To the Members of the School Committee, Summer assignments should be mandatory because they are a crucial aspect of the learning process. Of the assignments, reading is a commons one given to students over their summer break. Of these students, many of them believe that summer work is a waste of time or confusing. However, without it a part of learning would be lost. Overall, the benefits outweigh the time it takes to complete it. This is why I things that summer assignments should be required. By mandating these tasks, students will be able to reflect and remember what they have learned,gain a general idea of what will be expected of them, and teachers will have a starting point for their lesson plans. Reflecting and remembering material that was taught is the first …show more content…
The students receive this information based on the amount and difficulty of their assignment. If the teacher tends to give an abundance of homework , then the amount of work is usually lengthy. On the other hand, a teacher that has a more in depth class may give less work, but that work will often require more thought. In the absence of these summer tasks valuable information would not be gained by students. Additionally, just as students gain a starting point for their soon to be class, teachers do as well. This occurs because a common reading assignment allows all students to start form the same place. This ability to be together initially allows students to their education to the next level. If there was no summer reading, then entire classes would have to waste time figuring out a beneficial place to begin. Teachers would also have to wait until several grades are given before thy have an understanding of what kind of students they have. However, with summer assignments teachers are able to receive an idea at the birth of their school year where students are
The summer vacation students on a traditional schedule receive could be very beneficial since summer gives time for the students to attend camps or other activities that would allow them to learn. The camp may not be like the learning in school, but students would be able to get a different style of education while having fun. Lynn-nore Chittom and Jeff Klassen, two authors who wrote about year-round vs. traditional schooling say,
Summer is a time where people have gatherings, goof around, take vacations and spend time with their family. Many students are used to having two week winter break, one week spring break, and three months of summer break. Changing this traditional format could lead to negative effects for many students, educators,and families. A balanced school year would not have enough benefits to change schedule.
“It was a pleasure to burn,” (Bradbury 1). It was at that moment did Dylan realize that he was about to read a long and confusing novel. He was even going to take a test on the book when September arrives. Summer reading/homework is designed to help students keep their knowledge over the long, non-educative hours of summer. Teachers think that making children read in the summer helps them. In fact, the opposite happens. Not only does the work stress and bore kids to death, it decreases the want to learn, not to mention taking time away from other tasks. Thus, summer homework should not be given because it does not help students as much as they think.
"Summer school? Should schools be in session year-round?" Know Your World Extra 18 Apr. 2008. General OneFile. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
According to a report from the National Summer Learning Association, it’s common practice for teachers to dedicate at least one month to re-teaching material students have forgotten over the summer[3]. Reviewing material is one thing; completely re-teaching it is quite another. Instead of continuing the educational momentum of the previous school year, teachers and students lose at least four weeks of valuable instruction time in order to relearn the same material, but beyond this - summer slide can affect students on an individual level.
Shortly, we became more industrialized and had more advanced technology which made the summer vacation that was so crucial to the survival of the family now purposeless. With these long summer breaks, it can affect a child’s learning in so many ways. According to the benefits of year-round education article,”As of the 2006-2007 school year, nearly 2,800 U.S. schools were classified as year round.” One essential problem with long summer breaks is lack of retention of learned material and can lead to the student not being able to make progress with their learning in the next school year. In year-round schools, kids don’t waste time on review as opposed to traditional schools who take about three weeks reviewing the information they learned in the
Another significant reason is summer vacation needs to be longer. The primary reason for this is children need time to wind down and relax before they have to go back to school. For instance, during the summer children relax and prepare for school, if they...
On the another hand some people might say that kids forget a lot of what they learned during the school year during the ‘summer break’. According to Rebecca Klein, summer comes to an end and kids go back to school but some kids may have forgot what they learned the pervious school year. Kids family’s that don’t make a lot of money may be more that risk of summer learning loss. According to Klein, the Survey found that 66 percent teachers have to spend three to four weeks re-teaching students course material at the beginning of the year.” Teachers agree that learning comes from summer vacation.
