- I have a Masters Degree in Reading and Language Arts
- I have conduct and lead professional development in early literacy
- I have served on National Advisory Committees on early literacy
- I am a trained Reading Recovery teacher
- I have been a university and graduate instructor in literacy
- I am National Board Certified
- I am a Milken Educator...
And my seven year old is failing reading. What is wrong with this picture? It would be easy to blame it on his kindergarten teacher ( and believe me, I have!), or the fact that he was not in a literature rich home environment for the first 4 years of his life. No... it's because no matter how much I know about teaching literacy, I cannot be Daniel's teacher. Not because I haven't tried or want to be, nope, the kid has decided that although his mommy is a teacher, she is not going to be "his" teacher. I guess that is okay, but does it have to be so expensive?
Journey into the world of Sylvan...
Made a call to Sylvan. Lets see, $125.00 to assess his reading level (Um, I have about a zillion reading assessments), oh and if I want the special, lifetime assessment benefit (just in case he will need help/assessment in another area of the curriculum) it is merely $450.00. Mind you this is just to assess him. How much are the actually tutoring sessions? Hmmm? Lets see... I come pretty cheap!
Letting Go ...
In reality, I don't think he is so behind. Yes, the "1" in reading and the form letter home about how your child is failing and that he must go to intervention and attend summer school or be retained is a bit alarming, but I also know that the kid has a lot of potential and has made so much progress. He is (most of the time, but there are days!) sweet, caring, musical, funny, stubborn, and creative. If we were in a time when children were allowed to explore, create, and develop on a realistic and individual pace, life would be good. Until then, I am just going to give my little guy some time and appreciate who he is and where he is at.
Star Student of the Month for November 2007
Award for Completion of Work
2 comments:
Hi Jane,
Thanks for including me on your email about this blog! I can get to know you better! :) This picture of Daniel is soooooo incredibly cute. I hear you on the quality teaching piece, and I also agree with you that reading is developmental. Sadly, because of this standards movement, we aren't allowed to give kids the time they need to connect all the dots. I'm sure you can think of numerous kids who made huge jumps really quickly...in my 1.5 years of teaching, I can think of three--perhaps Daniel will be one!
You're such an amazing teacher and it kills me that Daniel doesn't realize what a GEM he has in YOU as his mommy! I guess that's how little kids are though. I still probably haven't fully appreciated how rad my parents are (even though they are pretty damn rad!)
Don't do Sylvan! All your friends are teachers and they'd be a lot cheaper.
BTW..Daniel is adorable with his reward!
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