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

As I read this chapter I was reminded of something that my undergrad Children's Lit. methods professor said over and over again, "Educators are teachers of students NOT subjects or materials." This entire book has reinspired me to "read the lives" of all the students that I teach. In some ways I envy Hicks, in that she is given a different "lens" in which to look into the lives of the students she works with. I am also somewhat envious that she has more of an opportunity to develop a deep personal relationship with the students that she works with. I would like to say that I develop personal relationships with all of my students, but I know that some of the relationships that I form with my students are closer than others. I think that in order to develop the deep personal relationships with all of my students I need to start seeing all of my students as individuals, not as groups of individuals in my class. I have found myself doing that often in my teaching career, lumping students together by characteristics and treating them accordingly. Once a teacher begins to realize that language, race, gender, nationality, and homelife affects who a student is and what they can bring to the classroom only then can learning take place.

I agree with this chapter that we need to fall in love, not with teaching, but with our students. It is truly like a romantic relationship, and what do you do when you are interested in somebody? You find out as much as you can about them. You want to know what does and does not interest them. You want to know how to add to their happiness. You do things to get them to respond to you in a positive way. You encourage them to open up to you. I think this concept should be one taught in methods courses. You can be the best planner and have the greatest ideas, but in order to plan an awesome lesson one truly needs to be in love with their students so that every student can achieve the goals and objectives that you have set for them to learn.

For me this chapter summed up, if you will, everything that we have been reading about this semester. I am thankful for my Children's Lit. methods professor who laid the foundation of teaching students not subjects, as a prelude to me understanding and internalizing all of the research that we were exposed in this course.
Cherrita Hayden-McMillan

Hicks suggests that we must understand our complexities and differences in learning. This must be the focus, and not a "faith in the unifying power of a body of knowledge" (Rose). I agree that for a long time, the information or curriculum itself has been the IT, the god if you will. We measure ourselves by how much of the IT we can grasp or understand. How much of IT we can cover in 10 months. The shift must take place for us to reach out to each other and not to the IT.

Hicks reinforces the idea that feeling is integral to learning. If the affective filter is high because of an unloving teacher or a culturally unmatched curriculum, students will turn off or tune out. Especially the working class ones. The example given of Rose's journey exposes the positive things that can happen when growth is fostered and the detriment that occurs if it is not.

To really see our students "faithfully" requires constant attention. What works for working class kids in the mountains might not work here in Davie County. Parent meetings that draw Latino parents to the school in Greensboro are not necessarily applicable to parents in Asheville. Each community is different and there is not a magic formula for any minority group. I think this is what we try to do. We say, Hill Center works for all kids. Reading Recovery is the only way to do it. All ESL kids need sheltered instruction. None of these generalizations can be made without first SEEING the specific kid and community. This is a hard pill to swallow and it makes me tired thinking that each child is complex and needs me to focus on him. Really, though, it is like parenting. Not all kids respond well to time out. Not all need to be spanked. Every child is different. It is sad to me when I try to visualize a kind of school built around this idea. I cannot do it. I do think research like Hicks' can propel us toward that kind of school.

Ashley Catlett

I need to schedule some time to read Mike Rose's book. I think it would be an inspiring read, much like Reading Lives. He was able to capture in some of the quotes Hicks uses, the essence of teaching. "Teaching I was coming to understand, was a kind of romance. You didn't just work with words or a chronicle of dates or facts about the suspension of protein in mild. You wooed kids with these things, invited a relationship of sorts, the terms of connection beign the narrative, the historical event, the balance of casein and water. Maybe nothing was "intrinsically interesting." Knowledge gained its meaning, at least initially, through a touch on the shoulder, through a conversation of the kind Jack MacFarland and Frank Carothers and the others used to have with their students. My first enthusiasm about writing came because I wanted a teacher to like me."
Teaching is an art. It is tapestry being woven together every day. Some threads, or ideas remain as a dominant color all through the pattern of the tapestry. Some threads may exist only in small areas, making their impression as a piece to the whole masterpiece. Each day we are contributing to this tapestry. A piece of our personal history may run all through the tapestry as we weave it into every class we teach. Other threads may be particular stories that influence the atmosphere of the classroom for a school year, that weave their way in to a permanent place in our memories, changing who we are forever. Every child represents a thread, for the beauty of the tapestry is weaving together each one of our students' stories with our own on our education exploration. We weave their stories with the math, the language arts, the reading, the social studies, and the science we teach. If our weaving comes across a knot or an unraveling thread, we just trim it and pick up the loose end and tie it onto another piece of thread. The mending is barely noticeable! At the end of each year, we glance at our tapestry to check its progress, it is interesting to see the unique patterns and colors that are beginning to reveal themselves. It won't be until retirement or beyond that we can truly view our tapestry and appreciate all the work that went into this masterpiece.
This is the image I thought of as I read this chapter. Rose touches on this, we are creating environments that are magnetic, where love is in the air. We are laying the groundwork for a lifelong love affair for learning. It is not simply a list of terms or equations, it is an interest in the child's interests and then connecting it with the curriculum. I love love. And I love to go to school each day in an attempt to create a classroom where a love for learning will flow from a child that first knows that are unconditionally loved and valued by their teacher. When a child believes that, you have caught their attention. You have caught their attention because you have first paid attention to their heart. There will be days, as in any romance where mood swings may temporarily derail some progress, but communication and a great big hug can usually shift the atmosphere back. I've read the blogs and comments this semester and we all are desiring and attempting to build this environment. We want to woo children, to enthrall them with the beauty of education, not because of any other reason than simply we care about them. Spring has sprung and love is in the air.....

