Summer Reading: the Why, the How, and the When (Part Two)

By Maria Theresa

Part Two: The How and When

Parents, now that we’ve reviewed the reasons behind the assignment, I’d like to address the how and when of summer reading. Summer reading assignments come in various styles and forms. Likewise, the decision of when to start them can vary, depending on the type of assignment.

The How: Types of Summer Reading Assignments

In addition to reading the book(s) that have been assigned for summer reading, your child’s teacher will most likely have an assignment that accompanies the reading. This assignment counts for a first quarter grade and helps the teacher assess if the student has read the books.

While the summer reading texts may be decided by the English Department Chair or part of the curriculum’s required reading, the follow-up assignment is often left to the individual teacher’s choice. As a result, the method of how the Summer Reading Assignment is assessed varies from teacher to teacher.

If your child has received a Summer Reading Packet, I would recommend reading through the packet with them. Your child’s teacher has most likely outlined what the assignment is and how it will be graded. In the meantime, here are some of the most popular types of follow-up assignments.

Comprehensive Exam: Your child’s teacher may choose to give a test on the book(s). This test will include general questions about the novel’s plot, characters, setting, conflict, and theme. It may also include quotes from the book and ask the students to identify which of the characters said the quote. For these types of exams, teachers aren’t looking to “trick” students or ask questions that are too difficult. What we want is to see is how well the students are acquainted with the book and how much of their reading they are able to recall. If this is the type of assignment your child has received, I would encourage your child to take notes as they read. They will want to identify important characters, events, and details from the book. They may want to preemptively think through some of the book’s themes and major ideas. They should also write down or research important quotes from the book and why they are significant.

Dialectical Journal: A “dialectical journal” is similar to the notes I described in the previous section. For a dialectical journal, the student is expected to find significant quotes from the text, reference the page number, provide a personal insight, and explain the quote’s significance in the story. If your child has been assigned a dialectical journal for their summer reading assignment, they should review any rubric or assignment expectations. Their teacher may have a minimum number of quotes that should be included in their assignment. The teacher may also have expectations outlined regarding the format of the students’ writing.
Reading Packet/ Study Guide: For study guides, teachers will provide important information to know before reading the novel. These guides will also include questions that the students will need to answer as they read through the book. Most study guides are divided into sections. The sections could be individual chapters or several chapters grouped together. Depending on the teacher, there may also be vocabulary words from the books that the students are required to define. Like the dialectical journal, the teacher may include a rubric with the assignment. If so, it’s important to review the grading expectations before starting the assignment. 😊
Research Projects and/or Presentations: After reading the novel, your child’s teacher may assign a research-based project, essay, or presentation. These assignments may require more work than the average summer reading assignment and are more popular among AP Classes. For these assignments, your child will be expected to conduct research on the book(s) the class has read. Then, your child will be expected to present their research at the start of the school year. Since AP classes are academically rigorous, AP teachers will often use this model to help prepare their students for the type of work that the course will require.

The When: When Should My Child Begin the Assignment?

When to begin a summer reading assignment is an important question for students and their parents to ask. Unfortunately, the answer is not straight-forward. Rather, the answer depends on a few of the following variables:

What type of book has been assigned? Is this a classical novel, an autobiography, or a young adult novel? The type of book may influence your child’s interest level. If your child is interested in learning more about World War II and their teacher has assigned Night by Elie Wiesel or The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, they may be more engaged in reading the assigned text. However, if the text does not align with their interests, it might be helpful to set aside more time to complete the reading.
What is your child’s reading fluency? If your child is a gifted reader or loves books, they may not need as much time to read the assigned book(s). When people read more, they often read faster as they have a higher literacy level. However, if your child is still working on becoming a better reader, reserving more time to read the book(s) is a good idea. By giving themselves more time to read, they are able read shorter amounts each day. Rather than trying to average ten chapters a day, they can read two chapters a day for five days. This will make the reading process a lot more achievable for the developing reader.

