welcome to the edge our topic today is the importance of summer reading so they that reading habits of students are extremely flawed especially during the summer it is imperative that students develop good reading habits and maintain them not only throughout the school year but throughout the entire year am a major prosecutor especially when it comes to these summer assignments summer reading is often something i start working on only a week before school begins this past summer i was assigned to summer reading books and i only read one of them due to something that many students suffer from procrastination upon taking the tests and writing my essay i was extremely confused even though i used cliff notes i soon came to the realisation that if i would have been more proactive and read the second book it would have shown in my tests and as a result this is what motivated me to question the purpose of summer reading i wanted to know why it was so important and why there was so much emphasis placed upon it upon conducting research i discovered that summer reading can actually raise standardized test scores keep up brain activity and preoccupied kids which is which can also keep them out of trouble during the month of the summer although summer reading can be a grueling and communion burden for students is actually very beneficial to the developing minds of students over the summer many students continually complain about their summers being taken away from them by summer reading assignments english teachers continue to assign summer reading books for the purpose of benefiting their students and making more time for other curriculum during the school year according to research that has great by fitz students have actually been proven to do worse on standardized tests at the end of the summer than they do at the end of the school year keeping up brain activity can be extremely beneficial towards long term academic skills especially those of childrens of children whose brains are still rapidly developing studies show that at the end of sixth grade kids who lose reading skills over the summer break are two years behind their peers over the course of three months children can very easily lose their reading abilities and habits if they are not put into use summer reading can successful school year although summer reading is quite beneficial it will not reach its full effect as students do not read the books they were assigned often times the books chosen by teachers do not appeal to the students in the same way the bookstores and directly by the students would according to school lastic nine out of ten kids say they and they say they are more likely to finish a book that they picked out themselves students were given books that they would not normally choose to read on their own will most likely not even read the books at all i conducted a survey on how many students have used notes cliff notes or any other online summers ation source and said actually reading their summer reading books my survey showed that twenty six out of the forty high school students i asked have used an online summarization source this is a prime example of how most students do not actually put the time and effort into their summer reading books if teachers take a different approach that is geared more towards the interests of students more students would read in order to spark the interest of students and benefit the students academically summer reading novels to be more geared towards the students would act what they would actually want to read with this different approach is likely that students will be more compelled to become avid readers throughout the entirety of the year i'm here today with this is my robotic and she is the library director at peters township this strict library so this is a letter why is it important that students should read if over the summer is supposed to be meant for a break from academic things well first of all i loved your introduction and i couldn't agree with you more on so many of your statements but i would say that reading through the summer is important for so many reasons first of all reading is thinking and throughout the summer you might think of it in terms of having that learning faucet turned off and when you don't consider don't continue to have topics of interest or passions that you may have available to you it is a way that the mind starts to not be able to focus there have been a lot of studies that show in our hyper focused our hyper networked world i should say with twitter feeds and with your texting and so forth that we really do kids are finding and adults to a lack of focus and to keep in focus over the summer when you have all of this time is probably one of the best times to read during the summer you have the opportunity to read what you'd like now i heard you say that you have a lot of books that are assigned which maybe there can be a balance with that but i think in reading those assignments and probably the sooner you leave school the better  would help you to to maintain the focus and that is i've been reading also one of the most desired skills is to be able to have sustained focus on a really detailed task in as far as our economy goes they're looking for people they're finding that people really don't have that ability anymore and they're losing that ability to focus and no matter what the job would be whether would be a skilled labor type of job or something with computers let's say or  engineering or even teaching so to maintain that focus reading helps you to do that because as i said reading is thinking so sometimes i've heard from a lot of my friends and myself as well that sometimes technology can be a distraction because if you're trying to read something sometimes i know my phone will like distract me but also there are also there's also new technology of like candles and things that provide like and like an e book almost in a way so where would you say that technology helps the reading skills of students or do you think it distracts them well i think it could go both ways at the library for instance we do have e books that you can download through  overdrive or libby which is a wonderful app we have audio books students actually listen you listen on a higher level than you can read so i don't see anything wrong with listening to audio books there are so many blogs out there that offer ideas for students for new choices also things such as good reads which is a wonderful way using your computer getting the app to see what other people are reading