What I Learned from Children
Megan Montgomery
ENGL 1100.46

As far back as I can remember, reading has always been an important part of my life. I can remember reading with my mom and dad before bedtime each and every night when I was a little girl. Even my older sister, Jennifer, would read different stories to me at various times. Accordingly, from a very young age I had the desire for, and interest in, learning how to read. However, in spite of this desire that I had, I never thought that I would actually be able to help others learn how to read. I would learn that this would change in the years to come and it would also help me decide what I wanted to do for a living after I finished my college years: teach.

My defining moment was the end of my junior year of high school when, once again, it was time to choose my classes for the next year. I was excited about performing this task because it would be the last time that I would ever have to decide on classes for high school. Like many of my fellow classmates, I wanted to pick classes that would be fun and somewhat easy since I wanted to enjoy the classes that I took and not have to work extremely hard in my final year of high school. Unfortunately, the only classes left to choose from were either AP classes or boring electives. I did not want to take a bunch of random electives, and I definitely did not want to take many AP classes either. Then, one day, a senior came into our junior English class to talk about the Teacher Cadets program. I thought that this would be another class that I was not interested in, but after she started describing the class, it actually sounded like it would be both easy and fun. I was "sold" when she said that I would not have any homework, nor would I have to take any tests, for this class. Unfortunately, she left out the part about having to do projects. Little did I know that this class would have a major impact on the choice that I would make regarding my future career.

Soon, my senior year began, and I was enjoying my Teacher Cadets class, but I still had absolutely no interest in becoming a teacher. We first chose a school where we wanted to work and then we began going to that school to help work with and teach the children in our assigned class. I was not sure what grade level I wanted to teach. I did know that I would enjoy working with young children. Based on this thought, I decided to ask for and try working with a kindergarten class. I was placed with Miss S’s kindergarten class at Wahl-Coates Elementary School in Greenville, North Carolina. Initially, I was apprehensive about being in the kindergarten classroom environment. It was very intimidating for me to have the responsibility of teaching thirty young and impressionable children. However, after observing Miss Stefko’s teaching for several weeks, I began to see how important teachers really are and how special they are to children and their ability to learn and grow. Not only did her job seem to be fun and exciting, but it was also wonderful to see how these children loved and looked up to their teacher.

I next began to work with the children. At Wahl-Coates the students have to read 100 books in order to receive a free tee shirt. The students have the entire year to accomplish this goal. Some students finished their goal within a month, while others struggled to finish within the year. Once a student has read the 100 books, they continued reading in order to receive another prize if they reached the 200-book level. One of my first tasks was to read with the students and help them learn how to read. I thought this would be a tiring and stressful task that would require a great deal of patience. It turned out to be such a wonderful experience, though. Although all of the students really wanted a tee shirt, I could tell that the students really had a sincere desire to want to learn to read. I loved seeing the children have such a strong desire to read. The children reminded me of myself when I was their age and read with my parents. Unfortunately, as I became older, I lost some of my desire to read because my life became too busy and I started to find reading to be more of a chore. I believe that one of the major reasons for me feeling this way was because, in school, I was forced to read boring and confusing novels that I absolutely hated. Some of these novels included: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Stephen Craine’s The Red Badge of Courage, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. When I actually had some free time, the last thing I wanted to do was to pick up a book and read, but working with these children and seeing their excitement really made me think back to when I was little. They made reading seem like so much fun. Even when they were frustrated and confused, they continued to want to strive towards their goal of being literate. It was absolutely amazing to see how these children blossomed throughout the months to follow. I soon felt differently about reading literature once again.

