RES 5530: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Spring 2009)

The quote from the Noll article, "Zonnie is just kind of there" broke my heart. At first I was infuriated with this teacher and then I realized any one of us could have said that. In fact, we probably have said things like that. "She's so quiet, I just don't know what is going on in her head." "He never speaks out in class so I don't know if he understands or not." We feel so overwhelmed with the majority that we cannot focus on the minority.

Speaking of minority, the thought that minorities are treated and viewed as a set of numbers is something to ponder. Think of the subgroups of students who must meet testing requirements. They are numbers that we must improve. I don't think there is a category called "rich white kids who have had plenty of help at home." How do we change the way we view minorities as members of the majority culture? Will we have to wait until we are truly in the minority?

I was struck by how important literacy was in the home to these two students. They had been read to and they did writing on their own. However, their home culture was rejected by society and teachers assumed that these children were not very literate. Their funds of knowledge were not recognized and drawn from in the school culture. These students probably spent more time outside school (especially Zonnie) writing than their Caucasion peers!

The application for me is with my ELL students. They also have a home culture that is rejected by society. They try so hard to be part of mainstream culture, or find a gang in which to feel a part. School culture does not draw on their experiences and funds of knowledge. How can I permit them to "be Latino", encourage their literacy, and not see them as a number.

Ashley Catlett

Perhaps I have missed the entire point of this article. Please correct me if I have. I commend Elizabeth Noll for her insight into the lives of Daniel and Zonnie. I would love for their teachers to read this research article to see the potential that occupied their classrooms, but was left untapped. I was sad at the tone of dismissal in the teachers' comments towards Daniel and Zonnie. Daniel was referred to as "capable" but "totally disorganized". Zonnie had a penchant for writing poetry, but was pretty much left alone by her teachers. Her reading teacher, who Zonnie had a fondness for, didn't even know what her Zonnie liked to read. REALLY??? Is something wrong with this picture? If I notice a student struggling in an area, I try to assist them. They may not get it after the initial assistance, I may need to attune my instruction to meet their needs. Isn't that what teachers do? If Daniel struggled so mightily with disorganization, shouldn't there be some persistence on the teacher's end attempting new strategies for organization? Zonnie was walking around with a book of poetry waiting to be published and a hard life waiting to be shared, yet no one really took the time to know her.
Aren't our classrooms full of children similar to these two who simply desire to be known? Isn't that a central piece to building classroom community? In the Native American communities, Daniel and Zonnie were known. Their love of their culture, their dancing, their music was all well reported by their families. They knew what their children had a passion for. What about the teachers? Sadly, they were pretty much in the dark about their students. Daniel's teacher even commented how she saw him participate at the pow wows, yet made no attempt to connect that with his schooling.
Education at its best cannot be separated from all the other aspects of life. Instead, education thrives when it is intertwined, integrated,and woven into all the various aspects and details of a student's life. To keep school separate from life at home is a grievous error. Haven't we learned scaffolding information is a strong method for retention. The same is true with scaffolding a student's interests outside of school with what is occurring inside of the school. A bunch of adages are flooding my mind..."You can catch more flies with honey....", "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care".....
In order to provide meaningful instruction, a teacher must analyze as much about her students as she can. Otherwise her voice will sound like an echo bouncing around unable to be absorbed by her students.
May I never fall into the trap of putting curriculum over personal relationship. May I commit every year to fulfilling the hope of each student to be made known while they are in my class. May my instruction and general atmosphere of my classroom be inclusive and geared towards success for each individual. May my eyes see beautiful uniqueness as I welcome each child each day. May my words convey familiarity and interest.
May I allow myself and my students room to grow and adapt to varying situations.
May I continue to be stretched and pulled at what the role of a teacher is.
Stefoni Shaw

I’ve always found qualitative literature so easy to fall into – I get quickly wrapped up in reading about others and the stories of their life. This piece was no different - I just wish I could have read more about Daniel and Zonnie. One of the most glaring things that seemed to come up over and over again is how the schools seemed to miss out on significant pieces of their students’ lives. Noticing this made me think about how often this happens. How often do we as teachers look at a student’s academic ability and assume that they are ‘mediocre’ underachievers? How often do we fail to really learn about our students and the beautiful qualities that they bring to our classroom and school? An article like this one really makes you think about taking the time to just be with our students, to learn about them, to talk to them, to be human with them. To know a student we have to be willing to take time out of our busy day to show them we want to know them by asking questions and allowing them the time to share with us.