and what they're recommending so in a way i see technology as a way to enhance that but at the same time like you were saying you get interrupted in distracted i was reading a study that said for instance student a if they read twenty minutes a day that result in one million eight hundred thousand words that they would have read over a year and that translates to sixty school days of of time focused student b who would read five minutes a day is exposed to approximately two hundred eighty two thousand words in that year which results to twelve school days and then students see who would read maybe a minute of just focus time really only amounts to about eight thousand words over the course of a year which would result time spent to about three school days so and then you mentioned about standardized scores in your introduction that so true that student will find themselves in that ninetieth percentile where students see will find themselves in the ten percent percentile so it definitely you know it's a it's a mixed bag with how you and i think with anything there's balance but i think if you keep that twenty minutes that's a great way to see that reading requires stamina and when we are distracted we lose that sense of stamp even just like with exercise so how does reading often kind of improve speaking skills because i know in today's day and age with all the technology in the texting in the social media there's a lot of lack of you know abbreviation and like basic grammar skills and students are typing things more than they're actually saying so how can reading helps with that well because in reading when authors write they're not writing so much for conversation like you and i are having they really carefully choose their words their vocabulary which is why it's so important to to read because you are being even the younger children are being introduced to words that maybe would never come up in a conversation with mom or dad or you with your peers but an author is going to introduce those vocabulary words to you that maybe don't need a dictionary to look at up to through a context clue you're reading and you think oh that's so that's what that means and you'll hear it may be used more often so authors really do have a craft a very fine craft that they work on to improve and to engage their readers so yes they're they're speaking to the emotions that maybe a student is having or the character in the book is having and then the vocabulary that they use in the comprehension that is required to actually follow that and did get you to turn the page and to not turn off the light at night to keep reading i'm sure you found books that kept you going and it's that's the author's skill at work so those skills are just comprehension and vocabulary  are those the skills that usually make the trend in higher standardized test scores for students who read more is that absolutely definitely vocabulary definitely comprehension because really just even reading the question for these standardized test scores and you know how long the tests are once again there's that stamina of the rigor that's involved and just like training for a particular race that you might swim or run the same idea applies it really helps you to become comfortable with it and you start to understand theme you understand symbolism because you are reading for meaning as i said in the beginning reading is thinking it's so basic but it's an active  type of sport you might say because you're constantly assessing do i agree with that do i not agree with that wonder what he meant by that all of this character i'm so worried about what's going to happen next so all of that and you know a lot of times kids will say i just don't like to read but i think if you speak in terms of a growth mindset they really haven't just found the book yet they haven't found the right book or the right author to connect with so all of that i think connects well with their writing and with their learning whenever i was younger my parents always tried to have me read for fifteen minutes a day and i did not like the idea and i think i would really like to know how parents can really kind of encourage their students to have good reading habits of hell maybe by i don't know if it would be a good idea if they were to have them read ten minutes a day or if that's a good strategy well reading with them you know there is as i said before we listen on a higher vocabulary level than we actually read on so when a parent reads to a child from a chapter book you know they are being introduced to that language that they would have never read in maybe a frog and toad book or elephant and piggie so having a parent sit down and having that quality time with their son or daughter right there on their lap the closeness that is naturally brought about with with a book book time you know you put your phone aside you really focus on that child getting to know that character whether you read the book first then go see the movie together there are lots of things you can do together as a family to make reading positive and to and for parents to model with their children even with their adult children you know hey i read this great article in  in this week's newspaper or in sports illustrated letting your letting having parents let their kids know that they read to you that they don't see it as something that's unpleasant i think that's all the other thing is all the time we have students to want to read i know we touched upon how parents can do that by maybe send a good example but how can teachers do that as well well i think teachers also can set a good example by sharing some of their favorite with their young students with their older students having finding a connection whether it's the genre or maybe it's a side five book maybe you didn't know that your teacher loves fantasy or is a real biography bug those are the kinds of connections that  would say that teachers can see can make with their students go to the school library with them you know one of the hardest things i think happens is when a student walks into the library they can be so intimidated by all of the books even how is it all organize do i just pick a book by the cover do i just grab the first one that's on the shelf is there a stack of reading recommendations that our staff picks or teacher picks i know at the library we try to do that on our website where we have books that we like that if someone stumped you know what do i read next so having conversations with their students making sure that they go with