“As a Pages teacher, I consider myself to be an adventure guide, leading my students on a journey through a story, pointing out details and nuggets of advice along the way.” ~Julia LaMonte, Earlybird and Level 1 Pages Teacher
I have written quite a bit about reading with my children when they were young, snuggled up in a nook. Some of my favorite memories are of reading together, talking, sharing, and imagining. I think when things changed for me was when I wanted to take these beautiful conversations we were having and encourage my children to engage in the pencil and paper work of writing their thoughts and ideas. I talked in my previous blog, on Pages classes, about having relationships with the students we teach and building a community of support. I realized I needed this with my own students— my beautiful children—too! Blackbird and Company was the first ELA curriculum I found that helped me inspire pencil to paper writing through the reading of great literature. My children, like most I have worked with, were much more inspired to write their own ideas from a prompt tied into a great story. But throughout our homeschooling and private school years, I, at times, needed my own community of support which truly enabled me to become an adventure guide for my children!
“We learn more about ourselves when we dive into and discuss the actions of characters in books, and a class like Pages is a wonderful opportunity to do just that.” ~Miss Julia
If you ever get to sit in on Miss Julia’s classes you will see an adventure guide at work with our youngest of learners. Miss Julia teaches our Earlybird (2nd grade) classes along with our Level 1 (3rd grade). Miss Julia reads rich literature out loud to her students and guides them through the path of discussing vocabulary, character traits, comprehension and writing their own ideas through a personal prompt. I remember watching Miss Julia teach a class to Earlybird students using the book Fedrick by Leo Lionni. She would read aloud, stopping to point out different vocabulary or to notice the artistic style the author had used. It occurred to me in that moment how much there was to learn from such a simple story. The gift of having an adventure guide is that they have usually traveled the trail before and can show us things we have never seen or never noticed or overlooked or disregarded. During my quest of being a mother and teacher I would want to get things done, I would bypass the trail for the highway. I appreciated having an adventure guide who I could follow and could slow me and my students down so we could really capture the details, the deeper meaning and gifts of a great story.
“ I really appreciate having Miss Julia as the teacher. It gives me the opportunity to help, but not be the one in charge.” ~Jessica Heafner
If you ever get the chance to sit down with Mrs. Julia she might share that she was homeschooled for a period of time growing up and that, during that time, she was introduced to Blackbird and Company curriculum. She has often said that it was exactly the support and inspiration she needed to become the writer she is today. Mrs. Julia was my youngest son’s teacher and adventure guide for a year. During that time my son’s writing skills grew and so did my tools to support him.
“Our goal as teachers is to inspire both students and parents in the joy that is Language Arts.” ~Miss Julia
This next year I hope you consider building or adding to your community of support. We want to inspire all students to read well, write well, and think well. By building your community of support you can build the relationships that will teach well, encourage well, and inspire well right alongside you!
~Clare Bonn