I received my son’s school report the other day and laughed heartily about it to a friend over the phone as it stated, “H is able to write in different genres and is starting to recognise key features of these.” Conversation when something like this:
Friend “What’s that then?”
Me “What genres?”
Friend “Yes”
Me “Well, you know, styles of writing – like science fiction, romance etc they’re different genres. Doubt whether H can do it; he’s only five. Maybe they mean he can write a letter to Father Christmas and write a shopping list”
Friend “Mm maybe, sounds good though – blinding parents with science. Sounds like they got that straight from the National Curriculum! Our reports aren’t like that they just state whether you child has reached the national average or not.”
Me “That’s probably better as this doesn’t say anything; handy to know where they are in the class but teachers will never tell you that”
Friend “My friend was told her child was 3 months behind”
Me “Rather specific 3 months – how would they know, it’s not as if child develop in a predictable manner – you know like a smooth curve “ Me, thinking of the little red book which marked height and weight (H jumped between centiles then).
Friend “Don’t know”
Me “Eve always states that children develop in jerks and even take steps backwards; I spent ages and ages with Henry on his reading as I thought he was getting behind, then all of a sudden he jumped two book bands – do you think kids have Eureka moments?”
Friend “Maybe – I had a friend that can remember work suddenly clicking when she was at school”
The conversation made me think, all of us can remember a defining point in our education when school work suddenly became easier; often this is attributed to a teacher, project or interest in a subject but can it also be down to chemical changes in our brain? Could it be the point at which our synapses connect? After all our brains are like fickle friends, unpredictable, uncharted and can have huge impacts on our lives.
More to follow on synapses and critical periods for learning language…..
