This may be the most haunting chapter to me this semester. I believe I have met Laurie. She went by another name, yet her story remains the same. My heart hurt as I read line after line the history of a young girl longing for stability, acceptance, praise, and ultimately love. Her life was a pendulum, swinging from hope to despair depending on the scenarios playing out at home. School was a convenient place to reside, figuring out the codes to manuever praise and encouragement from those in authority. She wore the good girl mask in front of her teachers, yet her peers' perceptiveness noticed the areas in which Laurie lacked finesse. I was always drawn to these children in my schooling. I wanted to love them and include them in my world, though flawed, it was still closer to what they longed for. These friendships went well for awhile. We would have sleepovers at my house, trips to our church, and rainy Saturdays inside my room playing Barbies and school. Ultimately, the lure of my comfortable life became a wedge more than a bond. It was too difficult for my Laurie friends to leave my safe harbor and return to the stormy seas of their homes.
Now, as an adult and educator, I am still drawn to Laurie. It mainly plays out in my classroom, where the students who play "good" appear to be moments away from complete unraveling. While my demographic at FCDS is not the working class rather the upper class, the same familial struggles remain. Fractured families with working mothers trying to hold it all together while raising a family. My school may have children blessed with the material things, yet their souls crave the intangilbes.
As I read this chapter, I want to schedule an appointment with her first and second grade teachers and relate to them the importance of differentiated learning, investing in the lives of their students. I was disheartened to read accounts of the teachers who recognize some of Laurie's struggles, yet still maintained an arm's distance from her. So much could have changed with the investment of time on the teacher's behalf. Laurie was sitting there, silently calling out, "pick me, show me how, do you care about me?"
"Children's histories are so readily reduced to simplistic theories and equally simplistic solutions. The paths to creating negotiated movements between cultures and classes are, however, never simple-never reducible to a single method of teaching or theory of learning. Such moments of teaching require the hard work of seeking to understand the realities of children's lives and to respond in ways that extend from those contextualized understandings." p. 96 When the teachers of the Lauries fail to engage in this hard work of seeking to comprehend the lives of these students, we send the message that they cannot be rescued. They then begin to hang their hope on the dream that one day their prince will come.
Comments (5)
I completely forgot to put my name!!!! OOPS!
Posted by Stefoni Shaw | April 11, 2009 12:30 PM
Posted on April 11, 2009 12:30
Stefoni,
I agree it was difficult to read Laurie's story as mistake after mistake was made in her education. I'm not sure when this research took place, but it sounded like whole language to me. I'd like to think that this would not happen today, given what we know about guided reading and teaching students at their instructional level. Kids still struggle, but I hope that we are better prepared to meet their challenges.
Posted by Jayne Thompson | April 13, 2009 7:46 PM
Posted on April 13, 2009 19:46
Stefoni, What poignant beginning... I loved it! I also appreciated your insights relating to Laurie and your own childhood. It reminds me of my daughter, she too is drawn to people who may have a difficult homelife, those on the outside who always seem to be looking in. She was always someone over or to church, giving rides and inviting others to join our family activities. At first she didn't realize the cost to her own "friendships" and when she finally did she realized she really didn't care what they thought. She just has a really big heart!
SuSu Watson
Posted by SuSu Watson | April 14, 2009 4:33 PM
Posted on April 14, 2009 16:33
Stefoni,
I enjoyed your critique, especially these two lines: My school may have children blessed with the material things, yet their souls crave the intangilbes. The majority of our reading has been about students from diverse backgrounds and/or low socio-econmic backgrounds. I think you raise an important point, we need to focus on providing instruction along with the intangibles regardless of how privileged or unprivileged they are.
The other point you made that really stood out to me was: They then begin to hang their hope on the dream that one day their prince will come. Like you, I felt that the messages the teachers were sending to Laurie was that she could not be rescued. And it is devastating to me that at that early age she lost her independence and focused on surviving through the connection with another perseon. I feel that making personal connections are a good thing, but only after we have figured out some of our STRENGTHS and weaknesses.
Posted by Elizabeth Griffin | April 15, 2009 9:14 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 09:14
Stefoni,
I enjoyed your critique, especially these two lines: My school may have children blessed with the material things, yet their souls crave the intangilbes. The majority of our reading has been about students from diverse backgrounds and/or low socio-econmic backgrounds. I think you raise an important point, we need to focus on providing instruction along with the intangibles regardless of how privileged or unprivileged they are.
The other point you made that really stood out to me was: They then begin to hang their hope on the dream that one day their prince will come. Like you, I felt that the messages the teachers were sending to Laurie was that she could not be rescued. And it is devastating to me that at that early age she lost her independence and focused on surviving through the connection with another perseon. I feel that making personal connections are a good thing, but only after we have figured out some of our STRENGTHS and weaknesses.
Posted by Elizabeth Griffin | April 15, 2009 9:14 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 09:14