WOW! I thought I was reading about myself as I was reading about Hick's childhood. The rural North Carolina town in God's country and summers spent at Bible School...learning to be a "good girl". I agree as I look back those were the moments that were critical in learning, in the sense of socalization. Those important memories and engagements are part of my unique life story. I never thought about those moments in my life history having such an impact on my beginning literacy. "Reading is part of children's situated histories." Our race, gender, class and locality all influence the practices of reading. As I read these two chapters and tried understand the people in them I found that the best way to understand them was to look at my history and try to really piece together what made me who I am today. Taking into consideration all the concepts we have been talking about in this course; race, gender, class and the locality of where I was raised. Once I understand this about myself the better I will be at understanding the discourses that make my students who they are and their literacy development.
Laurie's early years was an eye opening experience for me. It is amazing at the power of the events in our lives create who are, and how we relate to others shaped our beliefs and literacy experiences. Laurie's home life experieces had such an impact on her learning experience at school. I need to be more sensitive to my students and understand that their young lives are being influenced either positively or negatively before they come to me each day. And those influences do have an affect on their learning on a day-to-day basis. The success and/or the struggles that our students face sometimes flow from their home situations. My question is how can I, as a classroom teacher, help my students overcome such difficulties? My job is to immerse my students in literacy experices that will be life changing, therefore I need to know how to modify my daily instruction to meet the needs of all the children.
Karin Scott
Comments (3)
I also find it surprising when I think back to my own experiences as a child and realize that those moments impacted my beginning literacy. That thought alone makes me want to expose my first grade students to as many positive forms of literacy as I possibly can. Often times I believe that teachers feel as if they can not impact their students’ social literacy. This is not true, every day our students watch our reactions with adults, other students, behavior problems, etc. The way that we handle social situations can impact them more than we realize. I completely agree with your comment, “I need to be more sensitive to my students and understand that their young lives are being influenced either positively or negatively before they come to me each day.” All educators need to be more aware of what their students are going through outside of school. This compassion and understanding can make a world of difference for our students and their success.
Posted by Stacy Durham | June 25, 2011 12:49 AM
Posted on June 25, 2011 00:49
Karin-
I too was reminded by Laurie’s story of my childhood and what is was like growing up as a girl in the South. The focuses of this course and the readings have definitely helped me to realize the importance and impact our backgrounds and discourses have on our educational success. Sure there are always exceptions to the rule but race, class, gender, and place are undeniable contributing factors that must be taken into account when working with students. I do my best to know every child in my room and will in the future utilize this information more effectively to help ensure their success in my room. That is the root of our jobs after all, take each child from where they are and where they come from and help them progress from there.
Posted by Ruth Ann Timmons | June 25, 2011 10:58 AM
Posted on June 25, 2011 10:58
Hi Karin,
Being Jewish, I obviously had a different experience than you did! But learning from you, and reading about Hick's experiences help me understand what that discourse might have been like. I did however, have a number of experiences like you did, that helped shape who I am today.
Most of the time, I find myself piecing together parts of a child's discourse based on the little tidbits that he/she shares with me verbally. It was nice to read of Hick's experiences because it gave me a deeper view of what her world was like. In this respect, I think it is extremely helpful to have students write narratively about their personal lives so you can get a greater context of who they are and where they are coming from. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Posted by Carrie Brown | June 26, 2011 9:55 AM
Posted on June 26, 2011 09:55