wvu summer reading assignment

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About Campus Read

• Introduce students to the intellectual climate of the campus. 
• Facilitate discussion, stimulate curiosity and provide a platform for deeper learning across disciplines. 
• Help new students make connections, acclimate to their new environment and have a common intellectual experience.  
• Further WVU’s commitment to finding purpose and defining our own stories. 

What we have been reading

Since 2015, WVU has selected a book to unite the community. 

• 2023-2024 Transcendent Kingdom
• 2022-2023 Interior Chinatown
• 2021-2022 The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border
• 2020-2021 The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
• 2019-20 Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
• 2018-19 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 
• 2017-18 Hidden Figures by Margot Shetterly
• 2016-17 Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• 2015-16 World War Z by Max Brooks 

NOMINATE A BOOK FOR 2025-2026

Do you know a book that would stimulate conversation and engage the campus and community?

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Really how important is the honors summer reading essay??

Current Students

Registration is open for summer term 2022.

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Be sure to keep up with the current Summer Term registration dates.

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SUMMER BOOST

Summer Boost is a program designed to help currently enrolled students at WVU increase their cumulative GPA and earn course credit during the summer term. This program will provide students with resources that will help in academic success. Upon completion of the program, with a C or better in each course, students are eligible for a summer stipend.

Become a problem solver. Be a decision maker. First, your degree. World-class academics at an exceptional value.

West Virginia University Summer Term PO Box 6800 Morgantown, WV 26506-6800

Student Questions? Email: [email protected]

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• Admitted Students

Honors Advance

About the program.

The Honors Advance program is an opportunity for first-year Honors students to have a smoother transition to college while building connections and earning three credits that will count toward the required 13 credits for the Honors Foundations program.

Register Now

Program Dates

Honors Advance will be three weeks long and take place from July 7-20, 2024 on the WVU campus. Students will live in one of the two Honors Learning-Living Community residence halls on campus, Lincoln Hall .

Participants

We have spaces reserved for incoming first-year Honors Foundations program students to have the opportunity to participate. Maximum enrollment is 16 students .

Students involved in Honors Advance will have the opportunity to:

Take a 3-credit Honors course

Participate in Adventure WV fun and activities

• Learn more about people, places, and resources on WVU campus

Live in Lincoln Hall, one of the two Honors LLC residence halls

Attend a Black Bears baseball game

The total cost for the program is approximately $1,850 . This includes a program fee as well as room and board. Tuition has been waived for the program's course.

NEED MORE INFORMATION?

The Honors College is happy to help answer questions. Reach out for information about Honors Advance and more today or visit our Honors Advance FAQ page. Visit the Honors Advance FAQ Page [email protected] (304) 293-2100

Students encouraged to find purpose as volunteers through summer reading program

Each summer, hundreds of volunteers provide life-changing experiences for West Virginia youths. Through the WVU Extension Service Energy Express summer reading program, AmeriCorps members, volunteers and others are helping to enhance reading and comprehension skills for students throughout the state.

Energy Express is an award-winning, a six-week reading and nutrition program offered in rural and low-income West Virginia communities. The program helps children entering first through sixth grade overcome the ‘summer slide’ that occurs when youths fall behind academically between school years, while also providing nutritious meals for the students.

“Energy Express really motivates kids to want to learn and lets them develop their own independence,” said Craig Westfall, 2019 site coordinator, Energy Express.

In 2019, more than 3,000 children across 38 West Virginia counties participated in the program, with 68 percent of those children maintaining or increasing their reading achievement levels . In addition, the Energy Express program served more than 103,300 meals and distributed nearly 30,000 take-home books related to the weekly theme. Many Energy Express locations also serve as community feeding sites, where 17,156 meals were served to other community youths.

“Our volunteers are the very heart of our Energy Express program. Without them, we would not be able to reach these students,” said Andrea Price, former WVU Extension Service 4-H Energy Express program director.

“As we work to enhance overall outcomes and reach more children, we need the wonderful skills and passion that our AmeriCorps members, 4-H members, college students and community volunteers provide.”

For volunteers like AmeriCorps member Nadia Johnson, seeing first-hand the effect their time and commitment can have on young people is one of the greatest rewards.

“Growing up, I wanted to have fun during the summer time and go back to school to learn new things and do new things a different way. For me to be able to do that for these kids, it just brings a joy in my heart because I can experience this with the kids.”

Applicants interested in serving through AmeriCorps as mentors or community coordinators must be 18 years of age by June 11 to apply. Position descriptions and applications may be found on the  Energy Express  website. The selection process begins March 1, with applications being accepted until all positions are filled.

Energy Express is a program under the leadership of WVU Extension Service’s 4-H Youth Development program. The AmeriCorps program is funded, in part, by grants from private foundations and corporations and Volunteer West Virginia, the state’s commission for national and community service.

