...You meet other parents that brag about how their 2nd grader reads on an eighth-grade level, now your 2nd grader is crying because he thinks he's a dumbass because he still reads on a second grade level. My friends don't read on a eighth grade level! The smartest person in their house eat buggars in the driveway and he's the leader.
Those people are called snobs. And they do it in every aspect of their lives, not just because their kids can read Clifford's Big Red Picnic and they feel like for some reason your life will be better for knowing that fact. How do they distinguish between reading levels anyway? There's hard words and there's easy ones. Meh.
I read at a 8th grade level when I was in second grade. Unfortunately, I haven't improved much since then and now my short term memory is shot. It sucks to realize the pinnacle of my intelligence was reached before puberty sometime.
So....anyone else here that can't read a lick? I'm just mashing keys randomly so its amazing that I'm getting responses...kwdgfaw;...sgfrhasrhth..g.aqe.ha.eth.aeth.sth
It's better than: Parent looks at report card Parent: Why can't you be more like Bobby? He gets straight A's in every class, he's in the Honor Society, he's going to Harvard, he has a full scholarship... Child: Bobby was just arrested for possessing crack cocaine Parent: Who cares about Bobby. Is he my child?? This is about you.
AB -- If you are having some trouble helping your kid to read better, may I suggest the Trader_Jorge learning motivational techniques? I use them on the at-risk youth who I tutor. Every session begins as follows: 1) Youth recites the following oath: "I am accountable for my actions. I will never give excuses. I will make progress every day towards my goals." 2) Progress of the youth is checked. If the youth completed his assignment, he writes on the board, OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED. If not, he writes on the board five times, I HAVE FAILED TO DO WHAT I SAID I WOULD DO. I HAVE NOT LIVED UP TO MY WORD. I HAVE LET MY MENTOR DOWN. 3) Answers of the youth are checked. Wrong answers receive a very large red X. Correct answers: nothing. Wrong answers are corrected before we proceed. 4) Speed Rounds: During each session, the youth must complete two quizzes, each consisting of 10 questions. The youth has 2 minutes to complete each quiz. Subject matter for the quiz is the material learned 2-3 weeks prior. Review is an important part of knowledge retention. These quizzes are done on the front board, with me standing with arms folded, observing. 5) Lecture given at the board. Questions are asked of the youth at random intervals to ensure that they youth is capturing information and is attentive. Failure to answer questions results in a verbal reprimand. 6) Goals laid out for the next session. Visions of grandeur are laid out to provide motivation. A very aggressive goal is set. Youth signs a contract to promise to complete his assignment. If you are tutoring in a private setting, physical reprimands can be considered. Good luck.
This is exactly how it goes down. I hate Parents... I got home around 12:30 late at night the day before V-Day, and my renz thought I was out doing drugs or something illegal, even after proving to them(by getting a teacher to call home), they said it doesnt matter. You were still late. WTF. First they force me to be involved in school, and now that I am finally interested and actually relied upon, they ground me for being at school too late... Parents are the biggest hypocrytes
Maybe it's because you have one of those 'My Child is a Dumbass' bumper stickers. Anyway, there's nothing worth reading after second grade. I haven't read a novel that wasn't assigned (and even then I don't, unless Mike Lupica counts (?)) in years. Part of it has to do with being in a pathetic school system and another part is me finding ways out of actually reading the book. For example: instead of enriching myself with spectacular novels such as Silas Marner (it sucked), Heart of Darkness (it sucked), Song of Solomon (it didn't suck that bad), and Macbeth (**** it) in this Advanced Placement Lit course, I ended up going to SparkNotes where it turned out that's where all of my tests came from. Needless to say I'm lazy. It's not cheating, it's being resourceful. My advice to you is to take action by teaching your son how to kick the other kids' ass. Violence always pays; this is America. On an unrelated note, Alabama wants to pass a law requiring deadbeat dads who can't pay child support to have a tag or bumper sticker on their vehicle in an attempt to cut down on overcrowding prisons. If I were a parent and one who didn't pay child support for that matter, I would love to have one of these bumper stickers right next to the 'My Child is an Honor Student' on my $80,000 vehicle.
If they wanted to make them pay, the sticker should say: "I impregnated a woman with my 1 inch penis"
AB, I've got a second grader (my daughter), who reads several grades above her level. She's finished the first Harry Potter novel, for example, and loved it. But my wife and I would never dream of telling anyone about it, unless it's someone like her grandmother or aunt. Really, you don't have to. Other folks figure out what she can do by being around her. We do hate it when other parents brag uncontrollably on their kids, though. (and sometimes they're oblivious to what little ****'s they can be!) Hell, some people act the same way with their dogs. You could do a skit comparing how some parents brag about their kids the same way some adults brag about their doggies. I've seen some who's kids have grown up and moved out, so they transfer their braggin' and fussin' to their pets. Anyone else ever seen that?
I remember when I was in 2nd grade, We were at the end of school awards ceremony and I won like 6 trophies for academic excellence. Then later my step dad told me I wasn't really half as smart as people were making me out to me, I just has an advanced memory that made me appear to be a genius, when really I had at best minimal skills when it came to appling the work i had learned. Yeah it was a pleasant thing to process at 8 years old Screw you Dude! Who says a great memory does nothing for me, I kicked ASS in that simpsons character thread.
So many teachers don't know what they're doing, but that sounds pretty solid to me. Especially if you're teaching at risk kids. Props to you. What you're teaching him/her is an entirely thing altogether.
Psh. Being able to remember things is soooo important. Simpsons quotes especially. Quotes for every occasion have helped me out of many a bind. About the your dad and the trophies, you should've named them real quick and been like, "Sorry dad, Jake, Bobby, Clarence, Jeff, Stevey, and Michael don't want to hear it." Repeat the names exactly in order as needed. ex. "Can ya speak up? Jake, Bobby, Clarence, Jeff, Stevey, and Michael can't hear ya."
