AP teachers give homework differently, some give homework before the school year even starts. These are known as summer assignments. These assignments cause students to drop their class because it is overwhelming and incredibly hard. A summer assignment can cause a student to fall behind before the year starts, or allow them to be ahead.
AP statistics teacher Derek Duman does not give summer assignments, but believes that his assignments earlier in the year are “harder because it’s a different math.” Different math classes have different rules on homework, Duman gives homework every day except for the test classes, he does not give homework. The assignments are “like his other classes but are more time consuming because statistics consist of more writing and less equations” Duman feels that if he assigns summer assignments for a class that students do not know about, they will end up feeling overwhelmed and possibly scared for the school year.
Honors English teacher Jordan Ruppert only assigns reading as a summer assignment. Normally his students would need to get a start on a book such as Frankenstein, from this year, or Life of PI from last year.
AP European History and AP Geography teacher June Morris says, “I really feel like a summer assignment is a critical piece in helping students understand that this is a college level course.”
Advanced Placement teachers such as Jodi Howell who teaches AP Composition, Marty Johnston who teaches AP U.S. History, and Blain Willard who teaches AP Government give summer assignments every year without fail. “There is a lot of maturing that goes on between the freshman and sophomore year, and the students will just overlook the summer assignments, so they would be at a disadvantage on day one” Ms. Morris said. If giving a student a summer assignment and they don’t complete the assignment then they would be behind the rest of the students on the first day. On the other hand, the summer assignment will prepare students for what they will be seeing for their school year.
Usually, Ms. Morris would have her AP European History students look up the first chapter of their textbooks, and then take notes on it, in her AP Human Geography class, she would have them pick a book out of her selection. One summer, she had her Human Geography students read a short story about the black death, and watch a documentary, then write a CEA paragraph about both. According to Ms. Morris, the assignment would not be that rigorous. If you are assigned a book to read, it could only take 10-15 hours of reading over the summer. But Ms. Morris still was not completely satisfied with the work she would get, and she felt it would be easier if they knew what they were doing, then do their work.If a student wants to change classes they need to talk to their counselor. Counselor Rachel Hornabrook says students only have 6 weeks to change classes, and after that need to wait until the second semester. If a student changes classes then they will have to talk to their teacher and get a signature, then get a signature from the teacher of the class they would like to join. After the student gets the signatures they will appear in the new teachers roster, and disappear from their previous Classes.
A summer assignment can either positively or negatively affect your grade. Most AP classes have a summer assignment that students are required to finish by the first day of school. A Summer assignment has both good things, and bad things about it. For one they get students ready for the year, but could overwhelm students. Think about that next time you get a Summer Assignment.
