Part One: Patience The first complaint parents usually have about teaching their own child is a lack of patience. Let me suggest to you not to take any of the setbacks personally. That doesn’t mean that you don’t take it seriously, or that you don’t expect good effort. It just means if you can accept that kids as a whole do not choose to spend free time learning phonics. Dropping the emotionality from your toolkit will go along way toward hassle free lessons. Think about it this way, if you are having to shout or threaten to accomplish a goal, have you taught anything other than compliance?

You can’t wing teaching. It’s more than having some nifty lessons in place. There has always got to be a backup plan. Even the most seasoned teachers will tell you that the prettiest most elaborate plans don’t always work the way they do on paper. You can’t get mad about it. At best you can set it aside for reflection later. When you are not busy, look at it again with fresh eyes. Frankly decide what you liked and what you didn’t like about it. Then tweak it and figure out how to use it for something else in two weeks.

The best way to ensure a smooth running effective lesson is routine. Children thrive on boundaries. They like to know what is going to come next. I found a timer very helpful. That’s not to say you have to be a robot and never be spontaneous.

Try to have nonverbal cues that you have introduced over time to transition activities. Kids don’t like to be in the middle of something and have to stop without warning. They will not gripe about it if they know how much time they have to complete it. When I had little ones I chose the song, “Don’t worry be Happy” as a transition song. It’s a long song and I played it twice. They knew that they could continue playing through the first round, and when the second round started they began cleaning up and were in their places when it ended. Then they received a skittle. I never said a word. I had a tape that only had that song on it, and it was recorded twice. That left nothing to chance.

So to sum up part one. Have your routine in place Have a back up plan for your lesson. Have a transition cue taught and in place. Don’t forget to reward for accomplishing the routine until it gets set.