One of the distinct joys of teaching is the opportunity to watch students learn new skills that will carry them throughout their lifetimes. Reading instruction is the best example I can think of. It is how kids start to build an understanding of the written word and an opportunity to interact with ideas, beliefs, and experiences that are beyond themselves. I was an avid reader of science fiction when I was in junior and high school. One my favorite memories of school was the junior high school librarian that kept a shelf science fiction in the back for some of us to read. My junior high school principal didn’t think science fiction was “quality” literature so we had to read it incognito like banned books. Mrs. Paluka, (yes, that was her real name) always felt that getting kids interested in reading was the most important obligation of her job. As a kid I was transported to outer space and encountered things that were fantastical but now are common place. I think of Dick Tracy when I answer my phone on my watch.
I believed in these things that I saw in action from Mrs. Paluka. I took those ideals to my classroom and wanted to give students the same adventure, background, and understanding of their world that I had. The simple act of reading can bring all of that to a child and so I took my job seriously and wanted my students to find the same love that I have. I was teaching reading in a time of the Phonics vs Whole Language battle era. I think both have merits but instead of focusing on the system, it made sense to focus on the child and matching instruction to them. I don’t want to fuel the argument that still exists but one simple fact that was true is that the goal of both was to make meaning. That brings me to Amanda. You may remember this first grader from an earlier story and so she is making a second appearance. Her mother had an older daughter who was in high school that was reading Shakespeare and she was also a believer in solely phonics instruction. To the point that she bragged that Amanda as a first grader could “read” anything we had at Montview.
Amanda and her mom brought the reading argument to a head one afternoon when she asked me to let Amanda read Hamlet in class during reading. I sat there stunned as if I had been hit with a well placed Shakespearean insult. I was frozen and was taking a second to fathom the depth of the request. The brief moment allowed her to draw Amanda over and handed her the copy of Hamlet she had brought with her. Amanda dutifully read a portion that her mom had picked at random. Amanda did a very good job of barking out the words phonetically. By this time I had regained my senses to the point of asking Amanda what she had read meant. Her mom broke in and said it didn’t matter because she had “read” the text. I tried to break the awkwardness by saying that Amanda and her sister could read it home and it would also give them time to be together and bond. That did not help. Her mother repeated that she wanted Amanda to read Hamlet in class. I tried to kindly tell her that I had a Minor in English and I had read Hamlet numerous times and I still didn’t fully understand all of the meanings of Hamlet. I went even further to say that Amanda would read Clifford the Big Red Dog in my class and that by the time she reaches high school and is doing Hamlet she would have the background knowledge to grasp meaning. I thought I was being helpful and witty but Amanda’s mother did not.
I was called to the office by the principal shortly thereafter and I was prepared for blow back from my discussion. When I got there the principal asked what had happened and I explained everything. I was surprised when she thanked me because Amanda’s mother had pulled her out of school to home school her. I did not know until then that Amanda’s mom had been a thorn in the side of the principal and she was grateful. When we felt that we didn’t have to worry about her again, three weeks later, our joy came crashing to earth again. She had decided to re-enroll Amanda because she was too hard to handle at home. In one of the most deft handling of a parent I had ever see, the principal told her there wasn’t room in my class and that she would have to go onto green track in our four track year round scheme. The genius of this move was that green track had just gone on break and that Amanda would have to be at home for another three weeks before she started again. My hope is that Amanda now enjoys reading and fully understands Hamlet. She would be in her late thirties so I can only hope that all turned out well.