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

There were two topics that resonated with me from chapter two of Reading Lives. I disagreed with Hicks' ideas about the “myth that children are autonomous learners,” while I found some common ground with her regarding her stance on critical literacy. This was a difficult text for me to understand, so I welcome your interpretations and thoughts!

When Hicks referred to the “myth that children approach literacy as autonomous learners...”, (p15)I understood her to say that teachers and researchers don’t recognize or acknowledge the different ethnic, social and economic backgrounds from which our students come.

I can’t speak for researchers, but teachers certainly know that students come to us with huge discrepancies in their life experiences which either help or hinder their literacy learning. Children who come from literate homes where learning is valued and books are plentiful have a huge advantage over those students who come to us never having heard a book! They come with greater vocabulary, life experiences, and basic world knowledge.

Student background and experience has a tremendous impact on literacy: it determines early literacy instruction. As educators we know that students who have not been exposed to print need to be taught the very basics about concepts of print. We know that we can’t assume anything and we begin by showing them how to hold the book and which way to go. We also know that we need to spend a lot of time building general background knowledge because these same kids have not been exposed to many concepts and words. The reality of a student’s background influences our instruction and their learning.

I did agree with Hicks when she quoted Barbara Comber about the need for critical literacy (p32). It is important for teachers to have meaningful conversations with their students about the influence text has whether positive or negative. It is also necessary for teachers to look for texts that reflect the social, ethnic and economic background of our students. I’ve noticed that there are many books available now that positively portray women and African Americans; however, we still lack good resources that include Asian and Hispanic people. Teachers have a responsibility to order texts that reflect the background of our students. It is important for them to be able to relate to and connect with the books they read.

Jayne Thompson

There are a majority of working class children in the school that I teach at. My student teaching took place in a school with a population of upper-middle class children. There is a clear distinction between these two schools in my mind. I don't feel as though I need to go into those differences, but they are there, and always present. I get the feeling that many things that happen in this school district are governed by the things that happen in the upper-middle class schools. I watch the news everyday, morning and night. My school has been mentioned once in the three years that I have lived here. Other schools are mentioned many times. There are a variety of reasons for this. But clearly the other schools get more media attention. And I think this effects many things that happen in our school district.

Where am I going with all of this?

I suppose my frustration is coming from the district or government or politics in education in general. Clearly (as this class has presented), children come from different cultures. Many times these cultures are different from teachers', administrators', and superintendents' cultures. And because of that, some children are at an advantage and some are at a disadvantage. If we know that, then why aren't we being more supportive of these struggling schools? (Don't you want the best teachers and the best administrators working not and day to ensure these students get an education?) You can send me to 10 workshops about reading strategies and math strategies. But how do I teach it to these working class children? How do I make it meaningful for them? How do I convince them that sequence is more important than mom not having a job? It is really frustrating. We know where these kids are coming from and yet, as a school, we get no support from the district. "You need to expect this. You need to have high expectations." Then why are you giving me a classroom library with no female protagonists, no Latino characters, no working class families, and no minorities (and if they are minorities, it is a joke)? Why do you allow our school to be inaccessible by wheel chair? How do you expect me to reach these children that have so many needs?

I could go on my rant forever. But I think you understand where I am coming from. :) I am excited to be reading about working-class children and literacy learning. This topic hits home for me. I hope to gain even more insight in the lives of children that I am trying to reach.

The idea of discourse being not just print and oral literacy was not lost on me. I immediately think of the story Beloved by Toni Morrison. The theme of identity runs rampant through this novel. By connecting discourse to this novel, I am able to think about how learning and growing happen in every facet of one's life.
Sarah Feinman

This was quite a challenging text. I felt like I was trudging through mud both times I read it!

There are three stars I made in the text while reading. First, on page 20, Hicks talks about ways of knowing and becoming that affect schooling. I was struck by the statement that it is not only contact with books and stories that are important for a preschooler. All the other things the child learns, and the WAY she learns, will affect her ability to engage with the culture of school. This is deep. If we recognize that there is a culture of poverty that does not mesh with the culture of school, what steps can we take? (The culture of the rich doesn't mesh either, but they have the means to search for options to public school.)

