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 
Thank you so much for making my point! I agree with you. Homework assignments should be age-appropriate which is exactly what reading is at the lower grade levels. If any of you would have the courtesy of reading what I’ve posted before disagreeing, you’d see that we agree more than disagree! I teach 6th grade and the only homework I assign as their language arts teachers is just like you suggested, reading a book of their choice! That’s it! Yes, it’s homework and yes, they record it on a reading log, and yes, it’s for a grade, and yes, it works. Students who already read are reading more, and those who didn’t are reading and responding to their books.
My issue has been and continues to be with the blanket statements made on this site and, with all due respect, by those who have a financial interest in selling more books, that ALL homework should be banned. Moderation, moderation, moderation.
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zzzzz78759 says: “And, we play video games together. My daugther and I have spent endless hours playing “Mario vs. Luigi” and laughing at our antics. That is called quality time and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.”
Kudos to you for spending time with your child while she plays video games. Unfortunately, many parents use it as a babysitter so they don’t have to interact with their children.
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Hmmm… have any of the parents or students requested to see the teacher’s reading log each week? If it is that integral to the reading process, then it stands to reason that they would all have their own logs, no?
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I’d be happy to show you my reading log, M@. I model it for students before I ask them to do one and I show it to them frequently throughout the week. I model how to summarize a story as well by summarizing the books I’m reading and model how to make literary responses throughout before I ask them to do the same. They discuss their books in class as well as participate in writing activities based on their books. They also have the opportunity to rate their books and make recommendations for other readers which creates a great deal of enthusiasm and interest.
Any other requests? Or was that just an irresistible opportunity to take a cheap shot at teachers?
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I hate homework including reading logs
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Teacher1 says, “Kudos to you for spending time with your child while she plays video games. Unfortunately, many parents use it as a babysitter so they don’t have to interact with their children.”
Really, it doesn’t matter whether parents use it to interact or to babysit or just because the kids like to play them to wind down at the end of the day.
It’s not up to the school or the teachers to decide how children spend their time after school, it’s up to the parents. Assuming that homework is a “better” way for children to spend their time than TV or video games or building with Legos or riding their bikes or hanging out at the mall is making assumptions that are insulting and disrespectful to parents.
It’s assuming that parents are too stupid, too ignorant, or too uninvolved to take care of their children. It’s assuming that ALL parents are stupid, ignorant or uninvolved. It’s assuming that the schools/teachers know best.
Uninvolved parents are not going to magically become involved because their children have homework. They’re not going to think, “Wow, the school must really know better! I think I’ll make sure Johnny does his homework. I’m so glad I see the light!”
I’m sorry but sometimes, actually MOST times, we have better things to do than busy work.
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Proudteacher says, ” I model how to summarize a story as well by summarizing the books I’m reading and model how to make literary responses throughout before I ask them to do the same. They discuss their books in class as well as participate in writing activities based on their books. They also have the opportunity to rate their books and make recommendations for other readers which creates a great deal of enthusiasm and interest.”
What happened to reading for the joy of reading? Does anyone really need to dissect every book they read? I read all sorts of books; some are heavy, some are light, and some are trashy. I read them for pleasure and isn’t that what we’re trying to instill in our children?
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To proudteacher,
Would you keep a log if you weren’t “modelling”? I mean seriously…who keeps a log of their pleasure books? Whatever for?
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I have a daughter in third grade in an affluent public school district known for its “great schools” (she is my only child). When she started Kindegarten, I was excited to be in a “great school” known for its exellence. However, after three years, I find myself doing much soul searching re: the school and our whole educational system.
As a mother, I find the whole expereience difficult to navigate and it makes me weary and sad. Whenever I volunteer in the classroom (or walk on to the campus for that matter), I am struck by how airless and joyless it seems.
The community has many stay-at-home mothers which view their mothering role as a job. The school, in turn, seems to view the mothers as unpaid employees (which most resent but still seem to buy into). In addition, the enormous amount of homework and tests creates an “us against them” mentality between the teachers and the mothers (this is subtext and never openly acknowledged at the school). In my opinion, the mothers are emotionally overinvested in the school. This leads to a “hornets nest” in regards to relations with the school and each other.
The Principal is authoritarian (she benches the kids for recess if they are 30 seconds late) and feared. The teachers are “on a mission” and don’t really care about the intrusive nature of homework into the family. Also, they are de-sensitized to the hurtful, inhumane way the kids are treated.
