Lisa Outland-
Wow, this book was definitely different from The Skin That We Speak. I must admit I had to do quite a bit of rereading to make sense of what I had read.
I related to the idea of following students’ progress over several years. I was able to teach one group of children in kindergarten and the next year in first grade. I thoroughly enjoyed working with that group more than any other group of children since then. I do believe it was partly due to the fact that I did get to know my children and their home lives so well. I wish I had had the forethought to visit them in their homes while we were together. I think that is the missing link for that particular group. The author was so fortunate to be able to follow Jake and Laurie through second grade and be able to get to know them and observe them in their home lives. I am sure this answered many questions the author had concerning the missing links in their schooling.
I gained insight from the dialogue in the second chapter where the author is observing Jake playing with his sister Lee Ann and some cousins. The whole incident amazed me. The family seemed to be so careful with Lee Ann and was ok with her getting justice for Jake shoving her. It was so different from how I take care of business such as that in my classroom. Something as little as this one episode does give you immense knowledge about their literacy lives as well. I would think that the family would cater more to Lee Ann and helping her and see Jake as the independent one who doesn’t need help with his schooling. I wonder how this really turned out in real life.
Heath’s information about Roadville was extremely eye opening for me. I had never thought that when I ask a child to make up something or use their imagination that I might be asking them to lie, in their eyes. How many times a day do I stop and listen to the story that starts, “one time me and my momma . . . “ I cannot imagine not allowing a child to share their experiences, or dismiss them as soon as I have heard them. You can learn many things about a child and their family if you stop and listen. It amazed me that in Roadville children’s stories were not valued at all. Only the adults were given the authority to be story tellers.
The story parts of chapter two and the dialogues just amazed me. They helped me grasp the concepts from the chapter with more ease. However, I must say I was disturbed by the dialogue from Walkerdine’s observation of two preschool boys and how their gender played such an important role in the incident that occurred. I teach in a school that is very much like an urban school and never have I had children use that sort of language or be so disrespectful to their teacher. This really does tie in with what is taught at home to some boys can tie over into their schooling lives and effect their education. They saw their teacher as worthless because she was a woman. They had been taught this. They will not receive the education they need because they think women are worthless and the majority of teachers they encounter will be women. This whole section of the chapter really frustrated me. However, it did really drive home the point that a child’s education truly is tied to their race, gender and social class.
Comments (7)
Lisa,
You have explicated the main issues of these first two chapters beautifully. I am glad that you were able to make so many connections and interpretations.
You are right in assessing the significance of home visits. You will continue to see how the writer incorporates data from Laurie's & Jake's home lives to make sense of their school identity.
Alecia
Posted by Prof. Alecia Jackson | June 5, 2007 9:29 PM
Posted on June 5, 2007 21:29
Lisa,
I too teach in the primary grades. Wouldn't it be beneficial if all teachers had the opportunity to visit each Kindergarten student's home as school started. When I taught in Iredell County, we had that chance. It is amazing to see what a child goes home to each day. Getting to understand a child's homelife opens your eyes to the reasons why they may be a strong reader or a struggling reader. I wonder how our school could make home visits possible?
Posted by Renee Pagoota | June 6, 2007 4:52 PM
Posted on June 6, 2007 16:52
Lisa, I too had much more difficulty with this book. I also was, like you, able to relate to the getting to know kids over more than one year. I haven’t yet because this is my first year at the high school level but because of my situation I get to know certain kids very well. I am a Special Education teacher and therefore have to have many meetings with the parents many different times of the span of the four years the child is in high school. I get to work with the same students many times over because I am in different grade levels of the same subject each semester. This is very beneficial as I will probably be with the same students next year. However I did not get the same feel you got from the incident between Jake and LeeAnn. I was confused by that situation and still am having a hard time seeing how it relates to their literacy issues. I can see that being a very playful and harmless situation when I play it out in my own mind. I am not sure that everyone who reads that gets the same picture. Maybe that is why it is so confusing to me.
Posted by Kristen Billings | June 6, 2007 6:26 PM
Posted on June 6, 2007 18:26
Lisa, I agree that doing home visits help you to learn more about the child and their family. It is a missing link in our schools today. At my school, we had to read a book, which I cannot remember the name of right now, but it discussed children from low SES backgrounds and how to be work with them. One thing that was really emphasized was visiting children in the home environment.
The situation with Jake and Lee Ann was interesting. Think about how this will affect them at school and how they may react to the way a teacher handles a situation in the classroom. It makes you think about the children in your own class and way the react the way they do in situations.
Posted by Danielle Griffin | June 6, 2007 7:51 PM
Posted on June 6, 2007 19:51
Lisa,
The Roadville information was an eye opener. I never dreamed that asking a child to make up something or use their imagination might be seen as a lie to them. We use Writers' Workshop at my school. Some write true stories. Other make up stories. I guess it just never occured to me about the lie issue. From observation, my students don't seem to be bothered by making up a story.
Just like Renee, I had the opportunity to go on home visits when I taught in a Chapter 1 preschool and it does open your eyes to school identity. It really gives you a feel for a child's cultural background.
It is sad about the preschooler's dialogue. What will these boys become if they see women as worthless? Like you said, the majority of teachers they will encounter will be women.
Posted by Dawn Thomas | June 6, 2007 8:14 PM
Posted on June 6, 2007 20:14
Lisa, I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about the author's explanation of the children in Roadville. I too was amazed to think that having students create a story or use their imagination could be considered lying to some children. I mean, that is the entire fourth grade writing curriculum! The question then is, how do you still teach the same concepts in such a vastly different way in order to fit with students' lives outside of school? This is, in my opinion, necessary for good and effective teachers. Learning is all about making connections and as teachers it is our responsibility to enable our students to do this. Therefore, we absolutely must know our students and the lives they live outside the classroom in order to create a classroom which allows them opportunities to make these connections. ~Allison Reese
Posted by Allison Reese | June 6, 2007 9:22 PM
Posted on June 6, 2007 21:22
Lisa,
I have always been afraid of looping up with my students, but I think if I visited my students home, I too would feel a connection with my students that might make the loop all worth while. Hicks does really get to know these students by visiting them at home. There is a teacher at our school who looped with her students last year and during the summer went to visit all of her students. She had a very good relationship with her students and you could just tell how much they loved her. I just recently visited one of my students because she was moving and I wanted to say good bye. I learned so much about her from this 10 minute visit. Too bad I didn't go visit her sooner. Your post has really made me realize how I need to go and visit my students. This teacher had such a good relationship with her students and parents and even went to one of her parents house to learn how to speak Spanish.
You are so right that we learn more about our children by listening to them as well. This is another thing I am going to do a better job of next year. I am going to try to set times up when the students are listening to each other and not just to me.
I can relate to what you said about how the students that talked badly to their teacher ties in with what they learn at home. I just had a little girl in my room who was very vocal and outspoken and had a voice and tone that was bossy and pushy. I learned so much about way the little girl is like that after hearing her mom talk. Her mom came with us to the zoo. I asked her mom to help me pass our tee-shirts out and imediately her mom began to gripe and complain saying it was too early to be passing out shirts. The mom's fussy nature sounded just like her daughter. It is so true that children bring their home life experiences with them to school.
Linda Younts
Posted by Linda Younts | June 6, 2007 11:28 PM
Posted on June 6, 2007 23:28