This week's readings have made me even more excited about getting back into an elementary classroom. When I was working with K-2 students as a remediation aide, I generally followed the plan laid out by the classroom teacher but rarely received any rationale behind the lesson. My position was similar to a "grandparent" role: I'd stop in and have the kids "show off" for me while I oohed and aahed at their hard work, then leave the serious stuff for the classroom teacher to figure out. This activity may seem a bit frivolous to some, but I am a big believer of the importance of simply giving a student individual attention to boost their self-esteem and confidence. My cheering encouraged the student to feel more free to write and read more, which in turn gave the teacher more information to make an educated assessment. "Every Mark on the Page" confirmed my belief that encouragement, rather than correcting, is necessary to motivate a student to keep creating.
The article ties in nicely with our readings from "Sound Systems" to give us some insight into how much should a child be expected to know at what age and how to assess that knowledge. I agree with the author Ms. Cusumano that it's important to convey expectations to parents in order to keep them involved in the education process and give them some parameters of what's considered "normal" for their child. While I was absolutely fascinated by everything my students did with me in my aide (grandparent?) role, I didn't have the same emotional connection that a parent would. While I would try to guide the students a bit to keep them on task, I honestly didn't know enough about what was considered right or wrong in their writing assignments, so I just considered all of it to be wonderful! Our readings this week further confirmed for me that, yes, it's okay to just let the creativity flow because a good teacher will be able to see the good through the mistakes.
I love that Ms. Cusumano stresses finding what's right with a student's work, rather than what's wrong. What a great idea to take a five-year-old's paper, which initially looks, well, like it was created by a five-year-old, and point out all the learning that is expressed in so many ways. I mean, come on, the child put a period at the end! How great is that? I'd love to go back over all the K-2 writings I've had the privilege to read and be able to assess them properly and look forward to showing the parents of my own students some day all the things that their kids are doing correctly.
Work created by a 5-year-old that looks like it was created by a 5-year-old should definitely be celebrated. We're always in a hurry to push kids to the next level before we've appreciated where they are right now, aren't we?
ReplyDeleteI think you're lucky that you've had such wide exposure to works created by youngsters. I think a lot of adults don't understand what's normal simply through lack of exposure.
I really like the way you connected your own experiences with these readings. Your insights about celebrating children's accomplishments right where they are were spot on! Bravo
ReplyDeleteJill, your enthusiasm for kids always shines through. It really is lovely to see! I bet you were a highlight of those childrens' days. I think that laying out expectations and giving an idea of where kids should be at is a great tool for parents to have. I'd go even further to say that its a great way to involve parents. We need more parental involvement in children's education, particularly positive involvement.
ReplyDeleteI like your continued positivity throughout this blog. I agree with you that praising the a child during the writing process encourages them to persevere because let's be honest, the writing process is not always easy.
ReplyDeletei will also remember that every student needs someone to "ooooh and ahhhh" over their work rather than marking it up with red corrections. people need to take time to acknowledge the work that a student has produced.
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