them and enquire what are you reading so i would say finding out what is important to that student what are they like maybe they do like short shorter books to get started with that's fine there's graphic novels out there that are almost like a cartoon but they are really well drawn well scripted might be a great introduction to a whole new genre so i think what teachers want to do is open it up to their students and working with the school librarian partnering with that i would say encouraging their students to get library cards to come to the public library we have summer reading programs we actually call it summer learning now because it's not just so much on the reading but what do you what are you reading about what are you learning last summer we had reading rocks so we did it in terms of music but we also did it in terms of geology so there were so many wonderful programs that were set aside from our kindergarten students to our seniors in high school great ideas that our staff has come up with that i think if they took some time to visit the library talk to our staff they'd be surprised what wonderful programs we have for them through the summer this coming summer twenty nineteen it's going to be a universe of stories so  pointing out the variety that's out there there is definitely a book out there for each student and so a lot of times in school teachers choose classic novels are very important in society but do you how could it be beneficial if teachers were to allow their students to maybe sometimes pick out books that they could read that they would choose instead of having to read the books of the teachers choose for them all of the time totally for that  i totally agree that as i said reading is personal it's independent and something that we as adults don't like to always be told what to read of course you know right now there's a big push from p b s one hundred best books called the great american read so they have the whole country voting and actually today's the day they're going to reveal the winner tonight but classics but also something maybe that you know you read as a child charlotte's web or some agatha christie it's all over the board and having books like that available when i look at those lists i think oh my goodness i haven't read hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy yet or maybe it was a book i didn't finish in high school those classics that are out there and maybe some of the classics you're talking about do you want to name one that maybe you didn't like or was on the list i know i read to kill a mockingbird ok wonderful book about a lot of my classmates did like it a very long book but they're all they are well a book like that you know maybe sometimes pulling in some modern day connections to that book to see how how is it the same how is it different now and maybe setting a purpose for reading where you are looking for some other connections rather than just i have to finish this book by the end of the summer so i think reading with a purpose sometimes is a good way to to make a connection maybe over it over a book that you might consider dry but even to ponder well why is this book on all of these lists we have to mow brian coming here to the high school the things they carried is one of those books that you know about vietnam but it was  labeled as one of the best books of the last quarter century and you know we're going to you folks read there your seniors some of the seniors are reading that here in high school and may not understand the connection but when you see that he connects to the human spirit and the the traumas that people maybe carry not necessarily physically in their equipment but what do they carry deep in their soul in their heart and what what weighs heavy on them so even though the things that maybe seem they don't pertain really do a good author will find a way to make that connection so i would say give those books a chance but also i would also encourage those students to maybe start with something lighter start with some books that you're interested in some john green some other books that maybe you wouldn't have had assigned but that will help to build that stamina so that you will get ready it's more or less you know trying to run that marathon before you've run  ten k you know so start some of those maybe more contemporary books and then ease into the other so that's the thought a lot of times teachers will sign reading reading guides along with the books and sometimes i feel like that that makes it seem like a chore ok in a way so how could just maybe for example having this assigning a reading assignment and then having the students take a quiz on it as supposed to having them do the reading so is the reading guide something they have to write answers yet is ok so i guess it's a way to keep the teach the student on track yes ok well i don't know i guess that's different for each student i know is i remember reading moby dick i went to high school here to read moby dick and remember that if i hadn't been assigned those fifty pages every night i probably wouldn't finished it but i i looked at that once again kind of reading with a purpose it helped me to stay on track and see where this book was headed i think i would have missed a lot but you know you look at adult book clubs now they're reading guides for all of those but you know a lot of the popular books that are out there in the back are ten reading questions you know for the facilitator of the group so you know it's not something maybe not to look at it as a form of punishment but as a way to get more out of the book because adults are doing it now all the time we have a lot we have over twenty book clubs that we have posted at the library of area adults that are reading and many of the books that they're reading have discussion questions and reading guides in the backs and they choose those books sometimes because they come with the questions so it's  to provoke some thought so when i was in middle school we had these things called reading logs and so as you would have to do is you have to choose a silent reading book and then he would fill in the reading maybe a quote or something from the certain chapter and it was kind of a good way to keep track of your progress with the book and it was also kind of a good way to maintain your comprehension but i guess that's just a middle school thing at least where i went to i went to a private school kind of going through eighth grade but in the high school we don't really have anything like that ways