Can You Discipline Boys That Don't Like to Read?

I think you have to befriend this particular kid so that you will know him better. In no time you can discover his weakness and then you have to attack him there. Find out the cause of his uncooperative behavior. Then constantly get his attention in class. Call him always in recitation without embarrassing him. Be gentle with him with words as to encourage him to participate and do his part in classroom discussions.

Try to talk to him like you were just friends. Asked him why does he doesn't like to read or to study, either? And the next step depends on his answer. But don't lose hope on him, I know with your support and attention, it's not impossible for that student to love reading in few days time.

Hello Chuck; I like to help you dealing with this student so I'll give you good advices, just try them:
-Find what does he really love to do (his hobbits and interests)
-Try to bound with him talking to him as a friend not as his teacher.
-Because you can reach his parents so try to advice them on how to control their child.

Finally I'll give you a link for a story of one of my students that have the same situation.
http://www.gettingboystoread.com/content/j-best-checker-player

Thanks;

Teachers can only do as much. It's the parents responsibility to put the kid in his right place. The parents should confiscate the distractions i.e. gadgets, computers and let the child understand that studies come first. Teachers would have difficulty disciplining the kids in school if the parents of these kids control their parents (read: what little Jimmy wants, little Jimmy gets.)

Hi Chuck.. What I feel is that this boy is more interested towards games and is very much addicted to it. Best thing you can do is to get close with him, find his likings and encourage him. Along with try to cultivate reading habit in him. You can see how things will change. I had a classmate while at the Upper Primary section who is verymuch similar to this boy. This was the treatment given by our teacher and eventually he became the rank holder for our school. But one thing Chuck.. please be calm and patient. you can't expect a turnaround overnight.

best regards
girish

I agree with girishpn, Chuck. It's a process. I remember my nephew's story. He was named by his teacher a "problem child" (just because he was a little bit talkative and sometimes lazy doing his assignments) on a parent teacher meeting. He was really affected by the term "problem child"..But when he transferred from another school, and found a new teacher that later become a friend, he changed a lot.
Just be patient...

I agree with the rest of the folks here about having patience but also feel that he cannot be allowed to disrupt the rest of the class. If he is sitting chatting with the student on the side of him he is taking learning time away from the other student. There is a time that you have to be stearn also to keep the rest of students at a point where they are able to get the most out of the study going on.

I'm wondering if he is just not confident in his abilities and so he's trying to get out of reading so that he doesn't get embarassed. One thing that I've done in the past is to select a passage that I am going to have someone read aloud to the class, then tell the boy ahead of time, "Tomorrow, I'm going to have you read this section aloud to the class." Then I allow him to take the book home and practice the section so that he can read with confidence when he is called on. None of the other kids know he's been prepped, and he can build a little confidence. (Sometimes I'd let him pick the passage that he likes best to practice and read to the class.)

That is a great idea allowing the student to prep. How do you tell the difference it its a matter of having trouble reading or just not wanting to read in front of peers? I was always lucky to be good with reading but I hated to read in front of the class. I would actually feel my face turning red as I read the words. I have a son who is also like this and I know he is a great reader.

Hi Chuck,

Each child has his or her own pace. Forcing a child to read early will only dampen his confidence. But this principle doesn't apply to higher elementary students because they are already expected to read by this time. What I am referring to here are the preschoolers or from Grades 1 to 2 at the most. Punishment in this case will not yield the best results. It's best to investigate and observe.

Just my 2 cents ...

WOW!!!

First of all I would like to thank everyone for helping me out in my difficulty with this particular boy.

I would like to go over the comments and the things I did during the past week and the things I plan to do when I meet this kid again.

I have befriended him already. I know what games he likes to play. He even lent me a PS2 CD. I have started talking to him on a more casual basis, outside the classroom.

Thanks Rose, its true, teachers can only do as much. EDUCATING STUDENTS IS IDEALLY A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT OF THE PARENT AND THE TEACHER, not just the teacher.

I'm trying to be calm with this kid but at the same time there are 40 more kids inside the classroom which I have to attend to. (Trying to be a hero... lol)

Thanks jwwage, I'm going to try your suggestion next week.

Just an update on this particular kid I was telling you guys about. We had a school fare last weekend and I was doing my rounds and saw this kid. So, what I did was talk to him for a bit. Guess what he was doing? He was playing PSP but he was also with some of his classmates. Their class was assigned to this particular booth. I was just saddened because I saw him alone in his world instead of enjoying the company of his classmates that day.

I'm still not giving up on him. I'm keeping my hopes up!

I don’t want to sound like a broken record but has anyone taken the time to see if your problem student is Dyslexic, Sounds like he could be to me. Sounds a lot like me when I was at school.
I worse thing you or a parent can do is punish or discipline a boy who will not read to your standard.
Please take the time to find out and don’t think they should all study at the same pace.

You're right Mr keith at ela I think the past of the child can participate in his future life specially his eduactional life.