The dreaded weekly reading log. I didn’t like it as a parent, and to be honest, I didn’t love it as a teacher. It wasn’t the actual reading or the response writing; it was the “holding kids accountable” piece that I didn’t really care for.
As a mom, we would be ready to head out the door on the day the assignment was due, and a paper would be shoved under my nose with an “Oh yeah! I need you to sign this for me. It’s due today.” My response as I balanced my own sack full of papers (probably full of reading responses for me to grade), “Did you read this week?” Followed honestly with, “I did most of the reading, but it’s due today, and I don’t want a bad grade.” The time was ticking away; there was no time for discussion or I’d be late; I didn’t want to look like the bad parent who didn’t make my own child read, so I’d make a deal. “I’ll sign it BUT you owe me those minutes you didn’t finish this weekend!”
As the teacher, if it was a Friday, I’d get to play the whole homework excuse game again with my students. My solution one year was to require the students to complete 10 sticky notes (something we had already practiced in class and mastered) for their independent reading and bring those on Friday. Friday’s warm-up was the time to actually write the reading response using the sentence starter provided that day. If you didn’t read AND complete the sticky notes, you used the response writing time to write an explanation of why you didn’t read and what you planned to do differently so that it got done the next week. An unexpected benefit was the opportunity for students who didn’t read to actually get some real practice with writing for a purpose.
I recently came across a folder where I saved those homework excuses one year. Here’s a sampling of some of the more unique responses I received.:
I did it, but I forgot it because… the cops were in our cul-de-sac trying to catch a dog (and I’m not lying). My dog was barking and would not stop. Next time hopefully there won’t be an incident like that, and I’ll make sure that I check before I leave the house to be sure the sticky notes are with me.
I didn’t write my reading response because I lost my sticky notes in my binder. Next time I’m going to put them in a safer spot. To do this, I’m going to Kroger tonight to get a new binder because my dog peed on it…
I left my sticky notes in the pantry. This morning I realized I didn’t have it but instead there was a fruit roll-up in my binder…
This week has been really hectic. My birthday was this week, and we only had 4 days of school, and I had a bunch of make-up work from last week. I will have it next week because next week is not as hectic as this one.
Once again I forgot to do the reading assignment that is due every Friday. The main thing is that I forgot to find something good to read. I know you don’t accept that as a real excuse, but it is the truth. So this weekend, I will go to Barnes and Noble’s to get a book that I’d like to read.
I forgot to do my sticky notes because I forgot to read my story. I will remember to read next time so I can remember to do the sticky notes. I will put it in my planner so I don’t forget…
I did my sticky notes this week at my mom’s house. I thought about it last night, but the problem was I was at my dad’s house, not my mom’s house. I didn’t tell my dad because he’d get mad, and I’d rather have you mad at me than my dad.
I had to stay up late last night. I had a volleyball game at 6:30 then I had to go to cheer practice at 9. I got home at 11. I was too tired then to read.
Excuse: I totally forgot. That’s the truth. I will turn it in on Monday for a late grade. Pinky swear.
That folder of excuses is about 10 years old. What did I learn that year? The students who did the assigned reading liked that they didn’t have to write down minutes. They liked they had class time to write the response; they felt like that was a bonus for doing the reading. For the most part, the students who didn’t read didn’t even try to create a response. I’m sure I had a few students each week who wrote about a book they’d read at a time other than that week, but they did go back and do some re-reading to create the sticky notes and still had an opportunity to share their thinking about a book in the written response. The students who didn’t read started to realize how lame their excuses were. For frequent offenders, I started sharing the written excuses with parents; that seemed to get results as well. Probably one of the biggest things I learned that year was not just to give the students choice, but to spend more time helping students find the book of their choice to actually want to start reading. Is expecting students to complete outside reading without a fool-proof accountability plan in place worth it? Absolutely!
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