Child being 'punished' for a choice I made

daska

jem16 wrote: »

It is important for a teacher to know that a child understands the skills involved with reading - as I said I am not just talking about being able to read the words. Very few exams have pass marks for reading aloud.

I have seem many children who would sit and read large books but whose actual comprehension and inferential skills were very poor. These children were reading mechanically rather than with understanding.

On the opposite side I have also seen many children whose pieces of writing were very impressive, purely down to the amount of reading they did. However these children were also very good with comprehension.

I am sorry that this has happened and should not happen. However I would wonder why your niece would still not read books of her own choosing if she really was interested in reading them?

I don't dispute the importance of the other aspects of reading other than being able to sound out the words LOL. I'm quite capable of being objective about the different aspects of reading, DS1's reading skills were pants even though his receptive vocab was several years above his actual age. I was just pointing out that it is not necessarily automatic for teachers to assess and move kids on to an appropriate level for their ability and understanding, some still do it by rote.

My niece is starting to come out of it now (7), but the process of always having the same reading book for a week because she didn't get read with unless her mum came in to do it and then having to restart a level from the beginning because she didn't get to it by the end of term was soul destroying for her.

Person_one

Dunroamin wrote: »

Even if it is a personality trait, most people seem to want schools to build a child's confidence and that's certainly down to personality.

Not to the point where it become over confidence or arrogance though.

jem16

daska wrote: »

but the process of always having the same reading book for a week because she didn't get read with unless her mum came in to do it .

Sorry I'm not quite following what you are saying here.

MissKeith

going back to the original topic, I'd be pretty p!ssed if I'd paid for swimming lessons through the school and my child was not chosen for a gala because another non participating child took up a place on the team. it's not all about you or your child OP.

mumps

jem16 wrote: »

Your last sentence unfortunately typifies the misunderstanding of most parents as to what the teaching of reading is all about. The actual reading of words is only a very small part of the teaching of reading. The majority is about teaching comprehension, prediction, inferential and lower/higher order skills. Some of these skills are only acquired on reaching a certain maturity level but all would never be acquired by simply pointing the child in the direction of the library and telling him/her to get on with it.

I think you will find that most teachers of children just starting school will very quickly find out what a child is capable of and set the work accordingly.

My daughter didn't just read the words, she read widely and enjoyed books. She was assessed at another school and they agreed that to start her on pre reading skills was ridiculous, they told me her reading age was 11+, we don't know what it was as 11+ was the top score on the tests they did. Pointing her in the direction of the library as part of home schooling was exactly what happened and her A* in English Lit and Language GCSE followed by 6 A's at A level and a first class honours degree from a good university would indicate that it worked fine.

My problem with the local school was that the teacher's attitude was that she had no intention of finding out what she was capable of and setting appropriate work.

I have four children and have covered the spectrum of starting school reading to going into juniors without any intention of ever reading, he did eventually inspite of himself and is actually a very avid reader now which would also surprise his reception/year 1 teacher who tried desperately to motivate him and was appalled that I wasn't particularly worried. I knew he was bright and had no doubt he would read when he was ready. Sometimes mother knows best, even when teacher thinks she has it wrong.

Due to a big age span with my children I have also experienced the joys of look say, phonics, ITA and real books, all of them the new wonder way to teach, the comings and goings of the 11 plus, the introduction of GCSE's, the national curriculum SATs and heaven only knows what else. I also had the joys of home education for five years when my two youngest went into school ahead of the class having spent five years at home having fun with never a set lesson to do. The shock of the school typified the closed attitude of many teachers who think only a professional can teach.

mumps

jem16 wrote: »

Sorry I'm not quite following what you are saying here.

I think it is like my grandson's school, the child gets given a book and someone, teacher, TA or parent, hears the child read and marks the reading card. My grandson frequently has weeks when he doesn't read at school so only moves on to another book if his mother, father or granny (that is me) hears him read and marks his card. He then gets another book. At his school there will be several books on each level so it is quite easy for a child to start a term at school and end on exactly the same level book as at the start of term. Now think if the books were too easy at the start of term, then you spend all term reading boring "baby" books. It really doesn't take long to squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of reading so the child stops reading altogether.

I think I was sensitive to this issue as I remember it even at grammar school. I love reading, always have. I would be given the new set book, can't remember many of them now but Silas Marner was one. We read a few pages and for homework had to finish the chapter and possibly reading the next one (going back 40 years here). We had English lessons every day but one day would be Shakespeare and one day would be language and once a week it was set book. I would arrive at the next lesson a week later having read the book and would get told off for finishing the book. I understand that it was probably annoying when the teacher asked what we thought was going to happen and I already knew but I can't read a book like that, if I am enjoying it I keep reading if I am made to read it in chunks I will not enjoy it and read something else.

Another example is my sport mad son, I remember his teacher complaining that when he went to the library he always chose a sporting biography. Well I thought a sporty ten year old was doing well to read a book so I encouraged him. She wasn't happy, made him choose something else which then sat in his school bag unread for a week. That really improved his reading no end.

mumps

Dunroamin wrote: »

There are fashions in the teaching of reading.

When I did some teacher training at the end of the 60s, our main guidance in the teaching of reading was "put a child in the environment where there are books and she'll learn to read". Whereas this attitude lowered reading standards for a generation, I can think of no more efficient way of stultifying a child's love of books than the method you describe above.

My husband and I both started school being able to read, were given the key to the library cupboard and encouraged to read as widely as possible. We were both also encouraged to read with younger children who were struggling to learn.

We both ended up with degrees in English and a lifelong love of books that has never diminished.

And isn't a love of books a wonderful gift to give a child.

Lifeisbutadream

MissKeith wrote: »

going back to the original topic, I'd be pretty p!ssed if I'd paid for swimming lessons through the school and my child was not chosen for a gala because another non participating child took up a place on the team. it's not all about you or your child OP.

Which is funny because I never said it was, I know what my choices are

Fire_Fox

mumps wrote: »

I
I think I was sensitive to this issue as I remember it even at grammar school. I love reading, always have. I would be given the new set book, can't remember many of them now but Silas Marner was one. We read a few pages and for homework had to finish the chapter and possibly reading the next one (going back 40 years here). We had English lessons every day but one day would be Shakespeare and one day would be language and once a week it was set book. I would arrive at the next lesson a week later having read the book and would get told off for finishing the book. I understand that it was probably annoying when the teacher asked what we thought was going to happen and I already knew but I can't read a book like that, if I am enjoying it I keep reading if I am made to read it in chunks I will not enjoy it and read something else.

We did 'The Outsiders' by SE Hinton for GCSE and it enchanted most of the class - this was Newham in east London which is very deprived so not that big on reading. Many of us were way ahead of our homework for a change, don't remember being told off that is awful. I have been waiting several years for a relative's stepson to be old enough to buy it for him, maybe this year maybe next. :cool:

Dunroamin

mumps wrote: »

And isn't a love of books a wonderful gift to give a child.

The best:)