This is the sixth post by FedUp Mom, the mother of a fifth grader. FedUp Mom’s daughter used to attend a public school in suburban Philadelphia, but this year FedUp Mom moved her to a private Quaker school, hoping for a more relaxed environment. You can read her other posts here, here, here, here and here.
I Hate Reading Logs
by FedUp Mom
Every time I think we’ve solved the school problem something comes along to bite me in the rear. This week it’s the dreaded reading log. We found out about it from a letter the teachers sent home:
“Your child will be expected to read every night. We ask that you sign the log each night … We will also check the log regularly, in order to ensure follow through on your child’s part… Please sign the form below and return it to school tomorrow with your child.”
And now, the fun part:
“Thank you for your partnership in your child’s education.” (!)
And how does following the teacher’s directions make me a partner exactly? I feel more like an unpaid employee. Wait a minute — we’re paying them!
There was a little form at the bottom of the letter that said:
“I have read the above letter and agree to help my child by signing his/her log each night.”
I crossed this out and wrote in:
“We trust our daughter to do her reading.”
Then we signed it.
Then we sent the following e-mail to the teacher:
Teacher X: we have chosen not to participate in the reading log. We’ve experienced reading logs before and have these objections:
1.) They turn reading into a chore.
2.) They send a message that we don’t trust (daughter) to do the reading without meddling and micromanaging.
(Daughter) will do the reading she needs to do, but she won’t be logging the pages. Thank you.
I’m hoping that will be the end of it. I’m really tired of conferences and I’m sure we all have better things to do with our time.
Stop Homework 
Anne, if you can’t assign “whatever pops into their head”, could you at least approximate it by giving lots of choices? Could they write about what they did that day, or what they ate and whether it was any good, or what they hope to do on the weekend? Could they define their own topic?
Matthew said:
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If I had to think about the symbolism in everything I read, to analyze the plot, to ponder character development then I would turn on the TV, too.
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Matthew, good point, but it’s actually worse than you stated. The kids aren’t just required to think about these topics, they have to produce written evidence that will be judged by the teacher.
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Unfortunately, writing what “pops into their head” is sometimes as difficult or more so than writing about something that has been read. The writing would be a lead-in to discussions happening in the classroom. Free writing could absolutely be a choice for the blog, as well as writing to a prompt or about what they’ve read. When I say “respond to reading” I don’t necessarily mean thinking about the symbolism in everything. If a student can make a book recommendation and explain why, that is a perfectly acceptable response. When I “judge” a student’s work it is based on their individual level and their input in class discussions.
I actually polled my class last year about the idea of a reading blog and all but 1 of 20 were excited by it. Unfortunately it was close to the end of the year so we were only able to try it out for a few weeks.
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Anne — sorry, I see my comment was confusing. The second half, about the teacher “judging”, wasn’t so much a response to what you wrote as a continuation of the previous discussion with dsLevy.
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Thanks for clarifying :o)
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Teachers looking for ways to encourage students to read may want to consider this, from Horn Book:
Click to access 13ways.pdf
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Additional suggestions on positive ways to encourage reading (written for parents but applies to teachers, too, since many commenting here seem to feel responsible for making students prove that they read at home):
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/reading/unconventional-ways-to-get-kid.html
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I am a 5th grade teacher and I stopped reading logs last year. I agree they are tedious and seem to be a punnishment for kids instead. So, instead I help my students choose books they will love (sometimes my boys in class have the hardest time with that!) But we always find something. Great post.
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CL, thanks for the support!
I have girls myself, but I’ve heard that boys sometimes prefer nonfiction. They might like to read about war (yikes!)
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There is a Star Wars chapter book series that the boys in my class have taken to. I can never find the books because they are always being borrowed! I love when that happens :o)
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I can across the message board randomly, but from what I read, it sounds like a bunch of uneducated people. Maybe if you actually did some research on the process in which children learn to read, you would understand the importance of reading at home with your child. The original poster seems to have no interest in their child’s education, nor having their child excel in anything since they don’t seem to want to put any “effort” into their child’s learning. Studies have found that PARENT INVOLVEMENT is one of the number one reason children excel in school. Also, you had a child, meaning YOU have to put EFFORT into that. So yes, it is your second job. Also, teachers work so hard and are so underpaid for their work. Plus, they buy tons of extra supplies and materials out of their own pocket for your child. That email was so abrasive and harsh that you sent to your daughter’s teacher. Don’t you think you could have been nice, or are you just a cruel human being that doesn’t care about their child? It’s people like you who should of never gotten pregnant in the first place. I care about my child, their education, and respecting my child’s teacher (as they went to school, studies years of research, and know what is best for my child). Grow up people.
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The reason I’m against reading logs is because I care passionately about education, reading, and my child. Reading logs accomplish absolutely nothing. Their only effect is to cause stress in the home and turn kids off of reading.
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I’m trying to muster a response to Caring Parent, but I don’t have the energy anymore. I’m sure Caring Parent hasn’t read all 559 postings so she’s not in the loop in this discussion, and I’m not going to cover old territory.
