Over the past year, my posts have been far and few between while I have struggled with how much to share of the challenges that have altered the small moments of my world. How can write about the endless despair that has hung like fog over mind? However, there are moments when the fog abates and the wonderful small moments glare me in the eye. The other day, as I screened students for "oral reading fluency," one student "gave" me a reminder to blog, so I can remember, the incredible small moments in a teacher's life.
I asked this student to read from short passages of text for just a minute. The first few paragraphs were somewhat phonetically regular and the passages were awkward to read as controlled texts usually are. But, this student "nailed" the reading in fluency, prosody and accuracy!
So mindful of our human need for acknowledgement, I leaned in to acknowledge her fluent and confident reading. As I leaned in, so did she; however, she talked first. "That really was not a good story, you know," she admonished me! "You should get a better story for the next kid so he won't be bored like I was."
There were lots of things I could have said at that moment; however, I decided I needed to include this insightful 6 year old "in the loop."
"Thanks for telling me," I said softly, "I appreciate your feedback!" She smiled from ear-to-ear ad skipped back (literally and figuratively) to class.
I'm not sure what else would transpire in that child's day; however, I am very glad she was in my "loop" that day. If there is a central message in all of this saga it might be this: we all need and want feedback - even if it is a "point of growth." In addition, I am reminded that acknowledging the small moments of our lives is a powerful tool: it can help us see through the fog.
I asked this student to read from short passages of text for just a minute. The first few paragraphs were somewhat phonetically regular and the passages were awkward to read as controlled texts usually are. But, this student "nailed" the reading in fluency, prosody and accuracy!
So mindful of our human need for acknowledgement, I leaned in to acknowledge her fluent and confident reading. As I leaned in, so did she; however, she talked first. "That really was not a good story, you know," she admonished me! "You should get a better story for the next kid so he won't be bored like I was."
There were lots of things I could have said at that moment; however, I decided I needed to include this insightful 6 year old "in the loop."
"Thanks for telling me," I said softly, "I appreciate your feedback!" She smiled from ear-to-ear ad skipped back (literally and figuratively) to class.
I'm not sure what else would transpire in that child's day; however, I am very glad she was in my "loop" that day. If there is a central message in all of this saga it might be this: we all need and want feedback - even if it is a "point of growth." In addition, I am reminded that acknowledging the small moments of our lives is a powerful tool: it can help us see through the fog.
1 comment:
So glad you shared this small moment with us. They do help us see through the fog and smile while creeping along.
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