[Oz-gifted] Encouraging active participation

[Keith McGuinness]

Lisa wrote:
> And then the snarky note comes home from the teacher- "Please remember 
> to do your reading".
> So I drag out the homework book, scrawl the title of the current book, 
> and write something absurd like "up to page 250, and I wasn't timing".
> 
> You'd think they'd learn. But no. A few weeks later, I am again being 
> berated by the teacher for not *making* my child complete the obligatory 
> 15 minutes per night.
> Sigh.
> Here endeth the rant

Alas, I think your rant is unjustified. The teacher is doing 
their job. And part of their job is to check that the children 
are doing the assigned work. Asking the parents to sign off is, 
IMO, a reasonable way of doing that.

I'm not talking about the suitability of the work, or the reading 
material itself, just whether or not the request is reasonable.

In this case, I feel for the teachers who, given that many 
children do NOT read, try to check on that and then get stuck in 
a "damned if they do and damned if they don't" spot. 8-)

Keith McGuinness