This piece also made me think about the purpose of schooling and how I believe that there are times when we pull away from what we as teachers are meant to do. Our job should be t help our students become life-long learners. We want our students to leave our classrooms wanting to learn more and actually take the initiative to learn more. Daniel and Zonnie both had interests outside the classroom that they wanted to learn more about. Daniel’s love of music and Zonnie talent for poetry became their reason for interacting with language. When they saw purpose in using language, they used it. In school, they had a hard time finding reason behind the assignments. They didn’t see the purpose of completing an arbitrary worksheet because the only product that resulted was another grade for the grade book. Yet, when they knew their product would be a new poem or a new musical score, they worked hard to create it. Thinking about this made me realize that we as educators may need to reevaluate our curriculum and find ways to develop authentic learning that will make a difference in our students’ lives. We need to show them the why and how so they can see the reason behind the work we ask them to try.

Amie Snow

Until last semester I do not think I have ever critically considered the definition of literacy. My traditional rather simple definition of literacy—the ability to read and write—had never truly been challenged before. I suppose I have been guilty of compartmentalizing the whole concept and never considering the notion that one’s ability to construct meaning through other forms of expression may constitute literacy as Noll asserts (p. 211).

As I read the case study of Daniel, I began to understand why Noll’s definition of literacy was reshaped. While Daniel seemed disorganized and uninterested in school, he excelled in his culture outside of school as a competent member who served as a role model for other Native American children. But at school…where his talents “don’t come out…” as his civics teacher explained, Daniel was a source of frustration. Is there any wonder that Daniel may have been disorganized with all things academic? These activities did not provide opportunity for Daniel to truly construct meaning in the way the flute, drum, and saxophone did. Daniel “got” music and his place in his culture. I completely marveled at both his interpretation of American Indian music and the connection he made between learning to read print and learning to read music. But Daniel made no connections in his civics class. Was this his fault? Daniel wanted more than permission to bring in articles from Indian Country Today, he wanted to be validated as a person—a Native American.

Why would Daniel possibly better position himself for academic success when he was completely disconnected with the educational material and the process as a whole? As I consider our students today, I wonder if that question should be asked of many. Perhaps, as Daniel, our students choose “…to leave school at school…” because it seems so irrelevant to take it home! Maybe we need to allow more of home to come to school. Although appearing early in the article, the quote from Phillips on p. 206 really caught my attention: “It is primarily by virtue of the teacher’s position and authority that the students and not the teacher come to be defined as the ones who do not understand” (Phillips, 1983, p. 129). Is a mechanic, plumber, and seamstress literate in ways that I am not? The literacies taught in school simply provide the framework for other literacies to be learned beyond the classroom. I must allow my definition of literacy to be reshaped as I consider each child as an individual. I must allow my definition of literacy to be reshaped as I consider a world that is so much bigger than school. And so, when I allow my students to see me embrace other literacies, the literacies they may bring from rich cultural backgrounds, I truly teach what it means to be literate.

Lisa Rasey

I really enjoyed this article because I find Native American culture so fascinating. Daniel and Zonnie’s stories were heart wrenching, especially when they both talk of the discrimination they faced, and I think I finally caught on to the point of qualitative research. When you get pulled into a story like these, you can’t help but become interested in what becomes of them and how their stories can help others.

Daniel’s story was the one that pulled me in the most. Out of the two students, he seemed to be the most involved in his native culture, and that really showed through in his actions. I really related to his love for music. While I don’t play an instrument, I am attached to music. It is always around me and influences me in a way that other things cannot. Daniel surely taught me that music is a type of literacy, and I’d never thought of this concept. Of course it is! Daniel’s statement about this subject was powerful: “Singing the songs…was like telling a story about something” & “Every note is like a letter or a word. And when you talk…[the music] is just like a phrase…like a sentence or something” (page 214). As I think back on this, I can see that I actually have used music as literacy in my own classroom. Every semester, no matter what I’m teaching, music makes its way into my lessons. I find songs that are similar to poems we read; I play music that has similes and metaphors when I’m teaching those particular literary elements. But had I actually thought of music as literacy? Not really. The same goes with dance. I am not and never will be a dancer, but I know that there are certain types of dance, if not all, that tell a story. This is also literacy in its own right, and perhaps an even more powerful type than we realize. I really loved how Noll included cultural aspects of these children’s lives to prove that, while in the eyes of quantitative research, their race may not be the most successful, quantitatively, they actually are.

