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 
Get over it
LikeLike
All I give for homework every night is a reading log. Due weekly with a book of choice.
HOW will a teacher know that the student reads unless a parent supervises?
Claps to you on your amazing ablity to see what goes on in your home. A teacher can not see that your child reads. A reading log is the proof to show that your child is reading at home. And if putting your name on it is too hard for you, I emplore you to find a better way for a teacher to prove their efforts in reading.
SOME KIDS… can read and read and read and never understand a thing they read. YOUR KID I guess is special and not expected to do what every kid was told to do.
As for teachers working for you, they do not. They work for your kids. They work for Principals who make demands on them to back up their work with records. They work every day with heart and dedication to get your kids to learn. You have already passed your classes. We do not teach for YOU.
We teach for your KIDS. We have bosses too. You are not a teacher and you did not choose to be a teacher. Stop acting as if you know what a teacher should or should not do.
Studies have been done that show that the best way to get a child’s reading level to go up is to have them read.
Do you know that there are kids who have never heard a bedtime story? Count your kids as lucky to have a parent period. LOGS and HOMEWORK, are for ALL. AGAIN, you and your child are no exception. Let your teachers teach. YOU can be a partner in that, or you can be a PAIN IN THE NECK!
LikeLike
Ms. N. asks:
***********
HOW will a teacher know that the student reads unless a parent supervises?
**********
You need to accept that you don’t know what your students do at home. Even if they turn in a reading log, it may have been faked.
*********
A reading log is the proof to show that your child is reading at home. And if putting your name on it is too hard for you, I emplore you to find a better way for a teacher to prove their efforts in reading.
*********
Again, reading logs prove nothing. And why are you looking for proof anyway? (BTW, it’s “implore”.)
**********
YOUR KID I guess is special and not expected to do what every kid was told to do.
LOGS and HOMEWORK, are for ALL. AGAIN, you and your child are no exception.
**********
Why should every child in your class be made to do the exact same thing? You probably have a wide variety of kids in your class, with different reading abilities, different backgrounds, different interests.
***********
Let your teachers teach.
***********
OK, I’ll let you teach, if you let me parent. Stop telling me what to do with my own child in my own home. I will support my child’s reading in my own way.
************
YOU can be a partner in that, or you can be a PAIN IN THE NECK!
***********
Again, how does following your directions make me a partner? Partners make decisions together. Do you ask your students’ parents for ideas about how to work together? Do you show any interest in their point of view?
LikeLike
Ms. N. writes: “You are not a teacher and you did not choose to be a teacher.”
I’m so relieved. Can’t wait to tell my husband. Wish I could turn the clock back. WE AREN’T TEACHERS!!! Yay! Does that mean four hours of homework in sixth grade won’t come home anymore? Because seems to me we sometimes had to teach content. Um, it was often not happening in school. We checked. Other parents were reporting the same thing.
Teaching was the least of it. My daughter has been able to teach herself a great deal. But you say we parents aren’t teachers. You are.
Bravo. Because we want you to to handle the teaching. So we can handle the parenting.
I have no qualms with learning at home. We want you to teach so we can after school at home. We like complementing what you do at school. You’re building the Great Wall of China in second grade? We’ll take her to Chinatown for some lo mein. You’re studying Africa in 4th grade? We’ll take her to the African art museum. You’re learning geometry in 5th? We’ll take her to the Building Museum to study shapes and angles.
I can do that. I can do that well. I love learning with my child. I love curling up with her in bed to read to abandon.
I can do that. What I cannot do is send her to school for six and a half hours, only to homeschool another four. She does it herself. But if we are stuck in the house, if it falls on us parents to teach her time management skills, if we we are forced to give up vast chunks of precious family time, if my child is not playing or reading enough, then we are your involuntary unpaid teacher’s aides. You say we aren’t teachers. You could have fooled me.
My advice? Chuck those reading logs. You want to know if my child is reading? Just ask. Wait. Don’t you see her with a book all the time? Didn’t you take away book after book after book because she was reading in class? She’s reading! You know she’s reading. You don’t need a log.
Lose those logs. In the time you are checking them, you could be planning a scintillating lesson. Wouldn’t you rather do that?