Ideally, extending the school schedule into the summer equals more learning. Because students are not dedicated to their studies, often they do not retain the information they learned over the school year during summer vacation. According to the article “Will Longer School Year Help or Hurt US Students” Smyth notes that, “Proponents argue that too much knowledge is lost while American kids wile away the summer months apart from their lessons” (Smyth). Smyth argues that students clearly do not retain their lessons over the period of their summer break. However, opponents of the extension of the school schedule say, “summer breaks are needed to provide an academic respite for students’ overwrought minds, and to provide time with family and the flexibility to travel and study favorite subjects in more depth” (Smyth). Smyth’s observation not only protests taking summer away from families but also describes summer as a time needed to rest student’s minds.
Preparing students for the next educational level and refreshing the mind after a summer’s break is vital for the student and their success. When a student can remember previously taught information, it is only used to their advantage. Reading a book over the summer could be useful for a student; they could broaden their vocabulary, which could then correlate to exceptional products of writing. The success of a student depends on how hard they have worked and pushed themselves each year to reach and accomplish their goals (Suskind 107-109). If one was to truly focus and do every step possible in order to achieve their goal, consequently,
Although this may be true and the students may be increasing their intelligence, the absence of a true summer can be a negative for all concerned. Summers off have long been a light at the end of the tunnel for teachers after an intense school year. And students need time to relieve themselves from a constant social setting where bullying and harassment can be hard to get away from while still at school (Pros and Cons of Year Round School). Summers are very beneficial to everyone. Teachers and students get a break, but also parents get more quality time to spend with their
Every summer children lose valuable information. When school is back in session, students spend months trying to recall everything that was forgotten over those few weeks off. The arrangement of days in the academic year does play a role on how students perform in school, but not so much on the expenses. Therefore, schools should implement Year-Round education because it more affordable and is better for the children in the long run.
Have you ever began a book only to find that after a few chapters into it a more important task comes up that must be given attention to and you don’t make it back to the book for some time. The ensuing matter has been taken care of and now it is time to finish that novel that thought was so great you just couldn’t put it down but, where did you exactly leave off and what character are doing what now? Often it is required to skim a few previous chapters to get a sense of what is going on to give the full focus to the new events taking place. As the summer ends, the leaves begin to change and our school children return to the classroom to begin this very similar task. Instead of rereading a few pages, teachers must review with every student were they are scholastically and every student is very different. Almost a month into the new school year last year’s material is covered and reviewed. Our traditional school calendar may be to blame for our failing schools systems. Can schools attending year round with smaller gaps of time off from learning benefit the student learners? Better retention of material, higher graduation with college enrollment increases and safer downtime alternatives are a few reasons why the traditional education plan should be done away with.
Schools are out for the summer. There are no more teachers and no more books. Students are ready for two months of summer fun. Going to the beach and hanging out with friends is what summer is all about. Nowhere in that itinerary does it include reading a book and completing a project. With all the activities going on there is no time to read, let alone finish a project. I find myself procrastinating until the last possible second. By the time I even pick up the book summer is over and the project is due. Incentive is nearly impossible.
Educational debates are a widespread in today’s society. Currently, one of the largest debates in education is the debate of whether schools should stay with the traditional school calendar or change to a year-round calendar. The main focus of the debate is centered around the idea that using the year-round calendar will provide kids with a more consistent learning schedule, which in turn creates better grades within the school and cuts back on summer learning loss. Year-round calendar and traditional calendar are far different. Traditional school calendar provides ten weeks of summer break and year-round calendar provides a shorter summer break but more frequent breaks throughout the year. The frequent breaks provide families the opportunity to choose what school year would be the best fit for their family and also helps keep children motivated in school. With the information given many believe the year-round calendar will provide a better education by preventing summer learning loss, create a better calendar to fit certain lifestyles, and promote more motivation in school.