“Within real pressures and limits, such practice is always difficult and often uneven”. BUT IT IS POSSIBLE!

I felt the placement of this chapter by Hicks was a very effective way to end the book. For me, this chapter was uplifting. I really enjoyed reading the thoughts of Bakhtin, Rose, and Nussbaum that were identified by Hicks in this chapter.

Nussbaum suggests, “New relationships can constitute new forms of knowledge-some empowering, some tragic”. I think I focused a little too much on the hardships Jake and Laurie faced in the previous chapters in the book. Because this chapter, and Nussbaum’s idea made me realize and think about how effective teachers do have a chance to allow students to start with a new slate. Especially when teachers accept and take on the idea of moral relationships from Bakhtin. Hicks identifies the following statement about Bakhtin’s ideas on moral relationships: “his theory of language allows space for the kinds of everyday attachments that create the conditions for response”. This statement made me think that our actions can hurt others and others actions can hurt us, including those of students, but you get another chance because these “attachments” occur everyday, not once in a lifetime. I feel that the authors were also saying that it is important to provide these attachments for students and together create an environment that welcomes and supports “moral answerability”, because without those attachments “dialogue can be detached and oppressive.”

I think by creating these environments that are “attachment” enriched we welcome all discourses. To me, it seems that no matter the discourse of students, if they were able to experience and develop attachments with their teachers and peers then it would create a state that encourages hybrid languages of the classroom. For instance, I think of the times that I have experienced something new or different with a person that I was not very close to and we did not have the same background. Because of that attachment we made through the experience, it was easier to talk with them and experience other things with them even though our discourse was not the same.

All along we have learned that acceptance of various discourses is imperative, but I really feel that it is as important to not get overwhelmed if we upset someone because our discourses are different. I think when we realize that we have upset a student or co-worker, we have another chance to work with them and create attachments that enable each other to have hybrid discourses.

Elizabeth Griffin

I too as Stefoni said would like to find time to read Lives on the Boundary by Mike Rose. I would like to read more about his placement in high school and and how he was affected by "switching tracks". I was also moved by the picture he presented with his teacher Mr. MacFarland who became his mentor and role model. So many times I have heard, "You can't be friends with your students, they already have friends." This is an issue I wrestle with, I agree with the statement, but we have to show the students we care, because "No one cares what you know, until they know you care." The caring involves a two way street similiar to friendship. ( As a teacher only in my fourth year, I would love some feedback on this issue.)
Hicks asks the question "What can help teachers move toward more responsive kinds of literacy practices with working class children?" Then she answers her own question with "It is an effort to learn about this community, this neighborhood, this family." (p. 154) I agree with this statement wholeheartly. Every one needs to find what works in their communtiy, then remember it won't work with everyone in the community. I have a key to my school that opens most of the doors in my school, yet it won't open all the doors. We need to remember we are dealing with individuals, not mass produced generic people, that fit a particular stereotype.

SuSu Watson

Like a few of the others have mentioned, I, too, struggle with the exact relationship that I should have with my students. Many of my kids do not come from supportive homes; therefore, I feel that I am often seen as their adult role model. I also believe that in order to be an effective teacher, your students have to know that you care and appreciate their lives. I try to make a point to talk to them about their interests, and get updates on their lives. If they think that you care about them, they are more responsive in class (most of the time). I know teachers that think that your relationship with students should be purely professional--no “small talk,” no hugs, and basically nothing that crosses the teacher-student iron boundary. Now, their students behave, but they often don’t respond well to their teachers. I would like to also add that I think that this boundary varies from student-to-student. Some kids are more open to you than others.

