Sound It Out

Comments

For our elementary-school-aged daughter, reading logs have usurped the pleasure of reading. Period.

Explaining to teachers that reading logs convert reading-for-pleasure into a timed event for our child is certainly awkward, as they expect 100% compliance. In September, reading promptly becomes reading-for-words-until-I-read-long-enough. In the short summer that follows, I help her habituate to reading for pleasure. Then the pleasure’s out the window again in September for another 10 months.

It is wonderful that other children view reading logs as goals, or as diaries on which to reflect. Still, other children likely wouldn’t read almost daily if it weren’t for reading logs, and certainly this exercise forces improvement in such reading components as fluency.

Cultivating a life-long reading habit for our child, however, is worth facing her teachers about the reading logs. When she’s not “reading for the reading log,” she reads all kinds of stuff interesting to her. We notice improvement along several dimensions.

We do realize that school administrators must demonstrate their compliance with these current trends in reading, particularly when such trends are related to No Child Left Behind. Our bottom line: Remain child-centered, and resist applying research-based evidence as if the conclusions apply to every singular child in the bell curve.

I am a first grade teacher who has a weekly reading log that I hand out. At this early age it is important that the children get into a routine of reading every night. There are some parents who did not know that they were supposed to be doing this and need the log to serve as a reminder. I don't feel like a piece if a paper that asks for the stories read at home and who was reading them takes the fun out of reading. It serves as a way to discuss reading and helps the children to see that school and home are making sure that they are learning and caring that they be the best reader they can be!

After reading the responses and other factors of your site I still have the same question. What "real" value does the reading log have? Now I am not asking for the response "because it is used to determine a child's ability to comprehend what they read". I am asking what is the value? The child reads at home, the parent has to sign a tracking form, "reading logs", and then the student turns in the paper so the school can justify their policy of the reading log. Now if the child does not turn in the reading log, they "fail" that portion of the class regardless if the student if getting A's throughout the course they still fail the class because a reading log id a tracking form for the school in not turned in. Now comes the penalty--the child fails, not because he/she is stupid or unable, the grades on tests and class work show that they are capable, they fail because of a meaningless piece of paper that is used to justify a specific program for the school. The background research on reading logs is, to say the least, varied in the interpretation of it true value which would lead a parent to question why it is being processed as a grade rather than a supporting document to suggest why the student is not doing well in a class.

I have had a similar frusration with reading logs that someone previous posted. The reading logs have turned reading into such a chore. She loves to read and write and reads a high level. I believe they are not right for all children. Some kids seem to take to it so well, and others really struggle with it. If they are reading every night, then is it really necessary? She is even willing to write a paragraph on what she has read as long as she doesn't have to record day, time and number of pages.

We're having the same exact problem at our house, Kim. Molly all but refuses to read for her "homework" but the minute we put the form away she's happy to curl up with a good book. Not good!

I have a 13 year old son that reads on average 1 hour per day. He has been doing this since second grade. He loves books and gets so excited about books. Reading logs have been the bane of his existence. In fact, last year, he received a "C" on one because the teacher didn't see where I had initialed his summaries. His accelerated 7th grade language art teacher has just brought back the "reading log". Tonight he said, I want to read but then I'll have to log. To make it worse, since he is known to be a voracious reader, he feels pressure to live up to his reputation. I feel like petitioning my congressman to outlaw reading logs.

Reading logs are required at our middle school. Our department chair insists on using them even though all other teachers know that they are counter-productive and alienating most of our studetns. One person with veto power overrules the combined common sense of all the other teachers and teaches our students to hate reading.

I just love reading everyone's comments - thank you for sharing your experiences, and keep 'em coming! We've done our own silent revolt against reading logs at our house--we just don't do it. The form is in Molly's folder every day, and every day we ignore it. Then, Molly grabs her favorite book and reads for far longer than her log would suggest she should. Report cards come home next week; I'm interested to see whether there is any comment about her lack of homework. I doubt I'll be able to keep this up as she moves through school, but at least for now, it's working for us.

I was looking online for advice/opinions about reading logs and was not surprised by the responses here.
As a teacher, I can respect the views of most responses, however, Joanne, I am bothered by the fact that it seems like you have not communicated this with the teacher. To just have Molly not do the assignment is teaching her to defy her teacher's expectations. The situation would be better handled, in my opinion, if you were to print out the above response (as well as try to find any researched based support) and bring it to Molly's teacher.
Thank you all for your insightful responses.

