A Peek at Kindergarten

This week, we start our spring early field experience placements. I've been assigned to a kindergarten class. Although I'm excited to see and learn all that I can about those little folks, I'm also very nervous. Kindergarten is a special place--a place where, for many kids, all that is magical and just about learning and school is still intact. To preserve that wonder is a big charge. To infuse all of that kindergarten magic with learning seems a still more daunting task!

It calmed me, then, to read Cusumano's "Every Mark on the Page." Not only was it a peek into what exactly writing looks like in kindergarten/first grade, it reminded me how flexible we should be with not only what counts as writing, but with children's learning processes as well. That is, that we should look for ways to be a student's champion--to celebrate what they know--instead of taking an inventory of the ways the student is wrong.


Another useful aspect of the Cusumano article was that reminded me what writing is for. It is not about making shapes on a page, it is about making meaning. The act of decoding children's writing is the act of uncovering a story. I like stories, and this approach appeals to me greatly! Finding the elements of a story--the author's voice, its beginning, middle, and end--now becomes a way of interacting with the child's imagination as well as their writing proficiency.

Cusumano also mentions the important role of drawing in a kindergartener's writing. Of course I've seen children draw before. However, I've never considered those drawings as a way of planning for writing. This seems so obvious, that I am embarrassed by my oversight! Of course children use drawings to tell their stories! It is lapses like this that make me nervous to teach kindergarten. But I'm determined not to let my fear win. I'd say "they're just kindergarteners," but we all know they are so, so much more!