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 
“Several of my students would not read at home if not for a reading log.”
But what about the child who does? Mine would read all afternoon. She could easily read for six hours without coming up for air. What about that kid? And what if reading logs turned her off? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. She’s already reading willingly! If you absolutely MUST assign reading logs (and I don’t think you do but I don’t run your classroom), why not tailor it?
Suppose you have two students. One has diabetes, the other does not. Do you give both kids the same treatments? Do you make the kid who does NOT wear glasses wear them because her seatmate does?
And don’t equate an absence of reading logs with an absence of learning at home. We did what I like to call “homeschooling on the side.” We needed time to be able to do that. We needed time for books and libraries and museums and long science walks and telescopes and history discussions. If you eat up all our time with our child, when exactly do we educate her?
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Appalled says:
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The parent is the primary educator of the child. As a teacher myself, I hope that the parents that are in the lives of my students fulfill that role in every possible capacity.
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If parents are the primary educators, teachers should treat us with respect and consideration instead of patronizing us and bossing us around. It’s up to us parents to decide how we want to run our home life, and how we want to encourage our kids to read at home.
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Parents are asked to sign it simply because if a parent is signing his or her child’s reading log it sends a message to the child that the parent considers reading to be a priority.
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There is a huge gulf between teachers’ intentions and reality. You think you’re sending a message that “the parent considers reading to be a priority”, but I can assure that’s not the way it plays out at home. Reading logs are just one more piece of meaningless paperwork that has to be dealt with to keep the teacher happy. That’s why they’re faked at such high rates.
Again, I refer you to my master list of anti-reading-log posts.
http://kidfriendlyschools.blogspot.com/search/label/reading%20logs
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Well said, FedUp. To add, Appalled continues:
“Parents are asked to sign it simply because if a parent is signing his or her child’s reading log it sends a message to the child that the parent considers reading to be a priority.”
You mean all those library trips didn’t send the message? Seeding the house with books didn’t send the message? Lining the walls with bookcases didn’t send the message? Reading to her starting in the womb didn’t send the message? Reading and reading and having fun doing it and modeling how much we love it didn’t send the message? Spending hours and hours in bookstores didn’t send the message? A house full of newspapers and magazines didn’t send the message? None of that sent any messages? Ah, but if she sees me signing a reading log, the light goes on and she says, Mommy loves reading!
Oh, my, how I failed as a parent. But wait. From those library trips came home lots and lots and lots of books. Despite my worst efforts in parenting, she wound up loving reading. Amazing, no, how resilient kids are?
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Despite my worst efforts AT parenting, it should have read. AT, not IN.
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As a parent and as a former teacher I applaud the parental “involvement” I read in these posts. If you are encouraging or facilitating an interest in learning, you are doing what every teacher wants and desires.
However, most of my teaching experince was in schools where there was very little parent involvement. Some of the parents did not know how to be involved, some of the parents had no time to be involved, some of the parents lacked the educational experience to be involved. But many of the parents felt, as written above that they were paying me to educate their child, and that it should all be done at school. Bearing in mind that property taxes fund the local school system and most of these parents were not home owners. It is likely that I was paying my own salary! But most importantly, a large majority of these students were far below grade level.
Do I love homework? NO. But I do think expecting students to complete tasks does prepare them for future expectations in their lives. Yes. I currently sign my daughter’s agenda to indicate that she has read each night. She reads all of the time, so sometimes I just sign it even if I am not sure what she read or how long she read. She is doing well in school and while I would not call her gifted, she is well above grade level in all subjects.
My main reason for responding is the criticizm of public schools and teachers in general as if they all fit in the same mold and follow the same formula. For example, I almost always gave my students time to work on “homework” in last few minutes of the school day and in the morning before the bell rang. The purpose of the homework was to review what had already been taught. The purpose of the reading log can vary, but primarily it should be a documentation of accomplishment, not a tool for “checking” to see if the reading is done.
My daughter loves reading and has loved reading since before she could read. She loves school and comes home every day telling me about what she learned that day and inspired to to extra projects/crafts designed around what she learned. We are in a small, middle income, public school. Our school is not poor enough to qualify for extra federal funding, nor rich enough to recieve a significant amount of donated funds. But our school is awesome because of the parent involvement. The parents and teachers get together and plan beyond the curriculum activities that make the learning experience fun. At the school where I taught, the teachers were awesome and worked very hard make learning fun and do more than just “desk” work. But we had much less parental involvement, and much less student success.
Do I think there are bad, lazy, and self-serving teachers? Absolutely. Do I think some schools are poorly run? Of course. But until you actually step into the shoes of a teacher (in the classroom, not one on one homeschooling), maybe you should give he or she the benefit of the doubt. And just like parents think a teacher or school is bad because of one incident, teachers may feel that same way about parents for one incident. That is why parents and teachers should work together and not consider it an employee/employer relationship. Think of it like this, is is okay for your boss to say, “After you finish your powerpoint presentation,you need to do mine because you work for me?” After a while you would be looking for a new job. If you are unwilling to do any school follow up at home, then you are expecting the teacher to do it all.
