Another school year has ended, and summer has set in. Seniors
have graduated, and been launched into the adult world. Many of
them have begun this journey by voting in their first election.
Teachers and parents send them off with a hint of apprehension, a
healthy dose of pride, and most of all, hope for a successful
future and a happy life.
Another school year has ended, and summer has set in.
Seniors have graduated, and been launched into the adult world. Many of them have begun this journey by voting in their first election. Teachers and parents send them off with a hint of apprehension, a healthy dose of pride, and most of all, hope for a successful future and a happy life.
Most of our students, of course, will be back at school in August – it comes faster than you think!
High school students who have signed up for Advanced Placement and Honors classes have extensive summer assignments, and their teachers hope that they won’t wait until the last week to begin them. These young scholars are taking on a serious academic commitment; hopefully they will also enjoy delving into advanced topics.
Parents may worry that their children are not prepared for the next grade, or that they will lose ground over the summer.
Indeed, there is an entire industry poised to capitalize on this fear. While some children will benefit from summer classes or tutoring, most will be fine with a few simple academic activities.
Most obviously, all children should READ during the summer. Take them to the library and get them their own library cards. Let them choose books that will interest them. They will build their vocabulary, strengthen their spelling and build language fluency. (Don’t worry about the content, so long as it’s not inappropriate for their age.)
Young children will benefit from studying math flash cards – either to reinforce facts already learned, or to master new ones. But guess what? The greatest benefits you can provide your child over the summer are not academic ones.
I discovered something surprising recently, while reading a study about the “achievement gap,” which refers to a disparity in academic success between children from different socio-economic levels. The achievement gap is already evident by kindergarten – no real surprise there.
Children from wealthier families often have parents with higher education levels. They have books, and puzzles, and games. Their parents read to them, and converse with them, and take them to museums and on trips.
All of this benefits their education.
What surprised me is that, despite all of our public discourse regarding the failure of the school system to close the achievement gap, it does close measurably each school year.
But here’s the thing: it widens again every summer. This is because wealthier families take advantage of the opportunity to provide enrichment activities. And poorer families are less able to do so.
Your family may not be able to afford an expensive trip, or pricey museum memberships, but you can surely afford a weekly trip to the library, a family game night, and a daily reading hour, or even half hour.
You can get a map of the local area, and plan some day trips to nearby attractions – the beach, a hiking trail, a park, an interesting town. The kids can read the map, calculate the mileage, and keep a journal of their outings, complete with illustrations.
They will benefit from the family time, the connection to the world around them, and the broadening of their horizons. And they will return to school knowing that they have had a summer vacation.
As for teachers, many of us begin the summer cleaning up after the chaos of the closing weeks of school.
There are supplies to organize, books to inventory, stacks of paper to file. And then there are lessons to revisit and revise.
And new courses to build. (Words cannot express how grateful I am that I am not moving classrooms this year.)
Hopefully, we also find time to unwind and recharge – to broaden our own horizons, and enjoy our own families – so that we, too, return to school refreshed and ready to begin anew.
Enjoy!
Jeanie Wallace teaches math and social studies at Ann Sobrato High School, has two children who attend schools in the district and is writing on behalf on the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers.
