Twelve Things I Liked About Spelling Tests In Grade-School
- I liked numbering the page lines.
- I liked listening for each word.
- I liked my confidence in spelling.
- I liked the A’s I achieved.
- I liked spelling the words: thinking through each letter.
- I liked sounding them out in my head.
- I liked the “metered” Q and A rhythm.
- I liked the review for self-checking at the end.
- I liked preparing for the tests. Mom would quiz me at home.
- I liked writing the words: putting each letter onto the page.
- I liked writing them methodically.
- 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.