Sounding Letters

Twelve Things I Liked About Spelling Tests In Grade-School

1. I liked numbering the page lines.
2. I liked listening for each word.
3. I liked my confidence in spelling.
4. I liked the A’s I achieved.
5. I liked spelling the words: thinking through each letter.
6. I liked sounding them out in my head.
7. I liked the “metered” Q and A rhythm.
8. I liked the review for self-checking at the end.
9. I liked preparing for the tests.  Mom would quiz me at home.
10. I liked writing the words: putting each letter onto the page.
11. I liked writing them methodically.
12. Mostly I liked listening and sounding in my head.  It was as though that process was rewarded with a printed word.  Seeing the word as a result of listening was magical!

This is such a simple memory, but as it is such a powerful memory of pleasurable confidence, which was atypical of me in relation to test-taking, I am grateful to remember this consistently positive experience of performance, particularly in the context of a judged test.

And what fun to remember the delight in sounding out each newly learned word in my mind’s ear, hearing and savoring each luscious letter.