As for your boss making you do those logs, we’ve covered that here before. There are no easy answers and we feel for you. But at the end of the day, our children need an education, not an excuse.
LikeLike
“A reading log is the proof to show that your child is read ing at home.”
Not necessarily. Many of those logs are faked. And especially for younger kids, mom’s filling out the log, not the kid.
I’m curious. How do you use the logs? Do you talk to the kids about them? Do you truly feel they are necessary? And why do you need a window into a child’s home? We don’t send you a log. We trust you’ll teach our kids. We want the same trust. We want our family time. My daughter will read. And be read to. We’ll see to that.
“SOME KIDS… can read and read and read and never under stand a thing they read.”
And how does a reading log change that? And most children will not read and read and read a book if they don’t understand a thing they are reading. Would you?
“YOUR KID I guess is special and not expected to do what every kid was told to do. ”
No, my child is not special. But she is unique. As each child is. You are attempting to create a one size fits all, to make everyone average. Sounds like your reading homework is more about simple compliance than promoting reading.
“As for teachers working for you, they do not. They work for your kids.”
No argument there.
“Studies have been done that show that the best way to get a child’s reading level to go up is to have them read.”
Again, no argument there. We aren’t saying no reading. I don’t like homework in elementary and resent homework overload in the later years because it interferes with reading! We are saying no reading logs so our kids can use that time to read even more.
LikeLike
Ms. N. says:
**********
I emplore you to find a better way for a teacher to prove their efforts in reading.
**********
Now I realize what this means. You use reading logs as a way to “prove” to the principal that you are teaching reading! Give me a break.
Your job is in the classroom, and your principal should assess you based on what you do in the classroom. The idea that your principal will assess the job you do based on how well you get parents to comply with your reading log is ridiculous.
I’ve wondered this many times. What goes on during the school day? What does the school actually contribute to our kids’ learning?
LikeLike
FedUpMom writes: “I’ve wondered this many times. What goes on during the school day? What does the school actually con tribute to our kids’ learning?”
That’s the crux of the question. We aren’t finally putting our feet down because we want to be a “pain in the neck” or raise, as has so often been suggested here, insolent, ungrateful and selfish children.
It’s a new day. It’s the 21st century. And I’m still hearing about the same homework today I received as a child. It didn’t work forty years ago and it still doesn’t work today. How would you feel if your physician still relied soley on old methodologies and refused to embrace new research?
Ms. N, your job is in the classroom. We need to know what you are doing there. We’d rather you spent less time monitoring us and more time using those six and a half hours as wisely as you possibly can. You say you only assign reading logs so kudos to you, you don’t overload. But that was not our case. Reading logs were just one piece of paper in the pile.
I’m sorry about NCLB. I hate it as much as you do. I’m sorry your principal is breathing down your neck. But as FedUP says, you are using reading logs to CYA. You say we are not teachers. If we wanted to handle all the academics, we’d be homeschooling! We resent work sent home, and resent being told we are anti-education or don’t want our kids to read.Surely you know that’s not the case. It’s just a means of disarming us.
Your job is to teach. Not to send it all home. Little by little, homework has crept into home life to the point where it has more than crossed the line. It’s out of control and needs to be reined in. There doesn’t seem to be any separation between the school day and free home time anymore.
The few hours working parents have to parent each day are gobbled up by homework. Parents who, on top of getting dinner on the table and clean laundry in the drawers and driving their children to one activity (we don’t overload), are also forced to be afternoon and evening teachers. Which leaves us no time to be parents. To instill values and responsibility, to read to our children, to comfort them, to teach them discipline and restraint, to play with them, to enjoy them, to revel in the grace and beauty of their childhood.
Ms. N, please spend less time peering into our living room windows and more time figuring out how to use those precious day time hours. We send our children to you every day. Please use their time and yours in the best and most efficient way possible.
LikeLike
Homework Blues says:
***********
You say you only assign reading logs so kudos to you, you don’t overload.
***********
Not so fast, HWB! How much do you wanna bet that the reason Ms. N only assigns reading logs is because reading is the only subject she teaches?
************
It didn’t work forty years ago and it still doesn’t work today.
************
You know, I hated school forty years ago, but I actually think it’s worse today. It’s not so much that what didn’t work then is still being done — we’re actually doing more of the stuff that didn’t work then, and with much more pressure and stress on the kids.
