Relax

Readers don’t always pronounce things right. We read beyond our vocabulary at a young age and have never heard the word spoken. I was one of these, my son and my granddaughter. It is always in conversation that a word would come up, and you can use it in context, but say it totally wrong. I love that! The written words are being poured into our minds and the brain retains them. Conversations are important to the development of language, but this is my own personal basket of proof that reading also lends to communication and intelligence. I like when things I know are proved to me.

My granddaughter has been interested in historical events. She was telling me about an event and asking me if I knew about it. I did not, so I turned to Goggle. She informed me I spelt it wrong, took my phone, corrected my words and Goggle showed everything about everything. Also revealed that I knew exactly what she was talking about. My son same, although his interests are more physics, math and sciences. My knowledge is limited in some of that but I can pick up on if the words are off. My grandad always has a stack in the bed when he stays here. One is for me to read, the rest are for him. Learning is lifelong and I love when people gravitate to it. Especially my people.

I guess that is why I love the classroom. I am always showing kids tips, that I call hacks. Short cuts, a different approach… a visual. A child was struggling to spell ‘together’ during a writing exercise. I showed him how to uncover a word in pieces to sound it out. This word is my favourite, and I said to him “to get her” and then I showed him. Kids are the best learners, when they get something for the first time, and sometimes it is after a long time the look they give is my favourite. I know the look, I remember when I got things for the first time. You chip into the side of an ice glacier, over and over. Then one day after trying forever it just makes sense. I will be that person for any one, any day!