Summer is a time for the beach, vacations and fun, especially for high school students. One thing that may get in the way of that for students at Cape Henry Collegiate is summer reading.
The summer months can move fast and next thing they know, students have a 300-page book to read in a little under a week. For some, the relaxation of summer is over and now it’s time to try and comprehend a novel they wouldn’t have chosen for themselves and for others, they jump at the opportunity to expand their literary comprehension.
Summer reading for some can feel like a chore and CHC senior Madelyn Penner would agree.
“When you’re in the summer it’s your break from school,” Penner said.
Many people will read as a relaxation tactic at the beach or pool but for some it can feel like it’s not a break from school.
“I’ve been in school for seven months already,” Penner said.
At Cape Henry, summer reading has always been a part of routine, however, a decision was made last school year to only assign it to higher level English classes such as AP Literature and AP Language and Composition.
Many students at Cape Henry were very happy with that decision.
“I like it better without summer reading because it’s less stressful worrying about getting it all done before school starts,” senior Clare Foster said.
Teachers within the English department were ultimately the ones to overrule the need for summer reading, however, they still think that reading over the summer is beneficial, just not for an assignment
“It is true that reading is beneficial,” said Upper School English 11 and AP Literature teacher Mrs. Gabrielle Cabreros. “It is important for students to read and we are always trying to find ways to encourage students to read over the summer.”
Teachers believe that reading is a very important skill to develop in order to gain more complex ideas.
“Reading helps you build your vocabulary, develop critical thinking, connect to the world outside of you,” English 9 and 10 teacher Mrs. Kathleen Sharp said. “All of those skills can only serve to help you in English class and in other classes because reading is also a skill and if you step away from a skill, you lose your stamina.”
Students in high school in the 21st century battle the problem of staying on task because of the excessive use of technology.
“Kids are so short term focused, so immediate gratification driven that to sit down and read a book is hard, and if you don’t do it you won’t be able to do it later on,” Mrs. Sharp said.
Teachers think the problem with summer reading for most students is the struggle of finding time to read and read the novel with purpose. This often affects grades given in the beginning of the school year based on these novels.
“I know that most students don’t read deeply and so they treat it like every other assignment where they have to skim it and struggle with it because they know that there’s a grade associated with it,” Mrs. Cabreros said.
School is not usually a focus for most students in the summer given that they crave the break off of giving their all. This is where a problem arises of getting back into the school mindset early, which can often be a struggle for students.
“It’s hard because no one wants to be reading in the summer so you blow through it and don’t comprehend it to the best of your abilities,” Penner said.
It’s often very difficult for most students to go back to school from months off, yet teachers think reading can keep students in the school mindset.
“I see somebody’s grade improve when they spend time reading because reading is known to build fluency and literacy and you don’t just let yourself fade off in the summertime,” Mrs. Sharp said. “At the same time I see when people don’t read and don’t engage, it can be an uphill climb when they come back.”
By forcing students to read a book that they did not choose for themselves, it raises the issue of inadequate reading, which takes the fun out of reading.
The assignments that are associated with summer reading often create more problems than they do good, according to teachers.
“Mostly I see their grades struggle because of summer reading; however, have I ever seen a student fail an assignment associated with summer reading?” Mrs. Cabreros said. “Yes.”
Although summer reading has been removed, students taking an AP Literature class are given a list of many books to choose from. Some students think that this is a lot better than a singular book assigned each year yet some would like to be able to choose any book from the many novels sold.
“Reading a book of my choice would be so much more entertaining and I feel like I would be more motivated to read it,” Foster said. Summer reading doesn’t have to feel like a chore if teachers had made it more inclusive and more entertaining.
It’s true that many students aren’t readers, but that’s because they’re used to reading classic literature that some don’t find entertaining. Some may love Shakespeare, but some may really struggle with it and as reading has often been associated with struggle, most students dread reading over the summer.