summer reading =(
 

im gonna be a freshman next year ! (yay) im gonna be in honors language arts ! (yay) i have to read four books and write essays for all of them and do three other assignments ! (NOT YAY) . i have to read lord of the flies (william golding), the old man and the sea (ernest hemingway), of mice and men (john steinbeck), and things fall apart (chinua achebe) .

my parents, year after year, help me through it ALL step-by-step and im very grateful for that . but four books ?! oh mann .... im gonna be completelyy honest with all of you. i dont think i have EVER fully read a single novel in my entire life. i feel dumb just mentioning it, but its true. i dont have the PATIENCE or CONCENTRATION needed to do it. i los interest fasttt ! right now, im on page 40 of my first book. i've been working on this one since the last day of school. i dont need anyone telling me im stupid (im really not. im quite smart actually), i just have concentration issues. just wish me luck YT . pleasee? im really gonna need it this summer =|

thanks everyone ! =D

Good luck!!!

Reading can be find as long as you have an interesting book. I remember I hated reading just bc I wasn't finding the right books. I had friends recommend ones and i am reading one now that I just CANNOT put down, a real page turner. So my advice to you is to not just read when you HAVE to but also find time to read something you love just for enjoyment. It will make you learn to enjoy reading.

Also, find a really nice place to sit down and read where you cannot get distracted. Somewhere without TV or people all around. Maybe somewhere outside.

Again, good luck!! :)

The biggest mistake made in education is assuming every kid is a paper pencil kid.....we are all SO very different and it doesnt mean you are Dumb if you have never completed a book!!!! Some have different attention spans and energy levels its IMPOSSIBLE for some to sit still and read a whole book and actually comprehend it! Like me!! I am very a.d.d. and a lil ocd but I function totally normal (i think lol) I just have to stay busy and if ou asked me to sit and read a book Id laugh!!! NO WAY

I wish you the best of luck and dont get down on yourself...we are all different and you may EXCEL at something and not excel so much in another doesnt make you dumb!

OHHH Boy..years ago I majored in English at the University of Windsor..and I love to read...but even I found it hard to get through some of the required reading. Maybe give some thought into what you are taking...maybe major in something else other than language arts...Good luck hon!!

i think i have the same problem as you ! thats such a relief ! i grew up excelling in math, but not so much reading and understanding. everyone in my family can read a book, comprehend it, and discuss it. i, on the other hand, cannot. when you HAVE to read a book, how do you understand what your reading? i've been on sparknotes and cliffnotes just to get to know the book in simpler terms. but i still dont know what im reading. im reading words, taking it one sentence at a time, and NOTHING. im on page 40, and all i can tell you is that there are boys somewhere and one is named Ralph. none of my family understands that i dont know what im reading. please help in any way you can ! im starting to think there's something wrong with me :(

I really like Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men :) Good luck!

You can ask your parents to have you tested for learning problems. Lots of people have them. You aren't alone.:)

They are all good books!! Out of the 4 Things Fall Apart and Lord of the Flies would be my least favorites. Hemmingway is very easy to read, but there is a lot to it, and I love, love, love Of Mice and Men - Lenny - aww - you will like it - I've yet to meet a student who hasn't! Happy reading!
*edit - I just read some of the other posts - you could try taking audio books out from your library - I try to incorporate both into my classroom because many students are auditory learners and will comprehend the book better if they listen to it instead of read it! - Best of luck - you can always pm me if you have any questions!

Good luck! I have 4 boy's 2 are great readers and like reading and 2 have ADHD and reading just is not their thing. I will get audio books for them to follow along with if it is available. Maybe you could do that? I know it helps my 2 get books read for school. The Library has a lot of them available.

Reading is my favorite past time, so I alway's have a book in hand. when I was in school I hated that books were chosen for me, I had already read most of the required list anyway's. Lord of the flies was not my cup of tea! If a book is not appealing than it is hard to stick with it till the end. I tried telling my English teacher that but she insisted that I HAD read it:( I was never so board in my life! My son is going to be a freshman and is also in honors class he actually likes the book, he had read it about a year and a half ago and was like Oh I get to read it again:confused:Like once was not enough:eek:

Again good luck with your reading, we are all cheering you on!! and check into the audio books, it might help!