I, too, and a caring, totally involved parent but I am adamant that my child will not be doing reading logs. She doesn’t need to. She’s starting school next week, with a collection of stories that she’s written about her own adventures this summer, and she reads what she enjoys reading. Period.
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darn typo..I meant to write “I, too, am a caring parent”
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Caring Parent says:
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It’s people like you who should of never gotten pregnant in the first place.
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Just because I have kids doesn’t mean I’ve gotten pregnant. You’re making an awful lot of assumptions here.
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I can second that too….being a proud adoptive Mom….
See..I didn’t even see that comment in Caring Parent’s post. I just can’t read too far down when I’m called “uneducated” and told that I need to do research when that’s just about all I do.
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I can’t help but wonder what you are all teaching your children with this “you don’t have to do as you are told” language. Even if you do not agree with the reading logs, you are teaching your children that if you do not enjoy doing something, then don’t do it! Don’t listen to authority. Do what pleases you!
This is why American children are the way they are. Your children are lucky to have parents that care about how they do in school and don’t need a reading log. Lots of children do not have parents that devote time to their homework if it were not for a simple reading log. It doesn’t take much time to fill out. Lastly about the “Thank you for partnering in your childs education”— Why is this a bad thing? Studies show that teachers can drill children in school all day long but the children who retain it are the ones who have parents asking what they learned in school and helping them with homework. It is up to you if you want to make the most of your childs education, but bantering on here, when you know nothing about what goes on behind the scenes in the classroom is utterly ridiculous.
Your children will be the ones that get fired for not doing as they are told in a job setting because “I didn’t feel like doing it, I didn’t need to do it”
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Laura, school should be about learning, not compliance. If the teacher sends home a log which actually hinders my daughter’s learning, I have every right to refuse.
I don’t see school as 13 years of unquestioning obedience in preparation for the corporate world. If that’s your vision, you’re in luck. The schools are set up for parents like you.
The problem with “thank you for your partnership” is that there is no real partnership. Partners make decisions together. A teacher telling me what to do, and demanding my signature to prove I’ve understood the instructions, is not treating me as a partner.
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A few years ago, I wrote an article on the Parent-Teacher Partnership for Teachers College Record. Here it is:
A Parent’s Perspective: How (and Why) to Turn the Parent-Teacher “Partnership” into a Two-Way Relationship
by Sara Bennett — March 05, 2007
At the beginning of every school year, in almost every school across the country-public, private, or religious-parents attend back-to-school nights. They meet the teacher, often sitting in their child’s chair, and learn about the year’s curriculum, class rules, and the teacher’s expectations. The teacher usually talks about how eager she is for parental support, how she wants to work together with the family, how the family and the school will be “partners” in the child’s education. According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, “there is no topic in education on which there is greater agreement than the need for parent involvement.”1 The reason: a healthy parent-school partnership fosters student success.
The concept of the parent-teacher partnership is not new. In 1994, when the Goals 2000: Educate America Act was signed into law, one of its eight goals stated, “Every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.”2 The goal sounded good on its face-all parents want their children to develop socially, emotionally, and academically, and they’re willing to do what it takes to accomplish that goal. Who could argue with the give-and-take promise of a “partnership?”
But now, 13 years after Goals 2000, homework in kindergarten has become the national norm, children spend a good part or sometimes even all of their evenings on schoolwork, and many parents are frustrated and confused about what their children bring home every night. The reality of parent-school partnership, parents quickly discovered, was not quite the give-and-take they were led to expect. While the schools were happy to rope parents into doing more and more supervision and taking over more and more of the teaching and drilling at home, the parents had no say whatsoever in the content or the methods of their children’s education, either at school or at home.
When I asked teachers what they expected from a parent-teacher partnership, not one mentioned listening for what the parent’s needs might be. “To me,” says the mother of a fifth-grader from Brooklyn, New York, “a good relationship is where people decide something together, where both parties have a say. But, with respect to homework, I don’t have a say. The teacher has decided what my child will do. If I want something different for her, I have to go through multiple emails and sound like a bitch and even then I don’t really have a say.”3
Still, teachers do have firm ideas of what they expect from parents:
Parents must check the nightly folders I send home. If they don’t, they’re missing important information. It’s important for them to see what their kids are doing. They need to establish that routine. Let’s face it, the kids are 5 and 6, it’s the parents’ responsibility. But if the parents don’t establish it, then their kids aren’t going to learn responsibility. – kindergarten teacher, Bloomington, Illinois4
Parents should trust me, listen to their children, and not meddle. The parent should encourage and provide help when asked; the teacher should enlighten and inspire.–third grade teacher, Brooklyn, New York5
Parents should provide a consistent place where their children can do their homework, make sure that their kids have any materials they need, and discuss the work that their kids are doing on a reasonably frequent basis. The parent needs to communicate with me any relevant circumstances that might impact the student as a learner. It’s my responsibility to communicate with the parent(s) if the student is doing extraordinarily well or extraordinarily poorly. -7th and 8th grade teacher, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania6
Even if the teacher isn’t specifically asking for parental involvement, parents often experience the teacher’s expectations as a mandate that the parent must provide help. A 2006 poll from the NEA and Leap Frog found that parents help their 8 to 13 year olds on average 2 hours and 45 minutes a week. Says Frank, a single father of two from Sacramento, California, “I am going crazy over the load of homework my kids are bringing home! It started with a call from the school that my oldest was not turning in homework, so I tried helping her every night when I got home. Even when I help with the math and the answer is correct, the teacher marks it wrong because the ‘technique’ or ‘mechanics’ I use is not the so-called new math.”7 Frank ended up turning to an Internet homework site for help, something that, given the proliferation of these sites over the last few years, other parents must be doing as well.
