I love summer. As a teacher I enjoy many weeks of leisure during the summer months. I try to stay productive and learn during this time but I also let go a bit. I swim, tan, grow my beard, talk a lot with my parents and watch a lot of T.V. I use this time to read too.
I love to read in the summer. I spend hours at the book store or at the library, at magazine racks. Nothing relaxes me more than to spend an entire day buried in a book. I already have my list of books to read for this summer plus some essays. On top of the pile I have Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat. Below that I’ve got Freud’s Vienna & Other Essays by Bruno Bettelheim and I want to finally read Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden.
Same as for teachers summer offers students time off. They usually take fewer courses and might even vacate work. If this describes you I suggest you read and work on your literacy skills. Focus, make intelligent choices and have a productive summer.
You don’t need to make it feel like work or a school project. With a simple approach you can dramatically improve your literacy skills this summer.
1. Take it little by little. You don’t need to work on this for hours. Read and/or write one hour a day. You don’t need more. It adds up. Read the paper one day. Read a magazine article or two the next. Write a letter to a friend. Keep a journal. Read a chapter in a book. Write a poem or song. Find and learn some new words in the dictionary and you’ve just worked on your literacy skills for seven hours in a week.
2. Don’t reinvent the wheel. You don’t need fancy technology or sophisticated techniques to increase your literacy. You just need practice and uninterrupted time. Actually too much technology could decrease your literacy skills. Turn off the computer, cell phone, T.V. and all those other plug-ins and just read and write. Don’t leave for the beach without a novel or your composition book in your bag.
3. Simple doesn’t mean easy. I don’t know of any pills you can take or audiotapes you can listen to that will make you a better reader or writer. No shortcuts exist. Yes you can take simple steps to increase your literacy but you have to do it. You need to practice and you need to practice regularly. Nothing valuable comes without intelligent, focused effort and I can’t think of many things more valuable than strong literacy skills.
4. Teach it. My students tell me they want to learn but words prove nothing. Only action proves intent. Students prove they want to learn when they come on time to every class, do extra work, rewrite all their compositions and do the other things I suggest they do to learn. I remind my students if they want to learn they need to teach. Nothing helps us clarify and understand a discipline better than when we teach it. We all have many opportunities to teach and learn. You can volunteer at an elementary school this summer and tutor children. Many students have parents and grandparents who can’t read or write English. Teach them. Write love and thank you letters to your parents and grandparents. Then teach them to read the letters. Start with the alphabet. Use the caption tool on your T.V. to read aloud with a family member. Teach a younger sibling how to write an academic composition. You have unlimited possibilities to teach.
A Miami Herald reporter recently quoted Shelton Berg the new dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. As a primary goal Berg wants to edit some of the required curriculum for students. He thinks they should play music more and sit less through theory courses. He believes in the power of practice.
Literacy like music takes time and intelligent practice to master. Don’t let your summer time slip away.
Copyright Bert Lorenzo, 2007
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