To thunk these kind of targets/awards

[Highlandfling80]

Are unfair to older or brighter kids.
So my dds go to a schools where they have a computer based reading scheme. The kids are targeted to read x number of books per half term. Both my dds are pretty much at the top of the scheme and really struggle to do this. As a result they miss out on house points.
They also do head teacher termly Awards for children who read the most. Again no chance for the older kids or those at the top of the scheme to win.
Now I know it is trivial in the scheme of things but Dd2 in particular is sensitive and is feeling bad about not being able to reach her target.
Ainu to think target should be weighted depending on length book.

I guess that is the problem here rince. In their old school Head Teachers Awards were given out regularly for various things. We are talking about 20 or so per week. I think between them both they got about 8 during the whole time they were there.
Children who were good at one sport were picked for all the teams.
But anyway I have spoken to dd1 and the targets they have to meet are weighted to allow for the book band.
It is only the competition which aren't. So actually it isn't as bad as I thought. In fact Dd1 was told the the competitions are just for the younger kids.

And that they don't expect her year to win and indeed the winner was in the youngest age group.

as they are quiet and just get on with it and don't really stand out.

Sadly, there's a life lesson there. It won't end at school. It might bt better to approach this as an opportunity to teach her how to deal with it throughout life - hopefully she'll find something she excels at and does stand out, but it's best to be prepared.

I know how she feels. I excelled at reading at school; but the schemes are all aimed at motivating those who find the scheme books more difficult. I think I was just happy that I was getting to read better books, rather than reading lots of the scheme books to try and get the award, but it was a wise teacher that helped me work that out.

From a parental point things like this irk me as DD rarely gets Housepoints as she always behaves well and gets upset when "Johnny got one just for sitting on the carpet",

This isn't a problem with housepoints.

this is a problem with their application.

teacher on that point I totally agree with you. Dd2 actually said in one lesson than teacher said they would have loved to reward every child with a housepoint but they can only allocate two per lesson. The other extreme was the head teachers Awards in dds old school. Every week one teacher would give them to about half the class. Which in turns devalues them.

Dd2 absolutely hated the books in the old reading schemes. Would only read the non fiction ones. It has got easier the older she gets. Dd1 doesn't need encouragement to read despite having a lower level than Dd2.

DC school did a "20 minutes of reading per night" competition. Which, although only self-validated, was fairer because obv. it removed the ability difference factor.

Is it AR? I've spent a lot of time working out a way to ensure that we reward students as fairly as possible. The system sets the targets, but these are to do with points, not number of books read. Each student has their own points target - in one of my classes, they range from 40-140. I reward students based on the percentage of their target that they've achieved. Things like Diary of a Wimpy Kid are worth around 3 points, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is 44... so students can make choices that suit them in terms of speeding through easier texts, or taking the time to devote to a longer, more challenging one.

Perhaps you could ask the teacher to explain your DD's points target to her, and use that as a measure? It won't help with the feeling of being overlooked for reading more books, but might help her to see there are benefits to sticking at something longer... We don't even refer to the number of books read at my school - but that's because I am the coordinator so I decide what we reward :) And I thought the individual targets were fairer.

I'm at secondary, but I believe AR works the same at Primary.

It also helps if the children know why reward points are given.

For instance, we are a growth mindset classroom. So my children know they will only get housepoints when they challenge themselves. We use the language of new learning, challenge, consolidation and treading water.

They know if sitting on the carpet is easy, then it isn't a challenge. So they won't get praised for it. They also know who does find it a challenge (because they are kids, and kids just know!).

That said, I rarely give out housepoints or stickers because I have a belief that children should behave/challenge themselves because it is the right thing to do and not because of a physical reward, and that works perfectly in a growth mindset classroom.

Thank you. Yes it is at. I will try and get information Re targets at Parents evening next week.

Tbh I think maybe you just need to encourage the reading for reading's sake rather than winning awards, you can explain that some children find reading very difficult and the awards exist to motivate and help them, and that your children don't need to be motivated and rewarded because reading is not so difficult for them, and maybe you could reward them as a parent instead? I mean I'm sure you already do but you could even make your own little parallel reward scheme that fits them both better at home? I've been a bookworm ever since I could read and was reading far ahead of everybody else in my year group in primary school, but this kind of scheme wouldn't have interested me at all anyway because I was interested in reading for reading's sake as I adored books and the magical worlds they took me to. I didn't need encouragement to read and didn't seek it - but then my parents always encouraged my habit and made me feel confident about my reading skills and valued it, so I didn't really need the praise at school as well.

I offered to pay DS to read (1 pence per easy page, 2p for harder ones). He could earn £1+/hour. He said he liked the plan & went thru a pile of books to choose what to read.

Still just won't read anything but The Beano, sigh. I even got sent away from a special school reading event, ffs.

BUT he would read in order to get house points. .

Again, please think about the children who struggle in everything. I hate this ridiculous myth that a child who is weaker academically is likely to be amazing at sport or drama. This is hardly ever the case!

It has certainly been my experience that the academically able children are the ones who are good at sport, good at drama, good at art etc!

My two are obviously an exception to the rule.

In my family all bar one of the next generation is academic but rubbish at sport and drama etc so I guess I was unaware.

In my family all bar one of the next generation is academic but rubbish at sport and drama etc so I guess I was unaware

Mine too, Highland - my experience is much closer to yours!

DD is in a circle of friends at high school who nearly all excel at all of academics & sport & art & drama & making friends I hate the little sods, No not really ok maybe a little.

I think most of their friends are above average academically but most don't excel in other areas. Well maybe one is sporty but that is about it. Sadly both me and dh were crap at sports and I come from a long line of rubbish artists and I sadly can't sing.

YANBU "house points" is something out of fucking Mallory Towers - what a bag of wank.

wasonthelist

YANBU "house points" is something out of fucking Mallory Towers - what a bag of wank.

Care to elaborate?