In 2016, West Virginia’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth recognized Energy Express as the Red Wagon Award recipient for its commitment to helping West Virginia youths learn and grow through summer initiatives. Based on the success of Energy Express participants and the unique aspects of the program, the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University named the Energy Express program one of the nation’s best summer learning programs in 2009.  

For questions about the program or the application process, contact the WVU Extension Service Energy Express office at 304-293-3855.

tec/01/16/20

Call 1-855-WVU-NEWS for the latest West Virginia University news and information from WVUToday .

Follow @ WVUToday on Twitter.

Tara Curtis

Director of Communications and Marketing

WVU Extension Service

304.293.7996

[email protected]

First published: Friday, January 24, 2020

Summer Reading Assignments: How to Make Them Fun and Engaging

• May 14, 2023

Bid farewell to boring summer reading assignments! This post offers practical activities for making reading assignments fun and engaging for all students, even middle schoolers!

Allow Students Choice

Whether students are choosing a topic to write about or a book to read, you’ll notice that choice fosters buy-in, ownership, and motivation, so let them choose their summer reading titles.

Over the years, as both a student and a teacher, I’ve been required to read specific titles (too many to count). Except for once. 

I was attending a professional development session on literature circles, and we were directed to choose one book from a list of five. Imagine my delight! I felt motivated, so motivated that I read the book in a day. (The book was The Help , not a psychological thriller as I would normally choose, but definitely an anxiety-producing read.)  

This is one way to allow choice. Give students a list of titles to choose from.

But it’s not my favorite way. I prefer to let them choose any school-appropriate title they want to read. 

When doing this, students will need guidance because you have both readers and nonreaders in your classrooms. To solve this problem, view and discuss book trailers or review annotated reading lists with them. As you do, ask them to note three titles they are interested in reading on an index card. They’ll have a title chosen by the end of the period! (For details on this lesson with a list of recommended books, visit “Blog Post #20: Great Summer Reading Lists for Teens to Plunge into Today.” )

A Quick Summer Reading Assignment to See Who Read a Book

Alphabet reading check.

Even when summer reading is an assignment for the highest-performing students, not all will read during the summer. This can be a problem, especially when this assignment is the first major grade you’re taking for a new school year. To nip this in the bud, try this activity. It’s quick and challenging, and it will let you know who read during the summer. This, in turn, will give you the opportunity to conference with students and contact parents as needed before major summer reading assignments are due. 

• Each student will need one index card with a letter from the alphabet on it. (Use all letters, except for X and Z . You can write them on the cards, stick letters on them, or purchase and print my handouts.) Walk around the room and have each student draw a card without seeing the letter. 
• After each student has a card, have them write their names and book information (title and author) on the back of the card. On the front of the card, ask them to think of a word that begins with their assigned letter and connects to the novel. They will then write a paragraph that explains that connection. 
• Before they start writing, model the process with a novel you read. 
• If any students are stumped and can’t think of a word, then allow them to draw another card once more. This will help them (unless they haven’t read their summer reading book.) You will also find it helpful to allow a few volunteers to share their ideas for this assignment.

Of course, summer reading should be completed during the summer, and I don’t want to lower standards. However, I suggest making the assignments due a couple of weeks after school begins. This will help every student find success and allow new students time to complete the reading and assignments. 

Summer Reading Assignments

Summer reading choice boards.

Choice boards are a great way to differentiate, increase student engagement, and appeal to different learning styles. As a fan of giving students choice, these are my favorite of the summer reading assignments I’ve offered over the years. Here are two I’ve used.

A Writing Summer Reading Choice Board

At the end of one school year, our ELA team decided to shorten the summer reading assignment because we didn’t feel like we had enough class time to thoroughly cover the curriculum. (Our hour-and-a-half blocks had been cut to forty-five minutes to teach reading and writing and to prepare students for two state tests.) 

For this reason, we created one choice board for fiction and another for nonfiction. Both choice boards required students to choose and complete one writing assignment. 

The advantage to this is it’s short and sweet. You’ll spend one day on summer reading assignments rather than five days. The disadvantage is that it doesn’t appeal to a variety of learning styles. 

• At the top of the page, type a title, a space for a due date, and directions.
• Insert a table with nine cells onto a document or slide and stretch the table to fit the page.
• Type one writing assignment of equal difficulty (e.g., journal entries from the main character’s point of view, newspaper articles about significant events, a slideshow presentation that discusses themes, etc.) into each cell. 

A Choice Board that Appeals to Various Learning Styles

This choice board asks students to choose and complete three assignments. Students come up with some remarkable products, and it appeals to different learning styles. Plus, if you are short on time, you can modify the number of assignments you expect students to complete. 

