Annually, this is the time of year parents and teachers share concerns that students forget academic concepts, since they’re not in school several months. It’s often called, “Summer-Slide.” Yet, how much does consistency affect students’ comprehension and academic progress?
Summer-slide, based solely on a lack of school, one, assumes teachers have done an inadequate job during the school year and that students have not done their job as learners for the past 9 months; and two, assumes “forgetting” or a lack of comprehension doesn’t happen during the school year, which overlooks any student’s (or our own) experience that concepts are memorized for a test and promptly forgotten the next week (or day.)
Perhaps, summer months give students’ minds a break to refresh and refocus, so more concepts can be learned. They may even (re-)discover a talent or complete other needed tasks to help them focus when school starts again. Listen to our next podcast about summer break’s possibilities.
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Jill Yoshikawa, Ed M, is a University of California and Harvard trained educator and Partner at Creative Marbles Consultancy. You can contact Jill at [email protected] or, read her short biography.
