Teaching Connor to Read

Connor didn't learn to read in Kindergarten. In fact, he didn't even work with letters - except as his interest dictated. His assistant teacher remarked to me how fascinated Connor seemed to be with signs and in one of his drawings, there's a gnome with a STOP sign.

His first grade teacher knows this. On our last visit to her classroom last year, she asked me if I could please teach Connor his letters and what sound they make. That, she said, would help her a lot.

Lucky for me, as it turns out, Connor already knew his letters and their sounds. Every babysitter he has comments on what a genius he is, and then they get an irresistable urge to teach him letters and sounds - either because they are sure I am mucking it up and cannot believe I am not trying to capitalize on his genius or because they're so used to other moms saying to work on this stuff that it's what they naturally do. Because that other kid at the park who is not as smart as Connor? He is READING! Reading! Did I mention there was a dumb kid at the park reading?!? I politely smiled every time this conversation came up.

Since I discovered the dude knows his letters, I basically dropped all plans of teaching him to read this summer - which had been my goal. I just wasn't interested. That, and I'd rather go to the park or pool after dinner than sit and teach him to read. But a few weeks ago, I decided to give it a go. First, I stumbled upon the rockingest babysitter ever - who actually has a master's degree in education, and she got the ball rolling. Then, I got out the Bob books.

I reviewed some hints from my friend Amy over at Teach Mama. A while back, she posted some great tips about reading out loud - which I adapted a bit to teaching someone how to read - and about Kindergarten prep (which I'm doing for the first grade).

And then I dove in.

I started by making sure Connor and I sat with his books before bed. He struggled - really struggled - and Ed pointed out that maybe an earlier time in the evening would be better. So I switched to (mostly) right after dinner. Sometimes, I catch him early in the morning, and sometimes we still work together at night. In general, earlier is better.

Unlike numbers, which Connor grasps intuitively, letters do not come so easy. For starters, he's a very exact child, so when someone taught him the sound for "g" and said "guh", that's how he filed it away. The word D-O-G - that would be Dogguh in Connor's vernacular. It was hard to convince him to love the "uh", and more than once I wanted to bang my head on a wall. Seriously. I'm used to a kid who picks up everything super easily. This was a really different experience.

When Connor couldn't figure something out, he would start crawling on me, lying on the floor, begging me to "just tell me!!" but mostly, I just sat there, and thought of different ways to break the letter combinations down for him.

Another problem with teaching Connor to read is that he has a freakishly good memory. You may recall that when Connor was 2.5, he recited the entire book "Make Way for Ducklings" backwards - after hearing it that way once. A month or two before that, my friend Ellen came over to visit and Connor wanted me to read him something. I wasn't fast enough for him, so he plopped down and recited a pretty long book word for word. Ellen looked and me and said "when you said Connor memorized books, I didn't realize you meant word for word with absolutely no prompting". This memory could be used for good - like memorizing certain word patterns and sounds - but instead, he uses it for evil. He simply memorizes the entire book. So if he gets through a book a few times, it's memorized, and then I harldy would call that reading. Purpose defeated.

While teaching Connor to read, I decided I would only honor the calmest, happiest part of myself when Connor and I were engaged. That is harder than you might imagine. My "just get it done" self can be quite demanding.

I'm proud to say, that after a few weeks of this mostly torturous process, Connor has started to read. Amen. Hallelujah. I mustered more patience than I have at any other moment in my life, and I cannot wait to fob the remainder of this task off on a paid professional. I've been assured by Mrs. H. that she's ready.
We've got another week here before school starts. Who knows what will happen after that. But I feel pretty good about where Connor is right now.

Elaine

P.S. Hurricane Irene predicted to come pay a visit. Hopefully it's just a bunch of rain.