LikeLike
FUM, you have a point. Two in fact. (Notice FUM sounds like FUMING?!!!)
You’re right about the reading logs, come to think of it. Only those come home because that’s where the test emphasis lies. The principal is breathing down Ms. N’s neck and she in turn leans on the parents. It’s not about reading, it’s about raising test scores. So what do you do with the kid who’s already acing the tests? Ignore them, they become inconsequential. Like all those other subjects that will not be on the test..
As for still doing what didn’t work forty years ago, I’ve said it before. Right now education has all the disadvantages of the 1950’s and none of the advantages (children playing, little homework). As you’ve said, we’ve gotten the worst of all possible worlds.
No question it’s much much worse for children today. One heartbreaking hint is how disaffected kids seem from their learning. You ask them their favorite subject and they stare at you blankly. It’s as if they didn’t realize they were supposed to like ANY of it.
I thought of something else today. I thought of those little notes I would get in 5th grade (private didn’t send them). The ones that read, “your child didn’t finish this sheet in school today. Please see to it that it is done at home.”
And it occurred to me. This is how you talk to an underling. I put myself through college by working as a lowly secretary. The bosses in those early days tended to be mostly men. Big powerful men. I was nothing on their totem pole, just an innocent college student, making ends meet. They would leave little notes: “please see to it that it gets done by tomorrow.”
This is not the way you speak to an equal, in a partnership. “Please see to it that it gets done by tomorrow” is an order, not a dialog.
LikeLike
And isn’t it interesting that “school” and “homework” are now synonymous, and that both are dreaded by children and teens alike?
There was an article in the Globe on the weekend about Roald Dahl and how he understood this sense that children have that adults don’t actually like them. I don’t know much about the man but I have a sense that were he alive today, he’d see things the way we do about children’s lives.
The stress of adult lives in North America have left their mark in our children, and not in just the harried schedules we inflict on them.
LikeLike
PsychMom, children really do feel powerless. But unlike the 1950’s, they do have a lingering doubt that adults don’t like them. I asked my daughter why the kids in her school don’t sometimes speak up about the homework overload and resulting sleep deprivation. She said, we’d be then labeled as trouble makers.
When a teen screws up the courage, musters the strength, and approaches the teacher, quietly, respectfully, that he is having trouble managing the homework, the teacher may blow him off with, “it’s not too much, it’s time management.”
That one little phrase. Student scurries away, never to dare speak up again. What’s the damage here? Stop and think. The child learns he is powerless and adults don’t care about him. So what happens to him when HE becomes the adult? Will the oppressed become the oppressor?
So much better to take the time. Talk to the kid, explain, show you care. Why don’t high school teachers do more of this today? Was is the fear? That anarchy will result? That the kids will stop respecting you? Just as in parenting, respectful relationships breed respect. Disrespectful ones breed resentment and fear. What price power?
LikeLike
Correction: WHAT is the fear? Not WAS.
LikeLike
And the sleep deprivation and overwork has just become accepted, as if they were medical interns and residents. You don’t complain because everyone must go through it. And you must go through it and excel despite it because that will mean you’re qualified….to….. do……….mmmmm…..hang on…it’s coming to me…….to do what exactly?
I think what I’m trying to say is that high school, and especially middle school, are not supposed to be training grounds for some crazily scheduled adult work life, or university for that matter. They are supposed to be places that teach you how to handle life amongst other human beings. I dare say that if the premise of education was changed, we’d all be a lot happier. Suddenly the pressure would be off everyone and youngsters could get on with learning and teachers could get on with teaching.
LikeLike
HomewworkBlues, PsychMom and FedUp Mom- Bravo for your well reasoned respones. In my experience, the “I work for your kids not you” line is justification to vilify any mother who even remotely questions a teacher’s agenda. Last I checked, my child doesn’t pay my rather substantial property tax bill (with many bond issues attached to support the school district). There truly is a disconnect for many working in public education regarding this fact. Ms. N- your principal’s salary is also funded mainly through property tax and bond issues (paid for by the homeowners in your district).
LikeLike
Well put, Disillusioned. I was waiting for you, glad you jumped on this discussion.