On page 22 Hicks reiterates that all learning involves some sort of relationship and attachment to another. I suppose she is going further to break down the myth of the autonomous learner. Finally, on page 31 I marked the quotation from Comber. Critical literacy asks the question, who is getting the shaft here and who has the power? Reading texts is "always politically infused," Hicks writes. I feel this so strongly when I read to my daughter. All the fairy tales she loves involve a princess dreaming about a prince. Her end goal is to get married. I hate reading these books because I don't want my daughter to believe this is the way life is. I even talk to her about the fact that these stories are made-up and are not like real life. If I use the tales to educate her, is that better than refusing to read them to her?

When I read from her child's Bible story book, we notice that all the people are white. The people in the middle east are not pasty white, by the way. We talk about how people are all colors and how nice it is to see pictures of all of us. I hope that in these small ways I can let her love the stories while always practicing "emancipatory literacy education."

Ashley Catlett

In the doctoral program (which I encourage ALL of you to consider) we took a class where we looked at race, class, and gender in education. One of our readings was Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which is mentioned in Hicks' work. As I read Hicks I thought of Freire several times. One of the most important things that I got from him is that teachers do not own the material that they teach. The knowledge that a teacher has to share with her students does not belong only to her. By teaching in a "I lecture, you listen" format, teachers are owning the curriculum because little attention is given to what the students bring to the classroom. The quote I share as my title speaks to the ultimate envirnoment where teachers share what they know, students share what they know and together they try to make meaning of it within the context of their respective backgrounds and experiences. Hicks' discussions on critical literacy connected with Freire because he also saw the need for teachers and students to critically analyze the curriculum to find its value and worth. I wonder if anyone has ever sat down and critically analyzed the North Carolina Course of Study or even more importantly the programs that promise complete academic success to every student?

I also think that we have to work to create more critical thinkers in our classroom. I think the days of simply accepting the authority of a textbook are gone and the days of teaching our students how to critically judge and evaluate their resources is here. As teachers and masters students we are asked to do that on a regular basis and I have to be honest that it has been a struggle for me to get to the point I am now. It took many growing pains for me to learn how to not accept the printed word as absolute truth and to find the justified means for evaluting that same printed word. While I completely honor my teachers and I am grateful for all that they have done for me, I wonder if some of my struggle came from what I didn't have in school. I was the student who just wanted to get the right answer and while that worked well for me in elementary, middle, and high school, it didn't work as well in college or graduate school. I was asked to look for all of the answers and more importantly to analyze why those would be right or if those would be right, etc. Creating critical thinkers is difficult. It means giving up control because the students are playing an active role in their learning, but the most important thing is that THE STUDENTS ARE PLAYING AN ACTIVE ROLE. I'm looking forward to getting more into this book because I know that a critical look at the education of working-class children will help me become more aware of my own teaching, whether in a K-12 classroom or in an undergradute classroom, I need to remember that all of my students come from different backgrounds but all of them deserve the same chance to succeed and learn.

Amie Snow

I agree that this chapter was hard to trudge through. Psychology always confused me in undergraduate school, and this was pretty psych heavy. Whew! I'm not even sure if I "got" the points at all, but I'll try to make some sense of this post :)

Even though this reading was difficult, the part that stood out the most to me was the passage about crayons: "We learn about color with crayons. We learn to tell the difference between white and pink and a color they call Flesh...Flesh we know has no relationship to our skin, for we are brown and brown like all good things (pg. 17).

You know, like many topics in this class, this is one that hit me smack in the face. It is one that I don't think I've ever devoted much time to thinking about, probably because I'm white and it has never affected me negatively like it has with those with different colored "fleshes."

In my pathetic attempt to relate, I thought about my everyday issues with being a left-handed writer. This world is very much geared toward those who are right-handed. Many things that righties take for granted are very frustrating for us southpaws. Door handles are placed to be convenient for the right-handed, notebook spirals hurt our hands as they rest on the left side of the page. Some school desks have the table part on the right hand side, forcing lefties to twist our bodies awkwardly to be able to write. The frustrations build up, not enough to make me act out on it or get cranky, but then again, these issues are petty and minute.

It must be the same with those of a different skin color than the majority. They go through life in a world that is geared toward those of another skin color, and those frustrations that build up are much bigger than the ones I mentioned previously. We don't realize how these small things, like crayon colors, are affecting our fellow humans.