Aside from just teaching the students our assigned content, it is our responsibility to teach them to be life-long learners. We will not be with them following this year--what have we planted in their brains that will continue to grow? I love social studies (learning about it, teaching it, etc.), however, I understand that in order for my kids to truly appreciate it and learning in general, I have to make it relevant to their lives. How can a teacher truly make information relevant to a student’s life, if he/she does not know anything about that student or their background? One mainstream curriculum that attempts to place everyone in the same pot is not going to be effective. Teachers need to be aware of what backgrounds that exist in their classes. This reminds me of the analogy that I used in a blog earlier in the year. The United States should strive to be a “salad bowl nation,” not a melting pot.

In an effort to gain an understanding of the various backgrounds that I will have in my class next year, I have already decided that I want to do an anonymous survey. I want to know their ethnic, religious, language, and family backgrounds. I might even graph the results and leave them up throughout the year. I think that this will not only help me, but my students as well.

Heather Coe

I often complain about my undergraduate program. I feel as though it did not prepare me for teaching at all. They even warned me, “You will not be prepared for teach”. They gave me many wonderful lesson ideas (which I haven’t used at all….) and many great resources for curriculum (which I also haven’t used…). But there was clearly a lacking of ver’nost. No one prepared me for the connections that I would make with students. They are stronger than most connections I have ever made. I certainly think that a few philosophy requirements would have better prepared me for teaching. Even the reading of Rose’s work would have been suitable.

Countless behavior management workshops have told me that in order for my students to respect me, I need to respect them. Some have even mentioned that students can read your eyes better than your words. I would try to respect my students, but it never seemed to do anything. It wasn’t until I truly got to know my students, and meet them where they were, that I began to respect them. The beginning of the school year is always incredibly hard for me. I put so much time into my students. But by the end of the year, (like right now) I discover how much I love my students. I also see how much they count on me and need me. They know I will be there, everyday greeting them at the door. Perhaps ver’nost is not something that teachers can learn how to do with students. But if we can learn to be open, maybe we can try to reach it.

I think there is a huge issue in education today. Relying on high stakes tests to prove growth and progress is not the way to form educational practices. Each student that walks into the door is unlike any other student. Research tells us that because students come from such diverse backgrounds we cannot rely on these tests. But we continue to do it. Grading is easy. The numbers are easy. The comparisons can easily be made. I am hoping that the shift has started. I am already hearing many things about changes with the current EOG. I have heard that there will be added sections. They will begin to use short answer questions and essay questions. It isn’t much, but at least it is a step in the right direction.
Sarah Feinman

This chapter was a good way to tie up what we've learned in this book. I've enjoyed reading about specific people and feel like it has been a great way to learn more about literacy. This text has been able to illustrate, through intimate looks through students' lives, how their early experiences influence their later literacy lives. I found particularly interesting the section about Mike Rose and the controversy he writes about in getting too involved in students' lives. As Hicks states, "he expresses how movement through particulars was necessary for his own understanding of the dilemmas faced by poor and working-class students--and presumably also for his readers' deeper understanding of those dilemmas..." (pg. 140). One of the points brought up was that learning about these students' lives in such an intimate sense could be a negative thing, that stereotypes could be formed and being too "seduced" into the narrative to see the educational point. However, I can't see why one would NOT want to learn about the particulars of a students' life. Isn't that where all the answers lie? Why does a student act a certain way? Well, let's look at how his or her home life is. Why can this child not read? Well, let's look at the particulars of how he or she was taught and what kind of support they are receiving at home. Of course, there are boundaries to be met, as Hicks mentions. We cannot get to fully into a child's home life as teachers. I'm sure even Hicks had road blocks when she was trying to research these children at home. But we can take little steps, like asking our students about their likes and dislikes and taking the time to get to know them at the beginning of the school year. If they are acting out, take them aside and ask them what's going on, rather than calling them out and potentially embarrassing them in front of the entire class.

While we are all part of a very institutionalized setting everyday at our schools, we need to realize that the reason we're there is for the lives of the students we encounter everyday. To attempt to become part of those lives would make a lot of difference. I'm grateful for people like Hicks who take that time to do such quality research that really does make a difference for people like us reading it.

