May 15, 2005
How Freshman Summer Reading Projects Succeed
We held commencement exercises at Seton Hill yesterday. That means "summer break" is here, though there's still a little grading to be done, graduate modules to teach, five or six freshman orientation sessions to attend as advisor this summer (!), and other things I've been tasked to do as interim division chair of the Humanities this past semester.
One thing our campus does every summer is give a free book to all incoming freshmen during those aforementioned orientations, and early in the first semester we host a large book discussion en masse with all the students, faculty, and staff who want to participate. Generally speaking, it's a good bonding experience, and a great introduction to the sort of literate college life we hope to foster at Seton Hill.
LOTS of colleges have similar programs, too. I notice that schools in our region, like Slippery Rock University, are running them too. Even our "nemesis" out east, Seton Hall University, is hosting a Freshman Reading Project. I say "nemesis" only because people PERPETUALLY confuse their school's name with ours. And ironically, I notice the book selection at the Other SHU this year is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon...the exact same choice as ours!
Since I teach freshman composition I've participated in this program every year, and I generally enjoy it even though it seems like many of the incoming students don't bother to read the assigned title. I think it's good for them anyway to be exposed to the college as a "discourse community" where people get together and talk about texts (and facilitating such a process is essentially all that I do for a living!) But it's also important to try to encourage the students to read the book and actively learn from the experience. I try to accomplish this on my own by integrating the book into my course as much as I can, and at minimum I usually have a "post-discussion" discussion in the classroom, where the students can, at least, share their thoughts about the reading program.
I like to use the web to enhance my preparation for this project, and given what I see online at other schools, I think our campus could better use the web to promote the project. Discussion questions for most mainstream books are almost always available from their publishers anymore, and I easily found the discussion group page for Vintage Contemporaries (which includes questions specific to Curious Incident) since it's listed right on the back cover of the book itself. I notice that a number of colleges that host Freshman Reading Projects have websites dedicated to the project that explain the motives, the processes, and the books themselves online so students can prepare. I really like the design of Temple University's page, which is so well-done it makes me want to rush out and read the book they're using this summer, West of Kabul, East of New York by Tamim Ansary.
I notice that Temple enhances their selection by inviting the author to be a guest speaker on campus. This is one of many tactics that can really enhance the experience for the students and encourage reading. We were lucky enough to do a similar thing last year, with author James McBride, who talked with students about his book, The Color of Water, to much success...and I'm sure it got people reading if they hadn't read it beforehand. Duke University hosts a reflective panel discussion that includes the author and faculty. The University of Texas at Austin hosts a "reader roundup" which gives the Freshman a LIST of books that they can choose from, each one proposed by a different faculty member, and then the faculty who put the book on the list hosts an intimate discussion with all the freshman who chose that title.
Our college usually has "break out" small groups that discuss a list of questions that are handed out, and then we gather together in one large hall to "report" from the groups and have a large shared dialogue. We've talked about switching this order, and moving from large group to small, in order to give the students who hadn't read some issues they can discuss even if they're not directly emergent from the book. We've also discussed possibly hosting the small groups a week or so AFTER the mass discussion, to give students more time to read, in hopes that the mass discussion sparks interest. And I hope I'm not giving away anything here by saying we've also bandied about Dennis Jerz's concept of using weblogs as a way for students to discuss the title before classes begin, though such a method would pose challenges.
I have a feeling that ultimately the selection itself makes a big difference. Curious Incident is a literate bestseller, but it's also a sort of children's book with lots of pictures. I bet we'll get a good response. Reading is worthy no matter what, but as I learned in my graduate teaching experiences, you cannot rely on the assumption that a book will teach itself. It's important to have a good series of questions that raise issues in the book since freshman -- many of whom may never have a read an entire novel on their own -- might not notice the issues or read very closely the first time through. Likewise, those freshman that are avid readers already will feel a sense of community when they come to campus. Critical reading is a skill that takes time to master, so I think it's important to re-read books, too, and I'm glad to see that some of my colleagues in the English program have integrated the summer reading titles into their lit classes, as well.
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Comments
It's interesting to note that I've been through this process and that next year, as an RTA, I'll be assisting with it. I'm looking forward to helping with the discussion because, well, what English major doesn't want to read and discuss?!
Really, though, the idea of having a blog, website, or message board to assemble thoughts before the large group exercises might be a nice idea. If it's working for other universities, we should investigate that. In what capacities is it helping freshmen--do they feel more welcome, or do they just know more about the book before the discussion? If both of those concepts could be pushed as goals for a possible communication medium for the freshman summer reading project, I think that more freshmen would actually read the book and have something to say.