Sara, I’m sure you must sometimes wish a lot more people chimed in. To all those reading and nodding their heads, please come in. We are not a clique! It’s not a zero sum game. There’s room for everyone.
Yet I find myself hoping PsychMom, FedUpMom and Disillusioned will comment because I love reading their thoughts. And to all the others like zzzzz and K and a host of other equally nteresting folks. It’s no longer just posting onto an anonymous blog, there is a sense here of shared insights and delving deeper and deeper into the root causes of this mess.
And of course we welcome the opposition too. Sunshine is a good thing. The more light shed, the more change might even be possible. Hopefully in my lifetime.
LikeLike
Oh, gosh. Mary, Mary. Mary Sullivan, thank you too. Didn’t meant to leave you out. And there are others too.
LikeLike
I’ll be short and cut to the chase…hopefully. Education is a delicate combination of art and business. That being said there are expectations from the student on the education/art side and there are expectations of the teacher on the business side. An expectation of the teacher is to ensure that students are performing well. This means that students meet expectations of the community on standardized tests. Now, many schools (such as mine) REQUIRE I send a reading log home at night as homework. I am OBLIGATED. The realy culprit would be the weight placed on standardized tests, not defenseless teachers who don’t need another useless battle with parents. If there were less pressure to “perform” I know my school wouldn’t REQUIRE homework.
So, when I read your curt e-mail to the teacher needless to say it upset me. I feel sorry for her/him. He or she’s doing their job (whether you think so or not) and isn’t it always nice when a parent makes it even harder to do so? I think it’s great. I can’t fathom why students come to school and feel like they don’t have to listen to the teachers either, I would assume that’s not from anything they’re learning at home.
Cut us a break. Most of us became teachers because we wanted to change lives. I didn’t wake up one day and say to myself, I’m going to give a pointless reading log to my students and wait for those e-mails to come rolling in. Be a partner and approach a teacher in a different way and if you really have a problem with homework/curriculum go to the board …. you know the ones who dictate what a lot of us do and leave the teachers alone in the trenches.
LikeLike
So your point being, Educ8, it doesn’t matter if the education is medicore? You’re just following orders, the good public servant that you are. So it affects your kid in a very profound way? Suck it up.
In the end, you at least got paid. What did we get?
As for curt emails, mine happen to be respectful. Probably doesn’t matter. I’m sure I’m no more liked than if I was curt. It’s not about the emails.
LikeLike
MEDIOCRE. I hit Submit by mistake and it went out before proofing.
LikeLike
Educ8 — as I’ve remarked before, this incident took place at a private school. The teacher absolutely had a choice about whether or not to assign a reading log.
Your note is a sad one, and paints a depressing picture of our public schools. You are a defenseless teacher, condemned to do whatever the principal tells you and have useless battles with parents as a result. Unlike a previous poster, you don’t even claim to be working “for the kids”. No, you work for the principal. Parents are a nuisance and the kids are interchangeable widgets who must meet community expectations on standardized tests. Really, the school would run a lot more smoothly if the kids and parents weren’t involved.
*****
I can’t fathom why students come to school and feel like they don’t have to listen to the teachers either,
*****
What do you mean “either”? You think the parents have to listen to you? Parents are not your employees or assistants or underlings. You may enjoy bossing little kids around, but you’ve got no right to boss Mom around.
*****
Be a partner and approach a teacher in a different way …
*****
And what way is that? How much bowing and scraping would I have to do to be taken seriously? I’m tired of being told I wasn’t deferential enough. The bottom line is you just don’t want to hear from parents, unless they’re telling you how wonderful you are. As far as you’re concerned, there is no acceptable way for a parent to complain.
I’d like to see teachers treat parents with some deference, for a change. I never again want to get a letter from a teacher that says, “Do this. Do that. Sign here. Thank you for your partnership.”
LikeLike
Bravo, FedUp. So Educ8, you only want to hear from us when we tell you how great you are. Even when you’re not. And you want our cookies and chaperoning and cleaning up. Beyond that, your day would go a lot better if you never had to deal with us pesky parents. And as FedUP says, you can’t possibly like your little charges any more.
