richard

Tidbits from teaching #1
Never underestimate the time involved in writing ones’ own name.

Case-in-point: The other day I was teaching a writing lesson to second graders – we were completing a graphic organizer that left room for simple words such as: color of friend’s hair _________, color of friend’s eyes __________, etc.

First step? Write your name at the top of your paper. Simple enough, I thought. Wow was I mistaken. The chaos and confusion that followed was incredible. What you are about to read is the real-life account of one child’s attempt to master this first direction.

Richard (not his real name) is a child who often wanders. His mind wanders, his pencil wanders, and his eyes wander. Upon hearing the aforementioned direction, Richard began looking at all of his friends and the names on their papers. A gentle reminder coaxed him into writing the first letter of his name – r. “Oops,” I said, “how do we start names?” “Oh yeah,” he answered with a grin that would make anyone melt. “With a capital.” And thus began the fun.

I returned to Richard a minute or so later and found an erased letter r on his paper. Pointing gently to the top of his paper, I reminded him of his task. “Oh yeah,” he said, and wrote an R. “Great,” I thought, “we’re on a roll.” I left Richard to his paper and moved on to aid other students.

Five minutes later I wandered past Richard to find only the first letter of his name staring back at me. He was more interested in his neighbor’s light-up eraser than his name. Again, more prodding and coaxing – “What is the second letter of your name? Can you write it here on the line? Great. Go ahead and finish the rest of your name.” Simple enough, I thought. Wrong.

Two minutes later I found Richard halfway across the room rummaging through his desk. “I need a reraser,” he said, “to fix my name.” Capital letters do not belong in the middle of one’s name.

To make a very long story shorter, this charade continued for literally 25 minutes. During that time Richard wrote more letters than necessary, erased those he needed, drew a ladybug, ripped his paper, and sat staring at the white marker board in from of him. Meanwhile the rest of the class returned to their seats to complete morning work. I left for a time to help students check out books and when I returned, the other teacher in the room pointed to who? None other than little Richard…still sitting on the rug…still smiling…still wandering…and still missing his full name written correctly at the top of his paper.

I decided to write it for him.