I actually got kind of incensed when I read Daniel’s thoughts on the school’s Civics curriculum. We can apply this to any school in the country. What would happen if whites were the minority, and say…Hispanics became the majority. Would we still teach Euro-American history? And if Hispanic history was taught instead, would we find it unfair that white students were forced to learn about it? It comes back to the somewhat egotistical view that many whites have, which has been discussed in this class before. Because whites are the majority, we feel that any minority should have our culture forced upon them. As Daniel stated, “What are politics anyway?...Politics, all that stuff, doesn’t really go with the Indian ways.”

Christy Rivers

Zonnie and Danny felt “hard feelings out loud”, but who listened? Zonnie used poems to express her thoughts and feelings, and Danny used music with drumbeats and lyrics. What inspired them, affected them, and motivated them?

We first learned about Zonnie and Daniel’s knowledge of the Indian tradition: “ Zonnie and Daniel spoke Lokota or Dakota but most were knowledgeable about and participated in traditional Indian customs”. (208). Noll began the research article by identifying how important the Indian customs were to the two students. Next the author identified the purpose of conducting the research and writing the paper: “ I need to gain entry into the conceptual world of my participants, to capture the meaning that they confer on what they do and on the way other people react to what they do”. I tried to pinpoint specific information that helped me understand what inspired Zonnie and Danny, as well as how other treated them.

I feel Zonnie was inspired by love, and Danny was inspired by his heritage. I think both were affected by their heritage, but I felt that you could identify the importance of heritage to Danny more than Zonnie. In the second paragraph of the author describing Danny, three words or phrases really stood out to me: “symbolizing Indian power”, “full-blooded”, and “separated”. Literally Danny wore his emotions on his sleeve; the badge represented Indian power and the fact that he “started wearing an American Indian Movement (AIM) badge” and did not wear it the entire time made me think that Danny was experiencing strong emotion with his heritage. Something, or someone, made him feel like he needed to add it to his wardrobe. Also, the way he identified his family as “full-blooded” was an attempt to show his pride of his strong connection to the American Indian culture. Daniel and his family lived in a neighborhood that was “separated from the rest of town by a bluff that runs along the southern edge”. People separate themselves for many reasons. I couldn’t identify the reasons Danny’s family separated themselves, but I feel it might be a way to preserve their tradition and heritage. Heritage and preserving tradition seemed important to Zonnie’s family, but to her I think the love she felt for her family inspired and motivated her more. Noll states the following about Zonnie and the strong emotion she identifies within her writing and story telling: “Zonnie’s relationship with both her friends and her family influenced, at least in part, the role of writing, art, and dance in her life”. I think the love within the relationship greatly influenced Zonnie. The interesting point is that her main form of communication at school was through written expression. It was how she communicated the ideas she felt the strongest about. Zonnie sent her father poems when he was in prison. In the article she comments about sending them to her father: “they really like my poems because it reminds them of what love used to be”. Danny did not have a good relationship with his peers at school, out of school seemed to be different. He was treated poorly and called a “prairie nigger” at school. Zonnie’s experience with her peers was different but they did not understand the relationship she had with her family.

Through the case studies I was able to understand what the students felt strongly towards, as well as the specific background knowledge the teachers could use to build instruction with Zonnie and Danny. But why did their teachers not see it, and were they considered average students because of the C grades they were earning? To me their understanding of their heritage and emotions could be used to guide them into above average students. I also have a hard time understanding how Danny’s teacher could not see how eager he was for her to read his story. He turned in four pages of work when he usually turns in a small amount of work, how is that not a sign to the teacher?

Elizabeth Griffin

I enjoyed reading this article. It was very straightforward...and I only had to pull out the dictionary once..."phenomenological interviewing". Took me a few minutes to wrap my brain around that one. However, I was struck by the fact that Native American's do not do as well as White students on performance tests, when there is clearly an abundance of literacy at home. And it also appeared, in the case of Daniel and Zonnie, that their families were committed to their education. I quickly discovered the reason for this, which I want to address later.

I was disappointed in Zonnie's parents. They are happy with C's and B's? WHY?! If they say they are committed to her education, shouldn't they be pushing her more? The same with Daniel's parent's...D's? Hello?! It seems to me that this wonderful father who teaches his children so much would jump in and do something about it. But again...I quickly realize the fault is not on the parents or the students.

