Years ago, as a new teacher, I was required to complete observation hours of other teachers at my school site. One of those observations was in a veteran teacher’s kindergarten classroom. That observation taught me one of the most valuable lessons of being a teacher to date.
I remember the observation was on a Friday morning, right in the thick of a literacy block. The teacher explained to me that the kindergarten literacy program did not have lessons for Fridays, so she chose to use a classroom magazine subscription as her Friday literacy lesson. It was a chance to not only get to in some literacy, but also to cover science or social studies content. The students knew their Friday routine, and sprung into action like a well-oiled machine. There was a flurry of little bodies gathering pencils and clipboards, and making their way to the rug to collect their magazine copy and sit in their assigned spot. I remember being so impressed with their timing and precision! I kept wondering how I could get my much older third graders to work that quickly and quietly.
Once the lesson began, I have to admit that I tuned out for a bit. My mind wandered to what my own class was up to with their substitute teacher. I had a great group of generally well-behaved kids, but I was their teacher, and I thought about them often. While I was musing internally, the kinder lesson continued. The teacher guided the students in pointing to each word as they read, and encouraged them to say the letter sounds of unfamiliar words or use the pictures to figure out what certain words might mean. It was a pleasure to watch a veteran teacher skillfully lead a group of youngsters in the difficult task of gaining reading proficiency. Once the whole-group activity was complete, the students were sent back to their tables to respond to what they read — draw a picture and write a sentence about what they learned from the article. As the students worked, the teacher and I took a few moments to chat. That’s when a small, shy child walked up to his teacher with big tears ready to drop from his disappointed eyes. Apparently, he had made a mistake in his sentence. I never saw his paper, so I can’t say what the mistake was. But, he was clearly devastated and disappointed that he could ever do such a thing. This is where I learned that mistakes are not monsters.
Of course, once this little guy made the decision to leave his seat, all of his classmates decided that they were extremely interested in what was going on. Where I, in my inexperience, would have attempted to redirect each student, the teacher decided to turn it into a teaching moment for the whole class. She looked directly at the student that came to her, but said the words loud enough for all to hear, “Mistakes are not monsters.” Making a mistake is rarely a catastrophic even. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn and problem solve. As she was reminding her class that we are all learning, and that it’s OK for us to make mistakes, I felt that she was speaking to me as well. Not only will my students make mistakes, but I will, too. And, it’s all OK. We will learn from our mistakes, and problem solve as needed.
I chose to share this story today because we are all struggling with what is the right thing to do for the upcoming school year. Whatever your state or school district decide, this is just as new to us as reading is to a kindergartener. We will make mistakes, but we will learn and adjust as needed. Stay calm, and don’t fear the mistakes.
PinaRose Education 