To top it off, many teachers explicitly require parents to be involved in homework, creating assignments precisely for that purpose. So-called family homework can be anything from quizzing the child on her math facts or spelling words, to reading a required book with the child and expecting the parent to turn in her own notes on the book, to being the subject of an interview, to getting supplies so that the child can build a boat that floats or a suspension bridge that holds weight. It’s no wonder that parents find the partnership to be a one-way street, the very antithesis of what they expected. Instead of feeling involved in their children’s schooling, they feel more alienated than ever. You know we’re in the middle of a crisis when the American Academy of Pediatrics issues a report lamenting the lack of play and recess in children’s lives and suggesting they be restored to ensure children’s mental and physical health, as it did in October 2006. Another indication of the crisis: the 2006 Scholastic/Yankelovich report finding that reading for fun declines rapidly after age 8 because of homework demands.
If we are to stem the tide of disaffected parents and students and restore some sense of balance to our children’s lives, we must figure out how to change the current paradigm so that teachers and parents have an equal role in the partnership, even if that means taking into consideration parents’ and children’s unique situations and skills, as idealistic as that sounds.
How do we begin? By establishing ground rules for dialogue between schools and parents. Like any good relationship, there must be room for give and take, with each party on equal footing. That means that parents and teachers should either be on a first- name basis or a Mr./Ms. basis, but the teacher shouldn’t be the only one with the honorific. At parent-teacher meetings, the teacher should not be sitting behind the desk, but should arrange the seating in a more egalitarian manner. And, just as the teacher has expectations and requirements, the parents should be allowed, even encouraged, to voice their own expectations and requirements. Then, they can discuss, negotiate, compromise, and, finally, reach an agreement that works for the parents, the student, and the teacher. Not all students will be doing the same work every night, nor need they.
If this means that students end up doing less homework every night, that may just be a fair price for stemming an incipient rebellion among parents. And consider: homework research hasn’t found any correlation between homework and achievement in the elementary school years; research finds improvement in later years only on teacher- created tests.8 So by doing less homework, students will be losing very little, if anything, and will have more time for sleep, play, and socializing with their friends, and more time to pursue their own particular interests, whether they be academic, creative, or social. And then, the actual goal of the parent-school partnership will be realized: children who reach adulthood with their social, emotional, and academic skills intact.
Notes
1. Epstein, Joyce, et al., School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2002. 2. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/stw/sw0goals.htm 3. Telephone interview with WP. The interviews with parents and teachers were either conducted by telephone or were responses to an email query. Although the interviewees are not identified by name in the article, their identities are known to me. 4. Telephone interview with KG 5. Email exchange with PL 6. Email exchange with MS 7. Comment by FS in “One Father’s Internet Answer to Homework” on stophomework.com 8. In The Battle Over Homework (Corwin Press 2001, page 23), homework researcher Harris Cooper writes: “The effect of homework on the achievement of young children appears to be small, even bordering on the trivial.” He goes on to note that, in high school, where a positive relationship between homework and achievement exists, “It’s impossible to determine whether more homework causes better achievement, whether teachers assign more homework to students achieving better, or whether better students spend more time on home study.” Id. at page 33. In The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of A Bad Thing (Da Capo 2006, page 27), Alfie Kohn explains that when Cooper found a stronger association with achievement, the experiments “measured achievement by students’ scores on tests that had been designed to match the homework they had just done.”
Cite This Article as: Teachers College Record, Date Published: March 05, 2007 http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 13716, Date Accessed: 4/9/2007 10:26:14 AM
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Sara — yowza! May I post your article to my blog? Thanks! — FedUpMom.
http://kidfriendlyschools.blogspot.com/
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The education of children is an art, not a science. As a teacher I must be willing to vary my approaches and strategies depending on the students I teach. I must actively seek training, usually at my own expense and on my own time, that will enhance my knowledge of child development and instructional strategies. I must spend countless hours reflecting on my practices and my students’ needs. I take time away from my own children and family to ensure that my students are served well. How dare someone make a generalization and clump me in with other people who are standing in classrooms but who aren’t really committed to the teaching profession!
