RE_5539

What a great way to end this book! From my perspective, Hicks journey for this research is like a lesson plan. She had a plan of what she was going to do. After the implementing her plan, then she observed her subjects, and finally the conclusion of her investigations, she was able to reflect on what worked, what did not work, and what she learned. At the end of her book, this is exactly what Hicks has done. She summed up this book by reflecting and the admission of self-discovery. In this study, she discovers that our social relations play a great part in our student’s education. I particularly like what Nussbaum’s articulated on page 137, the term “love’s knowledge—knowledge between persons and of persons. To me that mean, when one loves learning, then they will be lifelong learners. The relationships we form among home and school will ensure success for all students, we need to understand our student’s “situated histories”. These “situated histories” encompasses understanding their identity, class, gender, beliefs, and practices.

According to Hicks, hybrid language of inquiry is the bond needed in the educational development of children. Most students from working class environment enter into school with limited or complete absent of knowledge and experience with formal registry. We want our children to think out of the box but before they can think out of the box, teachers must incorporate vocabulary along with the hidden rule of upper and middle class society in educating their students. Research has shown major deficits in student’s test scores, which has been related to student’s inability to understand the language presented on formal assessments.

Unfortunately, language and grammar has inconveniently been removed from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. No Child Left Behind (NCLB), has placed major emphasis on test scores, which has sent state departments and local school systems into a panic. Therefore, teachers have been sanctioned to teach educational programs that have been proven to work. However, based on my experiences in equity plus/ Title I school these programs are designed for upper and middle class students that has developed formal registry. They don't allow for the implementation of vocabulary instruction that is required to develop lower income students language ability to enable them to perform successfully on standardized test. Ruby Payne’s book, “A Framework for Understanding Poverty”, states that it is essential component of students educational development, to teach formal registry and acceptable behavior patterns to student of lower income homes for them to become success. In implementing programs and creating schedules administrators, tend to over look this vital component. Yet, continue to fault the teachers for student failure, when the teachers have followed the schedules assigned to them and implementing the programs mandated to them by the county school system.

Upon her completion of this journey, she suggested, and referred to researchers and theorists ideologies about bridging and engaging our student’s home literacy practices into the school’s literacy practices while implementing the goals and objectives of the curriculum.

I truly believed that Hicks should be employed by our school system to equip our administrators with this knowledge. Then, administrators must trust teachers to implement their knowledge and experiences in instructing our students that will best enhance individual abilities and needs based on prior knowledge experience and implementation of the classroom teacher and not be driven by programs mandated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This profound effect of free thinking attitude and in seeing the world from a different angle will enable educators in crossing boundaries of the student’s situated histories and the hybrid languages of home and school. These entities will influence our students and make their educational experience a successful one of working class families.