Today is the last day of summer school, my last day working with 9th and 10th graders who failed English this year and are trying to recover either a half or full credit. I have seen miracles happen this summer. Students who I never thought would finish (even up to yesterday!) completed books and wrote papers. It has been magical for me to see.
What was different in summer school? For one, classes became smaller. As students finished their work, they were done, so my classes shrunk from 25+ kids down to 4-5 kids. This allowed the kids who needed the most help to get it.
Choice was also a huge factor in many of my students' successes. When faced with reading a book that was chosen for them, many students shut down. It seemed impossible to them. No way could they get through another book a teacher made them read. I could see that this was exactly the problem during the school year. Kids felt no ownership over the reading and wouldn't even try. So, in summer school, when resistance reared its ugly head, I just provided choice. Happy kids will work. They will read, write and they will learn. Runner by Carl Deuker was by far the favorite among my boys this summer. They eagerly gobbled it up. Choice = reading. Writing was no different. When provided options for narratives, stories flooded my desk. Same with expository writing. Same with arguments. Kids wanted to own their work.
Talk was another big factor. Once my classes got smaller, there was a lot more talk. I could check in with everyone frequently, and kids could talk about their books. I could check in on writing and kids could talk over their ideas before jotting them down. This helped kids tremendously. First, they were accountable for reading, understanding and progressing in their books. Second, they could clear up confusions by asking questions or talking through ideas. I can see that the lack of talk during the regular year makes it hard for those kids that need to process their thinking out loud. Summer school made it safe and easy, so many kids had more success than usual.
Finally, questions were huge. Not me answering questions, but the kids answering their own questions. Some of them were so unsure that they asked about every sentence they wrote. They did not see themselves as readers or writers or even thinkers who could trust themselves to put anything "right" on paper. The most powerful question I asked hundreds of times was, "What do you think?" And, guess what? They had answers! Tentative at first, but then growing with confidence over time. Kids started requesting longer chunks of time to read their books between check-ins by me. "Uh, Ms. Hagen? Can I do like 15 minutes of reading this time?" asked a long-haired boy from the floor.
"What do you think?" I'd response.
"Yep, I can do 15."
And he would.
With writing too. First, I'd get asked to read every sentence, to which I'd respond, "What do you think?" Answers were slow at first, but gradually, I'd get check-ins once a paragraph. Huge improvements from kids who said it was the first piece of writing they had finished in high school.
I am so glad to be a part of these students' successes, hard-earned this summer. These are not kids who lack as many literacy skills as I previously thought. They are kids that deeply need ownership, talk and a sounding-board. I only hope the will take some of it with them as they venture into regular classes this fall.
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