First Day of School

Kindergarten is cool. And, how educational it will be for me! As the students are embarking on learning, I have already learned one thing (well, plenty actually) that I will have to study and practice in order to handle better. That is the ability to engage the students without letting them run amok with talking. I knew these cute, squirmy five- and six-year-olds could easily get carried away when they start talking. Everything relates to something unrelated. "Dylan, you are using fun colors on your dot-to-dot picture." "I have a pet worm," chirps Dylan. "It wiggles a lot and I give it crumbs to eat...but then...but then, etc." Talking with the students and showing interest in their quirky stories is part of how you get to know them and find out those things you wouldn't gather from just looking at them in class. Plus, we just had our discussion about good manners. I certainly don't want to be impolite and not listen. But, you must have some order. How do you listen and encourage stories, yet guide the students to brevity?

My master teacher, Jessie, said she likes to use a system of gentle correction, which varies depending on the activity. If the class is doing group time on the carpet and a child speaks out or talks too long when called on, she gently cuts them off and says, "Could you remember that and tell me more at snack time?" If the students are doing a worksheet at the tables, she might let them talk a bit. But, if it is distracting them too much, she will say, "I need to go check on so-and-so and when I come back I know you will be finishing up your worksheet. You can tell me more about your story at choice time." Jessie said that often they forget to tell her later, which often is just fine. Sometimes, though, she will seek them out and ask them to finish the story, so that she can continue to learn about them.