I am part of an international writing community. We are encouraged to write something every day, to show up for ourselves, the community, and our writing journey.
Last week I shared something about reading in this community.
I got the best reply from a grampa.
He had been tasked with reading to his grandson one evening. Apparently, the grandson has only just started learning to read a school. The grampa had no clue if the book was at his reading level, so he decided to start reading and asked his grandson to shout out any words he already knew.
The next day he overheard his grandson reading with his dad, shouting out words he already knew and having a blast reading.
The best teacher is often one who doesn’t know and has to kind of feel their way around the problem. When we are too arrogant and know-what-is-best we tend to miss out the child, talking over them and saying things like – no, no, no that is not what it says.
The best teachers observe first and continue to observe.
What is he doing? How is he responding? What is he feeling? What if I do this and not that? Is he enjoying this? Could he want to read again after this experience?
If we think we know before we have really observed, then we cannot be effective teachers. We must first learn, then we teach.
