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

[David Morris]

On Sunday, March 25, 2012, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> Go for task oriented reading: questions from specific texts. Reward
correct responses.
>
> On Sunday, March 25, 2012, alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
wrote:
>> 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/
>>
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