I know what you mean. I was never very good at comprehending what I read. Reading out loud helped a lot though. When I read in my head, my mind always wonders. After a while I realize I'm thinking about what's for dinner and just moving my eyes across the words. Hope that helps or you find something that does. I don't know which book you're reading now but, try Of Mice and Men. I don't like many books, especially the one required in high school, but I did get into that one. Good luck!

I really loved the old man and the sea! Good luck!

I remember reading the Old Man and The Sea in 8th grade, and we all thought it was the most aweful book. The majority of the book is about him trying to catch a huge fish...it was soooooooo boring. Good Luck getting through it..

Good luck with all of your reading. I have read all of those books except the last one but that was years ago. I was the same way, if there was something around that could distract me...it did and I let it. You just need to tell yourself that you are going to set a certain amount of time aside each day to read and have it be at the same time every day if at all possible because then it becomes routine and you will be focused because you know that you have set it up to be that way. Allow yourself time to do all the distractible things that you love to do and then get to work/reading and then when you are done, you can get back on YT or whatever it is that you really love to do. All of those books are great stories and they have wonderful lessons in them that are so important. Just like we have to train our pups, you have to train yourself to give yourself time to read and then reward yourself when you really have devoted the time you promised you would to reading.



Seriously though, I don't know what I would have done if I had 1/2 the distractions that students have now.....especially, eh--hem......YT. It would be difficult but then again, such a good reward for completing a chapter or two as well. You'll do great!!!

Reply"
 

Atleast you admit. I'm going to be a sophmore this year, and i thought freshman was going to be rough! I had English 1 R track. Alot of work, and read about 3 novels. Its not as bad as it seems! Just always try your best and dont give up :D Good luck!!

I think that schools try as hard as they can to find the worst books possible for summer reading. I LOVE to read but I struggle to get through summer reading books! best of luck to you! You can do it! :)

I've been graduated for 2-3 years now, but Lord of the Flies was the most awful book ever. We also had to read it for our freshman class. We read it out loud around the room which made it even worse. I was the "bad" kid in class and would always fall asleep.

4 books for an honours english course? i am jealous!!! i'm minoring in english and i last year i had to read 30 novels for one course!!!!

anyways, heres my hint. i hate essays, english was my worst subject. english is still my worst subject. if i'm lucky i'm in the high 60's. so why am i taking it? its my second teachable. i can't do math or science hence i'm taking english.

every time i have to write essays, whether its for my own faculty (music) or english i freak out. i hyper ventilate, i get so stressed out i get sick (really bad miagraines, can't eat, super exhausted) at one point it got so bad i developed a sleeping disorder. why did i freak out? cuz i tend to do everything last minute and my faculty's very demanding. you think music students have it easy? no we don't. we have 30 hrs of academic classes a week. then, we have homework just like in high school and theyre collected and marked. on top of our academic class hours, we have rehearsals min. 4 hours a week. and on top of it we have to practice for our lessons and our ensembles, and in my case conducting as well. so you can see where my freak outs come from.
however, with the help of my psychologist, and the university and a friend who's like a mother to me and held my hands as i wrote essays (literally), i found a way not to freak out and get through and write my essay. and hopefully these tips will help you.

first: work at the library. your house/dorm is a huge distraction. go get yourself a cubicle, pack some yummie and health snacks and go and spend the day!

second: the moment you recieve your essay topics (especially for english) read through all the topics and come up with thesis for each (crappy is acceptable at this point). then pick the topic you're interested in. ususally this narrows it down to one or two topics

third: gather your books and read them. while you read them take note on anything that may pertain to your essay topic (not necessarily your crappily written thesis because thesis may change later on) (i use those 3m book marker where its part sticker with hint of colour for tagging. i'll often write briefly what the quote is about)

fourth: make an outline. ic an't stress this enough... i never believed in outlines. i thought they were waste of time ( back in high school and yes, they were back then, but unviersity level papers, u need it). i often include
my big thesis, my paragraph topics and opening sentences and quotes that belong to each paragraphs with citations. this way when i'mw riting my essay i just copy and paste the quotes (it saves time)

fifth: once your outline's done, take a deeeeep breaths in and out while placing your hands on your stomach. this will help you relax, because your outline probably stressed you out to the max.