What type of assignment is it? The type of assignment greatly impacts how much time should be set aside to completing the assignment. For example, if your child is taking a comprehensive test on the book(s), then reading the book(s) a few weeks before the start of the school year is doable. In fact, reading it right before the start of the school year might help as the events and details from the text are still fresh in the reader’s mind. If, however, your child receives a study guide or research project, they will need time to both read the book(s) and complete the assignment.

Does your family have any upcoming trips or special occasions? Summer is a beautiful time to bond as a family. From beach days to family vacations or weddings, the summer is filled with wonderful opportunities to make memories together! As teachers, we never want to take away from that. We want your child to fully embrace those moments and enjoy their summer vacation. Therefore, when considering when to begin summer reading, I’d encourage you to take those fun plans into account. If you have an end-of-the-summer trip planned for the last week of August, your child will benefit from completing the assignment before the trip. Not only will they go on the trip invigorated by the success of their accomplishment, but this will also eliminate any unnecessary anxiety they could otherwise experience.

How Jamie The Scholar Can Help

As we begin August and bring the season to a close, the deadlines for summer reading may start to feel a little more real. Here, at Jamie the Scholar, we want to encourage you that there’s no need for worry. There’s still plenty of time before the start of school, and we’re here to provide your child with the support they may need in completing their summer reading assignment.

If your child could benefit from some assistance with their summer reading assignment, please consider giving us a call at 888-577-3224 to schedule a free consultation! We have an incredible team of tutors with various specialties who would be happy to help your child have a successful rest of their summer!

Summer Reading: the Why, the How, and the When (Part One)

By Maria Theresa

Your child breathes a sigh of relief. After ten months of hard work, finals are over; fourth quarter projects and essays have been submitted, and it is finally summer vacation! Congratulations, students! You did it!

Later, you receive an email or text alert from the school’s administration. Your child’s summer reading assignment has been sent out, and you’re a little torn with what to do next.

Do you insist that your child get started right away on the work? Do you give them some time to decompress and relax? After all, summer vacation is a whole ten to twelve weeks. That should be more than enough time to get the work done, right?

Then a feeling of worry comes over you. If they wait too long, will they be able to finish the work before the start of the new school year? Will they be motivated to complete the assignment?

These are all important questions when tackling the task of summer reading. Here at Jamie the Scholar, we hope to offer some helpful insights, starting with part one of a two-part series on summer reading.

Part One: The Why

When I was a teenager, I remember receiving the Summer Reading assignment, instantly rolling my eyes, and exhaling a sigh of annoyance. I was frustrated, and I didn’t understand. If it’s a break, why are they giving us work to do? Why can’t I read what I want to read? Don’t we get assigned enough classical literature during the school year?

Sound familiar?

The irony is I eventually grew up to become an English teacher who has assigned her fair share of summer reading assignments.

The story of how I transitioned from disgruntled student to classicist and bibliophile is a beautiful story but also a very long one. I will save that story for another day. However, what I want you to know is that I do understand the frustration and confusion. Simultaneously, I also understand the purpose of the assignment and why it’s a practice that schools have preserved over the years.

First: Most of Us Aren’t Reading Enough

Essentially, reading is one of the healthiest activities we can engage in when it comes to our cognitive development. According to research on student reading habits, even 15 to 20 minutes a day outside of school can make a measurable difference in literacy growth. I address it more extensively in a previous blog, which is worth a look if you haven’t seen it yet.

But the research alone doesn’t always make the case feel personal, so this is how I’ve explained it to my students: reading is to your mind what vegetables and exercise are to your body. While some may naturally enjoy eating vegetables and working out, some of us don’t. Would it be a healthy decision, then, for us to avoid vegetables and exercise? Absolutely not. Likewise, reading is something we want to be doing, even if the love for it doesn’t come naturally.

