Is the teacher being unreasonable to DD?

[lovecheese]

I have posted before about my dd in yr1 regarding reading/comprehension but there is a new development. She progressed from gold star books to white band books about a month ago and her teacher then said that we need to focus on her comprehension as she is reading well ahead of average at this stage. All well and good, as DD reads at home all the time. However, after a week or so on these new books which she read perfectly and we discussed etc her teacher called me in to say that she was putting her back on the gold/ gold star books as she thought her comp wasnt matching her decoding skills. To cut a long story short and after DH intervened to say that there was no way dd was going to be re-reading books that she had already read (as they didnt have any more gold/star books) teacher has last week and this week sent home "Guided reading group" books, cunningly looking as though they have had the book band sticker torn off the spine of the books. These books certainly are easy to read and are not stretching DD at all, even though her teacher has said that she is high ability and that they are stretching her in her work. I dont want to go in again to question her methods, I dont want to piss her off but I just get the impression that DD is almost being punished with these easy books because of mine and DH's questioning of her methods, and that she is refusing to let her go back to the white books which she had progressed to. what would you do? DD is a sensitive soul and was so proud of her progress and this is like a kick in the teeth to her. Should I go in again? This is really starting to eat me up. Sorry this is long and thankyou if you have got to the end!

lovecheese this is the level of understanding a child reading white banded books is expected to have
linked to Assessment for Learning

AF1 use a range of strategies, including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning;

AF2 understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text;

AF3 deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts;

AF4 identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level;

AF5 explain and comment on writers? use of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level;

AF6 identify and comment on writers? purposes and viewpoints, and the overall effect of the text on the reader;

AF7 relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary traditions

Excellent advice from AMumInScotland and SE13Mummy.

It is counter-productive to whizz children onto progressively more complex books if they are reading them without comprehending them. My daughter can read Jane Eyre but she cannot comprehend it.

Your combative attitude towards the teacher is unlikely to help your daughter, now or for the future. Of course you want the best for her, but you really do need to give some serious thought to the advice from the teacher rather then dismissing it. You sound rather paranoid - I'm sure that's not what you intend, but if you see everything as a conspiracy to do down your daughter you will never be happy.

You don't like your pushiness and preciousness being questioned by a professional educator. Teachers don't 'pick on' kids to get at their parents ffs. Comprehension is a HUGE deal if your dd will sit the level 3 paper in her ks1 sats.
You'd be here posting that her teachers were crap and let her down, by not challenging her enough if they then didn't enter her for the level 3's I bet!!!

Please try to remember that a book is an item of entertainment - not attainment.

If she is barking out the words at the upper level and getting no real feel of the book without having to have an adult MAKING her think about it, then her comprehension isn't up to the task of that level of book, and she needs to drop a level.

It doesn't matter. No, really. It doesn't. She's -what? five? Six? no older. She hs the rest of her life to read white band books. It doesn't have to happen NOW.

May I tentatively suggest that you should trust the teacher's professional judgment?

While I'm sure you know your particular child better than anyone else does, her teacher will have taught many children and will have a professional expertise in the area of teaching reading which you may not.

If she says your dd needs to read particular books for the time being, then give it a chance. Discuss it (non-pushily) in a few weeks' time if you want.

Teachers do not usually punish children for being good readers, or having awkward parents, or for any other strange, random reason. They are too busy teaching kids to read

I don't know the books your school is working with. First she was on "Gold Star" but had read them all and was moved up to "White Band" books which she found easy to read, you found her comprehension good but the teacher didn't and has placed her on "Guided reading group" books which are too easy.

So these books she is on now, are they approximately the equivalent of the "Gold Star" books or easier than those?

I can understand your frustration, OP, but I think you need to take a step back and really ask yourself why is it that you don't trust this teacher. And whatever the answer just leave it alone for a while..

I have been in a similar boat as you, and I have come to the conclusion that I am taking charge of my DD's education by sitting down with her at night and doing reading with her myself (and writing).

This is working at the moment and it is making less stressful the whole "dig in book bag hoping to find challenging book".

I hope this helped a bit.

I do feel for you and know why you are frustrated.

Hi

I'm a newbie...

As someone who works in a school, I was hoping I could shed some light on the situation as I have had to deal with it before.

Often, parents feel that there is a competition to race through all of the books in the reading levels as if there is some reward at the end. Often, children have a higher reading ability than comprehension, so we go back to earlier levels so that the read is 'easy' and we can focus more on asking questions that are tricky in order to help the child gain a deeper meaning of the text.

I'm somewhat amused by the attitude of some parents who feel that they need to write to teachers to tell them that their child will not be re-reading books. Do you never watch a film more than once? Do you play a game more than once? There is nothing wrong with re-reading a book at all.

At home you can help by having a wide range of books to read, but to help DD, you need to ask her questions to check her comprehension skills and look beyond simply decoding the text. Within a short space of time, you should see that the decoding level and comprehension begin to match again.

I hope this helps.

Actually I think an adult re reading a book or watching a film more than once is not a fair comparison to re-reading that floppy and biff want an ice cream again.