I am frustrated, sad and weary that this is considered “exellence” in our schools.
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Hello Disillusioned, and Welcome! Your story sounds very much like mine. I also had my daughter in “great” public schools in a wealthy district. I had to take her out of the public schools when she became severely depressed and anxious at the ripe old age of 10. She is now much happier in a Quaker school.
If there are good private schools in your area, I suggest you look into them. If you can’t afford them, look into their financial aid services.
If you really have no choice but to stay in the public schools, here’s my advice (as if you asked!): first, give your daughter as much support as you can outside of school, including cutting down on her homework.
Second, get a group of parents together. I never succeeded in doing this at the public school and it’s possible I might have had more influence with a group.
On the other hand, if you have no influence at the public school, don’t blame yourself! Public schools are set up to protect their own interests and jobs.
The principal takes recess away if the kid is 30 seconds late? What century is this?
Oh, also, google “nominally high-performing schools” to confirm everything you’ve already seen. You are not alone in your experience.
Good luck!
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You know Disillusioned, I’m maybe a little less discouraged because the private school my 3rd Grader attends has many pluses compared to public schools locally, but I empathize with you because I thought we were going into a no homework(or very little anyway) school 4 years ago. But there is homework and I object to it and sometimes I kind of sit there at the meetings and feel miserable because I object, but most other parents are buying in. You feel so …so….outnumbered and out of place.
It helps to write here though and to read about what other families have done.
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Starting in fourth grade, the kids are benched for reccess if they don’t turn in their homework (no exeptions). They must go to the office and sit on the “bench of shame” as the office manager calls it.
If you dare object to the Principal, she tells you if you are not happy with her policies you should leave!
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I’m discouraged as I read this, because I agree with you about the pointlessness of reading logs, but I also find them to be a necessary evil as a teacher. My fifth graders complete their reading log each week, but I do not require a parent signature anymore. I’ve tried stopping it, but my parents and fellow fifth grade teachers have objected. I tend to get complaints already that I am not giving enough homework, and that their child may not be prepared for the amount of work they have to do in middle school. I try to explain that research show that doing homework doesn’t really improve learning, but that doesn’t seem to convince anyone but me. Meanwhile I am buried under a daily onslaught of meaningless papers that I have to assess for my 28 students.
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On the other hand, if I had a parent say that the reading log was pointless, and their kid wasn’t going to do it, I would not object, but actually rejoice at having someone who was on my side!
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“but I also find them to be a necessary evil as a teacher”
Dude, WTF, Grow a set of balls and do what you know is right for your students!
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Way to cut to the chase. Though I wouldn’t use those terms, (the regular Moms who write in talk about self confidence and professionalism – different styles in approach) this is the crux of the matter, isn’t it. I always go back to the professional theme….if any other professional would say what you’ve said, Steve K, they would not be taken seriously, or worse yet, they would be seen as behaving unethically. Take the example of a physician treating children in his/her practice. If a child has a cold, the current best practice is to NOT give antibiotics willynilly (a technical term). Physicians handed out antibiotics for years..for the most minor of infections…but they know better now. Would you have confidence in a family doctor who continued to give out antibiotics to small children because a parent demanded it? I wouldn’t.
I trust my child’s teachers to be “state of the art”…they’re the experts on education. If I, as a parent, have to find mountains of current research to back up my claims that homework is useless in elementary school….the least they should be able to do is counter it with their research. But they don’t, they have their beliefs. They have their traditions. They just believe that they know what’s best.
I’m sorry but I don’t buy it.
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You are a winer.
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I like a good glass of wine…thanks.
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“They have their beliefs, they have their traditions.” A very true statement. I’m not trying to teacher bash, yet, In the three years I have been at my daughter’s “great school” I have seen a great amount of unprofesionalism.
During my daughter’s Kindegarten year, I was a running a family business that was in a long, complicated, sale of the business. I had never had more than a five word conversation with a stay at home mom at that time and felt a culture shock so profound when I spoke with them. They had an almost reverent attitiude towards the Kindegarten teacher which stunned me. I made the transistion to stay at home mom halfway through Kindegarten and (though I didn’t know it at the time), fell into a deep depression.
