I’m still on maternity leave, but because I didn’t start the year I won’t be getting much “get to know you” time as I usually get with my students. To combat that, I decided to go into school for this last month of my leave once per week to read with kiddos in the hallway. Today was my first day of doing this, and I LOVED it.
As a first grade teacher, I do a TON of reading with my kiddos, but rarely do I get to sit down and actually read with each kid individually without worrying about tracking their reading with a running record or assessing them in some way.
I was at school for about an hour today and read with 6 kiddos. I learned so much about each one of them in the 5-10 minutes I spent with them. One little guy really relies on the pictures to tell the story and although he’s pointing to the text on the page as he’s reading, he’s actually just telling about the picture rather than reading the words. Another one does a great job of reading the words, and stops to fix mistakes when she says what makes sense but notices that what she said didn’t match the word on the page. I was able to read The Little Engine That Could to one that told me it was his favorite book in his book box, but it was far too hard for him to read on his own. After reading, we talked about the book and I could tell that he just soaked up every detail of the text. And outside of literacy-based information that I was able to gather about these kids, I was simply able to chat with them. It was a great hour!
After today, I have decided to set a goal for myself to make sure I take time out of each day to read with a student. Just one student per day at ten minutes or less each day means that I’d get to every kiddo within a month. I think I can handle that! They choose the book, they choose how they read, and they guide our time together. While we’re reading, we’ll work through tough words together and talk about the book but I am not going to “teach” during this time with them. What I mean by that is that I won’t be assessing anything specifically while we read, and I won’t be giving them a goal or teaching point. I am going to step out of my teacher shoes and just be a friendly face for each kiddo to read with. (Although I may have to jot down a note or two about something I notice after the fact.) I will use a tracking sheet so that I make sure I don’t accidentally miss a student! Wouldn’t that be awful of me!
In my excited and motivated frame of mind, I picture this being an amazing part of my day and I think it will have a huge impact on the relationship I build with each student. I just need to make it a priority despite every other “to-do” that bombards me once I start back to work next month. In the words of that Little Engine I read about today, ” I think I can…I think I can…I think I can!”