Tip #85 from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents (McKinley & Trombly) - Tracking Progress

 


Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.


#85

Tracking Progress

 

Remember: Becoming a lifelong reader happens one story at a time.

 

Parents frequently use sticker charts or similar incentive ideas to encourage their young children to do something positive or beneficial. Unfortunately, many children may resist reading, and similar forms of providing incentive can work wonders. Now, we’re not talking about rewarding your child with a sticker each time he reads for a half-hour and a new toy once he gets ten stickers. What you ultimately want to do is encourage (not bribe!) your child to become a reader.

One way to do this in a completely positive way, focusing on increasing motivation from within herself, is to create some kind visible display of her hard work. A clever idea to "track" her progress is to cut out various colors of train cars from construction paper. Each time your child reads for a specified amount of time she can hang up one train car (or anything!), perhaps on a wall in her bedroom. When the train reaches a specified length or destination (ten cars long, across the wall, around the room) she gets the reward. Ideally, the reward will also help promote a love of reading, such as a trip to the bookstore to pick out a new book of her choice, a trip to the library for both of you and lunch out to discuss expectations for your new books…

Focusing on time read may be better than books read because, as children grow into chapter books, it will obviously take longer to read a book than it did with a picture book. (If the goal is books read, young children might actually be encouraged to read fast just to get the book done and receive no enjoyment from it.) You can increase your expectation little by little each time the goal is met, making the reward a little more challenging to reach. You will probably see her pride and self-confidence as a reader grow with each new train.

Hopefully, this visual display of her reading efforts will encourage her to read more and more. When she has felt successful enough on her own, you will most likely see the motivation begin to come from within. With all that reading, she is bound to discover the joy in it and will be choosing to read on her own for pleasure in no time.

   


     Cindy McKinley Alder                                            Patti Trombly

 

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For more excerpts from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents, click HERE.

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