Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Summer 2011)

I can certainly identify with the “good girl” mentality. I also grew up in the Bible belt listening to and learning from southern women and Baptist preachers. My earliest memories of literature were in Sunday school. I had two retired teachers as my pre-school and 1st grade teachers and we would look at the literature and do activities in the little books every Sunday. As we advanced in grades we would read round robin style in Sunday school. I always dreaded this because I was so worried about what I was going to read I couldn’t keep up with the story. I became a people pleaser in church and outside of church because I received positive attention when I helped out. I still have that desire to help others still which I think is a good thing.

Back to literacy, I don’t remember seeing my parents read when I lived at home. I was not encouraged to read at home. I was encouraged to play outside with my 2 siblings and the neighborhood children. I heard lots of Bible stories but not a lot of storytelling about my family or my heritage.

We would have been considered working-class but most of the people I knew were working-class as well. Our neighborhood was home to ten other children within three years of my age and I was a tomboy who played football with the boys rather than talk about them with the girls until I went to junior high school. My interest in sports very much overshadowed my desire to read. I did well academically, however, and still love my first grade teacher Mrs. Holland. I’m not sure if I was academically adept or the fact that I wanted to please my teachers was the result of all A’s on my report card. My junior high and high school years I remained involved in sports and still maintained good grades throughout. Those years I do remember experiencing the feeling that I was not good enough or did not have enough money to go to college.

I was interested in Laurie’s story because I think it is one that happens often. Her ups and downs in the early grades seemed to be linked to the happiness of her mother. It appears as if she slowly fell behind in reading, just enough to lag behind but not drastic enough to notice until 3rd grade when all the sudden she is two grades level behind. I also connected with the fact that Chapter One was portrayed as a safe haven for Laurie. It is my opinion that Response to Intervention has helped our school identify these students that slowly slip away earlier than we have in the past. With all the education about differentiation and individualized plans are working to ensure that students are having their needs met earlier than before. Maybe too late for Laurie but just in time for so many of our students.
Karen Gold