Summer Slide and Other Ways of Knowing

The end of the school year nears. It is a hectic time for teachers. Many are trying to get the last of the curriculum delivered, assignments marked, tests updated and prepared ... all the while many students are already on vacation in their minds. See them gazing out the window?

This time of year is marked by teachers who worry about summertime learning erosion. The thought is that the information and skills students have developed through the year will slowly disintegrate over the summer unless honed and recalled on a regular basis.

This is a concern. Heck, it happens over the two-week break at Christmas! However, I can't help but think that if they knew this stuff - if they really knew it - wouldn't it be like riding a bike? Wouldn't they simply pick it up when they get back? How much stuff is forgotten over the summer? What do I forget during my brief summer break? The question may be more aptly put like this: what kinds of stuff do we forget?

To start with, anything that we have tried to memorize is often forgotten. This includes content, meaningless lists of facts, and the exact formatting of assignments. These are casualties of summer slides. However, we do not forget how to read, add, multiply, type, search ... we do not lose the skills we have. We lose the list of answers we were given.

And students blissfully forget how to live within the regular timing of bells. Can you blame them?

I suppose if the education we delivered to the students mirrored more closely their life, there really would not be anything to worry about, since they would be practicing these skills everyday - summer or not. If education was relevant and meaningful it would not slip away.

Let's stop worrying about 'summer slide' and spend more time making learning relevant.