When we start a new workout regimen or incorporate more vegetables into our diet, it’s not easy at first. Over time though, we become stronger and the workouts seem less intimidating. We find that we’re able to tackle harder exercises. After experimenting with new recipes or seasonings, we find ourselves enjoying broccoli! The same can be said about reading. The more we practice it, the more we can grow to enjoy it.

As educators, whenever we assign any type of at home reading, the principle of how important it is for intellectual growth is always there. When we also consider that minimum suggestion for how much we should be reading a day, those reading assignments become very achievable.

To answer my younger self’s question of why English teachers are assigning reading over summer break: it is for the same reason a doctor would encourage yoto continue working out and eating well, even if you just finished a marathon! For those skills and development to be maintained, continued effort and practice are needed to sustain them.

Second: Text Assignments

Now, this is an area that’s more ambivalent when it comes to summer reading. While the traditional model involves an assigned text that aligns with the upcoming school year’s course, this is not always the case.

Sometimes, students are given a list of suggested texts and permission to pick. You may belong to a school where your child can read a text of their own choosing and submit a “book report” on their selection.

If I’m being transparent, I’ve recommended this approach to summer reading in several department meetings. While, of course, I want my students to have a comprehensive familiarity with classical literature, since it’s summer, I have been supportive of more student-choice.

Unfortunately, this model is rare in contrast to the standard approach. Still, there are reasonable justifications for its rarity.

The purpose behind why your child’s teacher has opted for a particular text could be due to a variety of different reasons. It most likely aligns with the course goals/theme. For example, if your child is entering eleventh grade and studying American Literature, their summer reading very well could be The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

When it comes to why summer reading is often a classical novel, here are a few reasons:

Even if your child is on the Honors/AP Track, their assigned reading will only account for a small percentage of all the classical literature there is to know. There are so many incredible stories but such little time. For example, in Global Literature classes, we may introduce students to The Odyssey or Dante’s Inferno. Even then, we’re usually just reading excerpts from those texts, not the entire work. By assigning a piece of classical literature, we are equipping your child by adding to the canon of classical literature they have been exposed to.
While there’s definitely a place for young adult novels, graphic novels, and more contemporary fiction, there’s a reason why these pieces of literature have survived the ages. They are timeless stories that capture human experience. They reflect and preserve the time period during which they were written, and their content is so profound that they have outlived their writers, some of them by centuries.

Classical literature has inspired many beloved modern stories. Not many people know this, but Shakespeare is not the first writer to tell the story of King Lear. Centuries before him, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote about the tragic king in his book, Historia Regum Britanniae. Stories go on to inspire other stories. In the same way that Shakespeare was inspired by Monmouth, many of today’s writers are producing new content inspired by the great works that precede them. When finishing our unit study on A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, I would show my students The Dark Knight Rises by Christopher Nolan. This 21st Century screenplay about an American comic book character was inspired by a 19th Century British novel about the 18th Century French Revolution.

Last but not least, while your child may not be able to choose the novel they read for summer reading, summer does offer them that time to read!

Third: Encouraging Reading as a Summer Activity

Summer can be a very productive time for young people! Some teenagers get summer jobs. Some take summer classes or pursue trade programs. Some spend the entire summer with their family traveling. Then, there are some who find themselves a little bored.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, it’s very tempting to waste time when there’s a surplus of it. Reading is one of those activities that is both relaxing and productive. Helping young minds develop good habits is a big part of our goal as teachers.

Instead of looking at summer reading as a “chore,” we could look at it as another fun summertime activity. Like going kayaking or camping, reading can be an excellent way to enjoy the extra time that summer brings.

Of course, knowing why summer reading matters is only half the picture. Knowing how to approach it makes all the difference.

Part Two of this series, covering the how and when of summer reading, is on its way. Keep an eye out for it here on the blog.

While You Wait for Part Two

Whether your student is working through their summer reading list or facing other assignments before the new school year begins, Jamie The Scholar is here to help. Our tutors work alongside students, not over them, to build the reading habits and confidence that carry into the classroom.

