On 11/06/09, BethAnn wrote:
> Hi All,

I'm not a big fan of reading logs or journals. I've found
that there are kids who struggle to read and because of the
struggle, they hate reading. Forcing them to read is rather
pointless. I try to encourage it, I do commiserate with their
struggles, I try to choose books for class that won't bore
them and I am not judgmental of their reading or that they
don't like to read.

I encourage the parents to be understanding too - we don't
all like to read and that's just the way it is - making those
kids feel worse accomplishes nothing positive.

I would and do tell parents - I simply cannot check every
child's backpack in the 6th grade. I will buy extra copies of
many books and even textbooks so kids can keep a copy at
home. I remind parents there are public libraries. I will
remind all kids at the end of the day that they should have
the following things in their backpacks....

but that's it. Wait, I'll even go so far as to write a
reminder note, walk to the kid's locker with the note and
together we'll tape the note to the inside of the door and
I'll do that nicely - No punishment intended.

but that's really it. Don't overread into parents' reactions.
In the ideal world, parents would love schools and teachers
to be able to do everything, literally everything. There will
always be parents who say "But Mrs. Smith in 3rd grade did it
this way."

And maybe we all have something we could learn from Mrs.
Smith - I'll say to a parent why that won't work in 6th or
I'll go talk to Mrs. Smith and see what I can learn from her.
Parents have brought me good ideas and certainly we can learn
from our good colleagues.

I tell kids and parents alike - the reading is for them. If
they read, they will get better at reading. It's a fact. 15-
20 minutes of reading every night is the way to get better at
reading and I regret that my colleagues so pile the kids with
homework that it takes the entire night to get it done. In my
ideal world, kids would have time to read.

I'm not here to be a policeman. I can tell them the research
but I'm not 'policing' whether they read or not. The truth
is - reading is like brushing your teeth - it's something you
do for your own well-being. I'm not expected to make sure my
students brush their teeth - that's on their parents and so
is nightly reading. It's a good habit like tooth-brushing and
healthy eating and it should fall into the same category.
>
> >
> I think at this age they have to decide how important the
> A.R.P. rewards are. If they decide they want to go to the
> movies bad enough, they should know when they need to take
> their book home and read. If a parent is concerned their
> kid hasn't been bringing his/her book home, tell the kid.
> It's like they expected me to police the lockers and make
> sure the kids leave with a book in their backpack.
>
> My first year teaching language arts, and I have NO idea
> what I am doing/what I am supposed to be doing!
>
> Do any of you guys do a reading log or something like that
> in 6th grade?
>
>
> Thanks in advance!
> BethAnn

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