Christy Rivers

This semester I had the amazing teachers in my Advanced Children's Literature class read The Invention of Hugo Cabret. If you haven't read it, it's a must read for the summer. It's beautifully crafted with carefully chosen words and thoughtfully drawn illustrations. At the very heart of the book are many important life lessons one of which is the process of finding and following your purpose on life. When we lose our purpose, when we forget what we are striving to become we easily can lose track of all that is important. Like the clocks in Hugo's train station, we become broken when we can no longer find a reason to be. As I read this chapter the thought of purpose remained with me. Children come to school ready to learn, wanting to learn and as their teachers, it is our job to help them find their way to their purpose. It is our job to give them the tools that they need to find out who they want to be. When children or students can watch their teachers, their professors, live the knowledge that they love, they can see the possibility for finding the same kind of passion of their own. In this chapter Hicks quotes Rose's work, which I also suggest as a must read, when he discusses the power his teachers had to excite and encourage his academic development: "They lived their knowledge. And maybe because of that their knowledge grew in me in ways that led back out to the world. I was developing a set of tools with which to shape a life" (p. 144). Through the passion of his teachers for their life's purpose, Rose began to find his passion as well.

Teaching is not only a deep knowledge of the subject or subjects you will teach. It is not only a knowledge of how students develop as readers and learners. It is knowing all that but also being able to connect with your students, being able to build a caring, supportive relationship with your students so that you are a part of their educational pursuits as well as their growth as an individual. I think Rose's connection between teaching and a kind of romance works well - teaching is something you work on, something that can get better in time, something that requires your heart to do well. I think that most of it feel those moments of teaching romance on a regular basis. You fall in love with your students and as soon as you do you find yourself doing things to stand up for them, to support them, to make sure they are getting everything they need to succeed. At the end of the year you let them go with a happy and heavy heart hoping that even just a little bit of what you taught them will stay with them.

Amie Snow

Reading lives is complex. Reading this last chapter helped me to realize how much the “lens” from which I view others affects my interpretation of and reaction to others. Not only does each child come with their own unique and complicated background, but my own experience influences my perception of their situation as well. Reflecting on my last entry about Jake, I can see how my “lens” has been influenced by my history. I saw Jake’s struggle as an instructional issue, rather than a class issue. This makes sense given my upbringing and education. I am the product of working class parents too. I worked hard to become the first child in all of my extended family to go to college. So I carry a bit of a “chip on my shoulder” believing that a good education and success can be accomplished with hard work. I recognize now that I have less tolerance for working class students. Reflecting back to the other stories about race, culture and language, I had much more empathy for their situations than I do for those that resemble my own. My professional resume also greatly influences my thoughts and feelings. I’ve spent years becoming an expert on effective instruction for struggling readers. Diagnosing and treating reading disabilities is not only what I do, but it is how I know students. It’s my situated discourse! I can see now that it is just as important to understand where I’m coming from as it is to try to understand where my students are coming from. I’m going to work on it.
Further complicating our attempt to “read lives” is our tendency to classify or categorize in our effort to understand. Hicks warns us that we need to avoid a creating a simplistic view of how language, culture, race, gender and class affects our students’ identities. We can’t just say that all boys are active and competitive by nature therefore we need to do X-Y-Z. Every student comes with their own unique experience. We need to meet each one of them where they are and treat them with respect and understanding.
That sounds great in theory. Now the next challenge is how do teachers really get to know their students? We don’t have the luxury of spending time with students outside of class, in their homes and communities. Student writing and recess conversations give a glimpse, but we need more depth. I’m working on this one too. It’s just all so complicated!

Jayne Thompson

This has been a very interesting read for me. Unlike a lot of the people taking this course, I could not relate closely with the stories of Jake an Laurie personally, but I could see reflections of my students in every situation. Then, when I started reading the comments on Rose's articles, it really hit me. Teachers are the ones who can make or break a child's desire and interest to learn. That is a very powerful and frightening thing. I have certainly seen and heard things that I definitely did not agree with, but these stories put into perspective the weight that a teacher's actions can carry. That science teacher could have just excused Rose's good work for a child being lazy on a pre-test. Instead, he went and questioned the child's placement and most likely changed the course of Rose's life. Perhaps if we focused less on a child's shortcomings and more on the positive, we could effect more change. It really is hard some times when you have a child that is capable of so much more, but won't try. It can be so frustrating. But, I think this book and this class has really taught me to take a step back, put myself in the child's shoes, and think about what else this child might be dealing with. I have only been teaching for three years, but I hope as time passes, my students will come back and tell me that I really helped them or that I was the one who led them to think about the possibility of a better future because I believed and cared. For me, this is the ultimate goal. This is also something that cannot be done without a personal relationship with children. If it could, people would be thanking textbooks and computer programs, but this doesn't happen because a child doesn't develop a bond with these things like they do with a teacher. We as teachers can sit here and transpose our passion, our concern, and our dedication to a child by developing these bonds. You can't expect a child to love learning if the teacher doesn't and you can't expect them to learn if their is no bond or reason. Each day gives us an opportunity to potentially change a life through our actions and reactions. I hope and strive for my change to be a postitive one, one that encourages and motivates a child that, in any other case has nothing postive in their life, to embrace education and learning and see it as a way to open doors when all others have been shut.
Whitney Gilbert