The argument here is with the wrong people. Our state and federal government agencies continue to pass legislation that ties a teacher’s hands and takes the time for creative solutions away from us. As far as unions, speaking up, and teacher organizations, because I know that will be mentioned in response to me, not all of us are fortunate enough to live and work in states where we are able to arbitrate. Because I am a state employee it is illegal for me to enter into arbitration with the state. If I do anything my employer deems insubordinate I can be fired immediately. Now, I teach because I love children but, lets face it, I can’t live without a paycheck. We have no power to change the laws, voters do.
With all of that said, when I introduce my reading logs each year, and yes, I do assign reading logs, I do a couple of things. First, I discuss with my students and in my parent letter that I know many of my students already read constantly. That is not a question in my mind. I am just asking them to give me information about what they are already doing. Another aspect of my logs is the fact that I give students and parents freedom in the chunks of reading time. My students are given a number of minutes each week that they can spread over the week however they see fit. If they love to sit and read on Saturday afternoons then they can record all of that time at one time and be done. I realize that families have lives and requiring nightly minutes may not work for them. If they want to take a walk on a beautiful fall afternoon or play until sundown then I want them to have the freedom to do so without worrying about reading every night.
Now, what have I seen in my 15 years of teaching? Those students I have who are voracious readers usually tell me “I read all the time anyway, I just write it down.” I take my reluctant readers into our school library, find a book that works for them, hold them responsible for reading it, and hear “That’s the first book I have ever read all the way through.” By the way, I teach 6th grade. I love children but very rarely do I come across a student who will just pick up and do what s/he is asked to do without some sort of external motivation, either positive or punitive. Students need to read in order to become better readers. This usually takes some sort of external incentive to get them there. My goal throughout the year is to get them to internalize the motivation but, no I typically don’t trust them because they are children and they aren’t responsible yet. I have a 16 and 17 year old, I know all about developing logic and responsibility. It is not usually innate.
I get the sense that many of the people posting here have the erroneous idea that teachers should be solely responsible for their child’s education. I’m sorry, but you are your child’s first and best educator. They watch your every move. For those of you who don’t think that your derision and degradation of the teaching profession is being taught to your child you are deluded. I don’t care how careful you are not to expose your child to the words you write here, your reactions to the things s/he brings home from school or the nonverbal cues and reactions you exhibit do have an effect.
I take offense to the generalizations being made about teachers. You would too if I were to generalize about parents. In my 15 years I have seen plenty of parents who were not willing nor equipped to parent their children. I do not, however, view all parents with that attitude. That would be called prejudice and it would be unprofessional. I have also had experience with parents who don’t trust me to do what is best for their child. There has been a lot stated about teachers trusting parents but, parents need to trust teachers as well. We may not always agree but, we need to be adult enough to agree to disagree. Assumptions are being made here that all teachers behave in certain ways and that we can’t be trusted to know our own profession. I don’t understand the mistrust. Do you question the doctor who treats you or the lawyer who defends you? You trust their professional opinions and knowledge. Where is that respect for the individuals who care for and instruct your children every day? If you feel you could do a better job then by all means, homeschool. If not then work on changing funding and legislation that ties our hands as educators. Just sitting back and complaining isn’t doing anyone any good.
As this school year begins I will once again enter my classroom, smile at those eager faces, know that I have the best and most difficult job in the world, say a quick prayer that I have the strength and compassion to teach each student, learn from each student, and let them know that I love them and respect them as individuals. Somewhere in there I will also plan engaging Language Arts and Social Studies activities that will give them the knowledge and skills they will need for their future. All of the quarrels about strategies, policies, and legislation will take a back seat to loving, nurturing, and educating our most precious resource, the children.
Thanks for letting me be a part of the discussion.
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I do not feel that school is for the PURPOSE of compliance, but I do feel that with every situation you have the opportunity to teach your child something. You are choosing to teach them to argue and to always feel they are right.
I am not saying all teachers are doing things the correct way, but what I am saying is that you do not realize what the teachers all deal with. They have standards and rules that they HAVE to cover, it may or may not be their choice. You giving them a hard time only shows that you are stuck up parents that think they know all.
If you are so anti- then homeschool. Part of being in a CLASS is that your child is not the only one. They are thinking about the class as a whole. I agree that reading should be something the children learn to love– but you are criticizing without giving good options for what they should do. Trust would be a wonderful thing, but the fact of the matter is that time and time again, it is proven that most people cannot just be trusted. Even with the reading log, you will find those parents who find no problem signing without reading. If the teacher assigned no homework and 1/2 the class did NONE and then complained that their child’s reading wasn’t up to par, then what would you suggest? Reading practice is half the battle. If the child doesn’t practice reading, they will not get better. This falls on the teachers shoulders.
Point being, if you are going to waste so much time sounding like stuck up soccer moms who can’t just comply with the school you choose to send your child to (the moms who send their kids to private) then use your time constructively by writing a nice formulated letter to your school district. The awful letter you sent to your students child was HARDLY constructive. If anything it made her upset or angry.
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The awful letter you sent to your students child was HARDLY constructive.
