RE_5539

Jake reminded me of many boys in my classroom. He was interested in the things that he could relate to and uninterested in school and literacy practices. I think this is true of boys from all different classes, but i can see where it really affects boys from working-class families. Boys, in general, seem to be less interested in reading and writing. How can we, as teachers, make literacy more appealing to boys? Like Mrs. Hicks stated at the beginning of the chapter, most teachers are women, who seem to struggle relating with boys. She definitely had more of a connection with Laurie, and i know that in the past, i've had many connections with the girls in my classes, but fewer with the boys. I think that it is actually one of the greatest challenges of teaching.....How do women teachers make a true connection with boys in their classrooms? It's necessary in order for the boys to learn to their full potential.

Jake did well in kindergarten. He was able to move around the classroom and make choices as to what he wanted to participate in. I noticed that he rarely chose the writing corner, unlike Laurie. Once moving on into first grade, Jake began to struggle with school practices. He had to learn what the teacher told him to learn, whether it interested him or not. It was almost as if the teacher implied that what he wanted to learn, was not important. Once again, the first grade teacher did not individualize reading instruction. Did the administrators at this school not notice that children were falling behind in this first grade classroom?? Why wasn't anything done about it? Obviously, the reading series was not working for all of the children. I'm just glad that the kids had a great 2nd grade teacher to move onto.

I really felt that Mrs. Williams did as much as she could to get the kids interested in learning. I was baffled that Jake didn't like the science experiment. Well, he liked the experiment but not the work to go along with it.

Soap Box: (Sorry) This happens to me all of the time. I come up with a great, engaging lesson, yet i hear small complaints when it comes down to the nitty-gritty work that goes along with it. I know that some kids, like Jake, think that some writing work is pointless and useless, but how else are they going to learn to express their feelings in writing, if they don't get the chance to try? Sometimes i feel that teachers can only do so much, then it's up to the kids to take over. I don't know, i guess i just sympathized with Mrs. Williams, a little more than Jake at that point. Like Mrs. Hicks suggests on page 134, how can teachers make this constant connecting happen in a real-life , complex situation? There are about 20 kids in a typical classroom. There is NO possible way a teacher could hit on everyone's interests all of the time. A good teacher tries to incorporate as many interests as possible into her lessons, as many times as possible a day. I've always hoped that if i atleast hit on everyone's interests atleast once a day, i was doing good. I guess i'm just frustrated. Any suggestions?

I think the best idea of the book is the writers workshop notebook. I'm going to incorporate it this coming year into my classroom. I never realized how important of a tool it could be for some kids, especially working-class children. Atleast in that one spot, they get to express their true identities and feelings, and dreams. Overall, this chapter opened my eyes to some things i hadn't thought about before. I never realized the impact of class until learning about Jake and Laurie, even though i think many kids go through issues of some kind, no matter the class. My mind is racing with thoughts of how i can improve my teaching, and become more sensitive to gender, race, and class,.....which is hopefully the point of this course.