I agree. What a sad depressing listless joyless picture of classroom you paint. All gray and dull and washed of all color. You do what you’re told whether you like it or not. You fume and suck it up because that is what good little women do. Which makes you wonder why moms can’t do the same. Since your unions are ineffective, you want the parents to run all your battles for you. All this without a peep.
Except for one problem. It’s the 21st century. It isn’t 1955 anymore. And mothers managed to get quite an education along the way. Your factory style top down model just doesn’t work anymore.
We’ve upgraded. What about you? Get a backbone. Or get out.
LikeLike
I agree with the others here about hearing from teachers who complain we don’t treat them as professionals, yet any time we go to them with a problem they push the blame to others.
Don’t like a policy? Then how about actually trying to do something about it…use your union for something other than guaranteeing jobs for life, talk to the PTA about getting parents to support policy change, etc.
As I wrote a note to school last week, I was reflecting on how my tone has changed over the years as I have gotten more and more frustrated at my interactions with teachers and administration. The first few years I asked for help and clarification and I was very deferential.
My most recent note: ” will not be doing this assignment. It is tedious, and I cannot see any educational value in it. “
LikeLike
Sorry, I forgot the site doesn’t like greater than/less than symbols. My “note” should read:
(Son’s name) will not be doing this assignment. It is tedious, and I cannot see any educational value in it. (my name)
LikeLike
The complaint from teachers that parents aren’t deferential enough just burns me up. And I am mystified that parents put up with this. We are not the teacher’s subordinates! We are all adults, let’s speak to each other as adults.
It’s all about power, it’s all about control. Just telling someone “you weren’t polite enough” is sending a huge honking signal about who goes where in the hierarchy. No one addresses an equal this way. No one.
And if you think the e-mail I sent to the teacher about reading logs was curt, you should have seen the rough draft.
LikeLike
Bravo FedUpMom and HWB! The default position of ” I became a teacher to change lives” is tired. Once again, why must we be partners when I have no choice in the matter? (Not much of a partnership). Moreover, your “alone in the trenches” line is also tired. How about you cutting us a break? Respect is a two way street and most people that blather on about it usually have no self respect.
LikeLike
HWB- I agree with your get a backbone or get out. However, it is shocking how much the stay at home mothers take from the teachers. Indeed, they are classic enablers. In order to get us out of the fifties, the people pleasing stay at home moms also need to get a backbone.
LikeLike
Disillusioned — please, let’s not get trapped in the stay-at-home vs. working mom wars! There are enabling SAHMs and enabling WOHMs, too. And, for reasons that escape me, they all wind up in the PTA.
LikeLike
You’re right, FedUP. But I have to agree with Disillusioned. Disillusioned, I enjoyed reading your tales of the moms at your school. Care to share some more? You were running some great essays there, vignettes of your school, the moms, your take, the fly on the wall as you volunteer, and then you stopped. I’d love to hear more. Write away!
Yes, FedUp, we don’t want to start the mommy wars but if some of these moms got a spine, we’d be well ahead by now. And too many of those Stepford Wives commandeer the PTA. Which in the end, winds up just being an apologist for the school system.
LikeLike
Anonymous, I want to tie your comment in with Mathew’s. I was afraid I’d have my fingers slapped for being too harsh on Educ8 so thanks for the validation.
Like Mathew, I started off far more deferential and respectful. I reserve my anger for those two elementary public school years. Much of the time, the respect was not returned and I was treated with condescension and disdain. At best, I was patronized (read: you’re an idiot and school knows best).
I know better now and I’m much more firm. And like FedUp, I will not be lectured to about my “curt” email. I was at least respectful and could write a decent sentence. Wish I could say the same for some of the responses. It’s a two way street. If you want respect, you have to earn it. We’re not puppets.
I like Mathew’s approach. “Emily” will no longer be doing textbook chapter outlines because they have no educational value and merely suck up precious time. And besides, that’s what the Table of Contents are for. In the time she’s sweating over outlines, she could be reading about history.
LikeLike
Hi FedUpMom- Not really trying to fuel the SAM vs. WOHM war (and meant no disrespect). Yet…..I do see the SAMS in my ‘hood as unempowered. It seems as if the SAMS and teachers battle it out in an illusory power struggle and the PTA SAMS OBSESS about whether their child will get a “good” teacher. Most join the PTA to “play the game” not realizing that the game is all in their heads.
