Lorde's encounters with teaching

Lorde encountered many different styles of teaching within her first six years of life. She started out with her mother hurting her into silence or screaming. She was mute for most of her early childhood just from the fear of speaking wrong. Her mother would discipline her by a box to the ear and pinches on her nose or arms. This was her first teacher.

            The second teacher she met was in the library when she and her mother were waiting for her sisters. Lorde was having a meltdown which called attention to her by a librarian. She expected the librarian to hurt her like her mother does but instead the librarian introduced a new kind of teaching; being soft spoken. The librarian read her some picture book stories and from then on she loved the art of reading. Lorde for the first time spoke out and said I want to learn to do this. Her mother was so proud of her saying something intelligible she took on the role of the teacher.

            Seeing her mother in a new teaching light changed the perspective for Lorde. Her mother was supportive and taught her the alphabet and how to read. Yet she neglected to teach her numbers.

            The first school she attended didn’t work out because she was considered an overachiever and didn’t follow the direction correctly. When she was moved up a grade and to a different school things got a bit better. Her not being able to read numbers was a huge disadvantage to her schooling.