Here I am again, still thinking about Reading Logs. How long has it been now? ;) I teach at a school where our school homework policy includes a varying amount of nightly reading, based on grade levels. The time spent reading increases slightly each year. However, a reading log is not required (or at least it's not explicitly stated that it's required!) I know that Reading Logs are not authentic. As a reader, I don't sit down and log minutes every time I read. No one does. Reading Logs are implemented by teachers mainly out of accountability, to ensure that kids are reading at home. But we all know that often times kids will scribble out a book title or two on the log, in the car on the way to school, and parents will blindly sign it. What are reading logs doing for these kids? Nothing. It's a hoop that we make kids and parents jump through. What is it that we want for our kids as a result of reading logs? Why do we THINK they are needed?
We want kids to be readers. Readers that read everywhere, not just at school. We want kids to be engaged with their reading. And we want to check in with them as readers, guiding them as they navigate through their reading. How can we ignite a reading spark that ensures that kids will pick up a book/magazine/blog ANYWHERE, without having to fill out a silly reading log to ensure that they're doing so?
Just because they fill it out on a reading log doesn't mean they're engaged. Believe me, I'm guilty of signing the log as my daughter is hastily filling it out, writing down a title she may or may not have actually read. Did the reading log help to determine if she's engaged with her reading? Nope.
I'm ditching reading logs in my 2nd grade classroom. There. I said it. Wow. It's so freeing! Now (next blog post) I'll go into how I'm going to ignite a reading spark in my second graders, that will carry over into their reading lives outside of school. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment