We Will Fun At The Bell Gans

I have experienced that unhappy feeling of being with someone while wishing that it was someone else beside me. I have spent time occupied with mundane tasks as the minutes slowly ticked away, sixty seconds feeling like a day. Our lives are too precious, and too short, to engage in endeavours that are less than edifying. Of course, a certain amount of this is unavoidable. The dishes can not clean themselves, the garbage does not walk itself to the curb and the laundry will not wash and put itself away. These small chores are part of our lives.

It is the larger, more meaningful chunks of time we do have control over. Who do we spend time with and how do we spend our time? My friend Winston once gave me some simple advice after a performance that I have really taken to heart. It was an opening night party and many of my friends, family and coworkers had come to cheer me on. I was working the room as best as I could and not really enjoying anyone thoroughly because I was worried about hitting every table, thanking everyone for coming. I told Winston this and he said that I should just spend time with whomever I wanted to spend time with and it would sort itself out. I did. And it did.

Fourteen years ago I decided that I wanted to spend my time teaching children. To say that I love teaching feels like an enormous understatement. I share my time, knowledge and energy with the children and they do the same for me. It is a true gift to realize in the middle of the day, as I am conferencing with a student or engaging in a group lesson, that I am exactly where I want to be. I will forever be grateful for that continual realization.

One aspect of teaching that I find both fascinating and marvelous is the writing process and the way that children's writing develops. This is always most striking at this time of year when I am getting to know a new group of students. The stages of development are so clearly delineated. Presently we have a range of examples across the spectrum - all are to be applauded and celebrated. We must trust that with guidance and modeling all of our students, regardless of where they fall on this continuum, will grow as writers. We use their writing as a form of assessment. We build upon their current stage of development with an eye towards guiding them to the next level.

Below is a smattering of work from our first graders.

Initially children use their unique talents to draw pictures which represent either real life events or familiar stories.

This is a princess opening the door of her castle.

You guessed it! Spidey getting covered with the black gunk from Spider-Man 3.

In the next stage, children usually add some form of writing to their drawings in an attempt to simulate the writing that they have seen in print. It begins with small squiggles and marks upon a page that is distinct from the drawings. Parents who engage their children in literacy activities such as creating a shopping list or writing letters are giving their children an advantage. This modeled writing behavior will be the stuff that children will emulate.

The squiggly lines and marks then become random strings of letters that look more like conventional print.

This child includes not only letters but punctuation to accompany his drawing of Captain America.

The random strings of letters and symbols give way to more conventional letter combinations as children begin to spell some basic sight words and words that have meaning for them, such as the names of family members or superheroes. Word boundaries have not yet been established so although the writing contains more recognizable patterns the letters all run together without spaces between the words.

This says "Batman is fighting at (I couldn't understand the name here but it starts with an 'S') park".

The spelling of words also has a pretty uniform progression. Children usually begin to represent a word with the initial letter (S for sock), followed by the initial and final letters (SK for sock) and finally a medial vowel sound (SOK for sock). The inclusion of a medial sound or letter is HUGE, even if the vowel they write is not always correct.

"We will have fun at the ball game." This piece is moving towards more recognizable writing and spelling conventions but could use some shoring up with establishing word boundaries.

And this brings me to the last stage of writing development evident in my class at this moment. Word boundaries are somewhat established, simple sight words are spelled correctly, individual words that are unknown contain initial, final and medial letters and there is use of ending punctuation.

"Me and my team are playing football."

I am already sad that I only have another 168 days to spend with this amazing group of children.