George McGurn

April 11, 2001

Grampa had the baby sitting duty yesterday. I was going to baby sit for all three of my oldest son’s children. I didn’t realize it was going to turn into a really exciting time for me. When I arrived at their house my oldest son, Ross, asked his five-year-old son, Matt, to show me the new books Matt was reading. Matt had done a little beginning reading for me before. At that time his reading style was word by word with a lot of struggle and a lot of sweating. Today was so different. What a pleasant surprise.

Matt took his first book and began to read. He read with a flow and with rhythm. He read with feeling. And he read like he was telling me a story. And most important, he read like he was really enjoying the reading. It was such a special experience. Ross was in the room and he wasn’t saying much. But I know how proud he was to see his son reading to me. And I know Matt felt how pleased we both were to see him reading with such pleasure.

As Matt cruised through the four books he did make some mistakes. He mispronounced some words. And he skipped over some words and he even added some of his own words that were not in the book. But there was no way I was going to interrupt his flow. He was on a roll and he was so happy to be reading.

When Matt finished his four books he looked at me with such a feeling of satisfaction. Matt knows how much I love reading. And he knows how many books I have brought him. And he knows how much time I have spent reading with him. And he knew this was a very special time for him and for me.

Ross then asked Matt to show me his journal from school. Matt was still on a roll as he opened his journal. His journal was a very simple collection of his thoughts and ideas he had written in his notebook. He had written his ideas in very simple sentences and with a five-year-old penmanship. Some of the words I could recognize. But many of the words made no sense to me. These words looked like a series of lines and circles. But Matt knew what they meant. And more important, Matt could read them to me.

At the top of each page of his journal Matt had also drawn a picture to represent his story. Matt wasn’t too much into art so the pictures were pretty primitive. But Matt was so proud of that journal. It was a collection of his own ideas and his personal feelings. And he now he can share these feelings and ideas with his new ability to read and to write.

While Matt was reading to me I was so aware of allowing him to read the story without interruption from me. I still feel guilty about the way I began reading with his father. I love reading. I love writing. And I love learning. And I couldn’t wait to teach Ross how to read.

I remember when Ross was very young I sat him down in our reading chair at home and he began his first try at reading a book to me. I kind of knew it was too early but I couldn’t wait. The first line in the book was something like, "The boy ran into the barn." Ross was nervous as he began to read, "The boy ran ‘in’ the barn." I stopped him and told him he was doing fine but the word was "into" not "in." And then I asked him to read the line again. This time he read, "This" boy instead of "The" boy. So I stopped him again and reminded Ross that the sentence was, "The" boy –not "this" boy.

By the time he read the line for the third time he had lost interest in the story. He was fed up with being interrupted and corrected. He had enough of being contradicted and criticized. And he just wanted to get away from the book and away from me. Ross looked up from the book and said, "Dad, I don’t want to read this book anymore."

I will never forget his look or his words. I was so disappointed. I was so hurt. But I learned a lot about teaching and learning that evening. And as I was listening to Matt read I kept reminding myself, "No interrupting, no correcting, no contradicting and no criticism."

"Just keep encouraging and listening and cheer leading." And I knew if I could just sit with Matt and encourage him he would continue to read. And if he continues to read he will eventually get the pronunciation and the punctuation and all the rest of the mechanics of reading when he is ready.

It’s no accident that Matt is such an enthusiastic learner. Ross and his wife, Kristin, have provided their children an atmosphere where learning is respected. Books are an important part of the household. And the love of learning is an important part of their family values.