To rebel against reading diary

[Stirling84]

I think I am being unreasonable - but I've cracked.

DS is meant to record pages read. He reads every night but rarely logs more than one session a week. So we have about ten pages of nearly empty grids and 'sad face' comments from teacher.

sigh

Oh god, it's just pointless.

I'd get him to fill it in in the morning if it was me. Can you set aside a few mins for him to write the name of the book and the page reached after breakfast or something and you can just sign it.

I got sick of the reading diary this year too (DD, good reader, Y4) and have asked her to fill it in and just signed. Nobody has said anything (and there are some truly hilarious comments on the books which are way more fun than my previous efforts of 'read for ten minutes, good comprehension' etc).

I don't understand. I do all the logging, not DD. I tell the teacher what she's read and I make sure I write in the log every day as they have rewards for every read they do.

saucy

Good question, one would think so wouldn't one?

The main comments I have had about dd are about her amazing reading ability. Her love and enthusiasm for reading. How it shines out, and encourages others. How clearly she reads out loud and with so much beautiful expression.

Now we have a teacher on my arse about her record, about the ORT books, about why they won't move her up. Why am I not writing in it?

I wonder, are there not other dc in the class who need more support? Are there not other pupils who not have a whole library at home, who are not enthusiastic readers?

And if they're expecting him to do his own logging, is that so hard to do? It's only a minute of your time to sit over him and dictate what he should write.

It generated many many sad faces too and was a pain all round with invoices being issued etc

You wonder why they bother lending out books at all really. Such ridiculous hassle having to follow up the lost books and write out purchase orders and get the budget holder to sign it off and log the book and invoice the parents.

It's making her job harder as the whole point of the log is to identify the children who aren't reading enough

You can identify which child isnt reading enough by the bloody child.

all children should be reading and those who aren't encouraged to do so at home deserve to be encouraged on an individual level in school

My dd has been noted for her reading. She has stood out as an excellent reader, her book is full of comments by previous teachers on her reading.
We have a zelot for a teacher now, they started to question my dd writing her book herself, so I assured them with the long long list of books she has already worked her way through since hte start of term.

They are still on my arse.

Why.

I've just started getting DS1 to write in it a list of the books he's read. Teacher was deeply unimpressed with my reluctance to complete a page each time he read but he reads for at least an hour in an evening at bedtime and what more can you say but 'read a few pages, picked his nose, wiped questionable marks on pillowcase, continued reading". Surely teachers get sick of reading the logs anyhow?

iguana and cello - I presumed that they would talk to him and he would tell them what he'd read.

Plan B was to sign it without information - but that was rejected by DS (whether off his own initiative or with guidance from teacher - I don't know).

Over summer we did the library reading challenge. I insisted he picked more varied books, and that he read to me. We limped through half a dozen books, but he didn't really enjoy reading to me. He has a speech impediment - so reading aloud inevitably seems to become 'about' that. He complains it's boring to read slow - or he speaks fast and jumbled to the point of unintelligible. He also didn't enjoy the concept of the reading challenges - despite the stickers and games and such.

Basically - he just wanted to be left alone with a shelf of Wimpy Kids. This year that's kind of what I've done - and taken on board that he kind of resents being 'steered', and that it brings out a contrary streak in him - and concentrated on keeping a family culture of reading - and kept 'discipline' for issues like cutlery use, tooth brushing and music practice.

I promised to make a note any day my bookworm did not read. Fortunately, the teacher (more sensible than OP's) grinned, and everyone was happy.

I loathe reading records from both perspectives. I have one child who really struggles - waiting for an assessment. Reading record was one more area to fight over (she also struggles with writing and was supposed to write her own) . It was also dispiriting for her if she struggled to read a few pages and the teacher said she should read more. Despite all the fuss about reading records she didn't get any support from that school because she scraped along within acceptable levels.

Have another who was an early and prolific reader. Fortunately school are fairly relaxed about him but it will take him ages to read a book because it has 30 odd chapters in it and only usually reads a chapter a night. Sometimes he fancies reading something different, or doing some Spanish or Maths instead. I feel that he is competent enough at reading to skip a night and still be capable of reading Harry Potter in the morning.

Logging pages?? FGS. A marvellous way to kill a child's love of reading stone dead. No wonder you want to rebel, OP. Standing ovation.

I loved reading, still do. If someone had made me write down every page I read I guarantee I wouldn't love reading. Someone I know who is a fantastic parenting expert, says she feels the same way about incentivised reading. Stickers for this and pizza for that. Reading is it's own reward.