to keep track so how how can students really keep track of what they're reading and how often well you know if you use e books they keep track for you that keeps track there's a log you know it'll it'll keep a little reading list for you which is great why i like ebooks i like he audio books as well even in the library it'll keep track where you can ask to maintain a reading list and you can any time you go you can say oh can you print out my list because some to it we have adults who we just have a brand new book called a thousand books to read before you die and it's about that thick and there's a lot of books in there that i'll be thinking to have you think i don't remember did everything at once so i kind of wish that i had maybe written more books down or did i not finish that book so maintaining a reading list at the library is fine you know you can do that at a public library you can probably do it on your phone good reads i'm telling you is a wonderful resource out there that will connect you because they'll say you like this book that try this one and you can keep your reading lists right there on good reads which is a nice way to network with folks there are blogs there are podcasts it's it's amazing what's out there if you look and make it simple i wouldn't say you know it seems tedious to have to write down every page number but if you just want to keep each you know a few impressions after you finish a book it's a great way to then tell someone else about the book we have a wonderful moan mention this resource called novelist and in novelist they have appealed terms so if you like dystopian or if you like romance or maybe you like thrillers putting in appeal terms in the search will then bring you the books that may fit you you know fit your interest and then they'll give you read alikes so that's another way to just click those off make yourself a folder and save those titles of your to be read pile that's known as a t v r pile but like on my nightstand i have a lot of books to be read that i want to get to but you know there's only so many so much time how can finding the right book really have an effect on students like how can it really make them want to read more and maybe even have an impact on the emotionally like let's say they were going through something in their lives that this really spoke to them how can it affect them in that sort of way oh it can affect them their whole life through books i think in terms of as being mirrors or windows where you see yourself in the book as a mirror or you see someone else or someone in your family or a dear friend and making a connection with a character or a book title will stay with you your whole i still remember my third grade teacher reading charlotte's web to me and crying and i was crying so there are just certain connections and you know i can't go to a bar now without thinking about wilbur the pig so and that's actually one of the books on that for the p b s great american read so obviously a book from childhood can stay with you to adulthood so there is power in the written word and when you can make that connection that's why it's important to read a lot because you know you just maybe haven't found that book yet but it's out there and once you do and you find that author you connect with you will have so many wonderful days ahead and nights ahead just spending time go traveling in your mind to different places learning things wonderful quotes there are some authors that i'll read something you were mentioning quotes all right down a quote because a character said something that i thought was fantastic zero there's plenty of ways to make the connection and it's well worth the read so how can really how concerted it's finding good ways to maintain their reading habits and just kind of making it a part of their life how can that really pave the way for the future maybe whenever they're getting a job in the future could help with speaking skills are going to just really help them emotionally or help them with their interactions with others so what really are the ways in which it does that well i think just mentioning of asking the question what are you reading read it read any good books lately it seems like so simple but it is such a great way to make an immediate connection with someone breaks the ice whether you are you know sitting next to someone on the subway and they have a book in their in their lap and you see them engaged in it ask them about it sharing just like i said that very simple question carrying books with you or let's go to the library let's see what's on the new read new new shelf we have all of our new books displayed reading the new york times book reviews seeing whatever other people are reading wondering what's all the buzz about why did this book become a movie and even maybe setting up a book club with your with your own friends and reading the book first then seeing the movie and you start to really see how much is lost on the screen that they can't capture that an author can so you know just i think having conversations and that helps you to articulate what you like about a book helps you to understand no i really didn't like that book and it's ok to not like a book it's ok to not finish a book you know that's the power of of reading it's it's it's personal as i've said before but it's also something that you can just put away if you don't like thank you so much unfortunately this is all the time we have for today so to recap summer reading has many benefits toward students brains even though it takes up less time and energy it plays an essential role in helping to mold the minds of children and keep their academic skills from getting rusty in order to increase the purpose of page in the students in summer reading there needs to be a change on the teacher's part in which way they assign summer reading and on the students part importantly making changes to their work ethic the purpose of summer reading sue me to get students to read in order to fulfill this purpose teacher should really try to get the students more into summer reading by encouraging independent reading as well a possible alternate approach could be that the teachers could conduct a vote on what's what the students want to read in order to get students to read they must want to read if teachers are able to get more students read in the summer it could potentially spark their desire to read for pleasure throughout the entire year thank you so much for coming in and thank you for bringing this important topic to the community