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AIBU?

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Original poster

Teacher not ready

90 replies

Gangreenoh · 04/10/2023 18:34

DS is in year 4 and have been told the teacher will only read with him (hear him read) once or twice this year. Is this the norm? Really disappointed by this!!

OP posts:
Stellaroses · 04/10/2023 20:55

BlueIgIoo · 04/10/2023 20:47

This is great if it works for you and I don't actually disagree that it's a good use of time but in most schools you have to do what you're told (to an extent) and carousels were considered old-fashioned/poor practice when I trained 10 years ago. Handwriting, for example, I would only want to teach whole class as a guided activity.

Show quote history

Handwriting is a whole class guided activity 20mins once a week, then they practise independently in the carousel.
I don’t like carousels for actual “lessons”, but for this, it works. I also wouldn’t fit in any other independent reading/choosing and trying out books time in the week.
(I actually also do a daily Maths carousel for basic numeracy!)

BookSuperWorm · 04/10/2023 20:56

Gangreenoh · 04/10/2023 18:48

I work! Also my son refuses to read to me

...... most parents work too. You're not in a minority there!?

I work FT and so does DH. Long hours and regularly on laptops after kids are in bed too. We still listen to oldest (7yo) read every night and we also read to him. We also read to youngest (2.5yo). There is definitely time in the day to fit this in.

Lifeofasd1 · 04/10/2023 21:42

Sorry , why does his teacher need to listen to him read, she is teaching him to read, isn't that enough? Does his parents not have 5 minutes to listen to their child read? Bizzare.
I do presume she teaches other children and other subjects, why should she listen to your child read, that's your job

Lifeofasd1 · 04/10/2023 21:45

TotallyScouting · 04/10/2023 19:23

How sad that a parent cannot find 10-15 mins to spend sharing a book with their child. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of my parents teaching me to read and I hope they will be my children’s too…

This

How sad that priorities of society as so fucked up. Yes, work is necessary but it's just a job, your children are not going to be little forever, spend five minutes reading with them, it really is basic

Magien · 04/10/2023 22:02

Secondary school English teacher here so I don't have the primary context but the reason I asked what you're trying to get him to read with you is the same as the other teacher said. It doesn't have to be a book. My y4 DC and I read Harry Potter together a page each, they play Animal Crossing while I watch and read the dialogue boxes out loud to me as a condition of screen time, the Phoenix is a great recommendation for graphic novel stories, and I cut human interest stories or bits out of newspapers that I know they're interested in eg environment and rewinding so we can read bits together. It's sad that they don't get to be heard by a teacher or TA because if you're not a teacher at that level yourself you don't have a basis for comparing how they're doing with where they "should" be but a teacher will have an idea from their comprehension etc. in class even without hearing them read out loud regularly.

Bluevelvetsofa · 04/10/2023 22:22

Reading recipes at the weekend.
Shared reading at bedtime
Shopping list

All kinds of things to be done that don’t involve formal sitting down reading. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

As a parent, you need to build on what your child does at school. It’s a few minutes a day and your responsibility to support learning.

Bellsandthistle · 04/10/2023 22:29

You don’t have ten minutes a day to listen to your child read but expect the teacher to do so for 30 children?

Motheranddaughtertotwo · 04/10/2023 22:37

Of all the things you want from your child’s teacher how important is this really? I teach reading but the children who are not working at age related level have targeted lessons with a (very competent and qualified) TA. I try to listen to every child in my class read once a week, realistically I manage around 20 out of 30 for a few minutes. I check their fluency and comprehension in a million ways in every subject.
One of my own children hated reading books; so we found things he did want to read. For us it was football magazines and reading football news. Now he’s a bit older it’s footballers autobiographies. All children will read if they want to know about something, you just have to find what that thing is for your child.

SallyLovesCheese · 04/10/2023 22:39

When I taught Year 4 (and Year 3) I only listened to one group of about 4 read daily. The others, when we did guided reading, would have already read the next pages independently the day before. So I would have said that I didn't hear most of the class read 1:1.

But... be sensible! You know the teacher will hear all children read SOMETHING aloud almost every day, whether it's a question on the board, a sentence or two from the text you're looking at in English, what their timeline card says in history, what their group wrote about their experiment in science.

Just because it's not recorded in a reading record or done in a formal way, doesn't mean it's not being done!

GreenhouseGarden · 04/10/2023 22:49

Read a bedtime story together? DS2 at that age and I read lord of the rings alternating pages until we got to Rivendell (then I lost the will to live and told him he was all good and could finish it on his own and all bedtime reading was henceforth delegated to his father).

But reading a book together is fun and a nice way for them to extend bedtime so they think they are winning just pick a sensible book (unlike me).

lanthanum · 04/10/2023 23:43

There comes a point when listening to a child read a page of their book out loud does not really achieve anything - it can be a matter of luck whether the page happens to include a word that is new to them or that they are mispronouncing.

We discovered a great bit of reading practice for a fluent reader. We were on holiday and there was a trivia game in our cottage. DD loved being the question master. Because they were adult questions, there were quite often new words, so she had to use her phonics knowledge to be able to read them. And whilst she got annoyed if we interrupted a story to ask if she knew what a word meant, with the questions she was asking for explanations of the meaning.

Mutters123 · 05/10/2023 00:17

greyandwindy · 04/10/2023 19:00

I also work. Cheek.
Get your head out of your own arsehole and into the real world. Teachers don't have time to read 1:1 with everyone unfortunately.
Your son needs to read with you at home, it's important.

This! 👏 👏👏
Also your son refuses to read to you? 😳Good luck with the teenage years if your parenting skills are this limited!

PollyPut · 05/10/2023 00:24

Gangreenoh · 04/10/2023 18:48

I work! Also my son refuses to read to me

Schools often only have the child read to the teacher very occasionally. Is there a TA or a volunteer that might be doing reading sessions at school?

You can find time for him to read to you. It's important to share books - you can check his pronunciation and understanding. If school tell him he has to read to you - or better, have school put it in writing in a book he can see that he has to do it to you, then he probably will do it. Is there a reading journal from school that you should be signing and updating? Often school will check that - and you can write in there if he won't read

FloraClover · 05/10/2023 01:37

Gangreenoh · 04/10/2023 18:48

I work! Also my son refuses to read to me

Most people work! Dont you put him to bed? 10 mins of him reading to you at bedtime.

CurlewKate · 05/10/2023 09:25

Surely by year 4 most children are independent readers? I would certainly expect teachers to concentrate on the ones that aren't.

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