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I think you meant “your child’s teacher”. Actually, it was plenty constructive. I never saw a reading log again. For that matter, I never complained to this teacher again. She and my daughter worked out a good relationship, and my daughter told me later that she thought the teacher was “a really good Language Arts teacher.”
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First, I discuss with my students and in my parent letter that I know many of my students already read constantly. That is not a question in my mind. I am just asking them to give me information about what they are already doing.
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Why? If you know they’re reading constantly, why do you need a number of minutes and a parent signature?
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Do you question the doctor who treats you or the lawyer who defends you?
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Of course I question my doctor. You should too. They’re not infallible, any more than teachers are.
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I love children but very rarely do I come across a student who will just pick up and do what s/he is asked to do without some sort of external motivation, either positive or punitive.
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The problem with all these motivators is that they become a distraction. If you require kids to turn in a reading log, with rewards and punishments depending on compliance, you can get most of them to turn in a reading log. So what? Are they actually reading? Are they getting anything out of it? The reading log proves nothing.
I’ve said this several times already, but I never seem to get a direct response. My experience of reading logs is that they caused stress in my family, and made my daughter LESS inclined to read. I am not the only parent to report this problem. So what are you doing to solve it?
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FedUpMom,
You make an excellent point saying that reading logs can cause stress and actually reduce the joy in reading. Do you have any suggestions that might help teachers like me motivate students who dislike reading? Sometimes it is just finding that series or topic a student is interested in, but unfortunately some students are just not interested. What are some ways to encourage a love of reading? Thank you for any tips you can provide!!
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You ramble, but multiple people have asked “What would you do instead?” and you haven’t been able to answer.
I guess my concern isn’t that you don’t think its useful, maybe to you and your children it isn’t. Is it so much trouble that it is worth creating a blog and checking it multiple times a day? I bet you have spent more time on this blog then it takes to fill out a reading log each night.
Think about all the other things you could be putting your time into. Create a blog on human suffering or anything!
Isn’t it sad to think about how some children don’t even get an education? Here we are complaining about something so ridiculous.
On that note, I refuse to waste anymore of MY time reading this trash, because the fact of the matter is that you represent probably less than 5% of the population. So enjoy playing the victim role, you are quite good at it! Be happy your children live in a country like ours where they can get a good education and then can become a teacher themselves and not require reading logs. Isn’t America great? It is built on people who didn’t just sit and complain but did something about their lives! So go out and join the PTA and volunteer in your child’s classroom so you can understand where the teachers are coming from and can give good advice in a polite manner.
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It is truly amazing how some commenters seem unable to accept the concept of parents asking questions and raising serious concerns.
Requiring a student to submit a reading log proves nothing to a teacher about what goes on at home. The Book Whisperer (reading tracher
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Oops — (continuing) reading teacher Donalyn Miller (the Book Whisperer) has a book and blog about effective ways to encourage reading. And as far as I know she is not the only literacy expert out there.
Also: parents write here about their concerns precisely because they do care about education.
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I think I need to rephrase some of what I said in my earlier post. First, instead of asking if you question your doctor I should have asked if you tell your doctor how to do his job, what medications to prescribe or what treatment to use. Or, better still, tell him his methods are bad and leave it at that, with no suggestions as to how to treat you. Healthy, respectful questioning is good but angry tirades are not.
I acknowledge that the reading log has turned your child off reading and I will say that if she were in my class and you came in and discussed this with me, as her language arts teacher, I would use my professional judgement and knowledge to counteract that, given the opportunity.
In response to using Donalyn Miller as an expert, I agree, she is a literacy expert and I read and loved her book this summer. She requires students to read 40 books a year. If your child came home with that requirement at the beginning of the year what would you think? All of that reading can’t be done at school. Some of it would have to be done at home. They read, record the name of the book, write a response to the book (that she then answers), and move on to the next book. How is that much different than a reading log, a record of what has been read? Yes, she allows time in class, she builds a community of readers, puts reading back in the hands of students (where it belongs, by the way) and models good reading habits for all of her students. However, even she has them record what they are reading, not as “proof” but just to keep up with what is going on. The only difference I see is that she doesn’t require parents to take any responsibility for the process. Maybe that’s the crux of it all, you feel offended that teachers seem to want to hold you responsible for what your child does or does not do with regards to education. Don’t get me wrong, I think you are very concerned about your child’s education however, it seems that somewhere along the way you have developed a mistrust and cynicism when it comes to those of us who do the educating. That can’t be good, for you, your child, your child’s teacher, or the relationship you need to have with said teacher in order to do what’s best for your child academically.
The whole argument about length of time spent on schoolwork is a puzzle as well. When you look at other industrialized countries, who are beating the socks off of us on standardized tests, their children often work much longer and much harder on classwork and homework than American children do. Now, don’t misunderstand, I think moderation is important. I don’t want to see our children put through the stress that school 6 days a week and year round would cause. But, I do think perspective is a great thing. If your child comes home and plays outside and discovers new things to entertain himself every day then great, continue that. It has been my experience, however, that most students go home, sit down in front of a TV or a computer, and tune out completely. I’m all for down time but come on, all evening on a computer, really?
