MonkeyCatcher said:
I'm going to answer this topic from two angles.
One: the teacher and Two: the parent.We have D.E.A.R. every morning during roll call. The students are expected to read something, anything, (except porn and other inappropriate mater) as long as they read. They are not allowed to do homework or other writing. They can study if they want or read a magazine. As long as they read, all is well. What we find is that the roll call classes that have teachers who read during D.E.A.R. tend to read. Those who have teachers who don't read tend to be noisy and disruptive. When I used to take roll call, I would take a book every morning and if some kid started talking, I would just say something like, "Excuse me, but I'm trying to read here! A little silence would be appreciated." My roll call classes always read. Plus I would take books with me for those who "forgot" to bring one.
I have two daughters. I made them both do dancing. My eldest daughter only stopped this year. She is 14 now and has danced since she was 4. She stopped because she has hip problems and because she was at a pretty advanced level of ballet, it was causing her pain. My other daughter is 6. She also stopped this year. She doesn't reallylike it. Now My eldest daughter is a beautiful dancer and loved it, but at times she wanted to quit. I never allowed it. She was glad I didn't. My youngest daughter is an ok dancer, but spent most of her time in class talking and laughing and coming out to me to complain that she was hungry or tired or some other thing. I didn't hesitate in taking her out when she said she didn't want to go back. I think parents tend to know when to force a child to do something and when it is useless to do so.
As for reading, my eldest daughter couldn't wait to get to school so she could learn to read. After about a month of school she told me that she thought it was stupid and there was no point going. When I asked her why, she said, "Well I can't read yet, can I?" Eventually, though, she did learn to read. Until she was about 12, she was an avid reader. Now she is too cool to read, so I face a similar situation to you Moto. How do I get her interested in reading again? I figure that the coolness will wear off soon enough and that eventually she will come back to her books. As for the 6 year old, well she is learning to read and constantly practising because she wants to be able to read so much.
