Reading a waste of time during lesson

[chillx]

My son is 13yrs old and reads regularly at home. During their English lesson the pupils sit in silence for 40 minutes in silence for 'reading for pleasure'. I personally think this is a waste of the pupils and teachers time together. I'd rather my son worked on his spellings or actually learnt something from his teacher. Whilst I understand that not every child wants reads in their own time I know plenty that do. It could be set as homework. Am I being unreasonable to think their time together could/should be better spent?

My DC does this for a lesson every week. I'm always telling her not to read so much or she'll spoil her eyes. So why she needs to read in a lesson is beyond me

Wow, yeah. You're setting her up for a great future there kitty. You sound like the parents in Matilda.

echt:

• Take electronic register and save it
• Enter a numerical 'grade' for each student for the lesson
• Enter a comment if that grade is particularly high or low
• Enter the names of students who are late, with how many minutes and a reason
• Write a note for a student who needs to be sent to medical
• Write a note for a student who needs to be sent to HOY
• Book detentions for students on our online system and get the students to write them down
• Set homework on the school tracking system
• Check books for homework done and not done and issue detentions to those who haven't handed it in
• Contact home for the students who didn't attend detention last time
• Contact home about next week's detentions
• Email attendance officer to inform her that a student hasn't arrived for the lesson
• Email student's teacher from previous period to ask whether they were there
• Email Recepton requesting them to call SMT to remove a student not following instructions/being defiant
• Log urgent safeguarding issue on the online system and email safeguarding lead
• Based on information received at break, adapt lesson plan for next period because the students' books are being taken in by SMT for a marking and feedback check
• Enter RAG marks for each student based on lesson objectives
• Examine data from previous week's reading: levels, minutes read, quizzes taken, students working under target

I haven't even started on planning, marking etc.

Honestly, you haven't a clue, have you?

I do all of those things except the detentions for homework. Never have, never will. Rod, back.

Possibly you missed the post where I said if it wasn't to do with those pupils, that lesson.

I do all of those things except the detentions for homework. Never have, never will. Rod, back

Right, so now you DO do admin work while the students are working? What's to say the teacher in this post wasn't doing the same thing? Or are you saying you do all of it after the class has finished?

Possibly you missed the post where I said if it wasn't to do with those pupils, that lesson

So, how do you know that the teacher in this case was not doing electronic register, perhaps amending the lesson plan, perhaps marking previously handed in work for these students? You don't. You just said it was wrong to be on the computer when the kids were reading.

echt:

Possibly you missed the bit where I said I hadn't even got started? There are hundreds, literally hundreds, of things a teacher may need to do that will benefit any one of their hundreds of students at any one time. You are talking out of your arse.

I thought the list of things to do was a general one, to give me some idea of the scale of the workload in general.

Giving a pupil a note is not admin in the sense that it was raised originally, i.e. pupils reading silently, the teacher doing something else. By doing other things, the signal is given that reading is not important.

The school's systems may require immediate notification of lateness, though if it's online wouldn't it be automatic? I thought it was these days.
If the teacher is actively a teaching lesson, i.e. on their hind legs and talking, for instance, they wouldn't be able to do all these emails about lateness to the system. Believe me, I've the chaps in long trouser on my tail for not doing admin they want in a lesson. I remind them I'm teaching.

So, how do you know that the teacher in this case was not doing electronic register, perhaps amending the lesson plan, perhaps marking previously handed in work for these students?

The implication was that the teacher spent the whole period on the computer, so not OK.

I have been clear previously about work to do with the class, always a good opportunity to see the individual about their work.

echt:

If the students are reading, you are not teaching. It is completely reasonable to do the other things you need to do. Sometimes you will need to do more than at other times. Some of the issues will be urgent, others less so.

If you know there is a safeguarding issue involving a student not in front of you at that moment, can you justify leaving it until the end of the day?

If you know a student has absconded from a lesson over the corridor and the teacher is struggling, can you justify not emailing the Head of Department?

If your Line Manager has asked you to attend a meeting during your one free period that day and you were going to use it to plan the lesson after lunch, is it ridiculous to say you can attend and do your planning?

No, it does not signal that the reading is not important. It signals that you are the teacher and they are the students and you have asked them to do the reading, so they do the reading. If your bosses are telling you to do admin during lessons, maybe you need to be less rigid in your approach. Or at least be sympathetic to the fact that time-demands on teachers mean that they cannot sit around reading a book when they have a 40 minute window. I am guessing you are of the older generation of teachers.

The teacher is in a lesson. Why are they checking their emails?

The absconding pupil is a different matter.

Teachers cannot rely on frees to plan the day's lesson, they can always be taken by managers, that's why leaving vital planning to the last minute is not a good idea, as I've discovered. A teacher also cannot rely on the reading lesson to do it. (See absconding pupil/ struggling teacher, actually anything that can happen in the class they are in.

Yabu. Reading is the biggest deciding factor in general academic success, in my experience. The reading lesson may be the only quiet, dedicated reading time some children get.

If your bosses are telling you to do admin during lessons, maybe you need to be less rigid in your approach. What? Stop teaching to do admin? nah. And actually, once this is pointed out to them, they sort of get it, being reasonable and all.

Or at least be sympathetic to the fact that time-demands on teachers mean that they cannot sit around reading a book when they have a 40 minute window They are not sitting around, any more than the students are.

