From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:35:01 -0400

Just to clarify what may have sounded way too harsh regarding my no-drawing/no-doing policy. My kids scatter themselves around the room
(and as long as I can see their faces I'm fine with them being anywhere), mostly on the rug and on pillows. To say they aren't allowed to do anything may have been an exaggeration. They often fiddle with their hands and shirts and stuff; a kid might idly pull a pencil stub out of his pocket while lying on the floor and begin quietly playing with it. I'm certainly not about to carp at this nor keep those who may need to move a bit in torment! I've occasionally had kids who needed to walk around while I read. Actually, now that I think about it, some of the kids like to hold stuffed animals while I read. We've got a bunch and some bring their own. As I wrote, my class is a very tight community and we get to know each other very well. I know who may need to move and who doesn't.

What I did discover years ago when I allowed drawing was that kids were constantly asking for markers, showing a friend something, and just not attending as well as I knew they would otherwise. Most of all, it distracted ME from my reading. So it is my temperament and is simply something that drives me nuts; clearly I'm not particularly tolerant in this particular area:) (I have a similar intolerance for noise; my colleagues can be find with a noise level that drives me batty.) So long ago I stopped inviting them to do draw and basically made the focus of our time on the books. (Again, this is only during my end-of?y ritualistic read aloud time as there are other times when I read aloud when the kids draw, write, and do all sorts of stuff.) Somehow my kids, even the squigglish of them all, manage to cope:)

in all her crabbiness, Mean Monica

Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Fri 27 Aug 2004 09:35:01 AM CDT