A few students in each class had already begun reading the story one or two days earlier. Most of the students who started reading the story today just read it, no problems. Occasionally a couple of students would lose focus, but after talking to them, they went back to reading. I should have given 1st period more time to read, several students need to finish it for homework, which I wanted to avoid doing.
And then some students resisted reading it. They probably had a lot of reasons - being nervous about a longer story, getting bored because no action immediately happened, feeling anxious about missing other work. But a few students in each class just refused to read. They sat there, read a few sentences, then stopped, looked at their phones, went back to other work, insisted that the story wasn't good. But every student who finished a story said they liked it by the end. But those students who didn't want to read it or had a hard time trying to read it still consume my thoughts. Here's what I think:
I want summer school to help students improve their habits as learners, not just have them make up work. If I gave them worksheets and simple tasks to do, they might learn some facts, and then forget them after a few months. So that would be a waste of their time. But if they work on their skills, like HOW they read, HOW they write, HOW they revise and edit their work, HOW they do research - then they can use these skills in their next year in school. And my hope is that if they practice these skills enough in summer school, then their next year in school will be easier for them. I have seen this happen before where students become better workers during summer school and then improve the next year. But in order to improve, you need to give things a good try, and keep going with them even if you feel bored or uncomfortable, because sometimes things that help you are new and challenging at first, but then you get used to them. Like:
Using a fork and knife
Tying your shoes
Flossing your teeth
Learning to read
Learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
Learning how to play games and sports
It's all hard at first, but the more you practice, the better you get. But if instead of practicing, you give up, or complain, or go to sleep, you never get good at it, and it always seems hard, boring, or uncomfortable. And I'm trying to get students to improve so they don't feel like reading or writing is hard, boring, or uncomfortable.