I think it is quite humorous that here we have parents complaining about the amount of homework their children have when my main complaint from parents is that their child rarely has any homework other than to read. Its a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation.
I guess all my rambling comes down to this, I accept respectful questioning as part of an educated populous. Angry tirades and empty complaining are counterproductive. In the original post on this thread reference was made to an email sent to a teacher. in rereading this email I don’t get any sense that you were willing to sit down and explain your reasoning face to face and give your child’s teacher the chance to explain the reasoning and pedagogy behind her decision to assign the reading log. I saw no request for a conference or any effort for a dialogue. Opinion was shared and the teacher was shut down, period. I will say this again, if you don’t like the way your child is educated, if you feel you can do a better job (which with only one student I could do a better job too), then do it and let teachers get on with their job of educating children. Oh, and by the way, we don’t want you to do OUR job, we want parents to do YOUR job, support and help us prepare your children for the future through a relationship that is mutually supportive and respectful. I don’t sense a whole lot of respect for teachers on this thread.
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We are talking here about what some teachers unilaterally tell families to do in their home, and circumstances where parents say the demands are overkill, unhelpful and even harmful for their own child. Of course a parent has the right to say no!
By the way, I hope teachers who cite “competiveness” with other countries as justification for homework across the board take a serious look at countries they believe are “beating” the US. Relatives (including a teacher) we visited in Ireland this summer were aghast that our fourth grader was assigned summer homework (a 40 page math packet and reading). They said parents in Ireland wouldn’t stand for it. By the way, Ireland outperformed the US in all three subject areas of the PISA assessment, if one cares about that kind of assessment. As a parent my paramount concern is my child’s health and happiness. I will say no to homework that is unhelpful, and especially if it is harmful and demotivating.
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Well, first, I would like to reiterate what I said. “I don’t want to see our children put through the stress that school 6 days a week and year round would cause.” I am not using the practices of other countries as a defense, just a case in perspective, it could be worse. Also, I would NEVER assign ANY summer homework, especially the amount mentioned here.
My point is not a defense of homework, reading logs, or anything of the sort. As a matter of fact, I rarely assign homework myself. I want my students to work on things when I am there to help them. In addition, I know family time is important and healthy. I have always been careful to remember that I am teaching a child, not a robot, and just as I have a life outside of school, they do too. However, I do see the validity of some requirements beyond the regular school day.
Okay, so you don’t like homework, I get it. I do. You need to realize, however, that there is benefit in extending learning past the school day. There are studies and research on both sides. Dr. Harris Cooper, Duke University, compiled data from 60 different research studies and concluded that some homework is beneficial for student achievement. His findings showed that the 10 minute rule worked best, 10 minutes for every grade in school. In other words, 1st graders should have no more than 10 minutes, 6th graders should have no more than 60 minutes, and so on. The findings did say, however, that after 2 hours the effect is counterproductive.
Family time, I understand. If you think about it though, most families don’t spend every minute together after school. How much of the time after school and on weekends is taken up with activities? Our kids are too scheduled with sports, dance, enrichment classes, the list goes on. True family time is about family, not activities. If the typical child gets out of school between 2:30 and 3:30 and goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:30 that gives roughly 6 hours of time. Can a portion of that time, even just 10 minutes, be given to reinforcing and extending the learning done in school? Another question is, how much of that time afterschool is spent in daycare, afterschool care, or some sort of child care capacity? How much of it is spent going from this practice to that event?
The other question is, if students never do homework, never develop those independent study skills, what will happen when they get to college and have, as I did, 3 separate 15 page papers due in one week, with NO CLASS TIME to work on them, and two tests to study for? In the end are we enabling our children to “just be children” or, are we possibly setting them up to struggle later in life? Just a question to ponder. I don’t know the answer. I’d like to hear from someone who fought the homework battle, refused to expect homework to be done, and enabled their child to “just be a kid,” who has a college success story. I truly would.
Yes, you always have a right as a parent to determine what your child does or does not do with regards to most things. I would propose, however, that if you have a question about something your child’s teacher requires that, instead of a knee jerk, how-dare-she type of reaction, you address your concerns in a diplomatic way. Teachers are human and, just as you do, we get defensive when someone addresses us in a contentious manner. The old adage is true, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. A little diplomacy will go a long way in keeping the parent-teacher relationship healthy.
I guess my point is, why can’t we just get along? I am not attacking anyone’s right to decide what is best for their children. I am trying to add a voice of reason and moderation to say we need to compromise. Isn’t that what we try to teach our children?
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By the way, I’m not requiring reading logs this year but, my 6th graders will each be reading 20 books by the end of the school year. That is directly from Donalyn Miller’s book.