I am a PhD student currently doing an independent study course in YAL and came across this blog while researching reading logs, a tool many of my fellow teacher-students employ in their courses and of which they speak highly. From the comments here, I ascertain my peers are on a different page about this tool. To be fair, I believe that what my cohorts term "reading log" is actually a reading reflection journal, thus a significantly different assessment tool. However, I am somewhat puzzled as to the resistance to the title/date/pages read log. Are the titles to be read assigned? If not, I am unsure why recording what the student read for pleasure, as several posts referenced, is a stumbling block. Why is simply recording what one has accomplished an impediment to that accomplishment? It seems to me little different from punching out of work at the end of the day. Annoying, yes, but ultimately beneficial. I must also agree with Jen P regarding non-compliance with the assignment. I am certainly a Thoreau fan and beleive in "civil disobedience" when it serves a purpose--I often nudge my own college level students to challenge unjust imposititions-- but non-compliance with a reading log doesn't seem to fit the bill here. I also have serious concerns about the model of teaching a child to simply "opt out" of something he/she just doesn't want to do. As a college teacher, I see the negative impact of such thinking on post secondary education. At that level, not doing an assignment just because a student does not like it results in no score and often course failure. There, parents can't simply argue with the professor until the assignemt is dropped or changed--FERPA and other laws make the student responsible for himself/herself. Further, most of us must accomplish tasks regularly we don't like, whether its washing the dishes, taking out the trash, or filling out a ten page report at the office. Imagine the results of choosing not to do such tasks. Habits learned early often stick for life, and I encourage parents to give thought beyond a simple reading log to the broader implications of perhaps undue resistance. By the way, I am a parent who has seen two sons through a public school system, reading logs and all, and at 17 and 20, they do not appear to have been negatively impacted by the experience.

As a teacher and a parent, I see the overall relevance of reading logs. Not all parents are fortunate enough to have children who enjoy reading for pleasure...at least initially. Not all students have parents who insist that their children read...log or not. I do see that for a parent who's child enjoys reading anyway, a log is pointless. However, for parents of children who wouldn't read unless it was assigned for homework (or it was a daily fight)...it does serve a purpose. I personally assign reading logs not only to require students to read but also to hold parents accountable for engaging in their child's education. (And then I still have parents who don't pay attention to what is on the log...they just sign them....unfortunate. But that isn't the majority.)

I would like to respond to Mark H. Although I understand and to some extent agree with your assessment regarding the "opt out" approach, I too have had to find a way to deal with this issue with my daughter. I did talk to the teacher at length and my daughter has tried many different approaches to this reading log. I don't think we do want to teach our children to just not do it, but at the same time if it is really causing an issue with such a fundamental thing as reading, I too would "opt out". I trust that Joanne handled it in a way that was appropriate. I think we can teach our child that just because someone is in charge it does not mean they are right. When you feel very strongly about something like this, it does seem like the correct solution. If it is an isolated incident (meaning one allows their child do avoid anything they dislike) then it could be a beneifcial approach. I have simply said to my daughter that Miss J is your teacher and she is a good teacher, but on this particular issue we don't agree and we want to work something out so that learning is still fun. In fourth grade I really feel this is important. I was not the only parent (there were at least 6) that had this issue. The teacher would not budge or compromise. What I have observed with my child is that she finds the transition from a right brain like activity to a very left brain activity difficult. She also feels judged and that it won't be enough. This has alot to do with how the teacher handles it in the classroom, of course. Having to take write down time and pages was very tedious. I think writing a response to the reading once week is very useful, but recording that information is crazy! Once this summer came my daugter got 3 books from the libray, made a bood mark that said I love reading, reading is great and got to it! Something she did not do during the school year and kept saying she hated reading.. so that is enough evidence for me!

I teach grade one students. We don't have reading logs for home. I send home an easy read each night with my students. I also have the students reflect on his or her reading from the night before. Sometimes it is a book that they have had read to them or one they have tried on their own or the easy read that I sent home with them. I feel this developes choose, credibility and high interest without a meaningless paper trail. This paper trail is often forgoten or lost. The reading experience is often not.

My 7 yr old son just came home from his 3rd week of school and had a complete meltdown due to the wonderful "reading log" that was in his folder, and the note on his daily schedule that showed he MUST read for at least 30 minutes per day! I consider myself and my husband to be among the best of parents in this particular classroom, as most of the children come from broken homes and have parents that are unstable half the time. I volunteered in my son's class last year for a full day each week, helping (not my son, but)the children that were behind on an individual basis. I, too, feel like the reading log takes all the fun out of it, and has turned my really easy going, fun loving, happy go lucky kid into a basket case! I don't want to teach him to rebel and not do it, so I have made copies of the log, and will insist that his teacher NOT put it in his folder from now on. Instead, I will fill out the logs on a weekly basis, but it will be with the books that we have actually read, and the amount of time we spend will vary, depending on the other things going on in our lives at the moment! (We own a medical practice, and are in the office until 7 or 8 pm 3 nights per week, so if we don't get to it, I won't sweat it... we will just make it up on the weekend, on OUR time, and on OUR terms!) This way, our son will not feel so overwhelmed, and will still think he's just doing it for fun!