It seemed that for Daniel's school experience, there were NO connections to his cultural background. Oh wait, there was that report from a Native American perspective. That seems lazy to me. I know that I dig deep to find things that can connect to my students' lives. And not just one assignment, it is something that I strive for DAILY. And the same goes for Zonnie's experience. Yes, she had teachers that she could bond with over poetry, but where was the connection to her personal life? How was this school making anything relevant for these students?

And now I come to my point. One teacher of Daniel's said that Daniel left school at school. He wasn't bringing school to his home. But isn't it true that the school wasn't bringing school to his home? A bridge is needed for these students. The school has to put forth an effort to pull the parents in and the parents should put forth an effort to pull the school in. What about a monthly attendance to a powwow...involving staff and students? I can't even begin to list the possible literacy activities that could come out of that. Even if the Native American students are only 5% of their school....it shouldn't matter. NO Child Left Behind, right? There should be a bridge, a nice, strong, clean, sturdy bridge between school and home.

-Sarah Feinman

PS. I recently purchased multiple copies of "I Love My Hair"- Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (Author), E.B. Lewis for my group of girls. I am waiting (somewhat) patiently for it to arrive. I will keep every updated about the discussions this brings about. Can anyone recommend any other books? 1st-2nd grade level? I could even do a read aloud with them...

My first idea while reading the article was the part about the presentation of quantitative research findings on the achievement of Native Americans in America's schools. After gaining a better understanding of the two types of research in the articles in past weeks, I was able to understand the author of this article. So often, we look at reports of what findings suggest about minorities; however, these are often reports filled with bias. In the article, an example is given of the 57 point average difference on the verbal section of the SAT between Native Americans and Caucasian students. This is simply a number. What does the qualitative research show? Is it possible that the tests are somewhat biased? Could it be that the vocabulary or stories used are more familiar to people of a different culture? So often, we only look at numbers but forget to truly analyze the "why" behind these numbers.

Then, the idea of forcing American Indians to assimilate by teaching them only English reminded me of several previous conversations during the semester thus far. The article stated:

Early Indian schools were established to suppress native languages in favor of English
(Lazarus, 1991; McCarty, 1994) and “to ‘civilize’ and assimilate Indians into the
mainstream of the dominant culture” (Reyhner, 1992, p. 35). Although these
policies are no longer carried out through abusive practices, their underlying
Eurocentric orientation continues to be reflected in the schooling of Indian students,
who thus experience a sense of cultural incongruence.

This is so true of our education systems and several minorities across the country. Although we do not directly discriminate in today's policies, discrimination and forced assimilation still happens every day. It reminds me of our previous conversations about African Americans in our classrooms. We have asked them to lose parts of their own identity in speaking only standard English. In an even more severe case, we have suppressed the Native Americans' own native language and taught them only English. I can definitely see how students can begin to question their own identity and culture in these cases.

Finally, I also felt moved by the change in definition for literacy. The author said:

I came to view literacy as the construction of meaning through language and other forms of expression or, as Eisner (1994) wrote, as “the ability to encode or decode meaning in any of the
forms of representation used in the culture to convey or express meaning”

This was an interesting view of literacy. If I were asked to present a definition of literacy, I would have definitely stated that it was an ability to read and write. This definition is much broader and encompasses ideas about meaning and culture that I would not have included. I immediately noticed my narrow definition and wondered how others had thought of literacy before reading this article. By including these other aspects, we allow students who may have problems in writing or reading due to barriers dealing with language and culture to still fit into the definition of being literate.

Brittany Guy

I think that multiple literacies play an important role in any adolescent classroom regardless of race, gender or cultural background. The teenagers that I know are very similar to Daniel and Zonnie in that they have many interests outside of the classroom as well as feeling that school is out of touch with the things that are important to them in their lives. I think that most teachers, including Daniel’s, search for ways to make learning relevant. She gave all of her students the opportunity to write about a historical event from different points of view, including the Sioux perspective. It is just good teaching to make learning relevant and to recognize that students use literature in a variety of ways, including music, dance and art. So I wonder, who is Noll’s intended audience for this piece? Policy makers perhaps?

Noll commented in the beginning that “children are viewed and defined by the numbers rather than the activities and experiences of their lives.” Again, this is true of all children, regardless of race, gender, or cultural background. If the intended audience is policy makers, than I don’t understand Noll’s choice of numbers: only 66% of American Indians graduate. Both Daniel and Zonnie are surely part of that 66% who will graduate. I would have been more interested in a study from students in the 33% who don’t graduate. I feel that this would shed some light on the concerns and needs of the disenfranchised population.

