Everyone in our family is a voracious reader. On the road, Casey and I take our books everywhere so in case we have to wait a few minutes or get stuck in traffic somewhere, we can read. We get excited when a new book arrives in the mail. We dont have tv so we read a lot. I get why teachers want kids to fill out a reading log every night. I know accountability is important. You sense the but coming, dont you?! BUT... For many kids, filling out a reading log every night detailing exactly which pages they read in a book kills the very curiosity we want to instill. It takes the joy out of reading. It makes it a chore, something you are required to do. Reading for pleasure and curiosity is often replaced by the need to just do it to get it out of the way and satisfy an arbitrary standard. Sometimes the rules get too rigid. You must read every night. But the truth is some nights youre just too exhausted or have a soccer game. So you end up reading more on other nights or weekends. Thats just real life. I believe in having high standards for kids and expecting them to master real life skills. But for some kids who are already overwhelmed, filling out that log every night is just one more thing that can push them over the top. I think its perfectly appropriate to approach your childs teacher and have this type of conversation, I appreciate all the extra work you do to help my child. And I share your goal of instilling good reading habits in my child. Right now, filling out the nightly reading log is simply taking the joy out of reading and having the opposite result than we want. There are so many things my son needs to learn from you in the classroom. But I can handle reading because thats more of a function of our family/home life and what we instill in our kids. Were not going to fill out the log every night, but I will keep you updated on the books we read. Some teachers will respect that and some will feel like they dont have a choice other than marking your child down. That personally doesnt bother me because we didnt value grades in the younger years--we valued learning, curiosity, imagination and critical thinking. Some parents will arbitrarily just fill in the log every night to satisfy the requirements. Im okay either way. But I want you to know that you are the parent and you know whats best for your child. And if I have to choose, Ill take a confident, curious kid who loves to explore and learn and read even if he gets marked down...over creating undue stress for an arbitrary assignment that has zero long-term effect on my childs intellectual or emotional health and development. Hope that makes sense.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 19:50:24 +0000
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