As parents, we want to help our children succeed in school.
In my twenty-two years as a classroom teacher (twenty-one as a parent), I’ve seen parent strategies that pay big dividends.
I’ve also seen well-intentioned efforts that actually cost the kids.
Today is Part 2 of a series in which we explore one support strategy and one form of sabotage.
(You can find Part 1 here.)
Support 2: Expand your child’s listening vocabulary.
A child who starts school with an enriched listening vocabulary has a huge advantage over a child who does not. Sure, when they’re both learning basic decoding skills, they can sound out “r-a-t” and “c-a-t” with equal ease.
But when they switch from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” the child who has thousands upon thousands of words stored in her listening vocabulary is likely to have an “ah-HA!” experience.
I can well remember the day I first encountered the word “facetious” in print. I had never spoken the word aloud, so I tried to attack it with the basic rules of phonics.
“FACE-tie-owss.”
Nope.
“FAK-a-tyus.”
Nope.
Suddenly, I recalled my father saying (as he so often did), “I’m just being fuh-SEE-shus!”
And I thought, “That is how you spell fah-SEE-shus?”
I was fortunate. I had the correct pronunciation of facetious word tucked away in my listening vocabulary. When the time came, I had that memory available for access.
So I had a fabulous “ah-HA!” experience. I felt positively brilliant. So I loved reading!
Too many students have the opposite experience when they start “reading to learn.” They encounter word after word with which they have no prior experience. Their de-coding skills fail them.
Their experience is one of “Agh…” which they verbalize as “I hate reading.”
Which is often cover for the disheartening belief: “I can’t read. I must be stupid.”
Intelligence isn’t the issue; the number of words stored in their listening vocabulary is. So read aloud as much as you can, even after you child has learned to read! Read a wide variety of genres, especially poetry, which is so rich with wonderful words.
Talk about interesting words throughout the day: on billboards, at the grocery store, in the preacher’s sermon, on the radio, in song lyrics, in the magazine you’re reading. Model your own enjoyment of “delicious words” as well as your own strategies for collecting, understanding, and incorporating new words into your conversations.
Sabotage 2: Create anxiety over test scores, scholarships, and college entrance.
When I was in elementary school and even high school, I knew nothing about the ACT or SAT. When I was a senior, I showed up, did my best, and forgot about it.
Now, kids take “test prep” classes while still in junior high. Attend ACT “boot camp” instead of summer camp. Apologize for not taking AP English Literature and Composition from me because they can’t afford the time to “just read books”; they need to cram for the SAT instead.
Yes, I understand that tests have their place. I understand that ACT and SAT scores can have a very real impact on our kids’ futures.
But when kids are cramming “test prep” into their heads instead of reading full works of great literature, something is very wrong. The system is broken, and parents can refuse to sacrifice their child’s love of learning on the alter of test scores.
My son scored a perfect 800 on the Reading Comprehension section of the SAT, having never set foot in a “test prep” class. In fact, he never even opened the SAT prep software I bought for him.
No, that score came from 18 years of “test prep” known as Family Reading Time each and every night, often for an hour or more.
That score came listening to dozens of wonderful audiobooks, many of them over and over again.
That score represents not just a one-time achievement on a test but a life-long deep adoration of reading and books and stories.
When learning is pursued, “numbers” follow.
How do you support your child’s school success?
How might you be engaging in well-intentioned sabotage?
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