Christy Rivers

Since Dr. Jackson offered this as an “open” post, I want to make a connection and ask for clarification.

After reading the second chapter twice I am beginning to understand this new-to-me meaning of discourse. Perhaps my most meaningful connection at this moment is how I navigate my own life. Until now, I simply characterized this movement as wearing many "hats"—my wife hat, my mom hat, my church member hat, my employee hat, my graduate student hat, my daughter hat, and my friend hat. (I am sure I left out more than one additional hat that I wear, but I figure that is fine since I cannot keep them all on my head at one time anyway.) I am realizing that these hats may be discursive in nature and thus provide a framework for my interpretation of the world around me. Even as I typed the words I felt the obligation to put them in the “right” order. One might ask, “Is there a right order?” While I believe I know the answer to that question, if I understand this reading I am being challenged to consider such notions of rightness.

Without a doubt philosophy is at the core of this discussion, and one’s life philosophy will be the sieve through which the information and opinions are filtered. I am not sure that it is possible for a person to completely separate oneself from her life philosophy in order to be truly objective. The best I can hope for me is that I will situate myself in such a way to be more willing to move from one discourse to another in order to understand my students and meet their needs.

I do need more information as I embark on the adventure of this text. What are "poststructuralist" theories? I am not familiar with the concept of poststructuralism (if I have derived the correct term) and do not want to rely totally on the context to construct meaning.

Lisa Rasey

Wow, this was a difficult reading. I struggled with it. Thanks for the podcast though, I believe it helped. The excerpt of Jake and Leeann was not surprising to me, I have evidenced such things for myself. However I was blown away by the discourse of Sean and Terry. I can't imagine preschoolers talking/behaving in that way. I am a southern lady as Dr. Jackson said and have not been exposed to preschoolers being that vulgar. What was even more shocking was the teachers lack of response.
I highlighted the quote on page 33, "We have small lives, easily lost in foreign droughts or famines." I can totally relate to this quote, I often feel that my own life or things that I have done are meaningless in the big picture. However as the text alluded to is there anything so small that it doesn't make a difference, to someone or somewhere?
The text also made me think about the way I think about literacy. I must admit that Hicks points out things that I had not thought about that so much of literacy is social and cultural. I think I knew the two were related just not the extent that the author suggests. I also like the idea of shifting. I don't always think of things shifting but everything shifts. Everytime I read another article my ideas and views are shifted.
Again I thought this was a difficult text but it certainly makes me think.
SuSu Watson

By reading Hicks’ overview in chapter one, I could easily identify her passion for the subject. She writes about her study in a very compassionate way, which hopefully will mean that we will learn a great amount from Reading Lives. But I wonder about her passion and attitude, and if it could change the outcome of her research. For example the authors states the following: “ feeling can guide teachers and researchers to knowing in ways that are more fully responsive to the particulars of how working-class students engage with middle-class literacy practices”. I agree with Hicks, but as I continued to read about the overview of her research I found it interesting when she said this: “ When it became clear in first grade that Laurie was not making it in school, I began adopting a somewhat different research role with her. I became Laurie’s tutor, as Laurie and I tried to figure out together how she was going to learn to read and write in school”. I found this interesting because I feel at that point Hicks’ role in the research changed. Would that affect the outcome and information she gathers from the research, and how would the information she gathers compare to the information that could be gathered by someone who has not stepped into the teaching role like Hicks did? Hicks states: “I was not viewed by the children as a regular teacher, but neither did I attempt to step into the role of peer or family member”. I feel like she may have taken on these roles more than she thinks, and how would this affect her research if she did take on these roles?

I also understand that when a person or things is placed into an environment, the environment changes. For example, the students were followed over a three-year time span and in the second grade were enrolled in the same classroom. The teachers had to be aware of her research, did this change their teaching? And if it did would it change the affect Hicks is trying to measure?

At the end of the podcast, she suggested focusing on the various types of discourse. By focusing on the three types of discourse she identified, I was able to relate some of the comments from the two research articles Hicks was discussing to possible situations I may encounter in classes. My undergraduate degree is in special education, so I find it interesting that the word “label” is used to talk about the type of discourse you may belong to. The labels that are placed on students that I work with require the school system to provide services, but it also links them to a discourse within the school system. It is different from the discourse Hicks talks about because most of the discussion is about the discourse students belong to or follow outside of the school settings. On page 24 the author mentions the Roadville students who are used to oral stories, which made me think of Zonnie from the article we just read. It was helpful for me to think about Zonnie when reading about discourses, because I was easily able to think of the possible conflicts the author discusses from students inability to be “hybrid”.