• For this choice board, create a menu with points that add up to one hundred.
• Begin with three choices of easier assignments worth twenty points each (e.g., a bumper sticker with a theme, a social media profile for a character, etc.). 
• Move to more difficult assignments, again offering three choices (e.g., a book jacket, a movie poster, etc.) worth thirty points each. 
• Finally, end with the most difficult assignments at fifty points each (e.g., a scrapbook, trading cards, etc.). 
• Students choose and complete one assignment from each section.

Summer Reading One-Pagers

A summer reading one-pager allows students to use their creativity and critical thinking skills to showcase their understanding of a book. Plus, students like them because they only require one page! 

• Demonstrate what you expect students to accomplish by showing them examples of one-pagers. ( Chomping at the Lit offers some beautiful samples. After you complete the activity with one class, you can use your students’ work for examples.) 
• Instruct students to include images (e.g., symbols that represent the book) and words (e.g., themes, summaries, character traits, plot details, supporting quotes, etc.)
• Allow them to work with a template or a blank sheet of paper (their choice).
• If you want to hit a particular objective with the one-pager assignment, you can do that too. Take theme for an example. Students can include images and information that relate to a theme (or multiple themes) in their novel: topics, the theme itself, explanations of how themes are developed, and text-to-self, text, or world connections. Just make sure to review theme with them before you try this.

Bookmarks for Summer Reading

Another practical summer reading assignment is to have students create their own bookmarks with trifolds or eight-page books. 

• For the front of the bookmark, they can redesign the book’s cover. For the remaining pages, ask them to include whatever you want to assess (e.g., themes, summaries, literary devices, character traits, supporting quotes, sentences with specific phrases or clauses, etc.). 

How To Create a Trifold

• To create a trifold, fold a sheet of paper into thirds as you would a letter.

How To Create an Eight-Page Book

• Fold the paper in half three times hamburger style, 
• return to the first fold, 
• cut in the center on the folded side up to the crease, 
• return to an unfolded sheet, 
• fold the paper hotdog style, push the two ends together, and fold it into a book shape. 

Whichever you choose, model the book-folding process for students. 

Techie Summer Reading Assignments

Although 2020 caused many teachers to move away from technology use in the classroom, it has its advantages: student engagement, real-world learning, using it for instructional purposes, etc. 

With this in mind, if you have computers for every student, consider a technology choice board for summer reading assignments. Here are a few my students have had success with. 

• Novel-related infographics and collages with Canva . (Age restrictions apply for students under thirteen, but they can sign up for an account with parental permission.)
• Virtual museums with Slidesmania .
• Games on Kahoot . (In the U.S., there are age restrictions for students under 13. Also, it’s free for students and $3.99 a month for teachers.) 

Sharing Summer Reading Assignments

When their hard work is finished, many students will be excited to share it. One way I like to do this is with a line share. It doesn’t take much time, and it allows students to share their projects with multiple peers. 

• Have your students choose one part of their summer reading assignments to present to others.
• Ask them to form two lines with one line facing the other.
• Give them around five minutes to share their projects with their partners.
• When the allotted time has ended, have one line move one spot up with the person at the front of that line moving to the back.
• Allow them five minutes to share with their new partner.
• Repeat the last two steps a few times. 

Related Articles for Summer Reading Assignments

If you’d like a little help motivating students to read during the summer, visit “Blog Post #20: Great Summer Reading Lists for Teens to Plunge into Today.” Along with recommended middle school titles it includes links to Amazon, book trailers, and library associations.

If you’re interested in summer reading choice boards, slides with directions and graphic organizers for students, visit “Summer Reading Choice Boards” in my store.

Summer Reading Assignments in a Nutshell

• Allow students to choose their summer reading books. 
• Recommend titles by introducing them with book trailers.
• Do a quick reading check before major assignments are due to avoid future problems (e.g., failing grades).
• Give students class time to complete their summer reading assignments.
• Offer choice board, one-pager, bookmark, or techie summer reading assignments (whichever works best for you and your students). 

Thank you so much for reading! Please drop me a line in the comment section below to let me know what your students think of these summer reading assignments!

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Much Ado About Teaching

Summer reading in ap lit..

A few years ago I revamped my summer reading assignment.

It marked an important departure for me. It was a significant step in my growth as a teacher. I’ll explain why, but first I want to share what I have done in years past.

THE OLD SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT

My summer assignment has gone through different iterations over the years, but the gist of it has always been that the students had to read two books — How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines and 1984 — and develop an outline for each. There are many versions of this assignment online. Its probably where I first developed the idea. I must have Googled “ How to Read Literature Like a Professor summer assignment.” A bunch of results came up, and seeing that a lot of other teachers paired Thomas C. Foster’s work with another novel probably validated its worth in my mind.

