"The Summer Essay Revamped" - Viatouch Teacher Articles

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The Summer Essay Revamped
by Gabrielle Linnell

It is an American classic: the essay, traditionally written the first day of school, entitled "What I Did on My Summer Vacation." However, there are more creative ways of getting students back into the school routine and learning about how they used their time.

Photography & Poetry

Have your students each make a large poster with 4-6 photographs from their summer. They can use photos from their vacations, clippings from magazines, or stock photos from the Internet, but each photograph must correspond to some part of their vacation. Students also must write an original, brief poem or haiku to accompany each picture.

Cinematic Summer

If your students like making movies, let them work in groups to produce five-minute films about a summer vacation—whether real or imagined. The students must write an original script, act, and film it themselves. Depending on the age of your class, adult assistance may be needed for the editing and producing.

Diorama Extravaganza

Ask your students to build a diorama of an ideal summer vacation house. Each house must somehow represent all of the four elements (earth, wind, fire and water.) This could mean designing a tiny fireplace in the living room, or using a bamboo plant as the focus in a room. Each diorama must also be accompanied by a 400-word short story about the "guests" who live in the house.

Summer Reading Zine

Ask the students to each create a literary magazine, using four or five books that they have read over the summer. The magazine should include creative reviews or representations of each book. Encourage students to draw cartoons, to write funny articles or "gossip pages", and to be creative. If your students are computer savvy, help them use Microsoft Publisher to create their masterpieces.

All's Fair in Summer

Divide your class into small groups and assign each group an ordinary, household item such as a florescent-colored ball, teapot, grocery bag, chair, or silly string (plastic gooey string in an aerosol can). Each group must create a summer activity or sport using this item as the lynchpin, and then must write a one-page paper on the made-up history and rules of this "sport". Arrange for a Fair Day in class, where students can walk around, read about each others' activities and try them out.

Good Old Summer Food

Ask each student to make a dish (real or creative) that reminds them of summer. Parental assistance may be necessary. Then ask them to write three "recipes" for a wonderful summer vacation. A creative example of this would be:
          2 beach balls
          3 cups sand
          2 teaspoons sunscreen
          1 liter water
Mix sand and water, apply sunscreen, and use beach balls as needed.
Have an in-class picnic where students bring the food they've made and share recipes for a truly fantastic summer.

There's nothing wrong with a good five-paragraph essay. But these six ideas allow students be creative while they practice their writing skills. It's also a lot more enjoyable to grade recipes and movies than to read a dozen papers beginning with, "What I did during my summer vacation…" After all, teachers like to have fun, too.