All I am really saying is if you view the teacher as your employee to do your bidding, you a missing the point of your child’s education.
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Studentsfirst says:
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If you are unwilling to do any school follow up at home, then you are expecting the teacher to do it all.
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I think it’s ridiculous that we’ve gotten to the point where students and parents are routinely expected to work a second shift of education after the school day is over. Nobody in their right mind would design a school system this way. “Let’s take young children, send them to school for six hours every weekday, and then count on the parents to teach their kids at night!” It’s craziness.
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All I am really saying is if you view the teacher as your employee to do your bidding, you a missing the point of your child’s education.
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The whole point of my blog post was that the teacher was trying to treat me as an employee by demanding my signature. That’s what I was objecting to. I don’t treat the teacher as my employee. I’ve never required her signature anywhere.
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maybe you should give he or she the benefit of the doubt.
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Wow, I hope you weren’t an English teacher. Do you know the difference between the subject and the object?
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Studentsfirst says:
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As a parent and as a former teacher I applaud the parental “involvement” I read in these posts. If you are encouraging or facilitating an interest in learning, you are doing what every teacher wants and desires.
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OK, I guess, but why do teachers get to approve or disapprove of what I do as a parent? Is the teacher doing what I want or desire?
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“As a parent and as a former teacher I applaud the parental “involvement” ”
Why the quotes? Are you questioning this so-called involvement?
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It’s not the log that is so important but rather the act of reading for 20 – 30 minutes each night. The following example was given to me several years ago by a Special Education teacher. I have used it successfully to give reluctant parents and students a mental picture using mathematics to establish how important how reading each night at home is.
Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;?
Student B reads only 4 minutes a night…or not at all!??
Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.?
Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week?
Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes??
Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.?
Student A reads 400 minutes a month.?
Student B reads 80 minutes a month.??
Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year?
Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.?
Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.??
Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year.?
Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.
By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.? One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student???Some questions to ponder:??
Which student would you expect to read better?
Which student would you expect to know more?
Which student would you expect to write better?
Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?
Which student would you expect to be more successful in school….and in life?
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School psychologist, for heaven’s sake, nobody, least of all myself, is against kids reading at home. The problem with reading logs is that they make kids LESS likely to read at home, because they send the message that reading is a chore. Did you see the comment from Jennifer, further up the thread, where she found that a twin in her class, without a reading log, was reading MORE than her sibling in a class that uses reading logs?
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This is a long thread and I didn’t read every comment but am offended by how many people believe teachers are not “teaching” during school.
I don’t see value in reading logs at home, but do use them at school because I can’t sit down and read with every student individually every day, and while I’d like to trust them that they aren’t just sitting and staring, the fact is in life there are measures of accountability. Sometimes those measure and mundane but they are there, even in our lives as adults.
I do think it’s ok for kids to have homework. It build study habits. My 2nd graders have homework for 20-30 minutes a night, it is intended for review and practice. I would love for every parent to be making sure their child is learning at home but reality is many parents are not educated themselves, work more than one job, just don’t care, etc. I teach a lesson in class, we practice it, I reteach if necessary, but the next day I have to move on. Now that’s not to say I’m not remediating still in class, but if my homework reinforces the things I’m teaching, I think it’s valuable.
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sorry for the typos above…everything froze then next thing I knew my comment was posted.
Anyway…they say it takes doing something 7 times to make it a habit, but because of state standards we don’t always have 7 days to devote to the same skill, this is where parents can help support the schools in reinforcing concepts already taught. State standards and testing may be ridiculous to some parents but they are not going away any time soon, so please don’t blame the teachers for the way our system is structured.
Last but not least….I don’t believe in big projects to be done at home. I know these are a burden on parents, most elementary students are not making diaramas, models, large displays without a lot of time, effort and money from parents.
Schools are not perfect, teachers are not perfect and parents are not perfect. Please be respectful of each other just as we ask our children to be each day.
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ok one more comment because this stuff frustrates me. My husband does IT work, he moved up in his company quickly to the highest level of support and now does trainings. When he takes on a call or goes to a site to fix a problem he has to write it down. Not because they don’t think he’s doing it but because it just gives them a record.
I am a teacher at a Title 1 school where 68 percent of our students are on free or reduced lunch. I have to turn in a list each week of test scores, which kids I worked with and what I specifically worked on. Yes I think my administrators should trust that we are professional teachers, but they are held accountable, and so are we.
When someone closes out a cash register they balance it. Even if they have balanced their register every night for a year correctly they still have to keep doing it. The boss doesn’t just tell them…well I know you can do it so just tell me it’s done and it’s all good.
Its just accountability. If your kids are avid readers, how much effort does it take to sign the paper.
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Deanna says:
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I don’t see value in reading logs at home, but do use them at school because I can’t sit down and read with every student individually every day, and while I’d like to trust them that they aren’t just sitting and staring, the fact is in life there are measures of accountability.