I was clueless about the school culture. However, I don’t think I was “disrespectful” to the teacher. Yet, being in a field dominated by men, I was kinda irreverent toward her. She sent me e-mails nitpicking my daughter’s wardrobe, told me I could not volunteer in her classroom, sent me e-mail telling me my daughter was “failing” P.E.,. Finally, at our last conference, she started with the words “your daughter is a “late bloomer” and needs a tutor. Then, she handed me a letter (without a word) which told me my five year old daugthter was :”failing to meet all standards for the district.”
I was angry, upset, and felt like I had been sucker punched in the gut. I reacted emotionally and told her maybe the school and I weren’t a good fit. She wholeheartedly agreed and suggested I leave the school!
I guess my point is, if they feel you are a “difficult” mother. Their professionalism can go out the window in an instant.
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Wow, I’m surprised you still have the patience to still be at that school. Any other options in the surrounding area?
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Disillusioned — I agree with PsychMom. You’re putting up with this crummy school why exactly?
And I really don’t want to make this an issue about stay-at-home moms vs. work-outside-the-home moms. We’re all mothers, let’s band together. Anyway, I know very few mothers who are 100% stay-at-home or 100% career women. Most of the mothers I know have been sometimes employed full time, sometimes part time, sometimes not employed for pay. It’s much more of a spectrum than a binary thing. I’m employed part time for pay, but I also have a vocation which has not generated money so far, although it might in the future. I don’t consider myself “stay-at_home” although some might describe me that way.
My big complaint about mothers with regard to the schools is that they are just too passive, and put up with way too much garbage. They complain about the school to each other at the bus stop but never follow through with the teachers or principal. That’s true for mothers who work outside the home as much as stay at home mothers.
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As a mother, I’m very ambivalent about pulling my daugher out of the school (she actually likes the school!). I have been told by the other mothers that all of the three elementary schools in our tiny “high performing” school district are the same. As stated earlier, the principal is very much an “advocate” for her teachers (to make matters worse this Kindegarten teacher lives in our community and I run into her outside of school…very akward).
I agree that the mothers are too passive and put up with way too much garbage. However, I see the mothers that oppose the school branded as “troublemakers.” Very oppressive. In a sense, school has become “reverse world” where the mothers kow tow to the teachers and administration. Also, they are very good at “dividing and conquering” in regards to fathers (if mom doesn’t agree with us, let’s set up a meeting with both parents).
Personally, it has caused me to “emotionally check-out” of my daughter’s school and have as little contact with the teachers as I can.
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I can understand Disillusioned’s feelings. It’s very difficult to buck the system and yes, being branded a “troublemaker mom” is painful. Personally, I had to move from our 3 bedroom house with a big yard to a tiny 2 bedroom duplex with no yarto keep my daughter in her school for exactly that reason. I bucked the system and the principal didn’t like that..
I went into every meeting, ARD, conference with the same attitude. I want my daughter to have the best education possible but I also want her to be a kid. I’m a very busy, single mother with a more than full time job. The school is in a very affluent community with lots of room mothers who drive BMWs and have birthday parties in their backyard pools.
The principal finally told me that, unless we move into the neighborhood my daughter couldn’t transfer into that school anymore. She knew I couldn’t afford to live here. She even went so far as to say that if we did change our address, she would come over to “make sure [we] were sleeping there.”
So we moved. When I went to the school to change our address, I told the principal I was looking forward to her coming by because I could use help unpacking.
My thought is that if I can’t stand up for my daughter and take the heat that comes down from it, then how can I teach her to stand up for herself?
I do fold on some things. Sometimes I’m just too exhausted from fighting or working or taking care of the household to fight. I admit it, I’m human. And sometimes I get pretty lonely standing out there in the open all by myself.
But I think I’m doing some good, at least I hope I am. And when my daughter says, “I love being a kid!” it gives me renewed energy to battle the system.
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zzzzz78759- I admire your tenacity and boldness. However, as other posters have pointed out, why should we have to have so much conflict? If it were the parent’s choice re: homework (if we must have it simply make it extra credit) all of this conflict would simply go away.
I think it’s very telling that the teachers who complain about parents wanting more homework don’t even consider it should be the parent’s choice. Parent empowerment in “great” public schools is pretty much non-existent.
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OK Here it is:
1. Homework is so entrenched in the system, even in the early grades, you will not be able to make the slightest dent of a change in policy or thought. It’s all about eeking out a few more points on the next standardized test, not about learning.
