literacy... OK; numeracy? not so good
Just from talking about our reading/writing selves in class on Tuesday and now reading your own stories about developing literacy, my head is spinning with memories, feelings of "yea, me too," and "whoa, THAT'S interesting!" Biking home on Tuesday night (after reading just the first couple posts), I had a vivid memory of my kindergarten classroom and the "letter people." Did you all have those cartoons posted up in your elementary classrooms? All the vowels were female, and the consonants were male. Since I didn't want to be a boy (aren't 5 year olds the most obsessed about gender?), I chose to be "Miss I" for an in-class performance about something that began with the letter (the exact moves of my "itching dance" are best left forgotten). At that time, I was terribly shy, so I'm sure the stress of performing in front of my classmates is what burned it into my brain.
Yet, I had completely forgotten something else I used to do that now seems related: when learning about numbers, I turned those into characters too, drawing hair on them and assigning each a personality and gender. 1, 2, 6, 8, 9 were female; 3, 5, 7, and 10 were male. I was never quite sure about 4. I was always thinking about the numbers as characters, although their characteristics could change. I'm sure that had something to do with my love of stories and characters in fiction. I don't remember when I stopped thinking about numbers as characters, but I don't think I've ever really had a rich sense of connection with numbers since then. I'm always transposing numbers in my head, I forget them quickly, and I've never felt like I "got" math the way some people did (even though I'm quite proficient at plugging numbers into formulas to pass those kinds of tests). I wonder if my illnumeracy is what illiteracy feels like: there's a world of symbols and texts out there, but I'm not really "in" it.
Comments
Even in reading my classmates' responses to the prompt, I had completely neglected to consider my own early childhood classroom experiences with literacy and letters until reading your post, Kirsten. I think that this is due, in part, to the fact that my elementary school, instead of inspiring shame in its struggling students by isolating them in "special" classes, inspired ostracism in its gifted students by isolating them in "challenge" classes. Whatever that means. I just remember so vivedly returning to my first grade classroom from my challenge reading class and finding my classmates still working on their "normal" reading lesson. I entered the room and saw the teacher holding up giant flashcards of the words "dog" and "them" (I remember this perfectly) while my classmates were asked to chorus the words in unison. Too young to be appalled by this frightful pantomime of teaching, I was instead shocked that many of my classmates appeared to be stumpped(sp?) by these words. I believe that this is about the time that I stopped feeling the shame associated with being in my school's "challenge" programs and cultivated an immense ego when it came to my intellect. Perhaps another time I will regale you with the many experiences which burst that bubble bit by humbling bit.
Posted by: Emily Lind | September 6, 2007 3:46 PM
I was always a big fan of the paper-bag alphabet puppets. Lion for "L", elephant for "E," and so forth. Those things were sweeeet.
Posted by: John Sharkey | September 7, 2007 10:20 AM
I used to pretend that numbers had genders too! I totally forgot about that...4, for me though, was ALWAYS a boy. Another thing I used to do when I rode the bus home from elementary school was to decide what numbers people resembled. I wish I could remember what sort of logic assigned someone a "5" face or made me think of them looking a lot like an "8" as they schlumped onto the bus.
Posted by: Maggie Whelan | September 8, 2007 5:40 PM
I'm pretty sure that someone smoother than I could come up with a passable pick-up line about how someone looks "like a 10."
Posted by: John Sharkey | September 10, 2007 10:00 AM