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Maybe they’re sitting and staring, and then filling out the log.
When you hold children accountable for reading, you’re telling them that reading is something you do only because the teacher tells you to. You make them less interested in reading, and less likely to read on their own.
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My husband does IT work, he moved up in his company quickly to the highest level of support and now does trainings. When he takes on a call or goes to a site to fix a problem he has to write it down.
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Your husband is not a second grader. Actions which are appropriate for him to take on his job are not appropriate for 7 year old children.
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My 2nd graders have homework for 20-30 minutes a night, it is intended for review and practice. I would love for every parent to be making sure their child is learning at home but reality is many parents are not educated themselves, work more than one job, just don’t care, etc.
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How do you know how long the homework takes the kids? And how do you expect very young kids to do homework every day if they don’t always have parents who will nag/yell/supervise? Second grade is way too young to expect kids to do work on their own every day.
People accuse me of teacher-bashing, but it seems like teachers can barely write a comment without criticizing parents. Look, you get the kids you get, they’ve got the parents they’ve got. Do the best you can for your students during the school day. It’s not your job to assess or influence or control their home life.
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To Deanna:
Education is not supposed to be about training kids to work in the adult world.
I don’t send my child to school for job training. Education has become about teaching job ready skills, and I think that’s really sad.
Education should be about children learning to explore and develop as human beings, not teaching them to obey adults (because they better get used to it). There are realities about the adult world of work that we all have to accept ……..as adults. We also have a choice as to whether we do them or not. That does not mean that my children should be forced to accept those realities as children, with no voice and no choice.
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I understand all your points, but I think it’s importanat to realize that we cannot generalize all home lives. I am a public school teacher, and 96% of my students receive free and reduced lunch. I would love for all parents to be as enthusiastic about their children’s education as you are, to place such value on it, and to encourage their children as you do yours. However, this is not always the case. So I send homework home with my second grade students. They are rewarded for completing it, not punished for not completing it. They have nothing else to do at home, so homework helps keep them out of trouble. I have seen incredible progress made by students who practice skills we’ve learned in school on their own. They internalize the skills, and it gives them confidence to continue growing.
So please understand that while in your situation, homework and reading logs may be unnecessary and frustrating, it’s really quite helpful in others. And yes, some teachers may be treating you poorly, but many parents treat teachers very poorly too. Try to understand that we are under a huge amount of pressure. We are held responsible when your child doesn’t reach the standards of the state, not you. And while the standards may not be appropriate, they’re there. We just all have to deal with it the best we can.
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I can see this post getting bashed, so let me clarify. I know that my students have nothing to do at home because they tell me. We talk about it all the time. They are bored out of their minds, and most actually ask me for more homework. So I send home books with them.
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Jodie, if you send your students home with books they want to read, I certainly won’t bash that.
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With the reading log. my daughter hates it. In8 weeks, they are expected to read 12 books. They all have to be award winners. To top it off, her teacher is strict about in school, but when you turn in your log, or anything, she could care less.
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“t’s not the log that is so important but rather the act of reading for 20 – 30 minutes each night.”
Well, yes! Exactly my point. My daughter picked off Wuthering Heights from the bookcase and read it all afternoon in 5th grade. She could read for five hours without coming up for air. So why on earth was that not encouraged? It was by me! Why did I make her stop to go do useless homework?
As for the 20-30 minute reading rule, do schools realize how destructive this artificial time limit is? It doesn’t help, it hinders. Allow a child to get lost in a book and toss that timer. Yes, I know, not all kids love to read, I am told repeatedly. But let us not kill the love before it even takes hold.
You made your point well! But are you truly listening to us? For the thousandth time, I am NOT opposed to reading. Just reading logs.
We say we don’t want reading logs and state why. Then we keep getting people on here who insist we are anti-reading! Is the difference so subtle?
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“Gifted students (as well as students in general education) can still access information any way it is presented. They may thrive in a specific type of setting, but they can still function and excel in any type of setting. They are going to learn no matter where they are placed. If your child isn’t, perhaps he’s not gifted.”
Completely wrong and completely misinformed. This comment demonstrates why so many gifted students do not get the interventions they need. The general attitude is, gifted kids are fine, no matter what, therefore we don’t need to do a thing.
Gifted education is not a prize. It’s special education for children who learn differently. And you haven’t even addressed the twice exceptional learner. Do you think THOSE kids will be fine without modifications?
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I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AGREE WITH 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I suggest all of you with problems with teachers homeschool your children. We as teacher are held accountable for teaching every child and the “whole” child. Yet, parents are not held accountable for parenting.
It’s also obvious that many of you don’t know what is required to teach your child according to state and federal regulations….so the parent who said it’s know our job to teach your child job readiness skills, you are WRONG! Check the required curriculum standards for your state and district.