Compared to the other articles that we have read, I didn’t find anything new or important in this study. It seems to me that the study discussed issues that are typical for most adolescents and shared concerns that most teachers try to address in their classrooms. As the saying goes, Noll was just “preaching to the choir.”

Jayne Thompson

The opening pages of this article clearly demonstrate the importance of qualitative testing, rather than relying on quantitative testing alone. I thought the most provocative quote was that qualitative research allows us to learn from “those whose voices are not normally heard.” Too often teachers are forced to focus on the mainstream, simply because we do not have the time to “deal” with the more difficult cases. Every year, thousands of kids are being pushed to the side--children like Danny, for instance. He was full of life--possessing several interesting hobbies and talents that a teacher might never discover. After reading about these cases, I started to wonder how many truly insightful kids that I missed out on.

As the article points out, American Indians have been forced to “mainstream” their language and practices since the onset of Native American schools. They were forced to cut their hair, adopt a new religion, wear more “civilized” clothing, and speak English. Every time that I look at one of the photographs of these children from the 19th century, it saddens me. They look completely lifeless--no expression of happiness on their faces at all. Even though this was over a century ago, I can’t help but to think that children across the United States are facing these same emotions. In an attempt to standardize everything, we are, in fact, leaving many children behind. Minority students, especially, are being stripped of their culture, for the sake of being “civilized.” Although America is often called the “melting pot,” I think that we should take offense to that. The melting pot idea suggests that we take everyone and make one final uniform product. Is this really what we want and need? I don’t know about anyone else, but the ideal place does not include a group of people with exactly the same interests, dialects, religions, etc. I am afraid that educational policies in the United States today are steering our country in that direction.

I believe that the “slogan” that our country should use is that we are the “salad bowl” of the world. We have our unique lettuces, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, cheese, etc. Each of these kinds of characters adds to the value of our “salad”--rather than taking value away from it. We need to promote the idea that children should be true to themselves, and find their own path in this world. Sometimes we need that really crazy pickle to pull our salad together.

Heather Coe

Anytime we hear about the numbers from testing we naturally react to them in the way that the general public does. I was guilty of it just this week. My principal was talking about how low the third graders scores were on the pre-EOG in our school, across the county, and in the state. With my son being in third grade I was curious to hear more and I wanted to know when they were “releasing” the scores. She explained to me that they were trying to write a letter that would explain the reasoning behind such low scores, i.e. that it is a new test, and it was given within the first ten days of schools, etc. so parents and the public would not become so concerned. I think the letter is a good idea trying to give the public an explanation of what is going on versus just numbers but it is frustrating to know that much of that will be completely overlooked as people naturally focus just on the numbers and what that says about the students and schools.

This article presented the same alarming news, in the beginning, which we often hear about with testing, minorities groups scoring significantly below the majority-white population. When we look at the numbers people generally start making assumptions as to why this is without knowing anything about the population or situations in that community. For instance, one might assume that the Native American population does not provide many literacy rich opportunities or that English is not spoken in the home. When in fact this was not the case with either child observed during this research. When in fact both kids came from homes where reading to the kids was a priority and English was spoken in the home. In addition, the families were involved with their children and felt that education was extremely important. It was at school that they had fallen between the cracks. The teacher’s blinded view of these students kept them from seeing their true potential and from helping them find the meaning behind learning at school. Yes, they were given opportunities to do a few assignments throughout the year that gave them choice and the opportunity to learn and share about their culture. But obviously this wasn’t enough because both students had hidden talents and potential that was not recognized at school. I do not think this is because the teachers didn’t care, because in order to teach you really have to care. But instead I feel that we have became such a test and curriculum driven society that teachers are afraid to teach outside of the box or that they wont get to something that they have to. I would have liked to know more about what the teachers thought about the results from this research and the implications that come from it. So although I feel that quantitative research gives a biased opinion I also feel that that the qualitative was biased also.

This article made me really think about what great responsibility teachers have taken on and how truly important we are in each and every one of our kid’s lives and their future as life long learners. It also made me think about how hard it can be when you think you are doing all that you can, when in reality they may be something or someone you are missing.

