Now I know that not all children will get amazing learning opportunities in the summer. Not everyone gets to go to science camp, have a tutor or even parents that are around in the summer. I didn’t go to any programs, camps, or staged learning envirnments; I played all summer long. I went to the creek and looked for frogs, I climbed trees and got stuck. Sometimes read a book. Some kids don’t even get that. Some kids get less learning opportunies than that even. And yet, perhaps, they are still learning too.
So, yes we can worry about our children when they leave our classrooms, but we should not pretend that learning stops. Instead we should show them what learning looks like outside of school, in case they have forgotten. Instead we should tell them what we look forward to doing, how we will be learning. I plan on reflecting, refining, reading, and exploring with Thea as much as this crazy pregnancy will let me. I will be learning away from school, away from classrooms, away from anything structured but I will still be learning and so will my students. I don’t own their learning, they do.
Pernille Ripp 
Awesome. My kids learn more in the summer then they do all school year. Give , get, test, forget. That seems to be schooling for my kids.
I think you've definitely got a point, but I also think that as with any assignment, summer work all depends on how it's used in the fall. If it's just run-of-the-mill busywork, there really is no point; however, I find that sometimes it's really useful. For instance, in teaching an advanced 10th grade English class, the summer reading assignment allows my class to hit the ground running and helps me set the tone I need to set. My class fully seeks to embody the meaning of the word "advanced" — it's a challenging course from day one. It's also fun, of course, but the summer reading and subsequent paper really help eliminate any sense of slack or grade entitlement.
Tom, I just wonder even with our focus on advanced classes whether prescribing summer reading is us overstepping our hold as teachers? I get that you want to hit the ground running and that students sign up for the class, hopefully, out of their own free will but it comes back to whether us needing to take over summer means that there is just too much to cover in the first place.
But is assigning a book to read between June and September really a "take-over" of summer? Students want to play high school football voluntarily and I'd say that forcing them to do two-a-days in the August heat is more of a take-over than one book.And like I said, it's in how you use it … I not only make the assignment meaningful but it becomes part of our entire year and not something that's simply thrown aside after the first week for "real" work.
Yes Tom it is. Every time you make reading a chore it is killing reading. EVERYTIME- even if they end up liking the book. OUr system makes it so that most kids will hate reading by the 7th grade.Sorry- great post. Grades are killing us- kids just find the path of least resistance to earn the A. Or they think they are dumb because of all the F's. I wish my kids had you as a teacher.