On another note, I LOVE my job and I LOVE my 21 second graders they way I love my own three childen (one who is a freshman at Yale University), and I would love more time teaching them to love learning and not so much time on being their mother, father, social worker, psychologist, therapist, and the list continues. But, I must wear all these hates because their parents have failed them.
And honestly, what are you truly teaching your child? That they don’t have to document their work because you think it is a chore….is this truly the work ethic you want them to have….”Don’t fill out the required report for your job because it’s a chore?” Really? Your reality is totally warped!
So again, homeschool your children or become a certified teacher to make the changes that you want made in the public school system. I would love to know how long you would last.
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I don’t know how to respond to the above post. FedUp, come back and help me out! Do you have the energy to tackle the above?
Whenever we parents express some dissatisfaction with teachers, we are crucified. We are branded as spoiled, complainers, and agitators. We are told to find something better to do than waste all our time on internet blogs. As if we truly had nothing better to do.
We’d love to play fair. Indeed, I am sure that is how we all started out. We are villified when we are perceived otherwise. But it seems completely okay to bash parents. Over and over and over again. This advice doesn’t run both ways, does it?
“And honestly, what are you truly teaching your child? That they don’t have to document their work because you think it is a chore….is this truly the work ethic you want them to have….”Don’t fill out the required report for your job because it’s a chore?” Really? Your reality is totally warped!”
If this isn’t bashing, mean-spiritedness, vilification, I don’t know what is. How can we be expected to launch meaningful dialogue when no one wants to even listen to us or our concerns?
We are also told to just go ahead and homeschool! The reason this advice grates so much is that it’s not advice. It basically tells us, get lost. Never mind that we are the “public” in public school and that the most important stakeholders are our precious children. The reason I find this advice so insulting is, again, that it isn’t advice! Because many of us went and did just that.
It’s condescending because homeschooling is, in fact, a viable educational alternative. My daughter worked harder in homeschooling than she did in school. But it wasn’t a grind. The work was challenging, fulfilling and energetic and it did not come at the expense of play, sleep or reading. Instead of mocking parents who do indeed go ahead and homeschool, please take a moment to find out why. You could learn a lot from a homeschooled parent.
Without an education degree, I did a significantly better job than the schools. Instead of mud slinging, educators must stop and ask why. And oh, the constant excuse of No Child Left Behind is potent, okay? As parents, we are sympathetic. But it’s not enough. What do you want us to do? Go tell our kids to suck up their lousy education? Just put up with it because you are saving a teacher’s job. Well, gee, that oughta do it, that should make our kids feel instantly better when we admit we hijacked their education.
This is the best we can do? If NCLB is such a thorn in the side of teachers, why didn’t more of them show up at the DC rally this summer?
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“I suggest all of you with problems with teachers homeschool your children. We as teacher are held accountable for
teaching every child and the “whole” child. Yet, parents are not held accountable for parenting.”
I am already paying for your job through my taxes. Why are you shoving your duties on me after school hours? I have
plenty of other things I need to teach my child outside of academics. This was achieved easily in the 70’s when I was in
elementary as my parents weren’t burdened with the “drill and kill” you expect us parents to do.
“It’s also obvious that many of you don’t know what is required to teach your child according to state and federal
regulations….so the parent who said it’s know our job to teach your child job readiness skills, you are WRONG! Check the
required curriculum standards for your state and district.”
Then it’s obvious you can’t handle the duties assigned in your job description. It is not MY job to do yours. Sorry
about your luck.
“On another note, I LOVE my job and I LOVE my 21 second graders they way I love my own three childen (one who is a
freshman at Yale University), and I would love more time teaching them to love learning and not so much time on being
their mother, father, social worker, psychologist, therapist, and the list continues. But, I must wear all these hates
because their parents have failed them.”
Are you complaining about underprivileged children or about parents who have better things to do than extend their child’s
academic day? Or rather, doing your job. These children are in school 6 1/2 hours a day. Their “work” day in academics
is done. After school is chores, errands, play, dinner, reading (no logs!), bedtime.
“And honestly, what are you truly teaching your child? That they don’t have to document their work because you think it is
a chore….is this truly the work ethic you want them to have….”Don’t fill out the required report for your job because it’s
a chore?” Really? Your reality is totally warped!”
YOU are warped if you think this is teaching them to be accountable. You are creating a dependency on the parents by
shoving homework and reading logs for the PARENTS to sign starting in elementary school. When kids don’t do their chores,
they get disciplined. When they don’t do their homework, who should discipline them? Ideally, I think it’s the school.
But you make homework a parents’ responsibility NOT the kids, don’t you? This is complete B.S. and that is why homework
and reading logs in elementary goes against every fiber of my being. This is why ANY homework should be introduced at a
minimum in middle school so that kids take complete ownership of their work outside of their home. Think about it for
once! Do you know what inspired me to read books and book series? TEACHERS READING THE BOOKS OR SERIES IN THE CLASSROOM.