I am guessing you are of the older generation of teachers

What is your implication? Or this just some generalised ageist remark?
If I say am 30, does it alter the validity of my views. If 55, can my views be safely boxed into the dinosaur section?

echt: They are checking emails because urgent matters are communicated by email. When do you suggest they do it?

And I don't think it is remotely unreasonable to plan your lessons in your free lessons (such as they are). Isn't that what they are supposed to be for?

Anyway, the point is fairly clear - there just isn't time to spend an hour 'modelling' reading to a class. I wish it was otherwise but it isn't. So I will carry on as I need to, thanks.

The teacher is in a lesson. Why are they checking their emails?

Oh fgs. If you read trifle's post, she's not talking about the teacher emailing his mates or something. It's things like checking up on a pupil, emailing the attendance officer. It's completely reasonable. If the teacher has their laptop in the classroom, email will be open. It's not such as huge thing as you make it out to be.

Anyway, you originally said absolutely no admin work because the students will not think reading is important otherwise. Now you are saying some admin work, but no checking of emails. Make your mind up- either you can do other things when 13 year olds are quietly reading, or you can't.

It's great that you have such understanding management, echt. If I had been observed reading a book for pleasure at my desk during any lesson, I'd have had an earful from my senior leadership!

What is your implication? Or this just some generalised ageist remark? If I say am 30, does it alter the validity of my views. If 55, can my views be safely boxed into the dinosaur section?

No, it is not a generalised ageist remark. However, it might suggest that you have views that are quite rigid and may be based on a time when teachers were not as overworked as they are now. More importantly, it might suggest that you are more likely to have significant authority/clout in terms of simply telling your bosses that you are doing something your way than a younger teacher may have. If you have 30 years experience of teaching, lesson planning and marking may also take you a shorter amount of time that it would a less experienced teacher.

They are checking emails because urgent matters are communicated by email. If it's that urgent, there'll be an announcement or someone will be sent to the class. What kind of emergencies do you imagine?

I never said teachers shouldn't plan in frees, but relying on frees to do last-minute planning is not a good idea. As I said in my last post. Also it's worth saying that being asked to a meeting is not being told, so the teacher can always say it's not convenient/suggest another time.

Ha, if I don't check my emails in lessons, I'd be ploughing through at least 100 at the end of the day (or more likely, at home).

Some need urgent attention. Eg. Pupil from that group has been isolated, please send work down for them, send other various pupils to various people, log same day detentions before the deadlines, acknowledge safeguarding issues, deliver messages to pupils....

During DEAR time (20 mins a week, rolls through timetable), I sometimes read, I sometimes read to them (they love this, any age group Y8 asked recently if they could sit on the carpet!) or I sometimes do admin. It's up to me really, as the professional in the room.

If it's that urgent, there'll be an announcement or someone will be sent to the class. What kind of emergencies do you imagine?

Well, say Johnny doesn't turn up for 4th period English. You know you need to inform the attendance officer of this and you are also not sure whether Johnny also missed 3rd period. This is done via EMAIL rather than carrier pigeon. You could I guess make a handwritten note and then send all of our emails after you have finished teaching at the end of the day, when you have a mountain of marking and planning and meetings. Or you could use the time when the students are working and when it is fresh in your mind to do it straight away, which is far more efficient than 'modelling reading'.

I never said teachers shouldn't plan in frees, but relying on frees to do last-minute planning is not a good idea

No, well you have to take any opportunity you get to do the non-teaching work. If you can't do it, you can't do it and will have to catch up later. But if you do manage to clear some while also teaching your lesson, that is more efficient.

As I said in my last post. Also it's worth saying that being asked to a meeting is not being told, so the teacher can always say it's not convenient/suggest another time

Mmmmm hmmmm. That goes down realllly well usually.

it might suggest that you have views that are quite rigid and may be based on a time when teachers were not as overworked as they are now Not sure what you mean by rigid, when I'm only pointing out that teachers should be actively part of the lesson.

More importantly, it might suggest that you are more likely to have significant authority/clout in terms of simply telling your bosses that you are doing something your way than a younger teacher may have.

I do not tell bosses I am doing things "my way," unless actually teaching the lesson is some arcane, personal activity. What I find is that quite few admin tasks are set/expected by the big boys and girls, most of whom don't teach, and they don't mind it if something isn't done because teachers are, er, teaching. Nor would they dream of suggesting that a reading period is admin catch-up time.

If you have 30 years experience of teaching, lesson planning and marking may also take you a shorter amount of time that it would a less experienced teacher

Quite likely, but it doesn't alter the fact that frees can be taken away at a moment's notice, so relying on them for last minute planning and marking is unwise, no matter how long someone has been teaching. That's what lunchtimes are for these days, unfortunately. If I fuck up on my planning, I can't take the time from my pupils.

Mmmmm hmmmm. That goes down realllly well usually

If you're dealing with someone whose ask is tell, then they're an arse. There's nothing wrong with suggesting another time and if the default is the teacher must always be available, then it's very hard on them.

This is why I have said, so many times on this thread, that teachers cannot rely on frees being free, the reality is the time belongs to the school, apart from PPA. Even then.

Reading is the best way to improve writing and spelling. Children who read for more than 30 mins every day are proven to do better in all aspects of reading and writing. Extra reading time is never wasted.

echt: Well, you seem to have an answer to everything. Unfortunately, your answers seem to be more likely to make the lives of teachers harder, not easier, without very much benefit to students in the grand scheme of things, so I will give myself leave to just ignore them.