2. So, what to do?
Option 1 – Leave and find a school that is appropriate for your child and educational philosophy. Chances are 80% of what they do in class is also the worst kind of learning.
Option 2 – Start your own school (charter school, private, homeschool).
Option 3 – Just don’t do any of the homework. Who cares about grades anyway? If they give you any problems or if they punish and harass your child, document everything and call a laywer. Make sure to opt out of all standardized testing ( it’s you right) or tell your child to mark all a’s on the scoring sheet.
OK This is why:
1. The joy of learning is beaten out of our childeren at an earlier, and earlier age every year.
2. The school could care less about your child, they are not students, they are test scores. Do you want a standard(ized) child or an exceptional child who whose growth and love of learning discovering, exploring, inventing, and nuturing has no bounds?
Start Here: ALFIE KOHN. ORG
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Wow- Fed Up Dad and Teacher pretty much summed it up! What a sad state of affairs at our public schools.
I like option three. However, I consider myself a “bridge builder” and don’t think I should have to take such a militant stance against a school that is supported with my (very high) tax dollars.
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I have been reading some of the other blogs with lurid fascination. I find the comments posted by the teachers most fascinating.
Again, I am not teacher bashing, simply reporting what I have observed at my daughter’s “great” public school (with very, very high test scores). My daughter’s second grade teacher was feared by students and mothers alike. She assigned about thirty percent more homework then the other two second grade teachers (not to mention endless “parent projects”). I was brave enough to volunteer in her classroom once week (I considered it character building). She constantly belittled the kids, made degrading comments about other parents and teachers and yelled at me for not “being fast enough” grading homework.
Her e-mails to the parents were riddled with spelling errors (and she had spell check!), and poor syntax. I honestly don’t think she could pass a high school equivalency exam. Most of the mothers who volunteered agreed, “the kids just kinda taught themselves.” During my time in the classroom I saw her hand out endless worksheets and “verbally abuse” the kids who didn’t complete them fast enough. Whenever the prinicipal would come into the classroom she would “turn on a dime” into a kind, caring, nurturing soul. When she left, back to her mean spirited self. The mothers seethed but didn’t complain for fear she would “take it out” on their kids.
Fast forward to mid summer when I received my daughters test scores…..they were all in the advanced categories for language arts and mathematics.
I guess my point is…. the curriculum is so structured toward achieving high test scores that I’m not sure you even need a “great” teacher to achieve “great” test scores. Honestly, I would prefer a “kinder, gentler” elementary school because the endless worksheets the kids do six hours a day at school (regardless of the competancy of the teacher) are designed to achieve high test scores!
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I would really begin to wonder what education my child is getting in this supposed “great school”. Sounds like a sweat shop to me..
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Disillusioned — I’d bet you real money that your daughter’s test scores are in spite of the worksheets, not because of them.
The high test scores that our wealthy districts crow about have very little to do with what actually happens during the school day. Districts achieve high scores by attracting professional parents with bright kids.
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Agreed. This “teacher” also complained about the parents who “didn’t care” about their kids education.
I guess what galls me is the hypocrisy evident at our school. I really think the school benefits from good demographics. An army of volunteer moms do copying, grade homework, teach art classes and are treated with enourmous dissrespect by the staff. Now starting third grade, my daughter’s teacher has also started to send home e-mails riddled with poor grammar and syntax (this is a National Blue Ribbon school!).
If I were a teacher, I would be very aware (in this well educated suburb), of sending out poorly written e-mails to the whole parent population. (Do as I say not as I do students and parents).
For a teacher, our well behaved, respectful student body (along with enormous mother support), should be a dream job. However, when I volunteer in the classroom (as an unpaid employee!), I always get an earful about the poor, beleaguered, teacher martyrs!
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I was surprised to see, in Fed Up Dad’s post, that I might actually have a right to opt my children out of standardized testing. Is this true? If so, wouldn’t that be a great way for parents to tilt the tables? If several families opted out of testing, perhaps the powers that be would be more willing to listen to us.
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Yes, Fed Up Dad, can you send some links about our right to refuse standardized tests? I’m interested in this too.
