthwihile program is set up, even the kids that posted here seem to enjoy it, think it was worthwhile and don't mind doing it. Unfortunately, well set up programs seem to be few and far between. I've seen the programs in 3 different school systems in 2 different states. None of them were worthwhile. It was a waste of my kids time when they themselves would have enjoyed and gotten something out of just reading books they like, on their own.

If a system is going to be set up, it needs to make sense. This past summer, before my son entered high school, he was mailed a reading program for Honors English. I kept trying to find some value in it (other than just reading to read), but I never found it. The books that were on the list were not conducive to the "feelings journal" that the kids were supposed to write. Several of the books on the list, we couldn't even find at the bookstore (Strike One). Others on the list, I told him not to bother looking for, because I wasn't going to let him read them (Strike Two) When the books are marked with bullets saying the kids have to get their parents permission to read them because they are controversial, why bother putting them on the list! When he did finally find/pick the 2 required books he merely picked the two shortest ones, as nothing on the list was remotely interesting to him.

The feelings journal made no sense. He was to write a page long essay, on each chapter, about how it "made him feel:. In the first book "Anthem", half of the chapters weren't even a typed page long. How was he supposed to write a page long journall on how it made him feel for each of those tiny chapters. He basically said the exact same thing, on all 12 chapters. The other book was the Old Man in the Sea. It's one long chapter. One journal page on the entire book. As I've said, I tried to find a redeeming quality int the program, but the books didn't match the assignment. I kept trying to tell myself that they were trying to make the kids "think outside of the box" or something, but it just never added up. These were both two books that I'm sure my son could have gotten a lot out of if a more well thought out program would have been in place. (Maybe someone can point out what I missed in this program). It really then turned me off when we went to mee the teacher, and she said it was a worthless project. We then found out that only about half of the kids ever received the project. It was just a mess all around.

Sorry to ramble so long, but I truely feel the programs are the problem. I, and my children, are all avid readers and there is so much any student could get out of a summer program. The programs just need to be made to have value and be fun, and be presented to the children in a positive, fun way.

That is exactly what the problem is! The programs are ill-concieved and seem more to result in a hatred of reading instead of a well-deserved questioning of the program itself.

I once, instead of doing the summer reading program, wrote an essay on how terribly they were constructed. I would have gotten in a lot of trouble for it had I not spent so many hours working at the library and had the librarians to back me up on it.

I've been in AP/pre-AP English since sophomore year, and every year we've had summer reading. I think it's a wonderful thing. I don't really mind reading over the summer, since I'd do that anyway, and it allows classes to start off right on the first day, because everyone has (hopefully) done the reading. It's worked well all three times I've done it. However, that's not to say I won't be glad this summer when I don't have to read books for school!

Read the first page, and jumped to the end, so I don't know if I am repeating anyone's post.

I read as a kid during the summer because I liked to. I am not sure about making a program mandatory is the best thing though. I don't think that kids time should be totally filled and scheduled. Part of learning and growing up is simply living and playing and experiencing life.

I love books, and my favorite thing to do is read. However, that is not the only thing in life. In the summer, if one of my kids was reading all the time, I would stop them and make them go outside and play. This is the same as if they were playing video games or watching tv.

Reading is something that one has to learn to love naturally. No one can convince someone else that reading is fun. A potential problem with a summer reading program is that the participants may actually learn to resent reading as a chore and an interuption.

I say make it available to anyone who wants to participate, and don't break it up between smart and dumb kids. Give a reward at the end for those who do it, but don't punish those who do not.

See, that's the problem with my AP program... no one bothers to read because the books they choose are terrible.

What books do they choose? We've had mostly good ones...let me see...

Sophomore year we had Dandelion Wine (loved that), Ethan Frome (hated it), Time and Again (loved it), and Member of the Wedding (it was okay).

Junior year we had The Jungle (terrible graphics, good story), The Street (decent enough), and The Grapes of Wrath (good).

Senior year we read 1984 (excellent), Lord of the Flies (weird but good), and Brave New World (definatley interesting).

So overall we've had a mix between the good and the bad, I suppose.

I am not a teacher, but this is how I feel. I am 16 years old, and am in the highest English class in my high school. I was tested at age 9, as a gifted reader. Now during the summer I love to read. I read thousands and tens of thounds of pages, every summer. I have atleast 40 shelves full of books in my house. Now I agree, that some kids should have help reading during the summer. But not advanced readers, they do not need it. There is a reason they are "advanced readers". The kids that should be going to the summer programs, are kids that have trouble reading. I have friends that have trouble reading still, even at this age.

Well, I'm not a big fan of Stephen & Sean's 7 Habits, which I find annoyingly propagandistic, but I fully support summer reading. I'm not sure 10 novels in 10 weeks is fair though --not if it is to be across the board, which I support. (Gifted students might be a different matter.)

I would suggest ONE required book for each Grade and TWO additional books to be chosen from a list of at least fifty titles. This would allow for immediate discussion to begin in the first week of school on the common book and 'sharing' of the long list to follow in open discussion.

That sounds as if it would be a fair idea, and would allow students a bit more freedom in what they would read without giving them the chance to opt out, davidenglish.

In general, I like the summer reading programs that require more than "fact regurgitation." Summer reading shouldn't just be about basic comprehension- no reading should be! There is more to any book than being able to remember the protagonist's name or what happened when they looked around one particular dark corner or....

I especially like the idea that each teacher "sponsors" a book and leads the discussion. This sounds like a more effective way to do this for many reasons, but above all because it would be interesting! This is my biggest issue with summer reading. Make kids read in the summer, but don't bore them to death! Come on, Ethan Frome in August? Way to convince students that they should never read again!

I'm headed to library school in the fall, and I really think I'm going to steal that idea for wherever I end up next!