Slice of Life Challenge hosted by TwoWritingTeachers
I have been working alongside a fellow literacy coach this week. She’s a breath of fresh air. I love being a learner as a teacher and sharpening my skills as coach. Today, I learned that the creativity of a young child can sharpen me more.
My friend, Miss Hamman, reintroduced herself to a kindergartner; we’ll call him Tyler. Tyler is reading at a high level for a kindergartner. Our goal was to see what strategies he was using when decoding new words and where to take him next. As my friend introduced herself, she and Tyler had a casual conversation.
The conversation lead to Tyler writing her name. “I tell my students that you can see two words – ham and man – so it makes it easy to spell. Can you try that?” Tyler did and then added, “HAMMAN – super hero.”
“Super hero? Wow. I’ve never been called a super hero, ” Miss Hamman replied to Tyler. I was wondering where super hero came from. Had he been reading a Superman book?
“You know. You’re a super hero – Ham Man – a man who shoots out ham,” Tyler matter-a-factly stated. He then proceeded to make motions with his hands as an imaginary weapon shooting out hams.
It took me a moment to process what he had just said. Ham Man. A man who shoots out ham – who would have thought that? Only a young child full of creativity and in a supportive learning environment. An environment that promotes risk-taking and thinking beyond the literal. An environment that applauds creativity. A classroom.