Call us at 888-577-3224 or check out our website to schedule a free consultation.

What Makes a Successful Admissions Essay?

What Makes a Successful Admissions Essay

Many students imagine college admissions officers as some of the most brilliant people in the world — carefully judging every sentence and measuring a student’s worth with a fine-tooth comb. That idea can feel overwhelming.

That’s not the reality — not by a long shot, not even for the most selective of schools.

Admissions officers are regular people doing a busy job. They may read 50 to 100 essays in a single day. They’re not searching for perfection — nor are they required to, as perfection is fantasy.

They’re looking for essays that capture their interest and help them remember a student among many.

So how can you make your essay stand out?

Tell a clear, personal story

Strong essays focus on a specific moment or experience. You don’t need a dramatic life story. Students often stress about not having a story that’s tragic enough to tell: this is a good thing! Most reasonable adults aren’t hoping for severely traumatized students who had to face horrors and injustices before their brains were fully developed.

Even small, ordinary moments can be powerful if they show something meaningful about you.

The only task you have as a student is to make meaning and engage your reader.

A well written story helps the reader stay engaged and understand who you are.

Use your authentic voice

Many students try to sound overly formal or “impressive.”

One common mistake that we see in admissions essays is using the essay to recreate your resume in prose form rather than bullets.

Furthermore, they focus on overselling themselves: they discuss how they are ALWAYS honest, ALWAYS eager to learn, ALWAYS perfect, perfect, perfect.

But this often makes the essay feel fake.

Admissions officers can tell when a voice isn’t genuine.

Write the way you naturally speak — clear, honest, and true to yourself. Don’t be afraid to use humor or reveal your dreamy nature.

Your real voice is what makes your essay memorable — it turns an essay into a human voice rather than just another robotic resume.

Your personal essay also shouldn’t be written in the same formulaic style in which you write for school: it’s a place to flex your creative muscles and show some of your unique flourish.

Show reflection and growth

It’s not enough to describe what happened in a story.

For students who choose to detail descent into the underworld narratives, this is often the big mistake: they detail a severe trauma…and then expect the reader to make meaning of it and choose them out of sympathy.

Empathy is something that’s on a spectrum: it can’t be guaranteed your reader will feel the way you feel or even have sophisticated skills of emotional empathy. Admissions officers are ordinary, diverse people — like anyone in any career field.

Therefore, you need to explain what you learned. You need to make meaning.

Surprise the reader: bloom from mud like a lotus flower.

How did the experience change you? What did it teach you about yourself or the world?

Reflection shows maturity and critical thinking, while helping the reader see your personal growth and individual personality.

Trying to include too many topics can make your essay confusing.

A common error in personal essays for college admissions is treating it like an autobiography of your life story from birth do current day when you really need to be treating it like a miniature memoir.

Instead, choose one central theme or story and build your essay around it.

A focused essay is easier to follow and leaves a stronger impression.

Use specific details

Avoid general statements like “it was important” or “I learned a lot.”

This is where your skills of creative writing matter.

Use strong verbs, vivid adjectives, and descriptions that appeal to the senses. Show, don’t just tell.

Make the reader feel as if they are with you by providing clear examples. Describe small details, actions, or moments.

These rhetorical choices bring your story to life and make it more interesting to read.

Keep your writing clear and simple

Another problem that is see-through: the student that tries to drop “ten-cent” words every other sentence.

They discuss their ignominious feelings after losing a contest.

They describe their truculent fights with a sibling. They bemoan the ubiquitous toxic messages on social media.

They have the admissions officer scrambling for a dictionary, even at schools like Harvard.

You don’t need complicated sentences or big words to impress anyone.

In fact, simple and clear writing is often stronger. Admissions officers read quickly, so your ideas should be easy to understand.

Clear writing shows confidence and strong communication skills.

Save the ten-cent words for SAT studies.

