Summer Assignments by: Jack Michael

As a student, summer assignments are gifted to you in all their glory at some point in your educational career. There are many silent and non-silent objections towards these assignments made by students. These objections mostly stem from the stress over losing the assignment, the amount of time completion will take, and student’s understanding of the topic on the assignment.  Summer Assignments receive little to no love from the student body. Although if a summer assignment is formatted correctly I believe it can provide much needed reinforcement for every type of student, but how do you format a summer assignment correctly?  

 

First start off with providing a “Backup” for students to use. This will entail having extras of the assignment being on hand or accessible to the student in some way. This way as a student moves along their summer if the assignment is lost they have the ability to attain another copy. Doing this allows an immense amount of pressure to be relieved from student’s shoulders by providing the reassurance that losing their packet is not the “end all, be all.”

 

The second recommendation I would give would be to make the assignment small. Students stress constantly over the amount of time the assignment will take. If the assignment is long, students will be deterred from even attempting the material. They also move to find answers elsewhere because the assignment needs to be turned in for a grade. As a student, when I receive a smaller assignment I am always more inclined to complete it because it feels like I have gotten a large quantity of work done during the summer. By shortening the assignment; students will not only be more inclined to finish it and they will be able to fit the packet into their busy summer schedules.

 

My final recommendation to create a summer assignment would be to make sure there are resources available for students who don’t understand the topic that is on the assignment. It is one of the worst feelings to look and an assignment and not understand what is on it. To relieve that area of stress make sure to provide ways for students that don’t understand material to either refresh their memories or to be re-taught what is being asked on the assignment. This can be done with YouTube videos, step by step tutorials or just checking your school email over the summer if a student might have a question.

 

As a student when a summer assignment is handed to me, my initial reaction might not be a positive one. Although if a assignment is formatted the way I have just described. My reaction at the beginning of the following year will be of gratitude and not of stress.