After reading chapter two, I thought of a possible answer to the question I had for chapter 1. Both Hicks and Walkerdine stated they came from a working-class family. Therefore, they were connected to the students by having the same discourse as the students they were researching. I do feel their connection to the students through living with a similar discourse would make their findings different from someone else who researched the same students. I understand discourse to mean the language process, values, and beliefs that characterize a certain group; consequently, wouldn’t they be one step ahead of someone who hasn’t experienced the need to be hybrid within the school system? The following quote leads me to think the above would be true: “…we reflect on the cultural regularities of community life and wonder perhaps about the feelings, knowing, and belongings, of subjects within discourses”. It would seem that because of this connection they didn’t need to wonder about the feelings, knowing, and belongings of the discourses the students belonged to. Which makes me think, would teachers who belong to the same discourse of students in their classes reach the students better than a teacher who does not belong to the same discourse? Or would it be more effective for a teacher who does not belong to the same discourse to teach the students to be hybrid as Health taught teachers to “construct more permeable, or culturally hybrid classroom spaces”. Another possibility is that it may not matter because Hicks states, “practices shape individuated subjectivities”.

Elizabeth Griffin

Wow! There were so many instances where I just could not follow the author as I read through chapters 1 and 2. There were some interesting ideas that the author touched on that I would like to respond to. What I did take from the article was Hick's frustration with the public school system. The frustration that the public school institution was not created for all students. Most educators all ready know that to be a fact and we are frustrated with that knowledge as well. The one thing that I never really considered is that poor White children are included with the minority children that get left behind. In my experience it’s just never brought up, not even once in the many disaggregated data meetings that I have to attend. Usually all we ever hear about is the huge achievement gaps in black males. When we look at test data the “Caucasian” category is not broken down in to rich Caucasian, middle-class Caucasian, and poor Caucasian. So what happens is that we assume that all White children are doing well in school, even though we know that this is not true. So what are we going to do about it?

I agree that the “larger educational and social constraints” need to be dealt with. The reality is that (most) teachers want to deal with them and are ready for change. The other reality is that we are not lawmakers/politicians, and although we would love to redefine traditional values and teaching practices our country’s “No Child Left Untested” motto leaves little room for a change upheaval. The way we are operating right now is “if you don’t get it, you lose out and you will be lost forever”. How fair is that? And like Hick's mentioned we do have progressive pedagogies like writer’s workshop (and also reading workshop) that allow more students to feel successful, but those pedagogies are far and few between. By no means am I saying let’s rid ourselves of accountability, but let’s find a better way to do it. If you talk to a teacher we already have great ideas on how to accomplish this, but hey, who asked us?

Just like with minority children, poor White children are being failed by our educational system. Good teachers know that,and do everything possible within the (little) freedom we have in our classrooms to produce fewer failures and more success stories. If every teacher just takes one disadvantaged child and makes him/her a success story, how long would it take before American schools became a learning environment for all students?

Cherrita Hayden-McMillan

Like several other readings this semester, the chapters by Dr. Hicks suggests that literacy is a word that encompasses several meanings. She suggests that it not only represents the psychological aspect of learning to read, but also takes into account a person’s socioeconomic background and surroundings. First of all, I completely agree that socioeconomics plays a crucial role in a child’s level of literacy. A kid that comes from a middle class background will most likely be surrounded by books and educated people. He will not only begin “prereading” before he enters school, but he will have a large knowledge base on which to build--a knowledge about society and the world around him. It will be much easier for this child to make the transition into school. On the other hand, a child who comes from a working class family will most likely not be exposed to the world of “middle class literacy;” therefore, when he enters the classroom for the first time, the transition will be a more difficult one.

