I don't WANT a parent helper to write comments about dd1's reading in her reading book!

[pilote]

Is she a teacher? NO! Am I being totally unreasonable to ask her teacher who this person is and what her qualifications are? The TA already does most of the reading and handwriting practice with dd1, what is her bloody teacher doing all day fgs.

i think you are bang on

I've also been stopped in the supermarket by a mum 'parent helper' who has her dd in the same reception class as my dd - so she could chat about my dd's reading - and how when she listened to her she was doing well etc etc. Felt a little uncomfortable about it but didn't lose any sleep over it.

imho parents 'teach' their children to read - its great for children to have one on one with anyone at a state primary - they are blissfully unaware of the persons 'qualifications' or motives so it doesn't really matter.

Think about your child and not your own motives/feelings.

jajas - actually most the parent helpers at dd's school are just great parents with a bit of time on thier hands & usually with an idea that they might want to become a ta or a teacher so their motives are great - there's always the odd mum who doesn't know where the line is that shouldn't be crossed.

My lads have been at primary school for the last nine years between them, and I've only come across one parent helper who fudged the boundaries between school and the playground.

IME, the vast majority of parent helpers help out for the right reasons, and either possess or acquire the required skills very quickly.

jajas, as I've said to others, if you are not feeding back to the teacher any problems the pupil may be having, a very large point of the whole exercise is being missed. Is it in any pupil's long term interest if all feedback from volunteers is kept completely bland?

did the op ever tell us what was written in her dd's book?

or did she speak to the teacher?

I think pilote mis-spelt her name, perhaps it was supposed to be "polite" instead

YABTU

virgo, do you think it's possible that the reading helper you met in the supermarket just felt a need to say something to break the ice? And that the mother who moved her child to a private school might have wanted to help, perhaps feeling a bit guilty about buying her own child's way out of the situation? Rhubarb (iirc) started a thread on here a while back suggesting people in that situation should do precisely what she's done.

This thread has explained why a number of parents of children who have read to me have cut me dead in the playground. . And I really wouldn't dream of crossing any boundaries...

I go into my dc's school to help with reading. It is understood that I (and others) wouldn't write anything negative in the books. I will always be positive, ie 'X worked really hard at sounding out unfamiliar words' or 'A was really keen to read'. I'm not qualified to write anything beyond that. Some of the children I hear are clearly not getting any practice at home, the one thing they really need.

I hope to God none of the parents at my school feel about me the way you do. Very and .

i haev been in this morning

i wrote

" james zoomed thoyught his book"

" t tried hard wiht some tricky words, we talked abotu the, there and then"

I do agree about comments in books that go to parents, jajas. But it doesn't take qualifications to spot that a child doesn't know how to blend sounds, or doesn't know what to do with, say, "ai", and that really does need to be pointed out to someone so the child gets some help. It's not being negative, just constructive. And it really is possible for the teacher not to spot the problem, I'm afraid.

I agree with jajas. It's great that parent helpers give children an opportunity to practice their reading one-to-one. Any comment or assessment of the reading should be made by the teacher.

Actually I agree with OP - although I'm not quite so outraged and I do know what teachers do all day.

But I don't like parent helpers writing comments either, we had some fall out from this earlier in the year with a few parent helpers discussing how clever/or not the children were within their group of friends. Which precisely demonstrated their lack of professionalism. I love hearing children read and appreciate other parents hearing mine read but it's not an opportunity to pretend to be teacher. If the parent has comments about the reading they should perhaps discuss it with the teacher/TAs instead.

But I do think it's a better policy to have parent helpers from other classes - it prevents competitiveness and is less upsetting for the children who's parents can't come into help.

Hallgerda I'm actually really disappointed with how little reading at school dd is doing. Yes, I'm assuming the 'guided reading' session is them all droning on together. Dd, and all the kids, are still being given level one reading books when she and at least 5 of the other readers I've listened to could probably be on level 3 or 4. But the teacher doesn't hear them read so she doesn't know.

Does this all change over in Year One?!

imaginaryfriend, I'm afraid your best course of action is probably to go to the library regularly and find suitable books for your daughter there. ime the focus on reading becomes less, rather than more, as they go up the school.

It's not the children of well educated parents I worry most about Do say something to the teacher about the appropriateness of the reading books, please, for the sake of the others - you could make a difference.

I understand the OP's frustration with the system, just think she's picked the wrong target.

In most schools it'squite unusual for a child to read on to one with a teacher It's not rally a very effective way of using a teacher's time. They do read one to one with a TA or a parent helper, and are expected to read every day at home. However, hey do guided reading with the teacher. This doesn't mean that the"all drone on together!It involves a small group of similar ability children each with the same book working together. Sometimes they read in unison, sometimes they take turns - a page each - sometimes they read a little play with them all taking parts. It's a very effective way of the teacher monitoring the children's progress and picking up on any difficulties. At our school, it's also how the teacher decides if they are ready to move up a reading level for their home books.

It's a bit like learning to drive. The guided reading is like the driving lesson, the one to one reading with parents, helpers and TAs is the driving practice you do between lessons to reinforce the learning.

A

I don't agree that one-to-one reading is not an effective use of a teacher's time. Some children really want to please their teacher and would try harder for them and be very proud of themselves for doing well. It helps build relationships and stops children just feeling part of a crowd. It's more than just reading and in turn helps reading.
I also can't agree with your driving lesson analogy. You need one-to-one instruction from a qualified driving instructor during your lesson. You can then practice on your own but there are good drivers and bad drivers. Some have bad habits that a learner might pick up. The driving instructor could help avoid this.
I think it's a great pity if it's true that it's rare now for a teacher hear reading one to one.

I actually think that hearing a child read is an effective use of a teacher's time in that a teacher can find out a lot about a child's reading ability from one to one reading It also helps to develop a good relationship between teacher and children - I'm thinking about the really quiet children here who don't usually command much of the teacher's attention. But there is so much to get through I agree that it is very difficult to fit it in and it is a task that can be given to a parent heper and most chn will be fine with that. However IMO children with reading (and other)difficultiescan be missed this way.

Juule you posted some very similar thoughts to mine at the same time as me! Freaky!

Must be true then

Guided reading is a good way of keeping tabs on the pupils reading and understanding. Usually all pupils (in a small group) have the same bit of text - the teacher may read a bit, each pupil may read a bit & then there is a discussion lead by the teacher on aspects of the text. This could be meaning of words or phrases, why the author chose particular words, styles of writing etc - to get the pupils to think a little more about what they have read - rather than just looking a the words without considering the meaning behind them. It doesn't just focus on reading skills, but on speaking & listening too

OK, as the teacher does hear each child read once a week. 30 children - 20 minutes each. That's 10 hours in the week when the teacher would be concentration exclusively on one child. I wonder how people on here would feel if they thought of it as two days a week when the teacher was unavailable to the other 29 children in the class? Guided reading is a much more interesting and dynamic experience than people seem to think. Why not ask if you can go in and observe a class one day?