My Project
"Closing the Gap" refers to the achievement gap in education between low-income students and their higher-income counterparts. I created and taught writing-intensive classes to 18 middle-schoolers with the goal of decreasing the achievement gap in English. I am sharing about my project in order to increase awareness of summer slide and the importance of education.
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What is Summer Slide? |
How does it affect students? |
I identified "summer slide" as one root cause of the achievement gap. Summer slide is a critical learning loss that especially affects low-income students when they do not participate in the same educational pursuits over the summer as their peers.
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Summer slide is a loss of achievement gains from the school year. It is also a setback to low-income students when they return to school in the fall. They must re-learn the material from the previous school year while also learning new material.
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How can we prevent Summer Slide?
By teaching right after the school year ended, I was able to intellectually engage my students before learning loss occurred. Additionally, they will be able to continue to write and practice their skills in their notebooks, which they were allowed to keep. They may reference their brainstorming charts and completed stories (with peer-editing notes) for further help. Resources such as books and educational websites also can aid students in retaining their knowledge from the school year. Students should aim to practice their skills frequently, whether it be reading a poem, solving math problems, or learning history trivia. |
One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.
Malala Yousafzai