This final chapter of reading proved to be a great reminder of the concepts I have personally examined throughout the semester. I was reminded of the importance of individualizing education above all other methods of instruction. Hicks reminded us that we should not take a simplistic view. This theme has been weaved throughout the readings and conversations during the semester. Whether with regards to race, sex, religion, or any other devisive factor, it is important that we recognize and support the differences among our students. However, after realizing that students do fall into any one or more of these categories, their instruction must be broken into smaller pieces. As has already been mentioned, each child within any group will have special circumstances and unique needs.

Then, I was also reminded of the idea that we teach with a purpose or goal in mind and that we should be passionate. As a self-proclaimed passionate person, I want to instill that same type of undying love for something in all of my students. I have a true passion for learning and for life. Whether it is reading, watching television, or living life, I want to learn more about everything. I was the child who would actually prefer to read nonfiction works over the flowery fiction works that other children chose. It is my goal at the beginning of each day to help all of my students find a spark of that type of passion within themselves for learning. Each student will have his own specific subject for which he is most passionate about learning; however, I do not mind at all, as long as he has found that deep rooted love for something. The concluding chapter of Hicks work reminded me of this need for a purpose and for passion.

Overall, I feel that the last chapter and week reminded me that teaching is about relationships and personalities possibly more than subject matter. I can master any content yet fail as an educator. I must build relationships with my students, show them I care, have a purpose for their learning, and be an example of the type of passion I want them to have for something. I have thought of all of these components throughout the semester; however, I felt that this final reading (along with the mental state of knowing that the end is near) acted as a reminder of all of my previous ideas.

Brittany Guy

As I read Hicks recount her use of ain’t in a guided reading group, I thought the most important thing that happened at that moment was that Hicks made herself vulnerable. In one sense, she inserted herself into the role of a student and stepped away from being the teacher. Perhaps that is why “The word felt so familiar and so strange—“ (p. 154). Because of my own upbringing and training I would struggle to use this word, but I think I am beginning to understand why taking this type of risk is so important. In something as small as a verbal “stumble”, Hicks may have spoken volumes to her students. She may have rallied them to her side, to walk with her on a journey of learning so much more than when not to say ain’t.

Hicks asserts the way to help teachers move toward more responsive kinds of literacy practices with working-class children is to gain the crucial understanding of the particulars of that community (p. 154). While the notion of social activism as related to reading lives is a new concept to me, I am beginning to grasp the necessity to read lives in order to affect change. As Hicks points out, this activism will demand “considerable commitment to creating practices that extend from those readings (p. 154).” If I am not willing to take some risks and to immerse myself in that community, I will not get the opportunity to affect change.

I also take to heart the “warning” that Hicks gives about the level of work involved to engage in hybrid practices. That moral shift she mentions—“a willingness to open oneself up to the possibility of seeing those who differ from us”—sounds quite noble in this context but absolutely challenging in reality. What will I be willing to do to be vulnerable for my students? Can I step away from being "The Teacher" long enough to learn them, not about them? Hybrid practices necessitate my responding to the particulars of situated histories. “This is very hard work, but work that lies at the heart of teaching” (p. 152).

Lisa Rasey

This book and chapter have truly made me reflect on my classroom, kids, families and the relationships I have or possibly don’t have with them. Hick’s steps outside of the box of doing “typical” research, or research that I am most familiar with and really makes you think. The authenticity of her research and her book really made me step out of my comfort zone and grow as an individual and professional.

In order to truly make a difference and be able to teach all of our students we have to step out of comfort zone and learn our kids, their families, and communities. It is something that is easier said than done. It is simple to state that we want to make these changes and that they are needed. However, over coming the challenges that come with engaging in these practices is one that I feel I may fall short of as a teacher. I wonder each year is there someone I missed? Did I do all that I could or was I blinded by the curriculum? I would be very curious to see what Hick’s or any researcher would find if they did research in my room? Sometimes you need an outsider to really help you see, what you may otherwise not want to see.

Amy Spade