Show your values and purpose

A main goal of admissions isn’t to choose a PERFECT student, but to choose a student that fits with the values and ideology of the campus and its student demographics.

Therefore, by the end of your essay, the reader should understand what matters to you.

What do you care about? What motivates you?

Your essay should give insight into your character.

Revise and improve your draft

As I always tell my students, real writing IS revising.

It’s not until you’re revising that you’re actually writing.

Before then, you’re drafting.

No great essay is written in one try. (And no, ChatGPT doesn’t write great essays — it writes mostly grammatically sound and minimally competent essays, but not great).

Strong essays go through many revisions.

This is where tutoring can be especially helpful.

A tutor or mentor can guide you, give feedback, and help you strengthen your ideas and structure.

In the end, a successful admissions essay isn’t about being a genius (why would you need college at all if you’re already so great?)

It’s about being authentic, caring, curious, clear, and committed to continued growth.

Remember, the person reading your essay is human. They’re tired, busy, hungry, and reading many essays in a row.

When your writing feels honest and engaging, it gives them a reason to pause — and to remember you.

Getting support on your admissions essay

Whether your student is still finding their voice on the page or working through their fifth revision, Jamie The Scholar can help. Our tutors work alongside students — not over them — to strengthen ideas, sharpen structure, and make the writing feel like theirs.

Call us at 888-577-3224 or visit jamiethescholar.com.

Visit jamiethescholar.com or call us at 888-577-3224 for a free consultation to get started

Can Tutoring Help with the John Locke Essay Competition?

Can Tutoring Help with the John Locke Essay Competition? And is it Good Preparation for College?

And is it Good Preparation for College?

The John Locke Essay Competition is one of the most prestigious academic writing contests for middle school and high school students. Every year, thousands of students from around the world compete for recognition and prizes.

Parents and students often ask two key questions:

Can tutoring help students succeed in the John Locke Essay Competition?
Is preparing for this competition good practice for college?

As a writer with a long history of contest participation as well as a tutor who has mentored many students on contest preparation through courses designed around Scholastic and John Locke, I can confidently say that the answer to both questions is yes.

With the right guidance and preparation, students can build powerful writing and research skills that help them both in the competition and in future college-level work.

What is the John Locke Essay Competition?

The John Locke Essay Competition is an international academic contest for students under age 18. It’s run by the John Locke Institute and focuses on subjects such as philosophy, politics, economics, history, law, and psychology.

Students choose one question from a subject category and write an essay answering it. The prompts are designed to test critical thinking and argument skills rather than simple knowledge. They give nuanced and difficult questions.

For example, here are a few questions from this year:

If legislators and judges all accepted the philosophical theory of determinism, what would be the effect on criminal sentencing?
Should a coalition of countries (or of billionaires) run an experiment with a libertarian microstate?
Did the pandemic normalize authoritarianism?
Why do we care what happens to our body after death?
‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ Is it? Does it?

The competition is named after John Locke, the famous philosopher whose ideas about liberty, government, and natural rights influenced modern democratic societies.

Judges are looking for essays that show the following:

clear arguments
logical reasoning
nuanced thinking
thoughtful research
original ideas
persuasive academic writing

In other words, students must think like young philosophers and scholars.

How Competitive Is the John Locke Essay Competition?

The John Locke Essay Competition is known for being highly competitive.

It’s one of the most prestigious writing prizes bestowed on a young writer.

Each year, thousands of students from top schools across the world submit essays. Only a small percentage of essays are shortlisted, and an even smaller group receives prizes, which include scholarship money and a trip to Oxford, England.

And the competition is getting steeper every year.

In 2025, 63,000 candidates entered: there were 25 winners across subject and junior categories. There were also runners up in each category. In total, there were around 100 recognized students.

To compare, in 2023, 19,000 candidates entered with 100 recognized students.

Because of this, many students take the competition very seriously, looking for mentorship when preparing their essays.

Success in the competition usually requires more than strong grammar. Students must learn how to develop an argument, analyze complex questions, and structure a persuasive essay of the highest caliber.

