frozenrider15 said:The issue with binge-reading is that it isn't designed for a lower elementary student who is still struggling to decode basic words. There is a massive difference between breezing through a picture book and a short novel in a single afternoon.
Maybe I overshot the mark with my use of the word "popular." The road to producing a high-quality essay is long and winding; it starts with reading, building a vocabulary, and developing actual comprehension. Let's be real here: students are reading less than ever, their vocabularies are shrinking, and their spoken language is sparse and riddled with grammatical errors. All of this requires practice. Yet, the moment you mention reading, summarizing, or reciting poetry, parents and students act like you're asking them to climb Everest, and the quality of the effort is usually abysmal. A teacher can't sit down one-on-one with every single child to drill a poem into their head. They can encourage reading, sure, but it ultimately depends on how much the kid actually puts in. They can practice summarizing, too, but that’s going to be an uphill battle if their vocabulary is nonexistent. Bottom line: a child has to put in the sweat equity to build the foundation for all of this. Yes, they need to study at home. But that’s "unpopular" these days, isn't it?
That bolded part right there is exactly what should be told to parents on the very first day of school.
If kids don't want to study at home, then they need to do it at school, right?
Is the priority during after-school care supposed to be drawing apples or celebrating Thanksgiving, or should it be practicing reading?
Kids come home exhausted. They just don't have the willpower or the energy left.
They’re stuck in after-school programs until 4:00 or 4:30 PM.
Usually, they have sports practices in the evening, too.
They deserve time to just play.
And they deserve quality time with their parents.
Kids need to read; they need to practice summarizing. That should be the priority.
If we spend all our time arguing with parents about "Oh no, not another creative project!"—especially if those projects require buying specific supplies at Target or Michaels—then, of course, people are going to resent school. And then, you still have to work on reading with the child at home because you know they’re struggling and won't get it done during school hours.
It honestly frustrates me because I feel like a lot of what's truly important has been lost in translation.
You can actually accomplish a lot in a group setting. You can use that collective energy. They can practice reading aloud, they can read during after-school hours, and they can practice summarizing by listening to one another.
Kids can, and should, learn from each other.
Seeing a peer who has already finished halfway through a book can be a huge motivator.
In first grade, picture books can definitely be read at school. And most, if not all, of the required reading lists for second grade (even during religious studies or similar periods) provide opportunities for reading.
By third grade, many schools don't even have after-school programs anymore. Kids have different abilities and ways of handling homework, but even where programs exist, there are always some kids who can easily finish their reading while others are still working through their core assignments because they work a bit slower.
(My impression is that it's easier to assign a task everyone can do together to maintain discipline, or to do something "creative" like making a poster for the hallway since everyone can draw; then, the rest of the work just gets pushed onto the parents at home.)
