Teacher listening to pupils reading one-to-one

[sportinguista]

What is normal? I thought the teachers were supposed to listen to each pupil read on a one-to-one basis around once each week, but my son doesn't seem to have done this for around a month or more also the reading diary has not been filled in on the schools part for around this time and then only group reading since early September, only my entries since then. I am somewhat concerned as his reading book hasn't been changed either. I've mentioned it to the teacher but she just says " Oh, he's been reading with X" (another teacher in her group). Communication is poor, we only got 5 mins which were rushed through at parents evening and I feel truly uneasy. DS is Year 2 so SATS looming so not a good time for this to be the case...can any teachers help out with an idea of what should be going on, worried I will sound like that parent but have talked to a couple of other parents and the feeling is similar.

In out year 2, teachers are only likely to hear a child read one-to-one for a half-termly assessment, particularly if they have no problems. This has been the case for at least 6 years. Those who need support read to the TA, often daily. Those who do not get to read at home or need a low level of support read to a parent helper once or twice a week. Guided reading is supposed to be enough to enable staff to keep track of progress. However, books are changed whenever a child has finished them, daily if necessary.

DD is in Year 1 and I have been having similar concerns, especially about the reading record not being filled in. As far as I can gather from her, she has read to her class teacher once, done a couple of guided reading sessions and read to a TA once in 6 weeks.

I wouldn't be that bothered, but the books she is bring home are 2 levels below where she finished Reception and she has come on leaps and bounds over the summer since then. I've raised this directly in her reading record (after my indirect hints got ignored) and haven't had a reply. I'm pretty concerned now that, in the school's eyes, she appears to have made no progress in the last 6/7 months.

So, lack of communication going on here. I'm not sure how on earth guided reading can keep track of progress as apparently they read one short book and each read a page or two, so at most she is reading 3-4 very easy sentences.

Of course we'll carry on as we are at home, but it would be quite nice to get a bit of guidance/ encouragement from the school.

How would a teacher pick up any issues with a child? It doesn't look as if the teachers even look at the home school diary to check whether we do read at home. I am starting to feel that the bulk of the work is being done at home.

It's more the lack of knowing what is going on. I can't help if I don't know what are the percieved weaknesses and what he needs to work on, I can guess but in the end I'm not a teacher.

onemouseplace that's what I'm worried about too that it all goes under the radar and he misses being stretched where necessary. Some of the children in class have little or no English so class focused lessons may not stretch the most able, this has been a criticism of the school for the last 4 Ofsteds.

It would be interesting to hear from a teacher just what the expectation is for one-to-one reading in the national curriculum.

Guided reading is more effective for children who are beyond the basic sounding out words. As a parent its your responsiblity to listen to your child read. It is not realistic to expect a teacher to listen to 30 children once a week. it would take the teacher roughly 3 hours. Who would work with the other children.

Having said that schools to employ teaching assistant and if they have lucky they have parent volunteers who listen to children read. Even then teaching assistants are often busy with interventions for children with special needs rather than listening to children with no issues practice reading.

If a parent struggles with literacy or English then they need to make the school aware. Otherwise its your job as a parent to support home learning.

Our teachers listen to the children once a week. They have a TA in class to help. The children also read with the TA and with parent helpers, so three or four times a week. On top of whatever they do at home.

I know this because I am a parent helper. I always write in the diaries and also in the teachers folder so they can read what we have done.

I'm surprised this doesn't happen in your school. Doesn't sound very good.

Ok, I do understand. By guided reading I assume it's done in a group?
I'm not sure that the home school diary has any real effectiveness then other than that I sign if I read with him I'm guessing. Fortunately I don't have any issues with literacy, quite the opposite as I need a higher level of English to be able to proof clients work and to help them write copy. I guess since I started school in the mid 70's and frankly can't remember much about learning to read, I was not sure what was usual and what to expect. I listen to him read everyday and he does "Teach your Monster to Read" and other educational stuff on computer for half an hour most nights unless he's too tired. It's more I'm doing what I think is right but the odd pointer as to anything to work on is helpful.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig so it varies from school to school then?

I wonder if ours is because there is a very high proportion early English and additional needs which would make it impractical.

There are no parent helpers in class that I'm aware of, they used to do it but now don't seem to.

I guess it does vary. Could you ask if there are any set guidelines?

