RE_5539

Wow! What a chapter! I thought of many situations from my teaching experience as I read this research.

As I read about Jake in kindergarten, I could see how he would do well. Jake had the opportunity to move freely. I teach kindergarten and that's one nice thing about teaching kindergarten. Kindergarten has movement and children are learning social skills through work and play. It is a good transition from home to school because children can experience practices that are similar to home. For example, some of the centers I have in my classroom are homeliving, blocks, writing and art. When I taught preschool one year, I had a girl carrying on a conversation on the play telephone in the homeliving center. She was engaged in meaningful conversation. I learned so much from listening to her, especially, about her home life. She experienced talking on the telephone at home or either listening to her mom talk on the telephone and I believe this made her feel comfortable in her school setting. We are fortunate as kindergarten and preschool teachers to have this type of environment for these children. In kindergarten, "text is connected to the three-dimensional objects" (p.99) for the most part. I could see how it would be difficult for a child like Jake moving up through grades. In our schools today, you don't always find this type of environment as you move through upper grades. It seems that children in first grade and higher are often seated and doing paper and pencil. I'm not saying that all teachers run their classrooms like this because I have seen the exception. We have a second grade teacher at our school, for example, who sings or chants something they've learned at the end of the day.

I found it it interesting that Jake's mother's philosophy was that children need to learn from their mistakes. That would have not been my mother's philosophy. My mother would have agreed that you learn from mistakes but would have taught me or warned me that if I did certain thing that something could happen. She wouldn't have let me stand there and get hit by a bat, for example. It is very helpful to read this research to know that just because my philosophy of teaching and learning may be one way that it doesn't mean that the parents in my classroom have the same philosophy.

As I read about Jake needing to have a task that made sense or a task that needed to be done, it made me reflect on the boys that I've had in my classrooms. Have I not had these boys participating in tasks that made sense to them? Maybe not because I have had boys call things stupid or dumb. I will be more aware of this in the future. My question is, "If you're a first or second grade teacher, how do you make the curriculum to where these boys have tasks that make sense and help them progress in academics?" I know hands-on activities and learning centers can be incorporated into these grades, also. Would this be enough for Jake?

I feel like some of my students this year wil be like Jake because "there was space for Jake to interact with school literacy practices on his own terms" (p.113) in kindergarten. When he got to first and second grade the curriculum was more formal and demanding. I believe my children got along fine in kindergarten since they could move freely and felt comfortable with the environment. When they get to first grade they may not have that type of environment. Even in kindergarten, there are times that are more structured with teaching and at times my students could not sit still for long.

I really felt for Jake as he went on to first grade and began to struggle academically. What was the answer for Jake? It seemed when he was interested in something, he would participate. For example, when Mrs. Williams talked about the construction of heating and air conditioning systems he participated.

The tiny car incident makes sense. Hicks said that she believed that the tiny car was a connect point. I strongly believe that, too. I went to a workshop once that the presenter's background was in the area of exceptional children. She was talking about some children have a difficult time when they don't have something in their hand. For example, she said they could hold a ball,etc. I don't have a problem with this but when I've tried something like this it is so difficult to explain to the other students why this child is holding an object. This reminded me of Jake with the car in front of him. I know Jake's teacher took it because she felt like it didn't lead him toward writing. What about if it disrupts the other students? Any suggestions of ideas?

I would hope that teachers wouldn't want their students to feel like outsiders. We as teachers need to make every effort that this does not happen. As Jake's dad said, we need to find ways to connect our students' interests to their academics. We still have to teach the SCOS but I believe we can be creative in some areas to make this connection.