LikeLike
Hoo boy, the PTA. One of the things I’ve noticed is that the PTA routinely schedules its meetings at times that a mother with a job couldn’t possibly attend. 8:30 a.m. seems to be a favorite. I don’t work full time and I don’t attend the meetings either, because I’d have to give up precious “me time”. How about the occasional evening meeting? BTW, this is true at both the public and private schools I’ve been involved with.
LikeLike
FUM, I’ve heard that complaint from many parents, that the meetings favor SAHMs. I will say this. At my daughter’s school, most meetings are in the evening because many of the moms work. Occasionally they’ll run a morning meeting which I actually prefer. But I’m not coming to one that starts at 8:30. Ours has the good sense to give parents time to park.
LikeLike
I stopped going because in our school it turns into a pity party of; ” the poor teachers do so much with so little.” I find it interesting that the person in charge of the paid employees (the principal) vents to the unpaid volunteers about how difficult it is for the paid employees to do their jobs.
LikeLike
The last PTA meeting I attended was at my daughter’s public school. I brought my copies of The Case Against Homework and The Homework Myth. I presented my concerns about homework overload in elementary school, which led to the following dialogue:
OtherMom: “My son is in high school. He wakes up every morning, gets on the bus, goes to school, comes home and does homework until 1 a.m. Then he gets up at 6 the next morning and does it all over again.”
Me: “Doesn’t he get burned out?”
OtherMom: “Oh no, he’s fine.”
OtherMom sincerely believed that she was showing why they needed so much homework in elementary school; as we’ve all heard, it’s to prepare the kids for the ultimate trial called high school. This argument is supposed to shut up all the complainers. For me, it was just one more arrow pointing the way out of the public schools.
LikeLike
I have read all the comments with great interest because I have just completed a study on the effect of reading logs on intrinsic motivation to read.
I’m currently a high school junior in New York, and have had the blessing to live in a district with one of the strongest behavioral/social science research programs in the country. I’ve been a voracious reader since elementary school, a self-described bookworm, if you will. However, many of my friends don’t share my sentiments – they regard reading as a boring, obnoxious chore. And none of them looked back on reading logs fondly; in fact, I would say around 9 out of 10 of my peers outright lied on their reading logs. I myself lied – even though I read for hours at a time, I didn’t care to actually log it right after (I read in bed, and most times I fell asleep reading at night), so when the log was due at the end of the week, I would make up numbers (I rarely remembered how long I had read that week – time flies when you read!). However, things started to come together when I took AP Psychology. We learned about motivation and the overjustification effect, which states that external motivators decrease intrinsic motivation. With that, my research advisor and I began to flesh out the beginnings of a real project on motivation and reading.
As I quickly learned from reading background literature, motivation lies at the heart of reading. Specifically, it is intrinsic motivation, or the pursuit of an activity for internal satisfaction of the activity in itself, that strongly predicts time spent reading, reading ability, enjoyment, interest, and attitudes. In addition, another theory of motivation, called the Self-Determination theory, states that individuals require a sense of autonomy (defined as the ability to choose one’s own actions) in order to be intrinsically motivated. However, because reading logs are external motivators, and because they strip away children’s sense of autonomy (they are unable to choose how long they read for, and when they want to read), I hypothesized that reading logs would decrease interest and attitudes towards reading. I used 2nd and 3rd grade students from two local elementary schools, and teachers were randomly assigned to give either mandatory reading logs or voluntary reading logs.
Mandatory reading logs required that children read for at least 20 minutes each night, while voluntary reading logs were given to children and were entirely optional.
I gave students a survey measuring motivation in October, and then surveyed them again in two months to measure any changes. My results were surprisingly concurrent with my hypotheses. I found that interest in reading decreased in the mandatory log condition, and interest increased in the voluntary log condition. The differences in interest between the mandatory and voluntary reading logs were statistically significant, p < 0.05. Attitudes towards recreational reading decreased in the mandatory condition, and increased in the voluntary condition. These differences were also statically significant. The increases in interest and attitudes were probably a result of increased reading proficiency over the two month period during which the study was conducted. Another explanation may be that teachers in the voluntary reading log condition may have made more of an effort to frame reading as a fun activity, although that would simply suggest that there are better ways to promote reading than through reading logs. The decline in interest and attitudes, on the other hand, was probably a result of a decrease in intrinsic motivation. These results strongly suggest that reading logs erode children’s intrinsic motivation to read. This has real consequences for children’s reading future, especially at a time when reading faces competition from computers, TV, and cellphones. I am entering this project in the Long Island Science and Engineering fair, and hope to spread the word about these results to change the opinions of elementary school educators.