I might do that, he got a stamp that just said he'd read in a group today but that has been the first thing for ages. I guess if I just keep on with what we've been doing and have a look at national targets etc myself I should be able to get a good idea of what we need to work on...but I keep getting the feeling that it's feeling more like home education!

A class teacher probably wouldn't have time to listen to every child in the class read 1:1 every week. Hearing reading is a job mostly left to the TAs or parent volunteers and even they will usually listen to groups of readers. Although I do think it depends on the teacher, the school and the priority they give to reading.

Guided reading involves a group of about five children with similar reading ability. They take it in turns to read a page of the book while the other children listen or maybe they would read a play. The teacher will ask the group questions to develop and assess comprehension skills. Guided reading is like a driving lesson and reading with a parent is like driving practice. As a parent you just need to have a reasonable ability to read, you don't need teacher training or an English degree to listen to a child read.

Five minutes a night listening to a child read is hardly onerous.

I disagree about guided reading being more effective (at whatever stage a child is at). Many schools no longer use guided reading but only your child's teacher can tell you how they monitor/teach reading.

I really don't like guided reading either -it seems such a waste of everyone's time.

I read somewhere that if a teacher reads with each child (assuming 30 in a class) for around 10 minutes each that equates to a whole school day.

Surely a lot depends on whether your child is at the learning to decode stage or learning high order skills like interference, deduction or vocabulary development. A conversation between a group of children at a similar level can improve vocabulary skills and aid understanding of the text. Having a book discussion with one child is a bit limiting.

He's in between really, not at early stages. I have no problem with doing reading at home, I just need to know what they're doing in class so I know what areas to push on with, what I can do to develop him further. His grammar and diction is actually going backwards due to school, I have to pick him up on it a lot, many of the children have really poor grammar as do many parents I'm afraid (I'm not a snob but I he came home saying 'thunk' instead of 'thought').

the problems with guided reading

That is a very interesting blog mrz and I do think raises some good points about the guided readings effectivness. I am having quite a few doubts about the whole way things seem to be taught as I seem to make more progress with him in the short times I teach than he seems to be doing at school. If left to himself he does tend to sit back and let someone else answer as mentioned and I've noticed mistakes in spoken English and bad habits actually increase. Also it does seem a good idea to let all children see all questions regardless of ability because even if they get them wrong trying is important.

I'm also bemused by the purpose of a home/school diary if it's only me writing in it, I've even been tempted to write something really bizarre just to see if they do read it!

Guided reading originated in New Zealand and is very much part of Reading Recovery. It was introduced in the UK as part of the literacy strategy which failed many thousands of children.

Why is it still done if it has failed children? It's making me a bit nervous if they are now relying solely on this to teach reading. I did wonder at his level of progress as it seemed rather slow to me which was why I stepped things up at home. I was reading Enid Blyton at his age and by 9 was on the Hobbit.

I can see I will have to just make a push with things a bit more as it is unlikely to change at that particular school, fortunately we are in the process of looking to move next year (Year 3) so things shouldn't be irrecoverable.

What strikes me most is the lack of sophisticated vocabulary in many modern children's books. In comparison, older books are far wordier and don't shy away from using long words.

I definitely think in his school there is a lack of aspiration, most of the children start well below the national average and they have to work to get them to hit average by year six, level 5 and 6 are rare in school and most pupils go on to what I regard as a sink school which hopefully we'll be moved on by that point so will avoid.Geraniumred I think that too, there is not enough introduction of more complex words and also concepts. They are also bringing in something called 'assessment without levels' which apparently allows the school to set their own levels for achievement, which in this case may be worrying as they could pitch it quite low due to the general cohort...does anyone know what it will mean in practice?

It's still done because it was part of the old literacy strategy which some schools cling to, others like mine never adopted guided reading and preferred to use high quality whole class novels to teach reading (beyond decoding).

I'm not a fan of guided reading. I know my own children hated it at school despite being avid readers. I have more of a whole class approach, but my TA and I manage to hear everyone in the class (Y5/6) at least once a week each and we question them on understanding, vocabulary etc.

I'm a parent helper with year 2 and it takes forever to listen to each child read. I will start with the children in the lowest group so that if time runs out, those that need it most get that reading time in. I also make notes for the teacher so she knows if a certain child is struggling or has made huge improvements.

There just aren't enough hours in the day. Year 2 teachers teach everything so to expect them to listen to each child read each week would mean they lose a whole morning and would effectively leave a class to their own devices or with a ta.