Reading
Reflection of Childhood Literacy Experience
In deed, everyone who undergoes formal education has to pursue it systematically. Meaning, they pass through the kindergarten, then elementary, high school then proceed to the university. As an educated person, I am one of the people who were privileged to pass through the hands of well trained teachers. I categorically remember exactly what happened during my childhood. Of course, it one of the most interesting times in my school life. Having been committed to their work, my teachers dedicated their time to offer us the best services we deserved at the time. We were introduced to a conducive environment which made learning more interesting than I could ever imagine.
Besides, I got an opportunity to listen to stories both from my teachers and colleagues. Story telling is one of the most popular teaching and learning activities for the elementary pupils. As already highlighted, our highly trained teachers knew tat it is what would make us enjoy our time as pupils. In this regard, a lot of time was reserved for telling stories. During such lessons, we could interact with our teachers by listening and narrating stories. As a result, learning would become more interesting. We were so delighted to listen to mythical stories about god, giant and beasts. Moreover, we got a chance to listen to fable stories about the cunning hare, foolish hyena and the proud lion. The stories were appropriate because they made us to appreciate morals and came out as confident, creative and audible story tellers.
The other thing I remember about my childhood education is play. As the saying goes, ‘Too much work, but no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ We had enough time to engage in different forms of play. Our teachers knew that our involvement in lay activities would make us be active learners. There were physical education lessons in which we participated in running, football, duck goose, silent ball, pie, jumping, game of tug and bicycle riding. These were very dynamic games which helped us to pass time. They would be done under the guidance of our Physical Education teachers. The way we were handled by these teachers made us to love these games and continued playing them in our various homes.
Finally, I remember that we used to sing and dance during our kindergarten and elementary levels. According to my observation, this is what every kind f pupil in our school was enjoying. Being a Christian school, we had to participate in singing common hymns and other praise and worship songs commonly used in our churches. At times, we would sing secular songs with moral teachings. Although most of the songs were not composed by the teachers, they played a significant role in leading the singing sessions (Karweit, N., 2002). As a result, we were able to learn different kinds of songs which we later used in our Sunday Schools. Singing is one of the most recommended strategies for the teaching of elementary pupils. A part from entertaining them, it can make them to be good singers in their future.
Conclusively, I would like to point out that my childhood experiences were memorable. The kind of care I received during my time as a kindergarten and elementary school pupil was so encouraging. It is actually through this, that I was motivated to continue with my studies up to this level. The blending of curricular and extracurricular activities enabled me to be an all round personality. The earlier exposure to reading, writing and arithmetic enabled me to master these skills very well. Besides, the important lessons I got during the Physical Education sessions helped me a great deal. It is through such initiatives that I was managed to come out of my elementary school while equipped with the most desired cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains of learning. It is true that the foundation of learning takes place when a pupil is still young. Every teacher should ensure that learning is learner0centered so as to ensure that all the learners are accommodated regardless of their individual diversities.
References
Karweit, N. (2002). "The kindergarten experience." Educational Leadership, 49(6), 82–86. EJ
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McGill-Franzen, A. (2006). "Kindergarten literacy: Matching assessment and instruction in
kindergarten." New York: Scholastic.
