The mornings during the school year are often a whirlwind of activity. With the school day starting at 9 a.m., there’s always a mad dash to get my kids out the door. This morning was no different; I had to wake my younger son, the family’s designated late riser, just 10 minutes before we needed to leave. That meant a quick breakfast of Eggo waffles and a rushed teeth-brushing session.
And then there was the dreaded reading log that had to be filled out. Words can’t fully capture how much I dislike—no, despise—reading logs. Neither of my kids are what I would call avid readers, but they do read from time to time. They flip through pages while waiting for friends after school, during car rides to church, and snuggled in bed before drifting off to sleep.
The problem is, keeping track of their reading time is a struggle for all of us. Who really enjoys timing themselves while reading and jotting down minutes? Not us!
What should be a delightful and enriching experience often morphs into a tedious task filled with reminders from me and frustration from them. Instead of immersing themselves in a captivating story, they’re constantly glancing at the clock, counting down the minutes. Instead of indulging in the joy of reading, they’re simply ticking off an item on their school checklist. And instead of cherishing their reading time, I find myself nagging them about the reading log or feeling guilty for not keeping up with it.
I recognize the well-meaning intentions behind these homework assignments. Teachers aim to foster good reading habits by enforcing daily reading quotas. However, the reality is that these good intentions can sometimes backfire, transforming what should be a pleasurable learning experience into an obligatory task.
Research supports this sentiment, indicating that external pressures—like reading logs—can diminish a student’s intrinsic interest in reading. A study highlighted in The Atlantic revealed that reading logs can negatively impact students’ enthusiasm and attitudes toward reading. This has certainly been our experience.
“When reading is presented as a chore,” the researchers noted, “students may conclude it’s not something they want to engage in during their free time.”
Last year, we managed to keep up with the monthly logs through a mix of coaxing and reminders until I finally threw in the towel halfway through the school year. Since my kids read in bed, their reading times often went unrecorded, and before we knew it, we would be several days behind in completing the log. To meet expectations, we ended up making wild guesses about which days they had read and for how long. But let’s be honest, that wasn’t exactly reliable.
Soon enough, I found myself feeling uncomfortable about this approach. If I was allowing them to “fudge” the details just to submit an assignment, what kind of message was I sending? It felt wrong, so we decided to abandon the reading logs altogether.
Neither of my sons’ teachers seemed to notice their missing logs, which makes me wonder if they truly value them. In fact, there’s a growing number of educators who have opted out of using reading logs completely.
As for this new school year, we’re just a week in, and I’m trying to remain hopeful. Perhaps these logs will actually motivate my kids to read more. Maybe this time around will be different. Or maybe not.
This article was originally published on Oct. 1, 2016.
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Summary:
In this piece, Amelia Green shares her frustrations with reading logs, which transform reading from a pleasurable activity into a burdensome task for her family. Despite recognizing teachers’ good intentions, she highlights the negative impact of external pressures on children’s intrinsic motivation to read. After attempting to maintain the logs unsuccessfully, she abandoned them, questioning their value in her sons’ education.