sixth: if you have a good outline (ie you've followed my instructions), your essay will flow easily.


another hint i can tell you is that make your actual deadline of your essay a little earlier. i've learnt this from my conducting project last year and it took me 3 yrs to figure this out. we had this massive project that was due in feb, and we were given this project back in sept. of course being university students, my whole class slacked. i started 3 days before the 'due date'. it was incredibly easy, but it was tedious. and it didn't help that the books we needed were on 2 hour reserves and the music library closes at 9pm on weekdays and open from 1-5pm on weekends. (i know it sucks right?) so i spent 2 days at the library and a lot of money in photocopying portions of books... i mean i photocopied over 50 pages so once the music library closed, i can go to another library and stay there until they closed (1am). then the night before the due date, i msned my friend to see if she started hers and she says nope its not due for another few days so she'll do it the nigh t before. so 2 days before it was acutally due, people in my class literally freaked out and started to complain that its not fair that the music library closes so early and they won't let you take out the books. i was really lucky because while my class spent the weekend freaking out about this project, i was enjoying myself with my rooommates(none are in music) and went to bars and partied all weekend.

i apologize for a super long post, and i really hope this will help you out.
freshmen is first year right? (i'm from canada so we don't refer to our years as that). please don't shoot me for saying this but i'm saying with from the bottom of my heart. don't worry too much about first year. do the best you can. but also enjoy your first year!!! enjoy residence life/ sorority life and whatever else is big in the states. your first year shouldn't be focused soley on school. you worked your butt off in gr.12, enjoy your first year. who cares if you don't get your 90's? first year experiences only happen once and you'll regret not enjoying it. you have 3 more years to focus on your studies... but also remember not to party tooo much and forget about school. you need to find the right balance :)

p.s i forgot to address your lack of concentration

for the first few years of university (i will be going into my 4th year)
i thought i ahd a learning disability.
i studied, but my marks never reflected, it took me really long time to complete a project or assignment than others, i had really short attention spand, i couldn't read for more than 2 chapters in one sitting, though it could be my favourite book.

so i went to the students with disability at my university and wanted to get tested for learning disability. they told me i had to pay 2 grand because i was considered an adult and the insurance no longer covers it. i said forget it! i nor my parents don't ahve that kind of money to spend on testing. since i was almost done in my school career. if this was back in gr.9 i would have done it, but 2nd year university, wasn't really worth it. after speaking to my psychologist about this problem, she and i talked about high school. i excelled in high school often getting high 80's-90's and at university i'll be happy if i get 50's. then my psychologist wanted me to see a studies counsellor or something like that. i went and i found out that i never learnt how to properly study and how to properly do my assignments hence it took me forever to do. so you must be wondering how did i do so well if i never learnt how to study? well in high school, we had homework. i did all my work and just reviewed and wrote my exams. universities may give you homework, may not. if you don't do it, they won't chase after you. so this is how it screwed me over...

so with this new counsellor and i worked on how to study and etc. which had helped me a lot. i would definately seek out such help before dishing out a lot of money for a test you don't need.

Oh noone is going to call you stupid! Girl, lots of people have a hard time getting into books! I think they should allow you guys to pick your own books to read from a suggested reading list. I think you'd get so much more out of the assignment if you got to pick a book that held SOME interest to you! Im sure you'll do great either way! Try to enjoy it, lay outside and read for awhile or set a daily reading goal and give yourself a small reward when you reach it! :)

I suggest starting with The Old Man & The Sea; its boring but short. Of Mice and Men is a good story and you should be able to get into it if you give it a chance. I also like Lord of the Flies, but my 8th grade English teacher read it aloud to us through out the year and she was very dramatic and made it very interesting.

Like someone else said rent the audio books or movies and get a picture in your mind first; then I think the books will be more enjoyable!

Of Mice and Men was a pretty good book in my opinion. I read i a couple years ago. Godd luck with them though!!

I agree! That's the only one on the list I liked. I LOOVED Of Mice and Men. It may take you a little while to get into it - but if you're in then you're IN. I cried like a baby at the end. :)