By the time these children reach me in Middle School, they have become adept at this transition from home life to school life, and “code switching.” What I see, however, is that often these kids are resistant to that change. Like Dr. Jackson mentioned in the pod cast, these working class children may have more power at home, and therefore, do not want to transition to the school environment where they feel threatened. This reminds me of one our earlier readings that discussed how some African American students feel the need to “act black.” Often, kids from low socioeconomic status do not want to abandon their peer group (the group that they fit in with). Therefore, they may act like they don’t care or resist positive behavior in school. Similar to what Heath stated, I have also experienced some “conflict” with these children when it comes to activities where they have to use prior experiences. My middle class children have traveled and experienced numerous things, whereas my poorer kids have not had the same opportunities. This is most evident in writing assignments and discussion.

Personally, I can relate to Dr. Jackson’s discourse example in the pod cast. I didn’t realize exactly how many codes that I had internalized until I went to college. Immediately, my basic way of talking began to change. Now that all of my sisters have either graduated, or are in college, we often have academic conversations. Lots of times, family members (who are not college educated) will get lost in our conversation. Sometimes, I feel that in order to preserve their feelings, we should talk more at their level of understanding. It is not that they are ignorant, but my sisters and I are using a different discourse. As difficult as this is for me, I can only imagine how arduous it is for my students.

Heather Coe

I will admit this week's chapters stretched me! I read with great anticipation of inspiration buried in our readings that will rise up and grab me. This week, inspiration is there, but it was more difficult to find. I first had to dig through some layers to appreciate its beauty. This is quite similar to building literacy in our classrooms. Sometimes, it is not readily apparent with our students. It seems we are communicating on two diffferent planes, our words are not connecting with each other, there is a large crevasse between us. It requires us to read our world in a different way. It is developing an understanding of the complex relationships between language practices. When children enter our classrooms they are packing buckets of knowledge specific to their cultures, their home environments, their prior experiences. When they enter, we should carefully ask to see their full buckets, allow them to unpack all that is within their bucket. Then, we take out our bucket and begin to show them all we have packed inside ours.This is the beginning of a literacy show and tell. We first begin with the history of our experiences outside of school and then bring revelation of how school can connect and grow what they have encountered. They practice moving between these differing cultural worlds. The more practice, the more permanent the language and literacy exchange and acquisition will become. A discourse will develop that encompasses complicated questions about power and social positioning. As we tackle these harder topics, we begin to introduce the development of critical literacy thinking, broadening our literacy understandings beyond the classroom and into the community. It is almost cyclical. We take their culture in the beginning, integrate with our school interests, and then use the combination to build an understanding of the world beyond the school walls. So, this week I thought about becoming deliberate in discovering what my students are packing in their buckets. Practicing exchange and acquisition will lead to permanence and relevance in the world beyond daily schooling. Perhaps the title of this new book is summation enough--Reading Lives is our goal!
Stefoni Shaw

I found this book an interesting but difficult read. I found the podcast extremely helpful but I still had to read the text twice. The difficulty of the text really made me think about how kids are able or not able to interrupt text that we ask them to read. This text was difficult for me because of my lack of exposure and experience with research. I think that more often than we know it kids in our classes have these same struggles.
It was definitely thought provoking and made me wonder about things I hadn’t really thought about before. .

Thinking about discourse and how many discourses even a young child has is mind boggling to me. I have always known that many of my children home lives are often different than their school lives but I never really thought about it being a struggle or how much of an impact it can have on literacy. Is there a way we can ease this transition or has it just become a fact of life?

Hicks comment about preschool really hit home for me since I teach the little ones right now. She said, “ It’s not just the children’s preschool engagements with written text per se that make a difference once they enter school, nor even their engagements with stories and other types of oral literacies. Rather it is the entire cultural web- a cat’s cradle, if you will-of language practices and identities that so importantly has an impact on school learning, including literacy learning.” As a teacher it really made me think about my goals. One of my main goals each year is to introduce my kids to the world of literature. Many of them are not read to or have had limited exposure to a vast amount of exphttp://blogs.rcoe.appstate.edu/admin/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&blog_id=120#eriences. I work to create these experiences, expand vocabulary and build a love for literature. Hicks comment made me think through is that really enough? We know that our parents have the most influence on our children and what they know, however sometimes this influence is not a positive one, for instance with Sean and Terry. It was obvious that somewhere in their home environment they were learning language practices and identities that are less than ideal. At school I find myself trying to “resculpt” these kid’s experiences. But can I really do that? And based on what Hicks has said should I? Or am I just creating another discourse for them?