Basically - he just wanted to be left alone with a shelf of Wimpy Kids. This year that's kind of what I've done

And that is the right thing to do.

Do not let the school kill off his love of reading which is the key element here.

Fight over it if you have too. Your kindling a flame here. Nothing wrong with Mr Majeka!

If someone had made me write down every page I read I guarantee I wouldn't love reading
And all questions about the "text" kill it too.

I had a real blind spot with the reading journal for the dses primary school - every parents evening I would lead with a "I'm really sorry, I know we're all rubbish at remembering to fill the journal in. They read LOADS though, I promise." Teacher always laughed - half the time she had to prise a book out of ds2's hands to get him to join in other activities. It was blatantly obvious he was a reader.

Ds2 started secondary school this year and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Except I started an OU degree in October, and I have to keep a sodding learning journal up all through the course. AAAAAARGH!

knicker it is never just a minute to supervise dd writing in a reading record. There's the nagging, the cajoling, the placing pen in hand, the encouraging, the persuading. I would rather spend five of those minutes listening to her read a bit more and then 10 minutes drawing some of her endless plans/maps / pictures and putting labels on them. Net result more writing less stress.

Out of interest how many adults here keep a reading record and does it enhance your enjoyment of the book?

Teacher always laughed - half the time she had to prise a book out of ds2's hands to get him to join in other activities. It was blatantly obvious he was a reader
^ This has been our previous experience with our teachers so why now, do we have zealot on our arse.

well, once mine were all reading to themselves, we just put title and I signed, no comment, no pages etc. I did it over breakfast each morning. Our kids get a prize every time they they have 30 reads, so they want me to sign it.

But by 8/9 I also made them fill it in not me.

Oh and at some points dd1 will get out a diary that I haven't seen for 3 weeks and fill in

date Harry Potter chapter 1

then she will fill in 3 weeks worth of ditto marks and change the chapter number to 2, 3, 4 etc until she gets to today. Then I sign across all the boxes.

Stirling - but people are notoriously be about self reporting their habits, including reading. Your teacher might say, what id toured and your son might say Mr Majeka. But she doesn't know that it's the third time he's read it (which she would from a diary if kept for long enough) or that it took him an hour because he's read it before and it's a very easy level for him. Another kid might have been ploughing through mr Majeka for weeks, but his answer is the same when teacher asks what are you reading. So even though teacher's advice to your ds and the other boy would be quite different if she knew their habits (she would probably encourage your son to try something new and at a higher level) on the basis of what they tell her, what can she say but fine, carry on? And yes, of course a reading diary is not the only tool available to a teacher in assessing literacy and reading but it's seems like an obviously useful one to me. Also if the teacher thinks it's useful, I'd be inclined to trust her professional opinion. Contrary to popular belief, most teachers don't have weird ulterior motives. They want their kids to learn.

mellojello - I would love to think that the teacher was observant enough to realise that this child has read this book 3 times before, but in my experience the reading diaries are not that closely monitored.

I hate them.

I think if anything they can kill a love of reading when they know it is something they have to do.

We forget to fill in my dd's sometimes. I have had them on my case. They are both fantastic readers which is pretty bloody obvious as the teachers point it out to me all the time.

And yes, of course a reading diary is not the only tool available to a teacher in assessing literacy and reading but it's seems like an obviously useful one to me

I think the parent is the schools best assest when it comes too reading and learning support. I am sure there are enough dc out there with parents who for all sorts of reasons cant support their dc.

Focus on them.

Teachers aren't allowed to be clever and know the kids any more.

My teacher, when I was a tween, saw that I was reading just terrible Sweet Valley High books. He conspired with my DM to get a few 'romantic' but worthy books into my hands. They got me to read A Town Like Alice and I realised that books were another world. I was already a voracious reader but that one little push got me eventually reading Dostoyevsky, Atwood and the wonderful Pratchett.

Now imagine that he had asked me to record the pages every night and report on it. And given me shit if I didn't read enough or record it.

Steppemum- well no, the teacher isn't going to know from memory what a child's read, but surely having it in a book means she has a log she can look back over? I'm so surprised at the responses here. Admittedly my son is younger so not at this stage yet but just don't understand the rationale of parents fighting against teachers, especially on something as important as literacy (too many children leave school without basic literacy skills). I also don't understand how making a note of a page number when you put a book down takes the fun out of reading. Not sure how that works.