Summer is the ultimate time of the year to relax. Just think: popsicles (and ice cream and frozen yogurt and all of the best fruits only available this season to top them off with), road trips, late nights followed by late mornings, watching thunderstorms from the porch (a personal favorite), bicycles, picnics, going barefoot...and...
Then your soon-to-be Honors/AP English teacher thrusts an ominously thick packet at you before you can escape, squishing the sense of freedom in which you'd been hoping to roll around the moment the bell rings on the final day of school.
Don't get me wrong, I love reading. I have a massive list of books I hope to read before school starts, and that includes rereading all seven Harry Potter books. But--and I'm sure even the most intense bookworm would agree with me--summer reading projects are a drag.
Usually by the time summer is over, I never want to open that darned classic book again because I've spent hours and days and weeks identifying character, motifs, plot, setting, defining a hundred vocabulary words, rereading each chapter three times, and answering fifty questions. And, without the hardcore analysis, I probably would have enjoyed the book, too!
Summer is the one time I can read for days on end without being inturrupted by homework and studying. It's the one time I can read a million books from my list and enjoy them.
Teachers need to seek the most dedicated students, and a project outside of school is the perfect way for them to do this, so the assignment is understandable. However, the problem is that both of the projects I heaved to my new teacher on the first day of school for both my eighth and ninth grade years were just glanced at. I recieved a check-plus. No comments, no filled-out rubric, nothing. I could have done a horrible job and still recieved a credit grade.
Anyway...
What do you think about summer projects? Are they beneficial or just a waste of time?
What book are you reading for your summer project?
On a brighter note, what books are you going to read for pleasure this summer?
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