Mrs. Minowpee

TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2011


I was so blessed in my youth. My disabled grandmother lived with my family, and one of my most wonderful memories of early childhood was sitting in her lap in her wheelchair while she read to me. I sat with my back to her chest, her arms around me holding a book so that she could look over my head and read. I could see the book too. She read children's books to me, but she also read big books, what some elementary folks call chapter books. I loved the bonding, the experience, the sound of her voice as she read and read. She had grown up in a time when radio became common and most folks gathered around the large tube-filled RCA to listen to news, commentary, variety shows, drama and comedy performed by actors whose skill was the spoken word, emphasis, mood, enunciation and characterization, all broadcast for free. That influence was clear in my grandmother's reading. Books became alive; I could picture each character, each scene as she changed the pitch of her voice and the tempo of her reading to fit the text.

I do not remember exactly when it happened, but I clearly remember that it happened. Gran was reading Through the Looking Glass to me and I was enthralled by the travails of poor Alice. I could see the text. I could hear her voice. Suddenly, as though a light went on, I knew where she was in the text. I could follow the words and knew what they were and what she was going to say. I do not know how, but I was suddenly reading. I was so excited! It was an "a hah!" moment like I had never experienced. I was reading!

After that, I could not get enough to read. I was voracious. Children's books flew by, then Peter Pan, then Gulliver's Travels, then on to all of the Robert Louis Stevenson books. I continued to sit in Gran's lap, but we took turns reading now. It was wonderful.

Then, I entered kindergarten. My excitement about school ended before lunch the first day. We were going to learn the alphabet, and colors, and numbers. OK, I needed help with numbers, but not colors. I did not know the alphabet, though I clearly remember large letters on skinny poster board displayed around the upper walls of the room. Our first week was the letter "A". I really did not get "A". I got the sound and really understood the letter as a mere bit of a word, sometimes a word all by itself, but out of context it made no sense to me. "B" was worse. By the 3rd week of school I was becoming a behavior problem. I wanted to read, I did not want to memorize symbols that were mere pieces of reading. I wanted words. I wanted context. I wanted to visit other places, know other people, have vicarious adventures. I did not want to learn "C." or D, or E. And somehow the rumor that Here Tip Run was around the corner was not enough to keep me out of the corner.

Gran tried to save me. She taught me the song that many already knew and we sang in class. The alphabet song. I bet you know it. But, you probably understood it better than I did. I was pretty good in the song until we got to Mrs. Minowpee. Mrs. Ella Minowpee. I got all the way through "K" then got hung up on Ella Minowpee. Q was OK, but rare, S and the rest were OK. But Ella Minowpee always threw me.

To this day I do not really know my alphabet. I can sing the song and fake it, but dearest friends and family know that if you hand me a phone book to look up a number, I am again singing the dirge to Mrs. Minowpee trying to make sense of all this. Once I became a teacher and had reasons to file stuff, I never could organize things alphabetically. I could spell "alphabet" and I could use it in a sentence, but I never mastered it. My files were organized by concept or due date.

So here is what I know about kids because of Mrs. Ella Minowpee. Each one learns differently. Some in bursts. Some very slowly. Some are already ready for more, and others have not caught up with yesterday. I was such a child, and maybe you were too. I got in trouble because I wanted to read and did not want to waste my time memorizing what appeared to me to be nonsense. I stand my ground. At my ripe old age, a successful career as an educator all but behind me, and I still stubbornly have refused to learn the alphabet, though I remain both fond of and curious about Mrs. Minowpee and the fact that generations of children have sung her name knowing virtually nothing about her.

Teach kids both where they are and where they could go. Adult de-construction of knowledge is not always necessarily the correct learning sequence. To know that, all you have to do is ask the kid. If they are curious about Ella Minowpee, then be prepared to either introduce her or demystify her so you and the kid can go on. Psychometricians and standardized test manufacturers don't get that, do they? They operate in a world where every 6 year old must know Ella Minowpee before they get to see real words, in real sentences, in real contexts and actually read.

Perhaps we should finally organize a memorial service for Mrs. Minowpee, and all the other little knowledge bits that are somehow irrelevant but required as subsets to real learning. If so, I will be there to eulogize and say "Amen."

POSTED BY EILEEN GOOD AT 9:41 PM


6 COMMENTS:



Anonymous said...

It is 5 in the morning and I am laughing! A rarity at this hour! Wonderful insight! I do not teach elementary students, its middle school for me. Today, we are making an Alphabet Book (middle school and an Alphabet Book sounds maybe a bit juvenile, trust me its not)! Maybe Ella Minowpee will be visiting. I hope so, we will create and include her in our book!! Really, what you did was to make me think about some of the questions my kids ask or wonder about or that cause them to disconnect. It is time for me to reevaluate and look into their questions and make sure I make to proper introductions or demystifications! Thanks! I am ready for Ella, bring her on!

AUGUST 31, 2011 4:20 AM



Anonymous said...

Ella is famous. She even has a book written about her.



http://www.amazon.com/Ella-Minnow-Pea-Novel-Letters/dp/0385722435/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314790822&sr=8-1



Thanks for the laugh.

AUGUST 31, 2011 6:42 AM



Mrs. G. said...

Einstein kept the multiplication tables taped to his wall. He was too busy doing interesting math to memorize them. By today's standards, he'd still be in third grade trying to pass a timed math fact test.

AUGUST 31, 2011 8:00 AM



Anonymous said...

I find it amazing that we are still spending very much time on alphabetizing when most of us look up our references on the computer. Type in the search box and it finds it for you ... do we really use 'guide words' all that much?



Granted, it can be helpful to know how to use an index in a book ... but other than that ... tell me when you use the skill ....

AUGUST 31, 2011 11:40 AM



Anonymous said...

Ok...did the alphabet book with my math class and used Ella to introduce it....what a hoot! Kids laughed the entire day while working...my room was filled with song! As awful as the state of education can be....these are the moments that make you forget all funding, testing, accountability issues! These moments are why I love teaching!

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011 6:44 PM



Anonymous said...

a lift for educators everywhere ...



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/opinion/blow-an-ode-to-teachers.html?smid=fb-share