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For your information FedUp Mom, I am a high school senior in another state and I have a very different experience. I understand you trust your daughter but she is a fifth grader. Maybe she is a trustworthy fifth grader but you’ve got to understand that the teacher just wants to make sure she’s read her night’s reading homework because she can not supervise her in the classroom. In my opinion, I despise homework but it’s necessary. I would’ve never learned and understood the lesson the teach taught that day or week without daily homework. I used to hate reading but with the combination of what the teacher did (reading log) and what my mother did (enforcing it and showing the importance of reading) I ended loving to read. Reading is now a hobby for me. Over the summer I read 20 to 25 books. Maybe reading logs didn’t work with your daughter but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a bad thing. I just felt I needed to share a students opinion. Have a good day.
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Typo…I meant teacher not teach
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It has been my experience, however, that most students go home, sit down in front of a TV or a computer, and tune out completely.
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You know what? It’s none of your business how your students spend their time outside of school. It’s up to them and their families.
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Our kids are too scheduled with sports, dance, enrichment classes, the list goes on.
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Again, none of your business, and not your judgement to make. Many parents sign their kids up for enrichment because their kids aren’t getting what they need at school.
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His findings showed that the 10 minute rule worked best, 10 minutes for every grade in school.
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Harris Cooper’s findings show nothing of the sort. The 10 minute rule is complete hogwash. What H. C.’s findings actually show was that homework was not correlated with any positive effect in elementary school. There was a very small correlation in middle school, and a slightly larger correlation in high school.
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if students never do homework, never develop those independent study skills, what will happen when they get to college
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There’s a whole generation of Americans, now in middle age, who grew up with a very small fraction of the homework that is now routinely assigned, and they started later, too. Many went to college and did just fine.
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you address your concerns in a diplomatic way
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How diplomatic was it when the teacher sent me a letter telling me what to do in my own home with my own daughter, and requiring a signature to prove my compliance with her rules?
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All of that reading can’t be done at school.
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I’m not against reading outside of school, I’m against practices (like reading logs) that make kids dislike reading.
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For more discussion of the 10-minute rule, see this post:
https://stophomework.com/greatschools-posts-several-articles-on-homework/2015
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Maybe reading logs didn’t work with your daughter but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a bad thing.
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Actually, that’s exactly what it means. Reading logs are a bad thing because they turn kids off of reading. I’ve seen it happen in my own home, and I’ve compiled a list of other parents (and teachers!) reporting the same problem.
http://kidfriendlyschools.blogspot.com/2010/08/join-chorus-against-reading-logs.html
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Well they weren’t a bad thing for me. Helene is also my mother. Reading logs have a different affect on different people. You need to stop attacking and judging teachers that do teh reading log technique. It’s so RUDE! I understand that you don’t like the reading log but no matter where you go and what school you put your children in you’ll more than likely still get the READING LOG! It’s part of every school. GET USED TO IT! It’s part of life as a student, teacher, and parent. And I understand you care about your children but attacking the teachers that do the reading log just shows that you don’t understand the whole story. My mother does it to understand her students more. SHE has books from our house in her classroom. I donated some of my favorite books to her classroom so her students may enjoy them. And of course everyone knows that teachers don’t do many creative things but my mother, Helene, asks me for help all the time. Everyone pretty much knows that you disagree with younger children getting homework and reading logs but it is necessary. But once your children get in high school and college they’ll have a lot more homework that they do now. The teachers are just trying to ready them for that. I see this kind of thing everyday and it pretty much sucks that we get homework but as I said before….IT’S NECESSARY! Stop attacking teachers that do the reading log because usually with all the children in my mothers class it works! Not all children stray from reading because they have reading logs. Get the facts straight before accusing all the teachers that use that technique please. If you don’t like that your child has homework over the summer then don’t let them take honor classes in high school because in honors english you have SUMMER READING! usually adding up to 2-4 books and essays for every single book.
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But once your children get in high school and college they’ll have a lot more homework that they do now.
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Maybe by the time my kids get to high school there will be less homework because of the growing number of parents complaining about it.
Let’s deal with high school when the kids get there. I’m not a fan of the “better get used to it” theory of education. 6th grade should be spent doing things that are appropriate and necessary for the 6th grade, not overloading kids because they might be even more overloaded later on.
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it pretty much sucks that we get homework
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… exactly my point.
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It’s part of every school. GET USED TO IT!
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It isn’t part of my daughter’s school anymore. And why should I get used to a bad educational practice?
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To all who posted:
As a new teacher, I am motivated to teach students! I also have to abide by the standards imposed on schools, districts, and teachers by the states and federal mandates! We are required to give children homework, and it is not a personal choice!
There are many people who do not understand the process of teaching, and homeschooling as an option could be tried, but it is not as easy as it sounds! I HOMESCHOOLED my son for one year, and happily put him back into the public education system! It is very easy to do chores, watch tv, and HELP our children to the point of them not being able to do anything without assistance. My brother homeschooled his son, and I found him doing his son’s essay!!! What did the child learn? I have friends who are diligent about schooling their children at home, and they are brilliant and have learned a second language! But, they demand their children to learn while they teach them for seven hours a day! Is this something as a parent you are willing to do, and not to decide to wash the dishes instead (i did)?
