The Joy When It "Clicks"
The best thing about teaching in the early grades is being able to witness the progress of your little learners from the beginning to the end of the year. It's so rewarding to be a part of the joy and sense of accomplishment a learner feels when they can do something for the first time.
I'll never forget, 20 years ago, when a 1st grade student of mine was struggling to read. Her dad was very involved and read to or with her every night. I could tell that Jennifer wanted to read so badly. In March, I was starting to get very concerned. Her dad and I were puzzled. Jennifer kept up her good habits, and one day in the middle of April, it clicked! Jennifer could read everything! It was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. She stood taller that day. I can remember the twinkle in her eyes and the tears in mine like it was yesterday!
—Annmarie Hogan, assistant principal, PS 26, Staten Island, New York
Cultivating Curiosity
The enthusiasm and sense of wonder that younger students bring to the classroom each day is palpable and contagious. It motivates me as their teacher to be creative and find new and exciting ways to engage, support, and challenge all of the students in my classroom.
During a science lesson on gravity, my students asked such insightful and interesting questions and were genuinely engaged, that, in the moment, I added an interactive experiment in which several students dropped various objects from different heights to see which fell first. As it was too hard to tell with only our eyes, we filmed it and then watched the videos as a class to find out if mass does impact how gravity affects an object. The students left class smiling and impressed with the new knowledge they had acquired.
When students are curious, anything and everything is possible.
—Mark Holt, 5th grade lead teacher, The Beech Hill School, Hopkinton, New Hampshire
A More Nuanced Approach to Testing
Students come to 1st grade with a wide range of skills. When the first reading test and those subsequent thereafter are given, some students fail miserably and repeatedly due to their inability to read. Since we are not allowed to scaffold tests until Response to Intervention tier three placement, I have the painful experience of watching these students display behaviors of frustration and disengagement during the tests' administration. Given the concepts of success as a motivator, the act of requiring students to consistently fail to document their insufficiencies seems blatantly inefficient as far as a whole child's growth. Understanding that students can sometime resist challenges, and that teachers may default to independent filler activities for these students, I understand that some kind of regulation needs to be given. However, it can be more nuanced and require the guidelines of the differentiated instruction approach, or if scaffolding is needed for the purpose of challenging the students at their level, a note can document the assistance given and can be used as evidence for further RTI investigation. I suspect there are differing ranges of implementation of this regulation, but perhaps there can be more discourse on a "wait to fail model" to broaden its universality.
—June Ingram, co-teacher in an inclusion classroom, Weehawken Township School District, Weehawken, New Jersey
The Value of Time
One of the most profound things I noticed when I taught 1st-graders vs. middle-schoolers was the variance in time. Five minutes for six-year-olds was completely different than five minutes with 14-year-olds! A few minutes in a 1st grade classroom, and we could put away our books, push in our chairs, do some exercise, stretch, hop around like bunnies, sing our ABCs, play I Spy, line up for lunch, turn off the lights, and sing a song while we headed to our next destination. The same amount of time with 8th graders, and I was lucky if we could simply put the white boards away, grab belongings, and go! I don't know if it had to do with body size, energy, motivation, or something else, but I have ever since been perplexed by this mystery of time with different age levels, yet always loved how my days with 1st graders were full of energy (theirs) and spontaneity (mine)!
—Kristin Whitmore, PhD student in mathematics education at the University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado
The Delight of Deep Thinking
Young children continuously surprise me with their knowledge and experience of the world. They are full of energy, wonder, and love. During our second week of online learning, I read the book In My Heart by Molly Bang to my four-year-old students. Through beautiful illustrations, the book describes how even when we are apart from those we love, we can still keep them in our hearts. The final page is a picture of a heart with family members and animals inside. I asked, "What do you think the page might say if it had words?" One child raised her hand over Zoom, unmuted herself and said, "This is about our ancestors."
I wasn't sure I heard her correctly, so I tried to clarify. "Ancestors? Can you tell us more about that?"
"Yes, that's people we love. And even if they die, they are still in our hearts."
One of the best things about teaching young children is that they understand way more than we often think they do. And though many of us cannot be with our students in person these days and can't enjoy those giant hugs and physical expressions of love, we still hold them in our hearts.
—Sara Lev, teacher, Larchmont Charter School, Los Angeles, California
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