Summer Reading
Even though I crave a summer afternoon of reading, I’m well aware that most kids just do not. I choose my books and wait for them with an anticipation like that of awaiting a midnight ice cream cone. Students generally don’t choose exactly what they are to read for the summer; they are assigned it, or they are tasked with choosing a school-sanctioned book from a categorized list. It just doesn’t hold the same appeal to them. So, I’m still trying to make school-assigned summer reading enticing to my own high-schooler. And the summer books need to be read, understood, and analyzed enough for students to do well on a book-test or project lying in wait in August.
Bottom Line: Reading is now looking at a page. Comprehension and Analysis requires engaged interaction with the reading selection. Read as: summarizing, taking notes, making vocabulary lists, brief analyses, plot lines, and time-lines.
Reading- Setting a Scene
My reader battles sudden, deep drowsiness when he lies on his bed to read. So a student could read best in a
- quiet, comfortable place at home where he or she doesn’t spend a lot of time
- At the kitchen table while dinner is begin prepared; noise tolerance a must
- A home office desk
Remembering and Keeping Track of the Reading
Reluctant writers– Voice Memos on a smart-phone. After each page, chapter, or reading session the reading records what he or she remembers or thinks is important. This can then be emailed. And from the emails- the reader can copy and paste it all in to a Word Document.
Techie Readers
- Write summaries of reading sessions in to a Google Doc
- Write summaries of reading sessions in the Notability App for ipads.
- Create a slide-show or a simple slide-show-movie. After each reading selection, the reader types a summary in to Power Point or Explain Everything. The reader then narrates the writing selection in to the slide show’s voice-recorder. Readers can also create visual slides of images and pictures that have his or her narration of what happened in a reading selection.
- Create a podcast of the readers’ narrated summaries in Garage Band or Audacity.
Notes- the Basics
- Interactive Notebook. Readers keep one composition book only for the summer reading books. Summaries, Time Lines, and Plot Diagrams can be done and kept in one place.
- Stickies App or Program for Apple. Readers jot down a summary and important points of a selection in a sticky. They can then be copied and pasted in to a Word Document.
- Notes App for i phones. Same as above.
Readers Love Company
- Google Hangout for a reading group to write/discuss the book.
- Group Text. See above.
- Reading Buddies Q and A. Two readers with the same book take turns asking and answering comprehension and analytical questions about the book.
- Edmodo Chat about the book if the school uses Edmodo.