Oh, and I was a voracious reader. But I did not read every day either. OMG! How awful! I read a lot in clusters. So
what? What is with this 20-30 minutes every day anyway?
“So again, homeschool your children or become a certified teacher to make the changes that you want made in the public
school system. I would love to know how long you would last.”
Why do I have to become a teacher because I’m dissatisfied with you throwing your work at parents to finish? Anyone can
say, “well if you don’t like it, you try it!” Try being a nurse if you don’t like the way they treat you in a hospital
then.
Somehow the public school system has tried to make parents feel guilty in order to rope them into doing their job. This
ties in well to the helicoptering parent mentality that pervades our society today. There are some parents that are just
too happy to do more academics with their kids. Kids not having any free time because of homework or other parent/adult
organized activities and no time to do chores to become accountable to their own home or free play to develop their own
critical thinking skills and assessment of risks are making a generation of nincompoops. This is already playing out in
colleges today if you haven’t read the articles yet.
I was diligent on preparing my children for preschool and elementary. Worked my buns off. I bought into the “oh, yes,
let’s start homework now so they are practiced to do it later” B.S. By second grade, I and my child were burnt out. Too
young. Too early. Sitting there every day next to my child, for two freaking hours, with the curtains closed, TV off,
afternoon going by, me doing nothing but harping on him to be focused on his paper. Doing daily spelling drills for the
test on Friday. What a bunch of crap. Enough. I’m so sorry you can’t get it all done in a school day but making my
child get back into school mode after school at such a young age had a significant negative impact on our relationship and
emotional health and virtually stunted his growth of mind. Waiting until evening was worse, meltdowns, too tired, etc.
All it was doing was creating a dependency on ME. This is why homework at a minimum should be introduced at middle
school, and with the opportunity to be COMPLETED AT SCHOOL. High school has study hall and the homework should be as such
that these kids can complete it then so they can go to their JOBS and other extra-curriculars and actually have a full
nights sleep. This was how it was done. This is how it should still be. It makes too much sense. This way kids can
take ownership of and be independent in their work OUTSIDE THE HOME and not using a parent as a crutch on something that
should be the child’s responsibility.
My own mother and father were very mindful of my education but even they have said, they don’t know what they would have
done if I brought home the work my sons bring home to me. WE HAVE JOBS, TOO. My son’s job is going to school. When we
get home from our jobs, we have other jobs around the house to do. We have other obligations that are scheduled after
school, too. God help the single parent. How did I, or any of my friends, ever get to college without having homework
every day in elementary or hours of it in the upper grades and a reading log for my mommy to fill out? We are all
flabbergasted and fed up with the piles you expect us to be accountable for in this generation of kids. Yeah, how about
that childhood obesity problem we’re having? Sitting there for hours doing homework ain’t helping it. Sorry, can’t ride
your bike, you gotta finish this page here. Yes, that really did happen, many, many times, in my home.
And for the love of God, please get rid of Everyday Mathematics. That’s another story.
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To 925 above (sorry to reduce you to a number but you didn’t leave an ID): there are a whole bunch of us who just want to give you one giant big hug. Thank you for coming on here and telling it like it is. Thanks for your eloquence.
I know about this endless homework overload and how it erodes the parent-child relationship. Do everything to resist that corrosion. And keep posting and keeping this critical issue front and center.
The way parents are bullied and guilted into doing the school’s job is heinous. I have tried to say, I want to “homeschool on the side” with books, museums, field trips, hikes, music, art, free classical concerts, building machines, letting my daughter redesign her room using geometry, and we need afternoons, weekends and holidays to accomplish that. And the response, you’re a lazy good- for-nothing parent.
The mother who clamors for more homeworkis glorified. The one who makes a strong case for family time is vilified. What is this, communist Russia? Stop and ask yourself: which parent wants to spend more time with her child, which one is more invested in raising a curious intellectual?
It’s not about engaging in Mommy wars. It’s about the school wanting you to do their job for them and making you feel awful when you wake up and realize The Emperor Has No Clothes.
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Kara (925) — wow, you are smokin’. Fabulous comment. If you don’t already, I hope you read my blog:
http://kidfriendlyschools.blogspot.com/
Another Proud Teacher and Reading Specialist said:
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It’s also obvious that many of you don’t know what is required to teach your child according to state and federal regulations….so the parent who said it’s know our job to teach your child job readiness skills, you are WRONG! Check the required curriculum standards for your state and district.
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Are you kidding me? You think parents should check the state requirements so we know what our job is? Maybe this really is the Soviet Union, as HomeworkBlues suggests.
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But, I must wear all these hates because their parents have failed them.
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I think “hates” must have been a Freudian slip. And thanks for the parent-bashing.
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That they don’t have to document their work because you think it is a chore….is this truly the work ethic you want them to have….”
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We outlawed child labor in this country, and for a good reason. It’s not appropriate for children to have a job. It stunts their growth. The more you turn school into their job, the less likely it is they will get a real education that improves their mind.
