RE_5539

i just dont understand these teachers that are teaching "programs" and not children. jake is such in independent child...with so many great qualities and interests. he has a great imagination. his family places value on reading...they are all readers. by the first grade he was already defeated enough to say that he could not read! at home he was making literacy connections...with the spiders and charlotte...but in school, there were no connections. i bet that did not make much sense to this young boy. it seems as if his second grade teacher was a better fit for jake but was this teacher too little too late? and if nascar was something that he and his family placed value on, why was his car taken away from him? in kindergarten i get many many toys and lipsticks and you name it in my classroom. children love to bring things from home. they bring their treasures to school when you dont ask for them...thats what children do. but i never take them from the children. i make a time for them to show what they have brought from home, but i never take them! i even ask them to bring items from time to time that they can write about in writers workshop. five year olds love to write about things they have at home! perhaps jakes teacher could have asked him to bring some of his cars to write about...use his imagination with.

since jake was so great at fixing things, wouldnt it be great to ask his dad to come in and explain his job...community helper? could you just see jake's eyes light up if he had the opportunity to tell his friends what he wanted to do when he grew up. and what about opening his eyes even farther...books about people who design buildings, cars....those who design the nascar logos? there are so many things that could really make jake dream.

and what is with this first grade teacher that doesnt have leveled books for all her children? shes teaching a program and this program does not fit all her children...where are the guided reading leveled texts? not all children fit into this first grade teachers "average" mold. what about all the other children that fall short of this programs expectations? ignore them because the teachers manual stated that they should be able to read the books provided?

i found jake to be such a bright and unique child...this was a heartbreaking story. all "jakes" are fascinating right-brained children!

donna byrd-wyatt