Literacy Quest: A Parent’s Journey Episode 2: The Assessment

Ah, mi people, let me tell yuh ’bout the drama that unfolded in my house this week. It all started with a message from Adri’s teacher. Lord have mercy, it was like an invitation to a rollercoaster ride I never signed up for.

So, the message hit me like a ton of bricks – Step 1: Assessment. I thought, “Lord, here we go.” It was like the teacher was sending me on a mission to decode secret messages or something. I had to identify the letters and sounds Adri didn’t know. But hold on, she said, “Before yuh point fingers, mama, make sure yuh know dem sounds yourself.” Of course, she used the English version.

So, I clicked on the link Ms. Brown sent me, and it took me to this activities page. Slideshow presentation for sets 1, 2, & 3. I thought, “Thank the Lord, it’s not a whole encyclopedia of a page we dealing with.” Armed with my headphones, I was ready to dive into the world of letter sounds. But let me tell yuh, it was more like learning them from scratch.

• B says /b/, not /bu/. Who knew?

• We are focusing on the hard sound for ‘c’ and ‘g’, ok.

• P says /p/, not /pu/.

• U says /u/ like “up,” not /oo/as I thought. Lord have mercy, it was like trying to learn a new language.

• And what qu says? /qu/.

• Only one sound for the letter ‘y’ for now /y/, like in “yet.”

My brain nearly short-circuited. Thank the heavens, I only had to learn a few letters. “Set 1 to Set 3 only,” Ms. Brown said. And oh, she warned, “No prompting, assisting, or feedback during the assessment. Just say ‘continue honey’ nicely and calmly.” Well, that’s a challenge for a Caribbean momma like me, let me tell yuh.

I called to Adri “Come here honey. Sit down in front of the computer. You see the letter on the screen. Tell me its name and the sound it makes.”

Set 1, 12 consonants, and mi pick up mi pen and paper, ready to grade my child by writing down the couple of letters he did not know. He began ‘b’ – /bu/, “bu?!” I reacted. As I was about to start chawing iron on this child for saying /bu/ instead of /b/, I remembered Miss Brown’s message “Continue, son,” I said. He continued ‘c’ /s/, ‘d’ /du/, ‘f’ /foo/, ‘l’ /lu/, ‘m’ /m/ thank God he got m and n correct. Then back to adding /u/ sound to all the remaining consonants /pu/, /ru/, /su/, and when he got to the letter ‘t’ the child looked at me with confidence and said/to/ one blab of spit fly out of the child’s mouth and land right in my face. The spitfire moment with the letter ‘t’ caused me to levitate out mi seat, wiping mi face like I was dodging bullets. Adri apologized profusely “Sorry mommy, sorry” he quickly said. I quickly gave him a break, because I needed a break. “Drink some water, honey, and come back,” I said, trying to keep calm. 

In the midst of Set 1, I reached for my phone and visited the website. Each time he said a letter sound, I made sure to listen to the correct sound myself, verifying for the sounds. I also did this for the one or two sounds I couldn’t recall off the top of my head.

Set 2 with vowels – a, e, i, o, u, and oo. ‘a’ he said /a/, “thank God”, ‘e’ he said /i/, ‘i’ he said /a/, ‘o’ he said /oe/ , ‘u’ he said /oo/ and for ‘oo’ he said /oeoe/. “Mercy Lord.”

Set 3 was like a puzzle he didn’t want to solve. Out of 9 letters, only 3 were correct. Lawd, mi traumatized.

So I forced a smile and say “Good try honey. Now we know where to begin. Go play, we will do something like this again tomorrow.”

As mi watch mi son walk away, I felt a river of tears flowing. Grade 2, and mi pikney nuh know di letters? Depression hit mi like a tidal wave. But then, like in those cartoons, the angel and devil on the shoulder chimed in. “Behave yourself, mama,” one said. The other, “Don’t act like yuh know it all. Help di boy.”

I wiped my eyes, pulled myself together, and read Ms. Brown’s message about Step 2.

I soon tell unuh how that one went. Mi ah tell yuh, parenting is a journey, and sometimes yuh just have to laugh, cry, and keep going. Until next time, mi people, bless up.