How Tutoring Can Help with the John Locke Essay Competition

Tutoring can play a valuable role in helping students prepare for the John Locke Essay Competition.

Unlike typical school assignments, these essays ask students to explore difficult philosophical and political ideas. A tutor can help students break down these questions and develop a strong response.

Here are several ways tutoring can help:

Understanding the Essay Question & Brainstorming

Many prompts are broad and abstract. Tutors help students interpret the question and narrow it into a clear thesis while brainstorming different ways to look at the argument and various avenues of research.

Building Strong Arguments

Students learn how to support their ideas using logic, evidence, and examples.

Improving Essay Structure

Tutors help students organize their essays with clear introductions, strong body paragraphs, and effective conclusions.

Navigating the Research Process

Tutors can provide guidance — and often access — to scholarly databases to find the strongest, peer-reviewed sources. Furthermore, tutors can read sources with students to help them understand it or highlight key ideas.

Providing Detailed Feedback

One of the most valuable parts of tutoring is receiving feedback during the writing process. Students can revise their work repeatedly and strengthen their arguments before submitting the final essay.

As I always say to my students, writing is revision. You’re not really writing until you’re meticulously revising.

In this way, tutoring acts as a form of academic mentorship, helping students grow as thinkers and writers.

Is the John Locke Essay Competition Good Preparation for College?

Preparing for the John Locke Essay Competition is excellent preparation for college-level writing, and it looks wonderful on resumes.

In college, students are expected to analyze complex ideas and support their arguments with research. The competition teaches these same skills.

Students also practice important academic habits, including:

conducting research
organizing ideas
revising drafts
meeting deadlines

These are the same skills needed for successful college essays and research papers.

But there are deeper benefits to engaging in a competition like this as a young academic or writer as well:

Sharpening skills of working towards a real, high stakes goal.
Building confidence and resilience — learn to handle challenges, including disappointment.
Receiving feedback that helps you grow as a writer and thinker in the future.
Sharpening your mind as you wrestle with difficult subjects and creatively strive for excellence.
Meeting, reading, and debating with other thinkers to refine your ideas.
Completing and submitting a polished piece=an accomplishment to be proud of.

Participating in the competition can also help students stand out in college applications by showing intellectual curiosity and initiative.

Why the Experience Matters Even If Students Don’t Win

While winning a prize is exciting, the true value of the John Locke Essay Competition goes far beyond awards and has deeper meaning.

For a young writer, this is what it means to participate in a contest regardless of outcome:

It means you’ve engaged in rigorous intellectual work on your journey to becoming an intellectual and academic.
It means you’ve completed more than the majority of people your age or older ever do.
It means you deserve a medal of courage.
It means you’ve not been passive about your world and its problems. You’ve engaged in the conversations, which are the first step to changing the world.
It means you’re practicing for the type of rigorous work you’ll do in college.
It means your brain is growing and developing.
It means you have a statistically better chance at winning future contests.
It means you have a rich inner life rather than simple brain rot or hive mind.
It means you tried…and that matters! Many never do.

Even students who do not place in the competition often come away with stronger writing skills and greater academic confidence.

In many cases, the experience helps students discover a love for deeper intellectual exploration, and they always learn about interesting topics from the experience.

That growth can be just as valuable as winning.

Finding the Right Support

For students who want guidance while preparing for the competition, working with experienced tutors can make the process more rewarding and productive.

The tutors at Jamie the Scholar include award-winning creative writing instructors who specialize in helping students develop strong and compelling writing.

Our mentorship approach has helped many students refine their writing skills, and we have a track record of students producing prize-winning work in competitive contests.

With the right preparation, the John Locke Essay Competition becomes more than a contest. It becomes an opportunity for students to develop the critical thinking, research, and writing skills that will serve them well in college and throughout their academic careers.

Visit jamiethescholar.com or call us at 888-577-3224 for a free consultation to get started