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    Joined: Sep 2007
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    Val Offline OP
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    The head teacher at DS6 and 8's new school made a deal with a local pizza place. If a student reads a certain number of days during November and/or December, s/he will win a free personal pizza.

    Okay, cool.

    After DT (Dear Teacher; new acronym?) explained the rules, she said "I'll make out an entry form for your DD4. She can play too."

    !!!

    I don't think I could have imagined this in my dreams at the old school. Why can't more schools be like this??

    Agog,

    Val

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    Mmm, well, with the assumption that it's a good thing to start with, great that the teacher thought to include your DD4. But are you aware of the body of research work suggesting that this kind of thing is actually a fantastic way to put people *off* reading - i.e. that providing extrinsic motivation (pizza) actively damages intrinsic motivation (desire to read for its own sake)?

    I've often thought that the damage done by people trying to "motivate" children may be a good reason to try to have one's child at the top of a class rather than in the middle of a higher one. If you've already mastered a skill by the time someone tries to motivate you to master it, at least their motivation attempt may not do you too much harm!


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    Val -

    So wonderful that the school included DD4 too!

    Smiles,
    Grin


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    Originally Posted by Val
    The head teacher at DS6 and 8's new school made a deal with a local pizza place. If a student reads a certain number of days during November and/or December, s/he will win a free personal pizza.

    Okay, cool.

    After DT (Dear Teacher; new acronym?) explained the rules, she said "I'll make out an entry form for your DD4. She can play too."

    !!!

    I don't think I could have imagined this in my dreams at the old school. Why can't more schools be like this??

    Agog,

    Val

    SWEET! i love hearing stories like this! it gives me hope!

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    Awesome Val!

    We do the Pizza Hut program too! I consider afterschooling to equate to homeschooling!

    BTW, the girls would read anyway, but this is a fun way for them to track their own milestones and take a second to feel good about the fact that they read.

    Sports kids get accolades when they perform well. I'm all for kids getting recognized for academic pursuits as well.

    Last edited by incogneato; 10/16/08 07:03 AM. Reason: It's nice to include all the words when attempting to form a comprehensible sentence!
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    Originally Posted by incogneato
    Edit Reason: It's nice to include all the words when attempting to form a comprehensible sentence!


    Nice, but not mandatory! grin


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    Kcab, our son, now 27, never bought into those reward programs. The problem with them is they don't take into account encyclopedias which he read voraciously at meals. He was so miserable at school for so many years that I swallowed my sense of ettiquette and allowed the one consolation of reading at the table. Yes, it was the annoyance he felt of keeping track of time. Structure like this always seemed silly to him and the organization it took, a bother. Are you feeling that her resistance will dampen her classmates chance of getting the pizza party? Is that how the program works, on emtional blackmail, peer-pressure, guilt? Is she inclined to read other material besides fiction chapter books? Perhaps her teacher will let encyclopedias, science magazines, count if added up for comparative volume to novels.

    Last edited by san54; 10/16/08 09:40 AM.
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    Val Offline OP
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    Originally Posted by san54
    Kcab, our son, now 27, never bought into those reward programs. The problem with them is they don't take into account encyclopedias which he read voraciously at meals.

    I've never been wild about forcing kids to read from a defined reading list 30 min per night. Seems to me that policies like this force kids to read things they may not like, which will kill the enjoyment of reading.

    I've seen messages here saying that the schools quantify the grade levels of books, and if I remember correctly, someone said that a book at a high grade 4 level wouldn't count for grade 5 reading. All I can say about that is that if I felt like I had to read only PhD-level books in my spare time at this point, I wouldn't be reading too much.

    We're fortunate that our school "gets it." They don't require the reading and also don't care what the kids read: comic books are fine, encyclopedias or similar are great. My DS8 spent part of last week reading the Usborne Book of Rocks and Minerals.

    Books for assignments are one thing, but I don't understand why schools dictate what kids read in their leisure time. If someone can explain this to me, I'm all ears.

    Val



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    Val - I think it's nice that your teacher thought to include your 4 year old. I'm so glad you have a teacher you like! smile

    That said, DS just had a weird experience with incentives/bribes, and I think we're getting perhaps a taste of how he'll act in school... He told me his preschool teacher gave everyone treats if they sang the song that went along with this big several-week-long project they completed. DS has not ever participated in any of the songs or hand movements that go along with songs, or anything like that, in preschool (this is his second year of not participating. He doesn't want to, and his teacher has never made him. He didn't sing, so he didn't get a treat. He was the only one. I asked him if that bothered him, and he said, no, he didn't want to sing, and he could get a treat at home. (I'm not too upset with the teacher, because she does truly "get" him, although my perfect image of her is shattered!)

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    Originally Posted by Dottie
    My daughter is reading Fahrenheit 451 for 9th grade honors English, and I was surprised to see it clock in on AR at only GE 5.2! It's not a hard book by any stretch, but it's not a simple read, either.


    I loved that book. I am sad (for you) to hear they are still doing AR in high school. I really like AR to get them started in elementary school, set some goals, but after 4-5 yrs...that's plenty! There have got to be some freedoms when you get to high school IMHO.

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