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I teach first grade in a public school and do use reading logs in my homework packets. At back to school night I explain to the parents that this is not supposed to be a painful chore, but a special reading time with a family member. It is not my expectation that first grade students read independently as a chore for 20 minutes, but that they learn to love reading. They may choose to read to their parents, with an older sibling, or have their grandmother read to them, etc. They can read in any language. When children are given the opportunity to share something as wonderful as a book with someone they love, it can lead to life-long, joyful reading… THAT is my goal. I suspect that many other teachers feel the same.
Furthermore, I take my responsibility as a teacher very seriously. I do my best for every child in my class. I DO get paid for teaching; but have many constraints of time and money. I have only so much time with my students in the classroom. Since I have 22 students, you can imagine how many minutes of one-on-one time each student gets with me each day: not many. I get paid to be here from 7:55 to 3:30 every day, but am here from at least 7:00 to 4:00 every day. I also do one late day per week when I sat until 7 or 8pm. I take work home to correct. I plan lessons on the weekends, and have $200 dollars of my meager salary budgeted for classroom needs and parties every month. My first year of teaching I needed so many things, that I spent over $2,000 of my own money. The amount that I get paid for what I do is ridiculous, but I do it because it is my calling in life to help children in need and I love it. I chose this job and accept what comes with it… but am becoming increasingly bitter about the lack of appreciation.
The fact of the matter is that most people in America feel entitled to everything without wanting to take any responsibility for it. People buy things they can’t afford because they feel they deserve it. Some people go on welfare even though they could get a job because the government owes them. People want their children educated but are ignorant and selfish enough to think that that only happens at school. It is YOUR child! Why are you laying the blame at the feet of the teacher? In kinder, most students come in without the ability to count to 10 or write their name. I understand that some parents are illiterate… but who can’t count to ten?
Almost any well educated person got that way for 3 reasons: they worked hard, their parents supported them, and they had a teacher that taught them. Notice that 2 of these components are not the teacher. I am sick of hearing (after completely draining myself of energy at work,) “I send my child to school, but they just don’t teach them there!”
-From: Frustrated in California
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Frustrated in California — the problem is that there’s a big gap between your intentions and actual family life at home. Your intention is for your students to love reading. No argument there.
But as soon as an assignment comes home that must be done, it puts stress on the family. First-grade children are nowhere near old enough to reliably remember and carry out their homework, so it becomes another job for Mom. At the end of a long, difficult day for both mother and child, remembering to fill out the reading log is just one more hassle.
If you want to encourage reading, couldn’t you just … encourage reading? Skip the paperwork, skip the assignments, and just send the parents a letter about the importance of reading, and maybe say that about 20 minutes a night is a reasonable goal for 1st grade. Offer to provide a reading log for any parents who want one.
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Frustrated wrote:
The fact of the matter is that most people in America feel entitled to everything without wanting to take any responsibility for it. People buy things they can’t afford because they feel they deserve it. Some people go on welfare even though they could get a job because the government owes them. People want their children educated but are ignorant and selfish enough to think that that only happens at school. It is YOUR child! Why are you laying the blame at the feet of the teacher? In kinder, most students come in without the ability to count to 10 or write their name. I understand that some parents are illiterate… but who can’t count to ten?
=========
I disagree that *most* people have a sense of entitlement nor do I agree that *most* Kindergarten students can’t count to 10. I do agree that many, most likely, cannot write their names but, as a teacher, you must know that writing is developmental and 5 year olds don’t have the small motor skills nor eye-hand coordination to write.
5 year old “Lefties” haven’t even gotten a dominant hand at that age.
Schools are there to educate. There’s a difference between educating and teacher. I do teach my child. I teach her morals. I teach her to love. I teach her to ride a bike. I teach her to respect others. I teach her all sorts of things but it is your job to educate her, not mine.
I work from 7:00 to at least 4:00, then work some more after my daughter goes to sleep. I do that all year. I make her meals, I give her baths, I take her to Brownies and gymnastics and play dates and assorted other activities. I clean the house, I do the laundry, I pay the rent, the utilities, car payments, vacations and I have never collected welfare. And now I’m expected to do the teacher’s job.
I am educated, not ignorant, but I am selfish. I want to spend some time with my child while she’s still a child. I want to play with her and ride bike with her and learn magic with her. If that’s selfish, so be it.
I’ve got news for you, every job requires an outlay of personal funds, whether it’s a uniform, a computer, camera, internet access, car, insurance, whatever.
I see such disrespect for parents from yet another teacher with the “poor me’s”. I’ve been called ignorant, stupid, lazy, and a host of other names by teachers who don’t even know me, simply because I prefer to be a parent that a teacher.