Amy Spade

This was one of the BEST articles I have read yet!! I think it really hit the nail on the head with the idea that children can be extremely literate and not perform well in school. I think for Daniel's case, it was because the lessons being taught in school didn't appeal to him or affect his life in any manner. No one really took an interest in his heritage or wanted to learn his traditions and even ridiculed him and harassed him for being Native American. So why would anyone want to learn about a culture that did that to you? Zonnie did not have as much of a problem fitting in but was not a stellar student even though she clearly understood literary styles and techniques as shown through her poetry. These were both highly capable and literate children who were just turned off to school and marked as "mediocre" because they didn't complete a certain assignment or do well enough.

So often, teachers do not take the time to find out what interests their students. Choices are completely limited and when a child thinks that something isn't going to help them in their real life or doesn't appeal to them, they simply won't do it and will have very little enthusiasm in the process. I think this is why it is so important for teachers to allow choice and to assign meaningful tasks while expressing HOW completing something can help you later on in life. I look at myself for example. I hated math growing up. I could not stand it, but I did the work and was in honors courses. I remember my senior year when I was taking pre-cal thinking "when am I ever going to have to measure a parabolic angle"? I knew I would never use that stuff, so I did the minimum and got by with a C. I simply didn't care because it had no relevance in my life.

I could guarantee you that if Zonnie took a poetry course, and Daniel, a creative writing course centered on Horror stories, they would both be extremely successful. Unfortunately, public schooling does not work this way and to these two Native Americans, whose roots are seeded in so many other culturally important lessons, value "school education" with little regard. And the thing is that teachers should be asking their students "why"? "Why aren't you doing your work?" I think if students were asked "why" more often, they would tell you and then a teacher could begin to help that student find success.

To say that Daniel and Zonnie aren't literate because they didn't perform well enough on a standardized test is ridiculous. Clearly, they are more literate than some graduates we all know and this shows the problem with standardized quantitative data. We now allow seniors to complete a senior project which shows their learning on a topic they pick and a topic that is important to them, and I say that this is a better judge of knowledge than a bubble in the dot test. The reason for this is because the project is important to that student. If Daniel went and met the writers of the standardized test, or even really talked to his teachers that just assigned book work, he would blow them away with his intelligence and deep knowledge of his culture and his surroundings. Zonnie does it through her music and poetry. Give them an assignment where they actually get to showcase their talents and present on a topic that has deep meaning to them and one would see how intelligent they really are. Teachers would no longer be "unaware of the multiple literacies" that Daniel and Zonnie possess.
Whitney Gilbert

As I was reading the article I was thinking we only have one American Indian at our school ( to my knowledge). However as I continued to mull over my thoughts, would many of these same concepts and misconceptions not carry over to other cultures? Do we assume that because a child does not turn in an assigment that they are lazy? Do we assume because a child does not excel reading there are no books, or materials to read at home? Or that their parents do not promote literacy in the home? Do these students not have an interest in learning? These are assumptions that someone (meaning me) could come to if Daniel and Zonnie had been in my classroom. However this case study showed just the opposite to be true. Daniel and Zonnie both had an interest in learning, just not in their current course offerings. Hopefully when they got to high school they could find something that would interest them. Yet therein lies one of the major problems, why is that students have to wait unitl high school to choose their own course of study? For many students it is too late, they have given up and quit school or have zoned out and do the minimum amout to get out. I try to give my students choices whenever possible. For example we are doing biographies now, and for their project they can either dress up as that person and give a "first person" account, create a newspaper about that person including ads or create a poster and timeline of their person. And of course students were able to chose thier own books. I realize this is just one thing, but I try to include choice whenever possible.
My heart broke for Daniel when the teacher passed his paper and chose not read it. This was an assignment he obviously worked hard on and was proud of. The next time an assignment was given he was probably thinking "Why bother? She won't read it anyway." The reading of that one paper could have been a turning point for Daniel and the teacher, in reguards to that particular class. How many times have I made the same mistake. Passed over a students paper because I didn't think it was good enough to read to the class.
Zonnie was an avid writer. I imagine if she had a poetry class she would have excelled. I think how many "good" readers and writers don't like poetry and Zonnie loved it. For many students poetry is a struggle yet not for Zonnie. I found it enlightening to hear what Zonnie's teacher thought of her. As a mediocre student because of her "C" average. Do we base everything on grades and test scores? Why? When the obvious is right in front of us, we need to reach every child... find a way, so they will succeed. I need to broaden my definition of success, I need to find ways to reach every child.
SuSu Watson