One of my favorite things to do is to visit the first grade to watch an “Authors’ Tea” in action.  Several times a year the first grade classes write their own stories, based on the theme they’ve been studying, and then read the stories out loud to each other and to the “assembled multitude” of parents and grandparents who proudly look on.

Early in the school year, first graders are all over the map as far as reading ability is concerned. While proud parents of early readers marvel at their child’s proficiency and parents of emerging readers quietly worry about whether there is “something wrong,” educators know that the ability to read comes to children in its own time, typically between kindergarten and second grade. This is no different than physical growth, which also comes when it comes. We also know there is no correlation between how early a child learns to read and later success in school. My older daughter Lisa has always been an exceptional student, and is now working on her PhD at Princeton. But she was a late reader, not really mastering the art of decoding the little scribbles on a page and discerning their meaning until just before the start of school in second grade.

Visitors to our Upper School sometimes marvel at how comfortable our students are standing in front of the weekly assembly and speaking confidently to their peers, and the visitors wonder what we do to facilitate that. While we don’t offer a formal course in public speaking, there are so many opportunities throughout the school to give children the confidence necessary to speak publicly. When I watch the first graders at Authors’ Tea, I am looking at one of those opportunities. To speak and perform in front of others is one skill practiced there, as is the important skill of quietly listening to others.

Each Authors’ Tea ends with the breaking up of the circle, and students seeking brief written comments about their story and reading. Naturally enough, the students typically first make a beeline to their parents. But then, they go around the room seeking comments from those they may not know as well or at all, such as the parents of their classmates, or even the Headmaster!

From time to time someone will delicately ask me a question that boils down to “exactly what is it that you do all day?” Part of what I try to do at least several times a year is to listen to our first graders share their stories and themselves with all who are gathered to listen. That always puts a bounce in my step for the rest of the day.