As a teacher I appreciate this discussion. I am not a parent and homework has always been a question on my mind. I don't know what it's like to have to do homework with a child. I do not send home reading logs this year, but I have in the past. I have started to rethink them after reading all the posts. However, I am really upset by the parents who have commented on this site who are going against the teacher's homework decisions. I find that you are teaching your children to disobey authority figures and make up their own rules. I work very hard to make sure my students learn and it makes things a lot harder when I have to work against parents instead of with them. I urge you to discuss your concerns with your child's teacher instead of making decisions for the teacher and their classroom.

This discussion is very interesting to me because my daughter does NOT have a reading log assigned from school. One of her homework assignments is to read for 15 min/night (not much, I know... but it's 1st grade). I found this page when searching for reading log printouts that she can use to track her reading at home.
I just talked to her about it, and we are going to start a binder for reading. I printed a log that has space for date, title, and author. I'm going to write that, then when she finishes a book she's going to write a summary of it and whether or not she liked it (and why). I don't see it as a huge problem, and she's actually excited to do it. I think it'll be good to be able to look back at what she's read, and will serve as a helpful tool in selecting more books for her.

I also told her that we can have a section of the binder where we put ideas of books she might like to read... then we'll have it as a resource at the bookstore, library, etc.

Is it simply the idea of it being an assignment that makes some kids so resistant to it? My daughter loves to read. I discussed the log as a way to keep track of what she's read and when, and she didn't have any problem understanding that it is a positive thing.

I absolutely love reading the various perspectives on this topic; from parents of high-achieving kids, from parents of struggling readers, from teachers of all grades...it's GREAT! I always laugh when I get chastised for our decision to not do the reading log - I'm such a rule follower that it really was outside my nature to do such a thing, but seriously, there was no accountability for the log. The teacher never mentioned our not doing it, and at a class party mid-year I learned that none of the other moms were having their kids do it either! For me, it was the nature of the reading log: (1) no one checked it or commented on it, (2) it required responding every day after reading...would YOU like to have to write a paragraph after every chapter you read? (3) uninspired generic prompts that often didn't work with what Molly had read. Keep your ideas coming, maybe together we can design the perfect reading log!

I am a teacher, too, and have had many conversations with parents. Frankly, I can see where some parents are coming from, but on the other hand, how can I get students to extend their learning? We talk about many reading concepts in class, from predicting and visual images, to author's craft. The kids I see liking the logs the least are the kids who simply record their reading, and not summerizing, but retelling the story in too much detail. For kids doing individual reading, I conferenced with students about their reading. We had students give an informal book talk about their reading. Students who tried to reach beyond retelling, made judgements and developed opinions were more interesting and created more excitement. For reading groups, I teach 4th and 5th grades, and want my students to think critically when they come to book group. Is there another way to record thinking other than logs?

I am currently teaching second grade, but have also taught third. I do use a reading log for a few reasons. The main reason, that has been stated in some other comments, is that some parents do not make it a priority for their children to read. This reading log does serve as a reminder to the kids as well as the parents that this is an important part of improving reading; both fluency and comprehension. A second purpose for having my students keep a reading log is that we are required to keep them in their assessment folders to show that they are reading. Reading logs can also be motivating for some students. My students get excited when they fill one up and they can get a new one. Others who read longer books are excited when they finish a book and can check that they finished it on their log. I do understand where the frustration comes in though. I have some students who were not reading for fun anymore - they focused on how many minutes they had read. I modified their reading logs to make it a fun way of keeping track of the books they've read. Reading should be fun. I do not think there is an ultimate solution. Some kids need to log in every night to keep track. Other kids should be able to keep a record of books they have finished - journal or log form. This should be a decision that the child's teacher makes with collaboritve input from the parents.

As a parent and teacher I really don't see what all the complaining about reading logs is all about. If a child doesn't normally read, a log can help to ensure that some reding practice occurs. If your child already reads at home, wonderful! There is no reason why filling out a log is going to "to take all the fun out of it". Taking a couple of minutes to write done time or pages isn't a big deal. However, I have learned as a parent and teacher, YOUR attitude is nearly always reflected in your child's attitude. Change your attitude to a positive one rather than a do I have to do this and watch your child's character grow. You whine, so will your child.