Is it any wonder parents balk at teachers trying to schedule their family time?
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I was struck by how the Frustrated in California teacher started out the post in pleasant terms but it was almost as if, as he/she wrote, he/she got madder and madder, just thinking about parents and the teaching job.
I agree that our society seems to be full of people who feel entitled to many things right now. Many folks don’t want to take responsibility as parents….but that does not describe any of the parents who are expressing their opinions here. DIsillullsioned voiced much of what her role is as a parent. Mine too…I’m a single parent, working full time, and fortunately I don’t take work home with me at night but in 25 years of being a paid employee, I’ve done my fair share of non-paid hours.
The fact remains, I’m not a teacher. The teacher does not want me teaching my daughter arithmetic the way I learned it…she wants me to encourage a new way of thinking about numbers and math concepts. Why do I have to pay any attention to that!! I’m not a teacher. When my daughter asks me for help with homework, why do I have to figure it out first? That’s why I have decided that, from now on, if it comes home to me…I’m doing it. My way. My child obviously can’t do it, or she wouldn’t be asking me for help. Since they aren’t graded on it…everything should be fine.
Right?
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Here’s an excellent discussion about reading logs, written by teachers:
http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=45766
or google “Do you do reading logs?” ProTeacher Community.
It’s a bunch of teachers describing what a failure reading logs are. The kids who were already reading continued to read, and the kids who weren’t reading continued to not read. It was a lot of paperwork for no effect.
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Most of the comments are pro reading logs though. It seems that it is far from being a “dead” topic.
I guess you have to be a teacher to understand how reading logs boost reading. I do not get it. Some of them turn it into a contest to see who reads the most in a year…
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I don’t really understand the point of reading logs. Are they supposed to instill a love of reading? Are they supposed to make reading a “habit”? Is it just a control thing?
What ever happened to reading for the joy of it? Why do schools think we need to read on a schedule?
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Frustrated in California, you probably have a right to be frustrated. Even though I am disillusioned by the public school system, I believe the problem is systemic and teachers “get thrown under the bus” along with students and parents.
In my daughter’s “great” public school, there are no teacher’s aids assigned to classrooms. I’ve often wondered why since the curriculum is very challenging.
One common theme that seems to thread through the teacher’s comments is “how busy” they are. I don’t doubt this. However, as a business owner, if I laid out in detail every single thing I do in an hour, it would probably make me seem overwhelmed as well (wait…I also have to help my daughter with her homework and nag her to fill out a reading log!).
I fear many teachers’ lounges are filled with talk of “ignorant and selfish” parents who lay the “blame” for their spoiled, entitled kids lack of education at the feet of the educators!
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I do not know the Ed Codes for all the states but in California you can opt out of the testing. If 5% of the students do not take the test then the scores for the whole school are nullified and all hell will break loose.
http://www.calcare.org
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Personally, I like the idea of making pretty pictures and playing dot to dot on the score sheets, especially if the tests are linked to teacher pay. Then, maybe the teachers will organize against the tests.
Again, who really cares about the scores?
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Oh, Polititians and elected school board members are the ones who care. Why do they care about standardized testing? Because they want to be elected or reelected and they resort to playing on people’s fears about our childrens education like Bush played on our fear of WMD’s and Sadsam’s link to Al-Queda
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Sorry about the typos
As a teacher and a parent, I know these tests and much of what happens in the classroom and homework focuses on what matters the least in education. You have to learn this fact, on this day, because we tell you you have to learn it, and your value is based on that score. Such BS! That is not education. That is being a sheep!
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CO:www.thecbe.org
MA:www.parentscare.org
MD:www.geocities.com/stophsa
NC:www.geocities,com/nccds/index.html
OH:www.stophighstakestests.org
NY:www.timeoutfromtesting.org
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http://www.fairtest.org
http://www.susanohanian.org
http://www.pencilsdown.org
http://www.nomoretests.com (student site)
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http://www.alfiekohn.org/stdtest.htm#null
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I guess my frustration really did build as I kept writing. I just frequently feel very judged by parents, “competing” teachers, administrators, test results… Sorry about that! Hearing all of the complaints about teachers lit me on fire!
