Long, long ago… about 1987, before we started a PGCE junior course we were expected to spend about a fortnight in a junior school on a voluntary basis. It proved to be one of the most enjoyable fortnights of my life.
The
school was in a fairly deprived area of Canterbury. I learned a sobering lesson
when, wanting to do some science work with the children linked to the topic of
food, I asked one the children what she ate for breakfast. You can probably
guess the answer. The school dinner was her first – and very likely - main meal
of the day. What was most charming and heart-wrenching was they way in which
she accepted my question with such good grace and not the slightest hint of embarrassment
or resentment. She was in fact one of the most delightful and cheerful children
in the school.
Once
the word got round the staffroom that I liked to write for children I soon
ended up finishing the last half-hour of the day reading to three classes at once
while the appreciative teachers earwigged from their classrooms and got several
jobs done while the kids were off their hands.
I’m
not sure that I’d ever read stories to any
children by that time and I found the fact that the sea of children before me sat
attentively listening to my tales, many of them seemingly enthralled and none
of them starting a riot or rebelling in more age-appropriate ways, astonishing
and wonderful.
I
went home intoxicated with pleasure and pride. My devilishly clever plan to become
a teacher and therefore have an abundance of free time to write my books at the
end of each short working day and during the regular and lengthy holidays
seemed to be working! My (sure to be) generous salary would also no doubt sustain
me well until an eager readership discovered me!
Ah,
blissful ignorance!
The
main point I wanted to make though was that 1987 wasn’t that long ago. A time it seemed when class teachers were perfectly
happy for their children to spend half an hour a day ‘just’ listening to a
story. I still remember enjoying storytime when I was at school – I can still
recall significant segments of the stories over fifty years later.
I
know I’m a little out of touch but do children still have the opportunity to ‘just’
listen to a story for half an hour each day anymore? Would that
be allowed or would the children have to spend most of any such half hour
showing how much they ‘comprehended’ a small isolated section of a story, or
hunt down all the adjectives in that segment… or…
An
exasperated teacher once told me that there were so many requirements to meet
each day (that didn’t include a half-an-hour story) that, as she put it, ‘even
if a baby elephant walked passed the window, we would have to ignore it.’
Who
knows… one day someone brave rewriting the National Curriculum might be
courageous enough to dictate that the children should ‘just’ listen to a story
for half an hour each day.
~~~~~
Now
reader, let’s see if you’ve been paying attention. Turn to your worksheet.
Question
One: …
~~~~~
Recent
publication: Measures and other puzzles
and the stories behind them.
ASIN:
B08HS74NF1 One of the Magical Maths
series of (hopefully!) fun resources for exploring various areas of maths for
juniors.
3 comments:
Back in the mists of time I taught a primary school class for two all too short terms. The last "lesson" on Friday afternoons was sacred. It was reserved for reading a book to them. It didn't matter what else had happened during the week I read to them. I had also taught them (boys as well as girls) to knit. They would knit and I would read. Years later I saw one of the students in the city. He pulled at a pullover he was wearing and told me had made it himself "and do you remember how you always read to us on Friday afternoon? It was the very best part of the week." His employment? Driving the mobile library bus!
Thanks, Steve - yes, as a primary school teacher I too used to love reading to the class - it was the best part of the day for all of us! It was such a shame that various Education ministers decided there was no time any more for such frivolous matters. How short-sighted were they? I can still remember stories my teachers first introduced to me, many years ago, and I think it's very sad if children can no longer be introduced to new books that maybe their parents don't know about. And don't get me started on the lack of libraries!
Thank you both for your comments. I love the idea of the children knitting while listening to you read catdownunder - how heartwarming. I'm not surprised that your student remembered that time with fondness - and a practical outcome! I bet he wasn't the only one! It's so interesting what you say Lynne, there are so many ways in which we and later children in our charge got from listening to these stories. I remember once referring to a 'heffalump' to a group of children and they had no idea what I was talking about and thought I was mad. Actually in one way of looking at it I was!!
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