Summer Reading Sunday Series on Monday

Right click the sun to save it for your own Sunday Series post. 

Summer reading matters. We know from recent research that engaging readers during the summer months helps prevent summer slide especially in lower income students (Allington and Franzen). Conversations about summer reading expectations and assignments began at my school in January. The reading seeds we planted were supposed to take root and grow through the summer months.

Some did. If only gardening were simple. Sometimes I have a harvest instead of a growth mindset. If only seeds, water and sunshine were all that a bountiful harvest or a beautiful bouquet required.  If only readers could take root with assignments, but I know that is not how reading works. I love vegetables. I could gather flowers all day. I love the idea of the garden harvest, but not the work it takes to grow it. I do love working with readers and with teachers who engage readers in their classrooms though.

Nurturing readers takes work. Growing readers is a twelve-month commitment. I am set to explore that commitment and the topic of summer reading now.

This series is not about pointing fingers at teachers or students.  Instead I'm going on an explore. I will explore instructional practice. Explore the research. Explore what gets in the way of summer reading success. What do I need to weed out to make the experience work for students?  Writing makes my learning and practice public. It also holds me accountable.

Though today is Monday, for the next eight Sundays, I'm going to blog about summer reading. Here's a rough list of topics I want to explore starting next week:

• the purpose of summer reading
• beliefs about summer reading
• access to books
• autonomy and choice
• assessing readers and writers
• research on summer reading
• communicating expectations to teachers, students and parents
• collaborating across teams
• connecting to future reading/writing

What topics around summer reading have you been wondering about?  If you'd like join in, grab the graphic and link up in comments. Write about summer reading on your blog. Share your link and respond to at least two other writers.

Put on your sun hat! Let's tackle the weeds in our summer reading gardens.

Lee Ann

Next Sunday: the summer reading collage assignment.


Works Cited

Allington, Richard and Anne McGill-Franzen. Summer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Reading Achievement Gap. NY, NY: Teachers College Press, 2013.