Your post doesn't really help my understanding of the OPs problem as I would have to say that surely the school would have been looking at comprehension at the same time as reading so there shouldn't be a need to go back to such basic books. The OP has clearly stated that she has been working on comprehension. I do get a bit tired of reading on here that parents should 'go the library' and 'give their children a wide range of books to read' because I think most parents who have reached the stage of posting on here are already doing that. My question is that this seems to happen so often that why aren't the schools able to do it?

I think that people get far too hung up on levels. There are some very sensible posts on here. Trust the teacher-she must have her reasons-go to the library. Read for pleasure and not the level. The best thing you can do for your DC is give her a love of reading-not make her feel it is an achievement race.

Maybe because there are 30 children in the class and we do our best but we have many areas to develop. Parents are always so quick to blame the teachers for not doing enough to help their child. They are your children, take some responsibility. We have to use a reading scheme because it clearly shows progression and levels which is what parents are so keen to see and judge against other people's children. We don't have endless amounts of time or endless pots of money. We have to work with what we've got and we are doing our best.

Sorry to the OP, I was only offering my opinion and trying to help. I shall know in future to keep quiet.

I can understnad your frustration - it's difficult not to take these things personally.

But just to add some more positivity on the re-reading thing. Having charged through levels, ds has been on his gold level (no idea if it's the same gold as your dd!) for quite a while now - at his last assessment, the teacher said he was decoding beautifully, but needed to focus on expression when reading - thinking about punctuation, making the story exciting etc. He actively chooses books he's read and liked before (we've read some 3 times now) despite being able to choose new books. And it allows us to focus on skills other than 'pure' reading - it's been a real joy to just 'play' with the books that he finds reasonably easy to read.
It sounds like you do loads with the books already ... perhaps look on it as a chance to just play & enjoy for a while?

PS the rereads include Biff and Chip - we quite like 'em ....

omg re-reading B>iff and Chip... At that point, I would have to put my foot down

couldn't face that

To be fair, I'll read anything ... and ds takes after me. Dh often has to come over to both of us and remove our heads from books/cereal packets/random letter drops before talking to us :-)

seriously? What about those weather fairies? Forget whatt hey're called. Dd read them to me in English and then she found them in the school library in German. I so loated those books.

loathed

Rainbow Magic - Goldie the Sunshine Fairy etc

Ahh, I've seen those, no they'd probably be a step too far - luckily even tho ds is not much of a boy-y boy, fairy books haven't attracted! Dd is only just reading but already tried to wangle one into the Waterstones basket the other day. It ain't happening.

I do like cereal boxes though, I'm with you there

omg that sounds depressing deepdarkwood I'd be practically throwing myself through the window if the kids were bringing back blinking biff and chip more than once. it's bad enough reading them second time round with second child. dull dull dull dull dull {screams]

op - are you able to back away completely from the whole situation for a whie, just do the bare minimum reading at home and leave the rest up to the teacher? if your dd is doing well already at school, she's unlikely to suffer academically if she's not getting additional input at home and it might give you both the space you need to chill out about reading levels and progress. if your dd sees you are not worried about what level she is on, she might be more relaxed about it too. I'm banned from doing practically anything with ds1 as I'm too 'controlling' according to him

"BUT I come back to the question of how is she going to improve her comprehension longer term if she is not being allowed books at the next level at school when she is reading much more advanced texts at home (and telling me all about them!)"

Well, by reading the more advanced texts at home for a start. Or do you think that what she reads at home will not contribute to her education just because it is not organised by the teacher. The important thing is not exactly how much recognition she is getting, but how much she is enjoying reading and discovering new books.

I have come to the conclusion that if you want your child to progress you need to do quite a lot at home. I think this is the situation as teachers have large classes, not enough resources etc

I don't like it in a "political" way, as I think the system as it is keeps disadvantaging children who are not fortunate enough to have parents who choose to do this for them. And there are many.

In a fair society, school would go some way in addressing that gap by providing an environment where all children can learn and progress equally, regardless of what their parents do at home with them. Especially at an age when they are not old enough to do it themselves/under their own steam.

It is not the teachers' fault or the parents' fault, it's the way things are. Unfortunately.

I think PulpFan has made some very good points - particularly about rereading easier books so the child can concentrate on comprehension and understanding, rather than having to work out the words as they go along.

The OP can carry on choosing whatever books she wants to read with her child at home, and learning new words/reading new books and discussing them with her mum should help the girl.

It is also worth saying again that reading should be fun, and if it is becoming an area of stress between the teacher and the OP, then the OP must be careful not to pass this on to her dd. She doesn't want reading to become a competition for her dd - going as fast through the reading schemes as humanly possible, and faster than her friends; nor does she want to foster in her daughter the belief that she and her mum know soooo much better than the teacher how the teacher should be doing her job.

emy72 - I agree; I have been mulling things over and am going to back off for a while and just keep encouraging her at home. I know that a lifelong love of reading and a thirst for knowledge are more important than bloody book bands; I am just frustrated with school.