Amy Spade

Similar to some other responses, I found that this week's reading assignment was a bit more difficult to become fully engaged in than some previous ones. I did however find a couple of excerpts that inspired me to think more critically about education and the students I teach.

First of all, within the first five sentences on page one, I found a sentence that says volumes simply standing alone. "Students' searches for social belonging are as much a part of learning in school as anything that might be described as cognitive or even discursive." As I have many times looked at each and every one of my fourth graders, I have noticed just this to be true. Education and learning mean much more than the standards we are expected to teach our children. Our students come to us and are trying to master our content while dealing with the happenings in their own lives. Students are constantly attempting to fit in with some social group. They do not want to be the child who is bullied or teased for not having friends. This social belonging can even interfere with the child's formal education.

Then, I also really enjoyed the story of Frankie. Having a name and an outline of a child to fit into the ideology is helpful. Being able to hear or read the thoughts that Frankie is processing reminds me of the things I thought about when I was 12 or 13. Although the problems were different, the way of thinking was the same. This reminded me that although some children seem better fitted and socially adjusted, all children are battling and dealing with their own social dilemmas, especially from 4th grade and older.

Finally, I also thought the nature of the book to be interesting in that ways of thinking about children and learning can be addressed from different approaches. For example, teachers wishing to learn more about working-class children might concentrate on Chapters 4 and 5. This finally leads to thoughts about socioeconomic status, which can also play a major role in a child's education and literacy. I hope there is a great deal of focus on socioeconomic status throughout the book as I am intrigued by the differences in status and apparent abilities in school.

The reading of the overview did encourage me to begin to question my own class a bit more. It encourages you to consider questions. What are they talking about when I call them down? Are they trying to make or keep friends? Have they been bullied or teased by others? What types of things do they see at home? Has anyone ever read a bedtime story to them? As I consider these questions, I begin to explore how these might influence my on instruction. I hope to gain a better understanding of the research done and learn how to apply it to my own ideas and methods of instruction.

Brittany Guy

Ok, so yeah this reading was rather difficult. I found myself reading passages over and over and still getting nowhere in some parts of this text. Page 17, the paragraph from Code COMPLETELY LOST ME. I couldn't make any sense of it! Thankfully though, there were some parts from which I was able to connect to some of the other readings.
The excerpts from Heath were really interesting to me. It seemed almost like the idea we had previously discussed in the class, the idea of Code switching and having multiple voices for various settings. The difference here though was an entire different personality that the child from Roadville had to assume in order to function appropriately in school and not be punished or chastised for creating make believe or "lies" at home. This really got me thinking about some of my students and the lives they come from. I mean, what if in one's home, females are completely inferior and education is not valued, a woman's place is solely in the kitchen and taking care of babies. I mean, everyday on tv, I see things that completely shock me. For instance, that poligamist group that was exposed last year. I was outraged by what was happening, but what if I one day got one of those students in my class? Could I effectively provide a more "culturally responsive pedagogy" (p. 25) in my classroom for these students? I honestly right now don't know. I mean, what do you do with families who aren't supportive of a curriculum? I did have a child once who was Morman and couldn't celebrate holidays. For me, this was a big dilemma as I was teaching kindergarten and the study of various cultures and the way they celebrate holidays is a part of the curriculum. I simply had the child complete different activities then what the rest of us were doing and we missed out on many celebrations. This was also my first year, so I think I would handle it better now, but that was a whole year lost.
I am very excited about learning how to better integrate students' ouside beliefs and practices into the classroom, so I think that this text will help me to better understand how to do this.
As for Walkerdine, I don't quite grasp what her work was doing. I understand that she was observing working class mothers, but her input and excerpts didn't quite make sense to me. I wasn't exactly sure what we were suppose to get out of the discussion on pg. 29 between the two students harassing the teacher, other than I would never allow that to happen and language like that isn't acceptable to me. I mean, I understand that children are brought up in lots of different situations, but I still think there is a line between acceptable beliefs or behaviors and completely inexcusable beliefs and behaviors like those two preschoolers.
I am very eager to continue reading this book to see what theories emerge. I think it is going to be an interesting journey.
Whtiney Gilbert