Feeling Smart? Go Back to Kindergarten
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I just couldn’t do it. But today’s topic has gotten me fired up. Let me just say this: If you’re ever feeling smart, go back to kindergarten. Seriously. My son’s in private school and I know private schools are notoriously more fast-paced than public schools, but still. I’ve been in his class and seen what they cover and think I didn’t learn this until ____ grade! It’s the stuff I take for granted too. Like knowing the main idea and/or characters of a story, or spelling easy three-letter words. The thing that gets me is the teacher’s ability to break down of these tasks into their most basic parts in order to teach them to the kids. I’ve volunteered in the classroom before and have been a part of some of their literacy exercises, one of which includes the teacher saying a word and the kids having to name say the beginning sound (she says “cat” and the student responds “/c/”). I can’t do it! My mind doesn’t think that basically about that stuff anymore. The idea of phonemes, “the number of sounds in a word” and other reading and writing basics are just not part of what I do. I deal with WHOLE words, not parts of words.