If the work you assign doesn’t help the child learn an actual subject (not just compliance!), it is useless, and you should stop assigning it. In second grade, you shouldn’t assign homework at all. There is no research to back up this practice, and you make kids hate school when they have barely even started.
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The above conversation is good debate, but is turning into repetitive jargon. There will never be a ‘winning’ side on this blog.
I see it (reading logs) as a way to promote responsibility to students. My students know that they have a responsibility at home to read. I like to see what they are reading at home and do meet with them on their reading. It is their responsibility to ask parents for a signature. They know, from explicit instruction, they this is not the end-all of their reading. Most of my students continue in a variety of book to reading independently, with/and to parents, without it being required. I understand the idea that some teachers can take the joy away, but if introduced properly and systematically, a log is a very good tool.
I would like to see a type of log you are talking about though. In my class, it is as simple as book title and pages; and is on their homework sheet. It takes them 1 minute to fill out.
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The ‘homeschool’ on the side comment above is wonderful. These are the suggestions that I give parents to further enrich student learning. Nothing can replace those life experiences.
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Ooops, my mistake. I thought Kara was the one 925 was responding TO. Sorry, Kara!
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Thank you, Another Teacher! It’s what I wanted, really, all these years. Acknowledgement and encouragement for what we do at home. But you know, I don’t crave the kudos. I just want that time, I want school to stop coming into my living room and dictating every second of my child’s life outside of school.
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What town/state do you live in? This doesn’t sound like the state/district I work for.
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Another Teacher, is your question directed towards me? Before I answer it, let me begin by reiterating how much I appreciate that you can see the value of “homeschooling on the side” and how so many parents here are in fact, very actively engaged in their child’s education. The reason we don’t like homework, and I’ll speak for myself here, is that we often hear, well, we can’t tailor to the academic level of every child in the class. The class is too big.
Okay, so let us tailor to our child in our own home. When schools send home mounds of busy work, work that is too much of the wrong kind, it only further intensifies to the child how useless her education has become. Schools need to let families be families. Like in the old days. We played outside, television was limited, screen time was non-existent, our homework load was manageable and my generation turned out a heck of a lot better than the children we produced.
But back to your question: Not sure what part of my comments you are directing your question to, but if you are asking whether a high achieving homework overload sleep is dispensible model is unique to my district, I don’t think so. I would encourage you to watch Race to Nowhere. Listen to the children. They’ll tell you how they feel and how all this pressure is affecting their lives and world view.
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The reading log really tells me nothing about a student’s reading habits at home. In many instances the parent just signs it off not really knowing if their child read or not. I give the log simply because that is what we do. My own child reads all the time and only half of what we read gets recorded on his reading log. I know when a child is really reading at home. I see the fruit of it in class. As for the reading log . . . I don’t even consider it a reliable source.
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I guess I should start this comment off by saying; this is what is wrong with the American public school system; Parents and their stupid ideas that it is all the schools responsibility to educate their children. You are the reason that kids come to school and think that they are the exception to the rule.
I have been teaching for 6 years now and in three different grade levels. I have a Master’s in Education with a concentration in literacy.
Kids need to READ and do that as much as possible. The reading logs are only a tool to help them have responsibility for themselves and have accountability. If you really think that your student is reading as much as they tell you then you are one of a few parents who have students that do their “job”.
Here is the problem we are adults and we are suppose to show students that they are accountable for their learning, not just in school, but all the time. So the message you’re sending is that it is not important to practice at home because you do all your work at school.
Well, maybe if parents weren’t self riotous, arrogant, self entitled problems and could help the teacher with their students everything would be perfect.
By your actions you have just told the student we don’t have to listen to the teacher because I know better. They are dumb and incompetent, with a side not of they aren’t professionals who are educated and we can do what we want.
Is that really the message you want to teach your student? Good luck when they can’t keep a job because they feel like what their boss is telling them is irrelevant. You are creating the downfall of America with this attitude.
Sometimes we all have to do things in our job that we don’t want to do. I hope that you can help your student understand that their education is important and they should do what they are asked.
Get off you high horse and be grateful that their teacher cares enough to help them practice a very important skill. I hope that the teacher that you wrote that unnecessary e-mail to, the person who spends most of the day with your child caring and teaching them, who spends time away form their family to take care of yours…. understands that you are the problem and that they should be treated with more respect and gratitude!!!
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I guess I should start this comment off by saying; this is what is wrong with the American public school system; Parents and their stupid ideas that it is all the schools responsibility to educate their children. You are the reason that kids come to school and think that they are the exception to the rule.
I have been teaching for 6 years now and in three different grade levels. I have a Master’s in Education with a concentration in literacy.
Kids need to READ and do that as much as possible. The reading logs are only a tool to help them have responsibility for themselves and have accountability. If you really think that your student is reading as much as they tell you then you are one of a few parents who have students that do their “job”.
