As the school year kicks off, mornings often feel like an exercise in chaos. The school bell may not ring until 9 a.m., but the scramble to get the kids ready is a familiar routine. Just this morning, I had to wake my younger son, the family’s sleep enthusiast, a mere ten minutes before we needed to leave, resulting in a rushed breakfast of Eggo waffles and a hurried tooth brushing session.
And then came the dreaded reading log that had to be filled out.
I can’t express how much I detest — no, absolutely loathe — these reading logs. While neither of my kids can be classified as avid readers, they do engage with books from time to time. They read snippets while waiting for friends after school, during car rides to church on Sundays, and in bed before lights out. However, tracking their reading is another story entirely. Who among us keeps a timer while reading and diligently records the minutes? Certainly not anyone in our household.
What should be an enriching and enjoyable activity transforms into a burdensome task filled with my nagging and their tears. Instead of immersing themselves in a captivating story, they end up watching the clock, counting down until the reading session is over. Rather than enjoying their books, they’re merely checking off a school requirement. Instead of relishing quality reading time, I’m left feeling guilty for not keeping up with the logs or for pestering them to do so.
I get it; reading logs are meant to encourage good reading habits, but often they backfire. Research supports this notion, showing that external pressures, like reading logs, can actually diminish one’s intrinsic motivation to read. A study highlighted in The Atlantic found that these logs can negatively impact students’ attitudes toward reading.
This certainly resonates with our experience. The study’s authors noted that when reading becomes something kids feel they must do under pressure, they may not want to engage with it in their free time.
Last year, we struggled through the monthly reading logs with a mix of coaxing and frustration until I finally admitted defeat halfway through the school year. Given that my kids often read in bed, we frequently neglected to record their reading time. Before we knew it, days would slip by without completing the chart, leading us to make educated guesses about how long they read and on which days. Let’s be honest: this wasn’t exactly a truthful endeavor.
Soon, I began to feel uneasy about the dishonesty we were perpetuating. If I let them “estimate” their reading times just to submit something, what kind of lesson was that teaching them? It felt wrong, and so we decided to ditch the reading logs altogether.
Interestingly, neither of my sons’ teachers seemed to notice the absence of completed logs, suggesting that even educators might not be overly invested in them. In fact, a growing number of teachers are opting out of using reading logs entirely.
As we embark on another school year, the reading log saga resumes. We’re just one week in, and I’m trying to maintain an optimistic outlook. Who knows, maybe this time they will find a spark of motivation to read more? But let’s be real—I’m not holding my breath.
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In summary, reading logs, while well-intentioned, often turn an enjoyable activity into a source of stress and frustration, undermining the very love for reading they aim to promote.
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