While I was working with and teaching these children how to read, I used many different methods to help make reading more fun for the students. I felt that this would help make the learning process feel like less of a chore. I began by picking out my favorite books that I used to love to read when I was their age. I believe that the first and most important step in learning how to read is to read something that is fun to read. So, I picked out some books that I thought would be fun and easy for them to understand. The first book that I could read was Go Dog Go, which is a book about all kinds of dogs. It talks about different colored dogs and dogs of different sizes. It also talks about dogs in different places. It’s a fun book that teaches children basic concepts such as colors, sizes, directions, and senses. I found it interesting that this book was still so popular even after this many years. Another thing that I looked for when choosing a book to read with them was whether it had bright, colorful, descriptive pictures. It seemed to really help the students if the book was illustrated well. Not only did it help grasp their attention, but it also seemed to really help the students connect words with pictures. The next step was to just sit down and let the students begin reading to me, even if they had trouble doing so at times!

It was interesting to see how differently the children learned and how quickly some of these students took to reading. It was obvious that some of the children I worked with already knew how to read. In fact, they were beginning to read small chapter books like ones from The Boxcar Children series. Others were having trouble reading even small words like ‘cat’ and ‘dog.’ I found it fun to work with these different children. For those who had trouble reading, we would begin with the basics. We taught these children how to sound out the different words slowly. But, in order to do this, the children needed to know the alphabet. Since I began working with the students in February, most of them already knew their alphabet; yet some of these children still struggled with various letters. Therefore, I began by testing the children on the different letters including both upper and lower case. Most of the students had more trouble with their upper case letters. In fact, one of the most common mistakes was with the letter "q." The students also seemed to mix up "q" for "g."

Besides working individually with the children, I also taught one formal lesson. My lesson was on springtime reading. I read the students a book about springtime activities like flying kites, playing outside, going to the beach, and going to the park. As I read the book, I asked the students questions to see if they comprehended the material. The lesson was a complete success, and the students loved the book! After we read the book, I had the students think of five things that they liked to do in the spring and then they made a "spring mobile." Some of the students used the examples that they saw in the book, but some thought of things that they personally liked to do in the spring. The students had fun making the mobile and showing me what they made. This showed me what they learned about the springtime. I had a great time preparing and presenting this lesson and working closely with the children on their projects.

After individually working with the students, I realized that much of the students’ knowledge of literature actually came from their family life and interactions with their families. I could definitely tell if a student was being read to at home on a daily basis or if they had not touched a book in weeks. It was really very sad to think that the parents were neglecting their children’s needs. I could clearly see that these children had a desire to be read to at home. I feel that the lack of reading and neglect from their family occurred because their parents were just too busy to read with them at home. Therefore, my students were always ecstatic to read with me at school. I actually had students come up to me the second I walked in the door at school and beg me to read with them that day. This made me feel so good and I felt that this was so sweet of them to do this. I just could not understand why a parent would not want to spend time with their child and read with them when this was obviously what the children wanted them to do. Accordingly, I tried to spend more time with the students who did not have the opportunity to read or to be read to at home. Seeing these children really made me thankful that I have always had parents who supported me in everything I did. My family has always been such a major part of my life, and I do not know what I would do without them.

I learned a lot over the months that I spent at Wahl-Coates Elementary. Going into the Teacher Cadet class, I figured it would just be a slack class and that I would be able to miss some school, but it ended up being so much more than that. Not only did I end up finding my future career calling, but I also met so many people that I will always remember. It was so much fun getting to know all of my thirty students. I became very attached to the children and my co-workers at the Wahl-Coates school. I even spent a lot of my extra time attending their field trips and play days because I wanted to support them. Spending time with children who are always so carefree and kind can really brighten a person’s day.

Working with these students reminded me about how important reading is in life. I am truly glad that I had the opportunity to participate in this class and I believe that I was a positive influence on these students. It is such a joy to know that I impacted a child’s life in some small way. I believe that this was an excellent experience for me. It also contributed to my development and education as a future teacher. As William Arthur Ward, an American college administrator who lived from 1921 – 1994, stated, "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." This quote describes exactly what I want to do. I want to be a really great teacher. I want to inspire children to have a love for reading and a desire to continue reading throughout their life. I believe that a child’s mind is like a building block. It needs a good solid beginning for support so that it can be strong and successful thereafter. I thank these children for reminding me about the importance of reading and how it can influence one’s life.