Here is the problem we are adults and we are suppose to show students that they are accountable for their learning, not just in school, but all the time. So the message you’re sending is that it is not important to practice at home because you do all your work at school.
Well, maybe if parents weren’t self riotous, arrogant, self entitled problems and could help the teacher with their students everything would be perfect.
By your actions you have just told the student we don’t have to listen to the teacher because I know better. They are dumb and incompetent, with a side not of they aren’t professionals who are educated and we can do what we want.
Is that really the message you want to teach your student? Good luck when they can’t keep a job because they feel like what their boss is telling them is irrelevant. You are creating the downfall of America with this attitude.
Sometimes we all have to do things in our job that we don’t want to do. I hope that you can help your student understand that their education is important and they should do what they are asked.
Get off you high horse and be grateful that their teacher cares enough to help them practice a very important skill. I hope that the teacher that you wrote that unnecessary e-mail to, the person who spends most of the day with your child caring and teaching them, who spends time away form their family to take care of yours…. understands that you are the problem and that they should be treated with more respect and gratitude!!!
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“Frustrated with no parent help” says:
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Kids need to READ and do that as much as possible.
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Of course kids need to read. That’s why I’m opposed to reading logs and anything else that makes kids hate reading.
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Well, maybe if parents weren’t self riotous, arrogant, self entitled problems and could help the teacher with their students everything would be perfect.
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Yeah, thanks. Have you considered anger management classes?
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I hope that you can help your student understand that their education is important and they should do what they are asked.
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She isn’t my student, she’s my daughter. I absolutely tell her that her education is important. But I don’t tell her to be compliant if compliance is bad for her education.
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Get off you high horse and be grateful that their teacher cares enough to help them practice a very important skill.
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Oh, please. How is the teacher “helping my daughter practice”? She’s sending home a log which she expects ME to supervise! She’s outsourcing her job to the parents. Why should I be grateful for that?
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This can go on and on. Clearly both opinion in this case are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Agree to disagree, but I do agree with many of the points (while stated aggressively) that ‘Frustrated with no parent help’ had to say. I would like to see the reading log to understand how much work it can actually be, and how it can deter a child from reading. Can you post-it, or somehow explain the details of it?
Responsibility needs to be taught, sadly, to children. There HAS to be a home-school connection in some way too. School is too BIG of a part of a child’s life. It’s not always mindless compliance – I think some might have control issues on this comment section. If we allow children to shirk these responsibilities because of our personal opinions, we are becoming enablers. This doesn’t apply to every situation, but I can see it becoming an issue here.
With all that said…some teachers aren’t looking out for the best interest of home-school connections, and teacher responsibility in the most meaningful ways. Address the teachers, not the profession. You have many more rights as a parent than where you are stopping. Stop complaining and do something more than the passive steps that I am reading about. I mean all of this with all do respect.
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Another Teacher: So, in other words, if my daughter reads for six hours all afternoon (or would if not for so much busy work) and grabs Wuthering Heights off the bookshelf at age 10 and becomes absorbed in the book for hours, NONE of that counts unless she fills out a reading log and I sign it?
And even in the best of all worlds, I still don’t see how reading logs help a kid who’s already a bookworm. And that’s in the best of worlds. I didn’t see anything come out of the reading log.
If the teacher had at least initiated a conversation about a given book, had at least asked, oh, you’re reading this that novel, what do you think about Catherine and why she ran away from home? But that didn’t happen. The reading log just became a check in the grade book. Done, check. That was it. That’s not teaching reading, that’s not engaging a student in a literary discussion. Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s about compliance rather than igniting a spark.
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Another Teacher says:
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I would like to see the reading log to understand how much work it can actually be,
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The reading log was a simple form with space to record the time when you started reading, the time when you stopped reading, and the number of pages read, with room for a parent signature. As I’ve said umpty-bajillion times already, the problem is not that the reading log takes so long to fill out, the problem is that it turns reading into a chore.
I can’t post it because I no longer have it. The original post was written 2 1/2 years ago.
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If we allow children to shirk these responsibilities
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Reading is a pleasure which we should invite children to enjoy, not a responsibility which we won’t allow them to shirk.
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Address the teachers, not the profession.
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Of course we address the teachers. That’s what the original post was about.
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Your comment about hating reading logs has more to do with your relationship with your child than it does the log. As a teacher, we just want to see that there is a support at home for our students. Their education matters to us also. As a parent, you should do your part to educate your child and help them over the bumps in the road in school and life. It does not matter that we are paid to teach. We are not paid to care as you do. So do your job as a mom and read a book to your kid before bedtime. It will not hurt you to log it in also. It just may build some sort of quality time with your child also! Turn off the TV and get off your tush and do something and get of the internet and stop complaining about your job and just do it!!!!
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Teacher, you have not been listening. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence if you are to work with children and parents.
I can speak for many here. No one said anything about not reading. No one said anything about being lazy, spending all afternoon on the internet and shirking our jobs as parents.
