the parent of a child who is failing English...read?

[alice wellintown]

A dear friend, a scholar with young sons, confided that she could not
get her boys to read for more than a few minutes. She feared that
pushing the boys to read would cause them to read even less. I gave
advice, but I knew that hooking kids on reading is a trial and error
affair and that, like most else we do in education, the only rule that
matters is, never give up on a child. A solid platitude if you need
inspiration or are nearing burn-out or exhaustion, but not very
helpful. Of course you won't give up on your reluctant reader. So how
about some practical solutions? Well, cutting back on rich media use,
like TV, Video games, computer use and so on may help, or may not help
at all. In fact, some reluctant readers do quite a bit of reading when
playing a game or when figuring out how to install a new game or how
to use the cheat codes. Read yourself. Yes, this old standard seems
obvious enough. But some kids resent and hate books because parents
have their noses stuck in them and kids want the parent to move out of
the book and into the back yard where a ball or the grass is calling.
What you read and when may count for something. Maybe read something a
kid can have fun with and see if this works. There is, as Dewey sez,
"No educational Value in the Abstract." What works today may fail
tomorrow. What works wonders with one child will be counterproductive
with another. And so, we can never give up, but must be pragmatic and
persevere. And one more thing, maybe your child won't be a big reader.
Maybe she will decide to join the army and go to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Is this such a bad thing in the end? Well, I've come to live with it
and so can you.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/why-teens-should-read-adult-fiction-and-vice-versa/article2371260/