Don’t let your students get ‘brain drain’ this summer

JACKSON, Tenn. — Don’t let the “brain drain” happen to your students this summer. Just because the classroom is empty, doesn’t mean your student’s brain should be.

“The hardest thing for teachers to do at the beginning of the year is to try to re-engage students who haven’t been exercising their brains over the summer,” said Dr. Jared Myracle, chief academic officer for the Jackson-Madison County School System.

Students are prone to coming back into the classroom in August and saying, “I forgot.”

“They can lose up to 30 percent of what they learn if they don’t stay active over the summer,” Myracle said.

Myracle says there are a few easy things you can do at home to make sure your child remembers most of what they learned the previous year.

“If just for 30 to 45 minutes a day, students can read or practice some of the map they learned over the school year, that’s enough to keep them sharp for the upcoming school year,” he said.

A great place to start is your local library.

“One thing parents can do is pick a topic, a specific topic, and stick with that over the entire summer and try to read as many things as they can,” Myracle said.

Those topics can be history, science or anything your student is interested in. But, they can also do other things to stay engaged.

“There’s all sorts of different websites with different games, math and things. Students can practice skills over the summer,” Myracle said.

That should help your new teachers out next school year.

For a look at the summer reading list, visit the JMCSS website.