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On his first day of Kindergarten, I made a deal with my son. Every day, when he comes home from school, Nano needs to tell me the following things about his school day:
1. Something that was easy.
2. Something that was hard.
3. Something new he learned.
4. Something nice he did for someone else.
Nano and I are working on this blog together, to document his journey through education. I don't know how long it will last; heck, I don't know how long my kid will happily come home and answer the "How was school?" question with something more than a grunt and a shrug. But that Nano shares these things with me is probably a lot less important than him contemplating his answers to those questions. They are the kind of metacognitive stuff that we educator-folk hope all our students will consider as they leave campus each day. More importantly, they're a simple model of the things each of us, as life-long learners, should ask ourselves when our heads hit the pillow each night.
These are his answers for today, and my questions for a lifetime of education, parenthood, and the honest, real perfection we touch without knowing it when we're in kindergarten....
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Nano's four things for today:
Something easy: "We made this chart with bears. The teacher gave instructions, and we had to move the bear on the chart. It was easy."
Something hard: "I had to cut out animals and fruits and vegetables. We had to draw the vegetables and the animals and color them and cut them out. I liked it, but it was hard."
Something I learned: "I learned not to walk on the bike path because someone almost hit me, but I ran for my life and I made it."
Something nice I did for someone: "I helped the kids in the sandbox pick up their toys, even though it wasn't my mess. I pushed my friend Matthew on the swing, but the kids in the sandbox didn't have enough time to clean up their huge mess, so I helped them. The sub, Mrs. K, said 'Good job.'"
