Saturday morning, and I'm sitting at my desk sipping coffee and doing my "computer thing." What is that, you ask? Let's be real, you do it too. I see you there. I begin by checking my emails. I must admit, there's little action there these days. It's mainly, advertisements and such, whose email addresses I've permitted (in a weak moment) to slip from spam to inbox . It seems that facebook is where it's happening; so, of course, I go there next. I read what my friends have to say and make empathizing, witty, or non-committal replies. If time allows (Afterall, there are Scrabble games to play.) I view the videos you download. And here's my segue. Speaking of videos, I found one this morning. I connected to it on both the mom and the teacher level. As a mom I chuckled and remembered my own son reciting: Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman. I experience a little sadness knowing that we didn't record it and never got to post in on You Tube. In those days, we couldn't even afford a video camera. So it resides in my memory, and is remembered at the dinner table on Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and Mother's Day, and Father's Day, and . . .
As a teacher, I couldn't help but hear the inflection in the aunt's voice as she led the toddler through the story. If you watch it, you will notice what an excellent job the child does of mimicking her tone. Already, he is speaking with expression and appropriate emphasis. I am struck by the positive impact of modeling. Wouldn't this be a wonderful clip to play at a parent/teacher meeting. The video says it better than any words. If you want your child to be a good reader, then read with your child. Predictably, my thoughts didn't stop there. I got hung on the word "positive." In the vernacular of an educator, my metacognition, or the awareness of one's own thinking process, led me to the opposite of positive, which, as you know, is negative. And I pondered for a few moments the negative impact of modeling. The child in this video is quite young; and yet, he takes in and copies what he sees and hears. Although this child appears extremely bright, I don't believe he is selective in what he mimics. If something is repeated enough, his sharp little mind is going to grasp it, and put it back out there. As parents, grandparents, teachers, citizens, etc., it should make us think. What are we modeling for our children? or What's wrong with our country? Hmmm. I wonder.
2 year-old recites Jack and the Beanstalk on Shine
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