Discussion is a good way to get to know people, online or in-person. What a great ice-breaker. It's probably not plausible to have something like that going for this year, is it, Dr. A? I think it would enhance the experience as a whole... and you could have the RTAs get in on the fun, too :-)
Hey Karissa!
Thanks for posting! It might be do-able, but the main problem is organizing a crack team of bloggers/RTAs to maintain it and getting the word out there to the new freshman. It's probably too late for this year, but with planning it might be able to happen next. Dr. Jerz is likely developing some plans along these lines, but it also depends on support from the faculty & administration.
Yes, I'm planning to propose a new summer online course, "Writing about Literature," that would take place online mostly via weblogs. In addition to the usual close reading and research paper, we'd also focus on journalism forms such as the book review, or literary reporting (such as a story on a trend in new fiction, or a book-to-movie translation). My goal would be always to include on the syllabus the book that we'll be discussing as summer reading, and also to give the class room to vote for one or two novels (as part of an early exercise designed to get students reading book reviews, in preparation for writing them later in the course).
I'm already on page 60 of The Curious Incident... it reads very quickly.
And by the way... I can't think of a more perfect opportunity to put your math and philosophy courses to good use.
Mike,
Interesting thoughts. We are definitely interested in exploring the use of blogs to help with our summer reading program for first-year students.
Several questions have arisen from colleagues... would you allow students to post anonymously or using a screen name? Do you want to allow/encourage others to participate? Wouldn't one big blog be unwieldy (would it be better to ask several people, perhaps first-year advisors, to create blogs targeted to smaller audiences)?
I'll track down the links you provide for more examples... Thanks for a timely and thoughtful post!
One of the goals proposed to the Faculty Senate by the committee that reviewed our students' responses to the National Survey of Student Engagement is that faculty facilitate more reading among students. Choosing an engaging book for the first year student reading project seems to contribute to that. It isn't the case, though, that only incoming students can benefit from reading a common book. I'd like us to encourage returning students, as well, to join the conversation. Assigning the chosen book in literature classes strikes me as a good idea because it will include returning students in the community experience. I'd like us to look for additional ways to do this.
I've led small group discussions of the first-year reading selection for the past few years, and I find it somewhat painful, primarily because so few of the participants have actually read the book. Could we ask those who are unprepared to bow out of the group discussions?
If the discussion took place a little bit later in the year, there would be time for us to assign a brief "are you keeping up with the readings" quiz in STW, and then assign them a short writing exercise. My memory is that the meeting came up so fast there wasn't time to talk about it in my 11am section (though if I'd had a 9am section, I could have discussed it right before the meeting).
You may not be in the position to know this, but do you notice any correlation between students from high schools which required summer reading and students who do your summer reading? I am curious, because I teach at a private high school, and our English dept. requires our students to read 3 books (drama or novel) each year before school. I wondered if it might be something habit-forming. Also, I LOVED this book.
That's a great question, Dana. I'm really not sure...no way for me to tell. But I suspect you're right that the earlier reading habits are formed, the more likely a later reading assignment will succeed. I'd assume, for example, that those summer reading programs that libraries spoonsor for very young children often produce lifelong readers (I know they did with me!).
-- Mike A.
Update: Today we had the campus discussion of Haddon's Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Students clustered in groups with their academic advisors in classrooms to have discussions. Our group was comprised mostly of new English majors and it was very in-depth and focused...it seemed to me that everyone had actually read the book and had thoughts to share. After an hour of that, all the cluster groups met in the auditorium to hear a panel discussion that raised medical/psychological, mathematical, and political issues related to autism. Then the floor opened for speakers to share or raise questions. The panel was quite good but the final "open mic" section seemed to fail -- I suspect that so many people were in the auditorium -- and so many were exhausted with the topic by that point -- that there was little energy left for them to speak.
Is it worth all this? I'm still mulling this over. I think our English-major cluster group did a great job, but I'm not sure that experience carried over to other groups. Still: the students got to see their advisors outside of class, to talk about a book without the potential judgment of grades or other evaluations being made, and to truly have a student-centered literary experience. On balance, I'd say it's a great idea, but it never meets the expectations that faculty have for it.
A colleague rightfully reminded me today that Curious Incident is by no means a "children's book" -- and I didn't mean to characterize it as such. It's actually more like an "illuminated manuscript" and even a sort of scholarly inquiry with visual "evidence." But I do think the images will appeal to the curious young reader.