If the biggest problem you and your child have is filling out a reading log, consider yourself blessed. If the teacher was not looking at the reading logs or discussing them, it was probably because she was tired of listening to people whine about such a simple task. I do not think allowing children to get what they want by falling apart is doing them any favors. Helping these kids rise up to challenges and take some responsibility would be far more helpful in my opinion.

I happened upon this site as I searched the internet today, looking for ways to help your children be successful students and readers. I rarely respond to comments that I come across; however, reading your angry, frustrated respones reminded me of MY own frustration with students and families who disregard the expectations of schools and teachers.

I work very hard both in the classroom, as well as the countless hours of my own time, planning for and monitoring the progress of my students. I do not ask students to complete work that is pointless or unimportant. Research-based evidence demonstrates the importance of lots of time to read. Students need to read more than the time we have in a school day. Period. Yes, some children read more than they are expected to, however the reality is that the majority of students in a classroom do not read at all, unless required to.

A "log" serves different purposes:

1. It is a place to keep track of what you have read. It's so great to look back and see how much you've accomplished.
2. It also serves as a way of monitoring our reading and to help us set our personal reading goals.
3. It is a way to progress monitor students who are struggling readers. If a student is reading a lot, as evidenced by the log( among other things)and not making adequate progress, then we have documentation we need to continue with interventions.
4. It is a starting point for book discussions, and practicing reading strategies we have done in class.

I am concerned with the message YOU are sending to your children... That it doesn't matter what you are asked to do, if you don't like it you can do what you want to. I'm sure that is great work ethics you are teaching. I am trying to teach your children to be responsible and accountable for things that we are expecting them to do. Thanks for listening. Happy Reading!

I have taughtpreschool through sixth grade for over 40 years and have used a myriad of reading logs/journals/reflections for both home and in-school reading. If teachers are requiring home reading as part of homework, and having it replace other homework, they may need to account for that to their superiors. So try to work with the teacher to find a way to make it less onerous for the good readers. I like to give a bookmark at the start of each new book, on which I record the start and end dates. Bookmarks are turned in for a variety of things: bonus points; substitutes for a missing assignment; extra in-class reading time; etc. I also meet with each student individually to orally reflect on their reading.For in-class independent reading time, I am accountable for it being used effectively. Some students may just stare at a book, or read a book at an inappropriate level.I use a Relection Log with open-ended sentences that require students to reflect upon their own reading strategies. I currently teach classes of struggling readers who do not choose reading as an activity, nor do they read at home for a variety of reasons. They need guidance to reflect upon their reading - to do the kinds of mental things that good readers do automatically. I have to justify the value of substituting independent reading time for reading instruction time. So meet with your child's teacher if you have a problem and ask her to explain her reasons for requiring a log. See if you can negotiate a compromise. But please teach your child that while some requirements in life are tedious (forms for time and effort, taxes, medical records, applications, reimbursements, etc.), they will be part of her life forever.

A funny thing happened at school last year. Our principal assigned a book to all the staff to read and discuss during staff meetings. I LOVE to read. I go through three or four novels a week. Well, guess what. I could never crack that book open! I would bluff and blunder my way through meetings. What have I learned? Anything becomes not fun as soon as you HAVE to do it. I finally forced myself to read the book at the end of the year. Are we teaching our kids that they don't have to do what they don't want to?

Diane: Thanks for sharing your story! I'm dying to know, what book did your principal assign? Did you end up liking it?

I am the mother of 7 and teach middle school reading. For the life of me, I do not understand the problem with a reading log. The students that have them, are the students that need the practice to improove in reading. We put ours on the frig and make a BIG deal about it. If I find a student that hates reading, I make it a challenge to find something this child enjoys, and find a book about that subject. The reading log isn't the problem, it is the attitude of parents that don't want to bother with helping educate their children. We have to be a team, parent and teacher. Both must be on the same page for students to respect the requirements. Help us, help your child!

Hey Teachers any ideas of a FUN way to do reading logs?

www.readinglogs.com is a fun and online way to submit readinglogs!

I teach 6th and 7th grade reading. I raised three kids, and I too Hated reading logs. I teach in a school where I have 80 sixth graders and today for our first marking period only 9 of them made their reading goal. Homework every night is 20 minutes of reading. Obviously it's not being done. I don't want to whip out the reading log, and god knows I break my behind and give 150% everyday, i'm at work 2 hours late every night to ensure that I have great lessons for my students, that are engaging. I spend $500. per year making sure my classroom library has great books, is it too much to ask for parents to have their child read to them for 20 minutes, or ensure that their child is reading. Not all parents do that, what would the dissenters suggest for the kids who don't have parental support, that they not read, and continue to languish in the bottom percentile of readers?