LikeLike
Sarah Pak:
Wow. What a truly thoughtful and timely effort. Good luck in the competition!
Why does it seem so difficult for our education professionals to do likewise? We need more people who are willing to ask basic questions about the premises behind common teaching practices, such as mandatory reading logs and homework.
LikeLike
Sarah Pak — excellent! I hope you’ll be able to post more about your work.
I’m interested in what you say about 9 out of 10 students lying on their reading logs. So much homework, especially at the elementary level, is fake. I wish teachers would understand this.
LikeLike
To Sara Pak:
Read Dan Pink’s book “Drive” …you have just proven his drive theory in spades.
And my point about the demotivating effects of logs! As soon as people HAVE to do something, they don’t want to, or at least their interest in it decreases almost immediately. That’s why homework, on the whole, is a bad way to start kids off in the elementary grades. You are training them early……to HATE school. All the other drawbacks are on top of just a fundamentally de-motivating tactic.
LikeLike
I am an educator, and while I agree with some comments made by both parties on this website, I truthfully feel that if a parent has tremendous issues with public education, they should simply educate their children at home. That comment is not meant to be mean or harsh. I currently teach middle school special education, but I plan on staying at home with my children through their elementary school years. I don’t have any children yet (I’m 26,) but I know that public school can only provide so much individual attention towards each child in one day. If I want my child to have the opportunity to play, explore, be creative, and have time to truly investigate all the questions they have about the world, I will have to make it my job to stay home and provide that sort of education to them.
The system has changed tremendously since I was in elementary school. I remember my 3rd grade teacher making applesauce after we picked local apples. I also remember having eggs hatch in our classroom, and that same teacher played her guitar to us every afternoon. I was left in wonder and awe on many days, but now these same teachers (who have not retired) are required to give 2nd and 3rd graders daily geography worksheets and do DIBELS testing every few weeks. I also believe that children are being “worksheeted to death,” but if the principal tells a teacher that they must do certain things or get fired, a teacher only has so many options. It is one thing to tell a teacher to say “Just don’t take the standardized test.” You could tell your child to do that, but if a teacher did the same thing, they would be forced to resign that very day. Public education is more political than working for the government. (Education is a second career for me, as I ran a governmental program previously.) I thought I would have the chance to “change lives” and inspire kids to love reading and writing. But in all actuality, I less say on what I do in my job in my own private classroom than when I was under the direct line of fire from a politician.
The public education system requries teachers to spend 90% of our time working with the 10% of students who perform the lowest. It’s draining work on the teachers, and the most hard-working, inquisitive, and dedicated children often spend a good portion of their 7 hours at school doing their own thing. I apologize that your child has not gotten what they deserve from public schools, but it is your right as a parent to pull them out of public schools and provide a different learning environment at home. Again, homeschooling has been in my long-term plans since I decided to become an educator. Homeschooling is a freedom and a right that you have as well.
LikeLike
This part of my post” But in all actuality, I less say on what I do in my job in my own private classroom than when I was under the direct line of fire from a politician.”
should have read ” But in all actuality, I HAVE less say on what I do in my job in my own private classroom than when I was under the direct line of fire from a politician.”
Sorry for the typo. I had three IEP meetings today, and I am exhausted. 🙂
LikeLike
Anonymous2010- I think all of us who post on this blog would not disagree with what you are saying re: policy in public school. You state that public education is more political than working for the government. I think you missed the point…..work-ing in public education IS working for the government. As someone who pays a hefty property tax bill with many school bonds attached, it is very frustrating to not to have a voice within the school system.
Homeschooling should not be the default position because the system is broken. Many working parents do not have this option (nor do they want it). What they do want is a school system that does not erode their quality of life every day with substantial amounts of homework (you won’t fully understand this until you have kids).
If the public school system were a private enterprise, the teachers would have to be more responsive to their clientele. I think you have hit on the crux of the problem As I think FedUp Mom stated; who do the teachers serve? From my experience, teachers seem to have much more latitude re: homework than you state. It seems as if the older, tenured, burned out teachers often give the most homeowork. In affluent suburbs, they know they can scare the parents into getting a tutor if they don’t want to teach. Who speaks for the children and parents when this happens? Why must children and parents put up with lazy, hostile teachers who know they have a job as long as they can pass of their job to the parents and still achieve high test scores? I have seen this happen first hand and it is very frustrating.
The bad teachers know how to manipulate the parents and bully the kids. Yes, we can take our kids out and homeschool for a year if we get a bad teacher but why should we have to?
I think we all agree the system has changed for the worse. Adding homeowork overload to a bad system doesn’t make it better. If the kids are “worksheeted to death” during the school day, why do they have to be “worksheeted to death” at home. When is enough enough?
LikeLike
Sorry for all the typos and bad syntax today. Too many to fix.
LikeLike
It is sad to say, but the system is beyond repair. I’m new to my current school, and everytime I voice a concern or suggest something research-based to another teacher, they report me to the principal. He tells me to just go along and play nice, even stating that the other teacher is wrong, but they have clout, etc. I struggle daily with the system, and though I love teaching kids, the adults in my profession make me miserable, depressed, and leave me drained. Since I am in the system and realize I can not change it, I know I will have to stay at home and run a homeschool program one day. At least at home I will not have to cower and hold in every opinion because I am afraid of losing my job. Standing up for what is right is difficult– school superintendents do not like adults or kids who are free thinkers. I am constantly reminded that they could revoke my license at any time (thus no teaching jobs anywhere after that) due to noncompliance and “insubordination.”. It makes me sad to imagine my future children taking any class that isn’t with me or my husband (who is also a teacher) because a large portion of these teachers have no clue what they are doing, nor do they want to buck the system.
LikeLike
In regards to my last post, I should restate that a large portion of the teachers at MY PARTICULAR SCHOOL (not all schools) have no clue what they are doing, nor want to buck the system. The school I taught at last year was a completely different world (and in a different state with different standards.). I am sorry if I accidentally offended any other teachers out there. I’m in a very small district surrounded by people with tenure who refuse to try new things.
LikeLike
Anonymous2010- I feel for you. This type of oppressiveness in the workplace can lead to burn-out and self-loathing. Whenever I interact with the predominately older teachers at our school, I am struck by how cantankerous they are (must not be a pleasant work place). In addition, the office staff is rude and offensive. It seems as if many public elementary schools are stuck with teachers way past their experation dates.
LikeLike
I do see the parents point of view. My daughter loves to read and the logs were becoming another homework assignment to her. She was then starting to dwindle in her love of reading. So I just allow he to read at will and leave it at that. As someone who also teaches reading I also understand the teacher. Their are those kids who need to develope their reading and with out the logs they only go home to sit on the computer, tv, or videos. Which do not help them with their reading. What I do is give them a weekly log with instuctions to read whatever interest them. On the log they Give me the tile of what they read and a brief ( 3-5 sentences) summary of what it was. Then each day we spend about 10 min of class time sharing our summaries. They seem to enjoy that and there is not alot of pressure, as it could be a chapter in a book, a magazine article, ect……
LikeLike
I am in 8th grade and soo far this school year my teacher has made us do two reading logs each week with at least 20 pages per reading log per day i HATE Them i personaly Love reading but haveing to write two paragraphs on 20 pages is quite difficult my teacher does not read them she only uses it to measure what we are reading
LikeLike
how do you get homework out of my school please write back in my email thank you
LikeLike
my teachear makes us 6th graders do 20 mins. a night every week and at least 25 pages do u have any tips on how to get it out of our school please help and write back in my email thank you.
LikeLike
i am in 5th grade and i hate reading logs some times you get home late and you are not able to read so if i dont do my reading log i get bench and i dont like to be beanch.some times i make stories up but i am running out of ideas.my teacher makes us read for30 min every day and awer perents have to put thier signature.if you know eny books pleas send me a little summery about it.
LikeLike