Blog
I have spent the last week, okay month, celebrating my fiftieth birthday – and it has been so much fun! It is funny though, before I actually turned 50, I had many pre-conceived ideas of what my life would look like at 50. I thought I would be:
- very mature,
- set in my ways,
- semi-retired, and
- old!
Now some may argue that is my exact life, but I do beg to differ (except for the first one – lol!) I have always been a project girl – if I don’t have one, it’s best to steer clear, or you will soon be roped into one. The thought of being set in my ways, dare I say, a routine way of life, really does make me feel anxious. Heaven forbid, I might wake up old!!!
As for retirement, that is certainly not on my radar any time soon, and I doubt it ever will be. I need to be busy, to be all-consumed with something, and lately (the past ten years) it has been with BORN2READ. When I first started this venture, I must admit, I naively thought I’d be done with it, in five years. By then, I would have taught the world to read. But ten years on, there is still so much to do. You see, there are still far too many children who cannot read – this is just not acceptable!!
The biggest change for me from 40 to 50 is the good old ego. I really did think at 40, I could teach the world to read – all by myself. Thankfully, I have matured (see 1. and picture!!) and I know that I need your help to do this. I have also learnt that not everyone is a teacher – and I mean that in the professional sense.
Before I thought everyone could teach their child to read. Now I fully understand, that the technical teaching of phonics, sight words, comprehension, fluency and so on, is the art of a professionally-trained teacher.
But just before you think I have let you off the hook, think again. If you can read, or know someone who can, than you are in the perfect position to nurture and develop your child’s reading journey:
READ WITH YOUR CHILD!!!!!!
And you know I have developed that perfect resource to assist. This is not about my ego and about how good my program is, it is about reaching as many children I can with your assistance. You can make a huge difference – don’t get caught up on the technicalities of reading, don’t overthink it, just do it. Your teachers will deal with the rest!
After all, I haven’t committed 10 years to BORN2READ for nothing, or the next 50 years. But then again, these are just numbers, aren’t they?
Until next time,
Cheers – I’m off to celebrate!
Katrina
Teacher and Author of the BORN2READ Reading Program
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.