That said, it isn’t your job to check whether we support education. Yes, it should be a partnership. It is not. Let’s not pretend it is. Ordering parents around is not a partnership or team building, it’s how you treat an underling.
If you want education to continue in the home, build a relationship. Over lunch, wander over to the kid whose nose is stuck in a book and strike up a conversation. The quiet kids, the nerdy ones, the shy ones, the bookworms, they are the children who crave a little attention from an adult at school far more than the more neuro-typical gregarious socially well adjusted child. You will build a far more potent relationship if all you do is ask a few questions about that book. It’s not about homework or the required book, just a way to build a relationship. Your student will never forget you. I still remember the ones who did. Far more useful than some ridiculous log.
Many of us here do not want reading logs, not because we can’t be bothered, not because all we want to do is stick our kids in front of the tv so we can watch soap operas. I’m not going to cast judgement on other families right now, but if that’s how you think I for one, ran my afternoons, you are completely underestimating how I parent and your condescension towards parents (specifically moms) is undeniable.
I don’t want reading logs because they treat reading as a chore, something to be dispensed with quickly so that we can move on to what’s really important, television. I began reading to my daughter in the womb. I never stopped. We’d read to her for hours. I am sure many parents on this blog are nodding their heads.
My daughter is a college freshman now and her love of learning came, sadly, not so much from school but from us. And that’s a travesty. My husband and I made education a top priority in our lives. Learning Never Ends in our home and we achieved that through reading, endless discussions, library, museums, field trips, hikes, play, building, crafting, imagining.
You could also give a break to those kids who are already reading to abandon. If you have a student who loves to read, who is reading Harry Potter in first grade and John Steinbeck in second, why can’t you just accept that they are reading? It’s not a one size fits all. Why on earth do you even want that extra paperwork when you have a student who loves to learn and is reading? You can tailor the homework! Don’t sweat the small stuff. As parents often hear, pick your battles. Reading logs, to me, are not worth your fight.
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Teacher, I could defend myself and explain that I actually read with my kids quite a lot, but I won’t bother. Instead, I’ll just ask what makes you think it’s appropriate for you to tell me how to run my home life? It’s really none of your beeswax. You exemplify the attitude I’m complaining about. Who died and left you God?
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FedUp, to add, I once detailed to a friend all the lofty things we were doing at home. Or could be doing, if not for useless time guzzling homework. It’s not like we’re sitting around watching tv, I protested. To which he added, and what if you were? It’s YOUR afternoon! What gives a teacher the right to dictate how you spend it?
Imagine, Teacher, if we peeked into your living room and ordered you around. How would YOU feel? And yes, the fact that you get paid factors SIGNIFICANTLY into this conversation. You have a job. You are a public servant. Our tax dollars pay for your job. We have a right to demand how you spend those dollars and time. And yet we don’t. Out of respect. At least that’s how we all started out.
Regardless, this same maxim does not apply to you in reverse. It’s not enough for you to kick parents around but you may as well criticize and denigrate them while you’re at it.
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I stumbled upon this conversation when looking to print my weekly reading log. I am a third grade teacher, I do not believe in imposing school on family time. I have been forced by my school board and administration to have the 20 to 30 minute nightly homework. Opting out is always an option for the families I serve. I try to keep my students homework authentic such as clues about our town history for them to solve with their families, passes to the museums with open ended writing to share in class, selecting poems to illustrate and share that have a personal appeal (I offer books and have binders full of poems students can take and pull out a poem from) dinner table questions to help students connect their personal experiences with those experiences of their parents (ie. if a vocabulary word is risk I have them ask their parents at the dinner table about risks they have taken in their lives – students love to share about this. I also arrange reading clubs with guiding activities for kids to join – several kids read the same book at home and I provide journals, time and activities for them in class (this is totally optional). I truly support the no homework movement. My third graders are tired and need to go out and play after school. Not only is it an invasion of family time, it is a waste of teachers correcting time. I feel strongly that what I correct should be directly related to what I have taught and anything I correct and give feedback on should give me information about what kids know and should give kids information about how they are doing. Homework does not fit that criteria. Any homework I ask students to do (because I am forced to) is something that can be shared by the student in class. Thank you for all of your honesty – you will be happy to know that after stumbling across this conversation I did not send home my usual reading log and will not in the future!
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Thank you, Kelley. And all parents should remember that, as you said, “opting out is always an option.”
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Kelly, thank you for an uplifting comment. Boy do I wish you’d been my daughter’s teacher. We could have lived with your homework! And to echo Sara above, the operative word here is OPTIONAL. I made that point. If you have a student you know is reading voraciously, why bog them down with a log?
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Reading comments like Kelley’s gives me hope that teachers will someday understand the damage that homework does to family life and to kids’ moral. Thanks Kelley.
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Thanks, Kelley! Thanks for keeping an open mind.
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So you think it’s a better idea to be disrespectful to the teacher and have your child witness your disrespect? What is it that you really want her to learn? Your sending the wrong message!
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