We have to have student accountability in all academic areas. Students who are going to become strong readers need to do reading logs, and dilectical journals because this allows for reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. In college, students must highlight and annotate their texts with critical analyses during the reading process. This is the point of reading logs, to prepare the child for future success. I am sure all of you want what is best for your children, and I have raised four within the public school system, and fought the rules many times. Now that I am in the classroom, I see how much time and effort is put into teaching students, and I truely am sorry for my ignorance in previous years of battling the schools who are only trying to assist the students in becoming responsible and sucessful members of society.
Many countries require students to pay for the honor of attending school, and in The United States we give this honor to our kids for free. The result is that we don’t respect the system due to the fact it comes easy to us! Rather than stand face to face with your teachers while bereting them, why don’t your try to back them up?
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Alright…What you think is appropriate is not the same as what the state thinks. Teachers teach what the state tells them too. If you don’t like it then take it up with the government or better go to Obama. But don’t attack adn judge innocent people because YOU can’t stand what the school is doing.
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For more on the 10-minute rule, see my blog:
http://kidfriendlyschools.blogspot.com/2010/08/10-minutes-per-grade-level-is-hogwash.html
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Laura says:
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Point being, if you are going to waste so much time sounding like stuck up soccer moms who can’t just comply with the school you choose to send your child to (the moms who send their kids to private)
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Hey, thanks! We love you too.
It’s amazing what strong feelings this post has stirred up. You might say, “OK, here’s a Mom who has found in the past that a certain homework assignment doesn’t work for her family, so she’s decided they won’t do it any more. Fair enough.” Why is this so threatening?
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Wow. I haven’t read this post in quite some time. Again, I am struck by the hyper-defensive tone of the teachers who post here. If parents (who are adults!) dare to question work our children are given in our own homes outside of school hours; we are lazy, uncaring, uneducated parents.
In addition, there is no other job in the whole wide world harder than teaching. Many teachers think this because they have never experienced any other reality outside of academia. In reality, there are many jobs that are more filled with pressure and require much more specialized knowledge than teaching (and have the pay scale to go along with them). Moreover, unlike teaching, work environments that require interaction with other adults tend to reward people who are able to see other adults/co-workers/clients/customers/employees perspectives.
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Disillusioned says:
“In addition, there is no other job in the whole wide world harder than teaching. Many teachers think this because they have never experienced any other reality outside of academia.”
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I am just wondering…have you taught? I personally wouldn’t tell a person who is a businessman/woman (or another profession) that his/her job isn’t difficult because I have never experienced it. All jobs have a level of difficulty that should be acknowledged and respected.
That said, I also disagree with how some of my fellow teachers are approaching the writers of this blog. Whether you agree or disagree with what is being said, all parents have the right to question why and how their children are being educated. As teachers, we need to listen to the concerns of parents and have a conversation about the concerns. This is the only way the home/school connection can be a positive experience for everyone.
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Hi Curious Teacher,
As a matter-of-fact, I was a student teacher many years ago and decided the teaching profession wasn’t for me. I am not saying the teaching profession isn’t challenging or demanding. However, the teacher-martyr shtick gets a bit old. Is there any teacher out there with a sense of fun or a light touch? The teachers who post here seem to lack a give and take attitude that would probably hinder them in many other professions.
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Disillusioned, I hope you’ll take a look at my new blog! I’m trying to continue, and expand, the great work done by our esteemed Sara Bennet.
http://kidfriendlyschools.blogspot.com/
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Hi Fed-Up Mom,
I’ve already have. Great blog!
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Hi Disillusioned,
“The teachers who post here seem to lack a give and take attitude that would probably hinder them in many other professions.”
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I completely agree. That give and take is extremely important. I’m sure that the teachers posting are typing while annoyed or angry, but it isn’t making some of them look very professional. As teachers, we should be working WITH the parents. Isn’t that what is best for the students?
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Hi Curious Teacher,
It would be fabulous to have teachers that worked with the parents (and probably more fulfilling for the teachers). Psych Mom should probably way in but in my opinion many of the teachers who post here are projecting their own internal dialogues about themselves (i.e. parents are narrow minded, acidic, judgemental) onto the parents.
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I don’t profess to have any special insights into the minds of teachers….but my personal experience with teachers as a group is that they very much are an organized bunch and they like to be in the driver’s seat. We’ve talked about this issue before here…
For any of us, a threat to that sense of control in our world can be debilitating. We do everything we can to regain control. I can well understand too the reaction of some teachers is to rant and then leave; we’re all just so threatening with our heretical thoughts on this website.
I truly enjoy when a teacher like Curious Teacher finds us and reminds us that teachers do really care and are thinking professionals. This has been my experience with the teachers at my daughter’s school as well. But I still have disagreements with them on occasion. I see another way that’s different from the way education has been done for the last 100 years..and I don’t understand why these ideas can’t be entertained. Everything changes, …women have changed, kids have changed, technology has changed, everything seems to change except… elementary school in North America.
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