In fourth grade, some students have moments in their day when the start of their hormones, their strong feelings, heavy thoughts, and now you want me to learn ?! all collide, leaving the nine or ten year old overwhelmed and stuck. At home, this might include tears and frustration that sounds like, "I don't know what to do!" or "I don't get it." Sometimes the tried and true, "It is just too hard." also makes an appearance. It is real. What students feel, think, and experience, is real to them, and needs a strategy to get past the "stuck". In fourth grade, a great method is "Pretend".
Pretend you know what to do. What would you do first if you knew what to do? Write your name on your paper ... read the directions ... look for something on the page that you do KNOW ... Sometimes if we just start ... and we can formulate questions of what we "don't get", it can help us determine what we need to do next ...
We pretend. Feeling shy, unsure where to go? What to do? How to handle this new situation? Parents use this strategy all the time as our children grow and develop ... they don't come with a instructional manual, so we step up, pretend we know exactly what we are saying is right, go with our best intentions, and figure it out along the way. It is a life skill. You also have to be a little bit brave, to know that if you make a mistake, you will learn, and it will be ok.
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