I liked that both books were accessible and my students could find help online if they needed it.

I liked that I was introducing my students to good literature without ruining their summer with dense texts and mountains of work.

I liked that when students returned from school I could assess them by asking them to apply a chapter from How to Read Literature Like a Professor to 1984 .

I liked that I was doing something to prevent the summer slide.

THE PROBLEM WITH THE OLD ASSIGNMENT

There was nothing pedagogically wrong with my old summer reading assignment. But there were certain things about it that had bothered me over the years:

• Students can easily find summaries of How to Read Literature Like a Professor online ( like this link) .
• Many of my students are not readers of classic literature on their own. In spite of its cheeky humor and tone, they did not have the awareness of texts mentioned in How to Read Literature to fully appreciate the references.
• Students felt that How to Read Literature Like a Professor simplified the process of reading, reducing everything to either a symbol or an allusion.
• The assignment was not thoroughly thought through. It was too simplistic. Basically I was asking students to read and outline. I felt like I was simply following what others were doing without making this assignment a true reflection of my teaching and my goals.
• There wasn’t much feedback I could provide on an outline and consequently little room for growth.

THE GOALS OF SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS

I believe that when students are faced with low-rigor tasks, they create low achievement even when students do well on these tasks. In addition, such tasks contribute to the boredom students so often complain about when they spend too many hours on work that is routine and bland, often centered on discrete skills.

Outlining a text is a low-rigor task. It requires little skill beside extrapolation and summarization.

I want my summer assignments to have what I believe are the three principles of an effective assignment:

1. Effective assignments provide clear expectations about what should be completed, how it should be completed, and why the assignment is important.

I needed to rethink the final part of that criteria. While the original assignment provided clear expectations and walked students through the steps to be completed, it never explained why the assignment was important. When there is no value attached to an assignment, the work can feel like busy work.

Assignment-making requires teachers to clarify what learning is demonstrated and how it can be demonstrated. I needed to answer questions about purpose and relevance: “Why are my students doing this? What greater good will result from this work? As well as, are there significant concepts connected to the curriculum?”

2. Effective assignments are formative, providing feedback that allows teachers to adjust their instruction and scaffold learning.

I also needed to understand how my teaching can be informed by what the students completed. This is where the outlines of the prior assignment failed to be valuable. I was learning nothing about my students nor anything about their thinking.

With the new summer assignment adjustments would I make based on the work that students produced? What was I learning about their reading skills or their writing skills?

Good assignments, whether in the summer or during the school year, should inform instruction, giving teachers a chance to assess skills and modify instruction accordingly.

3. Effective assignments set high expectations and provide pathways to achieve those expectations.

I want the new assignment to communicate high expectations for critical thinking and levels of analysis. I want my students to be challenged no matter what skill sets or content background they bring into the course.

WHAT MY STUDENTS ARE DOING INSTEAD

• I want my students to have a summer experience that is not punitive but is preparatory. I don’t want to punish them with mountains of work or use a summer assignment as a gatekeeper for the class. I want to set a foundation for the enjoyment that comes from reading, thinking, and writing creatively and analytically.
• I want my students to see that great ideas can be expressed in a variety of formats. Therefore, they will read blog articles, watch YouTube videos, and read poems as well as a novel.
• I want them to learn from readers, writers, and thinkers that I admire. I’m not just handing them books and asking them to read them, I want them to observe how others analyze and how others approach the act of writing.  These pieces have the levels of analysis that will promote high expectations for my students.
• I want them to choose the novel they read, not have one assigned to them.
• I want them to have a space of their own creation (their StudyTee Notes) where they will respond to each text that they encounter in thoughtful and diverse ways.

THE SUMMER READING TEXTS

• StudyTee’s Note-Taking Method
• The NerdWriter Analyzes Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks”
• Leo Babauta’s Why I Read (+ a Dozen Book Recommendations)
• Any novel on this list or this one
• Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day

Download the Summer Reading Assignments for Susan Barber and Brian Sztabnik

Concluding thoughts.

I know that I am asking my students to complete somewhat unorthodox summer assignments. They are not being handed a textbook or a stack of novels and asked to complete a series of study guide questions or outlines. There comes a point in a teacher’s career when he or she stops doing things just because everyone else is doing them and strikes out on his or her own path.

And this has been that moment for me.

Instead, I am giving them models of critical thinkers. I am exposing them to a variety of texts across a span of genres. I am giving them the power to choose the novel and poems that they want to read. And it will have clear expectations, an understanding of why each component of the assignment is important, a chance for me to gain formative feedback, and high expectations for success.

Brian Sztabnik is just a man trying to do good in and out of the classroom. He was a 2018 finalist for NY Teacher of the Year, a former College Board advisor for AP Lit, and an award-winning basketball coach.

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