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SaraP
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 1:40pm | IP Logged
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Ladies I need some practical, concrete ideas for making short (10-15min) phonics lessons work with my new reader.
He dislikes the effort required to work through decoding words and so we can easily spend the 10 or 15 (or 30 or 40 or 50) minutes complaining and moaning and groaning and refusing to direct eyes to the page. The end result is that even a very modest lesson of a 10 or 12 word list and 2 or 3 sentences can take over an hour to complete . . . which reinforces his dislike of the drudgery of reading and perpetuates the cycle.
He is perfectly capable of doing the lessons in 10-15 min and if, for example he has to finish so that we can go somewhere he really wants to go, the lesson is done without much difficulty. But on a day-to-day basis I am not managing to motivate him to just get the work done in a reasonable amount of time.
Suggestions please?
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 2:17pm | IP Logged
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How old is he??
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Barbara C.
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 3:23pm | IP Logged
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And how are you trying to do the lessons now? Is there a different way to present the material that he might like better.
For instance, my dd hates just reading words (she's kind of anti-reading in a weird way). Sometimes she likes doing worksheets in which I fold the paper to make six boxes. I write a different word in the bottom of each box and then she reads the word and draws a picture.
We also play Spelling Bee. I say a word out loud and she tells me how it is spelled. We're mostly still on simple three letter words; we've started doing some plural and letter blends (ch, sh, etc).
She also likes writing better than reading. She's always asking how to spell things for her various projects, so I try to encourage her by just giving her the spelling instead of making her sound it out. I'm hoping the reading will become easier as a natural extension. So maybe some sort of writing/coloring activities.
She would just be eligible for kindergarten this fall, so I don't push it too much as long as she seems to be making some progress. And we haven't been doing much formal work at all for the past few months, but every once in a while I'll do an assessment if I suspect she's made a developmental leap.
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Barbara
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SaraP
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 4:03pm | IP Logged
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He will be 7 in about a month and while he can read simple books (things like the Frog and Toad or Little Bear books) and spends a lot of time looking at books about things that interest him, he doesn't ever read unless required to do so and then only with much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
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Barbara C.
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 4:48pm | IP Logged
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Like I said my 5-year-old has developed this anti-reading thing; I think it is partly because it isn't as easy as she thought it was going to be. I think it is partly to annoy me because she knows that I love to read.
Anywho, I try not to push it too much. I don't want to completely turn her off of reading completely. There is a passive aggressive streak that runs strong in my family. As long as she can read by age eight, I am not going to push her too much. I can't make her love reading. I figure that once she knows how to read and she realizes the information that she can access by reading it will take off on its own.
Maybe he is picking more of the words than you realize when he is "looking" in books that interest him. And maybe you can encourage him to read in other ways. For instance, does he have a younger sibling that he can entertain with a book? Or maybe a scavenger hunt with word clues? Special messages to/from Dad before he leaves for work? Give him a "story" with a few short sentences and have him illustrate it while you do other things.
My daughter is also very embarrassed and frustrated about making mistakes; I think that is one reason she doesn't want to try sometimes. She prefers to have me away from her a bit while she does her reading worksheets or math workbooks. She feels less pressure.
Good luck!!
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Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
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JenniferS
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| Posted: July 21 2008 at 4:48pm | IP Logged
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Sara,
My oldest ds was much like your son at age seven. There was a lot of groaning and gnashing of teeth here. I don't know what happened, but about five months ago, something clicked and he is quite a reader(but still only of books that interest him). He is now 9-1/2.
Jen
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Willa
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| Posted: July 22 2008 at 9:17am | IP Logged
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Could be visual immaturity. Even if he CAN do it, that would still make it difficult. Plus, reading is the first formal mental effort most kids have to make. It is not JUST the reading but a whole slew of habits that comes with it -- focused attention, beginning analysis, etc.
CM recommended having something fun planned for right after the short lesson. Then you have a natural motivator. This is what I tend to do.
I think he is probably complaining because it seems easier than actually getting the work done. I think I would cut way back on the amount of work expected, at first. I would have him read, say, 3-5 words with a good attitude. I call it "reset" because I'm breaking the old patterns of behavior for both of us. Then I'd slowly work back up to what you want, but always expecting a positive effort. I do allow a tiny bit of complaining because I like to know what the kids are thinking but I don't allow complaints or attitudes to actually interfere with what's expected.
On the other hand, I judge what I expect based on their ability and comfort zone. If a child can barely manage 5 words without visible signs of stress then that's the realistic level of achievement even if they can sometimes do more than that.
If necessary you could break up the phonics lesson into 2-3 sessions a day. I think it's better to stop before the child is exhausted rather than keep going to his limit. It's easy to under-estimate the effort the child has to put into early decoding -- it IS a big effort particularly for a little boy.
Also, I would definitely plan the short lessons based on time rather than accomplishment. If a lesson is going on to 50 minutes, even if it's mostly the child's delaying tactics causing the time lag, then to the child it's a 50-minute lesson... in other words, eternity. The most important thing in breaking a dawdling habit is to show the child that short lessons are done in a short time. So, short lessons that go on for over half an hour are defeating the purpose. If you have to accomplish a certain amount per day, I would plan a second session if the first one is going on too long.
Sorry that this is so long. I have a 5 year old and delayed 9 year old presently learning to read, and both of them have very short attention spans, so the topic is on my mind. The main reason I'm actively teaching the 5 year old is because he has already learned to read a bunch of words by sight and I want him to have at least some phonics know-how!
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Willa
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SaraP
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| Posted: Aug 11 2008 at 1:03pm | IP Logged
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Willa wrote:
| I do allow a tiny bit of complaining because I like to know what the kids are thinking but I don't allow complaints or attitudes to actually interfere with what's expected. |
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Willa (or anyone else) can you explain how you don't let complaining or stalling interfere with what is expected?
Let's say I have a child for whom I have set a 10 minute timer during which we are going to phonics - with a promise to stop as soon as the timer goes off - but the child has his head down on the table and is talking a blue streak about anything and everything to avoid the lesson.
If I promise a reward (dessert after dinner) or threaten a consequence (no screen time today) if he doesn't pick up his head, direct his eyes to the page and engage his brain he cooperates, but I dislike resorting to carrot-or-stick motivation on a regular basis. Is there some other approach that others of you use or is this just a fact of life some of the time?
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Taffy
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| Posted: Aug 11 2008 at 1:16pm | IP Logged
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I don't know if this will help but when I dealt with this with my oldest, who was already starting to teach himself to read no less, I would use a white board.
I would write down one word on the list for that day's lesson (we use Phonics pathways) and he would have to read that one word. Once he'd read that one word, I'd erase it and we'd try another one. And on we'd go until the time for phonics was done. When he was willing to do this without too much complaining, I wrote up two words at a time. Eventually, I would write down the whole assignment on the white board and he'd go through it with hardly any complaint at all at which point we transitioned back to the book.
It could be that your son is simply overwhelmed by all the words on the page. Breaking it down this way so that he only needs to focus on one word at a time might help.
And, I think that I just might have another idea for tackling the math reluctance in my oldest now... Thanks!
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Susan
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: short lessons
