Many lessons we teach children

Marilyn Pellini

There are a number of columns I thoroughly enjoy in this, our local newspaper.

I especially commend columns by the publisher, Brett Freeman, and Don Scott always provides interesting and informative features. One of my favorites, however, is Dr. Linda.

Perhaps her column is so meaningful to me because I was a teacher for over 30 years. Starting my work with kindergarten age children in Providence, RI, was quite a challenge back then. We had what was called a “critic teacher” for our internship, and because I was not an education major I had to do this training upon my college graduation. My new job meant this was my very first day in the classroom since I had been a student there myself. My critic teacher had two of us to supervise, so she came in holding two straws hidden in her hand. “Pick one,” she said to me, and as she opened her hand I realized I had chosen the short straw. That meant I would be alone in my classroom for the morning. I think I was definitely more frightened than my young students.

Once the children were settled, I asked about their pets – a short bet I felt. There was hardly a response. Fortunately, the rest of the morning went a little better, but at lunchtime the critic teacher gave us the clue that we should not ask about their pets since most of the children lived in the housing project down the street and pets were not allowed.

Back then nursery rhymes were very important; we read and recited them often. Little songs and poetry were expected to be included in the curriculum, as were games with purposefully involved directions. Learning their colors and how to count was definitely a prime goal. When I see young children today doing complex tasks on their parents iPhones, I am thoroughly amazed.

The morning kindergarten children were dismissed at 11:30 a.m. Most were walkers, but some did have to meet a bus schedule. On the first snowy day, they all came to school wearing their heavy gear. That was when I realized they did not know how to dress themselves. There was no way I could dress all these children and finish on time for them to leave. I quickly made up a sing-song set of directions, walking around singing and helping, “first we put on our leggings, leggings, leggings. Next comes our boots, our boots, our boots,”etc. After a few days, they actually began to sing with me. Of course I made sure to explain why we needed to do this in a particular order so that it would be easier and faster for them to dress.

I took a hiatus from teaching when I had my own children, doing only substitute work. I believe though, that once a teacher, always a teacher. A recent article by Dr. Linda talked about the stress that many students are under today. When my own daughter was in high school, I noticed there were times when she became a bit overwhelmed. That is when I told her that I lived my life in time frames (and I still do). I start at the time I get up and work in 1/2 hour increments. She vowed she would never do this, but by senior year I noticed that she too was measuring out her days. I rewrite my list often during the day because it makes me feel so good to see it constantly shrinking. Busy people with a lot going on in their lives soon need to learn shortcuts

The year I had a fourth grade at Meadow Pond school, I asked the children, when doing their homework, whether they started with the easiest work first or the hardest. The class was just about evenly divided. On the next night, I asked them to experiment with doing homework the opposite way. A few minds changed, but not many.

When students are bogged down, helping them to add some strategies and experimentation can change what would have been a project and a chore into a fun, challenging, and everlasting learning experience. I hope this was also true for my kindergartners of so long ago.