I do teach. I work hard, and I work effectively. This being said, if the only educating that these children got was in my classroom, it wouldn’t be enough. I am so happy for children whose parents are involved in their education because I sincerely love my students and I want what is best for them. Everything I do is with that intention. (However, I am not perfect, and I have off days like anyone else.)
“…nor do I agree that *most* Kindergarten students can’t count to 10. I do agree that many, most likely, cannot write their names but, as a teacher, you must know that writing is developmental and 5 year olds don’t have the small motor skills nor eye-hand coordination to write.”
I have had the opportunity to work in four different schools. In the school with well-educated, well-off parents most of the students came into kindergarten with the ability to write their names, count to 10 and much more. The other three schools have had a 95% or higher rate of poverty; at those schools most students could not count to 10 or write their name. I understand that students are not developmentally ready to read and write at 5, but they are required by the state to leave kindergarten able to write a good, complete sentence. For students who can’t recite the alphabet or recognize their name, this can be a challenge. In schools where students have had really good oral language development before kindergarten and exposure to literature, students are generally very successful with the state’s requirements. If I were in charge of the universe (God forbid!) I would make the state standards aligned with developmental capability… but alas, no. 🙂
Back to homework:
A major study that I read in a training in which I participated 2 years ago discussed homework. (Blast! I wish I could remember who did it!) It showed that well assigned homework given on a regular basis improved retention of knowledge by 40%. Well assigned homework was basically defined as work that can be done independently as review of things already learned. I assign homework not only because it is required of me, but I feel that I would be doing a disservice to my students and all the effort that they put forth to learn something if I do not give them some structure to help them retain their knowledge. At the end of their packet I add a reading log. The reading log at a first grade level cannot be done independently. I obviously can’t force families to read to/with their children. I think that the reading log reminds some parents about the importance of reading with their children, and it reminds some students to ask someone to read to/with them instead of immediately running to the television.
Some of my students do not have anyone at home who can help them. I understand. Some students have a parent sitting with them for every math fact. I think it’s great. I DO check who does homework and discuss what responsibility is. Those who don’t do their review at home, do it during recess. Review is important. I only care whether the reading log is completed in that I know that reading at home is important. It serves as a tool. Do I think that some parents sign it without doing it? YES! … but at least they thought about it.
I do my best to make a great education available to my students. It is up to the students to listen and participate to gain what knowledge they can. It is up to the parents to participate to whatever degree they can.
I truly get that parents want to spend what little quality time that they have with their children doing what THEY feel quality time is. I think that that is very important.
In my experience, teachers recommend to parents that they do things with their children that they know to be helpful to children. No one knows a child better than their parent. People should take teacher’s recommendations for what they are and do what they know to be best for their children.
Despite different learning styles and preferences, the more children there are in the class, the less flexibility a teacher has in terms of rules, restrictions, consequences… It would be too time consuming to make individualized assignments or behavioral systems. If your child’s teacher has put into place a system in which students who fill out their reading logs get a prize, okay. The teacher for some reason feels that that will help most children in the class. Don’t worry about it. If your child wants the prize, then they will do the reading log. Otherwise, don’t worry about it.
Just what I think…
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Frustrated in California says:
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A major study that I read in a training in which I participated 2 years ago discussed homework. (Blast! I wish I could remember who did it!) It showed that well assigned homework given on a regular basis improved retention of knowledge by 40%. Well assigned homework was basically defined as work that can be done independently as review of things already learned.
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Have you read The Case Against Homework (Bennett and Kalish) and The Homework Myth (Kohn)? Their research shows no advantage to homework in elementary school. And you’re teaching 1st grade! There’s no such thing as “work that can be done independently” for such young children.
The only way a 1st-grader’s homework can get done is for Mom to turn into Homework Cop.
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Those who don’t do their review at home, do it during recess.
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Do you understand how punitive it is for a young child, to lose their one opportunity during the school day to run around and socialize? Recess should never be taken away. And you should realize that you are punishing the child for the actions or inaction of the parents. The children who got their homework done have parents who made sure that it got done, or did the child’s homework for them (much more common than you might think). The children who didn’t get their homework done have less attentive parents. Then they get punished at school too.
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Do I think that some parents sign it without doing it? YES! … but at least they thought about it.
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What the heck? What purpose could possibly be served by parents signing off on the reading log without reading to their child? “At least they thought about it?” What exactly did they think? “Here’s one more piece of paper the school wants me to sign … okay, done.”
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