RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2009)

I felt as if I could have written the inserts about Jake myself. I live with a Jake every day, grew up with one and gave birth to two. I felt Jake’s difficulties in school were not so much a problem of class, but more a problem of gender. He was all boy... very much like my boys and my brother. If my son’s teacher could teach every subject in school through baseball or basketball, I might not hear, “I hate school” already from a soon to be third grader. Like Jake, Tanner is always on task, it just may not be the task his teacher wants. However, Tanner has to learn to “be good” in school. He has to learn how to play “the game of school” in order to succeed. He is only one of many children his teacher needs to get to know and I cannot fault her alone if he fails in the classroom.
I definitely agree with you when you say that family and school must work together to meet the needs of the child. How ever, there are so many parents that have the belief that it is the school systems responsibility alone to teach their children what ever they need to know! To many times have I heard, “It is the schools job to teach my child to read, not mine!”. This is a real problem! School is not like it was when we were in elementary school! If I was to get in trouble at school, I knew that I was going to be in worse trouble when I got home! Here again we do not have the support from parents that we truly need or deserve in most occasions.
Misty Mistretta

Tamera:
Wow! You’re right! You totally do understand Jake and his community. But as you also added, “they need to be pushed and engaged in activities they don’t love”. I can hear that you are on top of the situation with your son, and being a teacher I’m sure you understand what his needs are. But with Jake, do you really think the teachers were trying to meet Jake where he was? Had they really exhausted all the necessary resources, strategies and interventions there were to exhaust? Or were their strategies and interventions too late? Like you stated, the family must work with the school in order for the child to be successful. Was the family working with his teachers, or were they in denial?

Tamera,
It is amazing how many of us teachers agree on much of what someone else wrote about...we live it. Yes, I agree we have preasure to live up to expectations of the system, the parents, and the children. With the classrooms as large as they are it is impossible to teach to each individuals favorite topic, this is where the idea of boys and girls in separate classes might help. I am not an advocate of this but if we need to cater to the likes and dislikes we may have to make some changes. We get a double whamey, we mold these little minds before school age and in the classroom.

Tamera,
It is amazing how many of us teachers agree on much of what someone else wrote about...we live it. Yes, I agree we have preasure to live up to expectations of the system, the parents, and the children. With the classrooms as large as they are it is impossible to teach to each individuals favorite topic, this is where the idea of boys and girls in separate classes might help. I am not an advocate of this but if we need to cater to the likes and dislikes we may have to make some changes. We get a double whamey, we mold these little minds before school age and in the classroom.

Tamera,

You made a very good point in your post. Sometimes our kids are going to have to do things they don't like, especially at school. I don't know if we can blame a child's behavior and success or failure on their race, class, gender, or ethnicity. All kids are different and they all have their own unique personalities. I have 2 girls ages 7 and 11 and they are as different as night and day. I have taught siblings before who were nothing alike. As a teacher and a parent in my school, I get to sit on both sides of the desk. As a parent, I get very upset when I feel that a teacher just doesn't "get" my child's personality and needs. My oldest is an AG child, very cooperative and one who wants to please, but last year she had a teacher who just didn't seem to like her very much. She needs to feel accepted and loved, and she didn't get that last year. It wasn't about her interests not being met, but rather her emotional needs. Sure, she gets love and attention at home but she needs that from her teachers too. She did her work and turned in assignments, but she hated school and begged me to transfer her all year. It's not a fun situation when you have a child who hates school. That was my first experience being in that situation, so I can relate to the parents who feel that the teacher could do more to help their child like school more.

As a teacher, however, I find it a bit overwhelming to think that I have such an enormous task before me. I am supposed to wear so many hats already for my students (teacher, mother, doctor, psychiatrist, dentist, supply provider, snack donater, shoes that fit provider, etc.) and now I have to find out what the interests are of all my kids and provide lessons for them that will be individually crafted to keep them excited about coming to school. How do I do that? It's not possible if there is one of me and a class full of very diverse kids. It's hard to find a topic that every kid in my class will be excited about, and the older kids become, the more diverse their interests will be. As an adult, nobody makes sure I am having fun all the time. Nobody at my job makes sure that I am happy and entertained, and I certainly have to do things sometimes that I really do not want to do. I do think we should be emotionally supportive and understanding of our students, and we should try to make our lessons as fun and interesting to our kids as we can while maintaining the integrity or our instruction. However, I do believe that children and their parents have to understand that it is SCHOOL and they are there to learn, not just have fun and play. Maybe Grandma Cunningham is onto something; but can you imagine the uproar if we tried to segregate our kids based on gender (or ability level or interests for that matter)?

Lorie Hedrick

Tamara,

I put so much weight on my shoulders too. I want to fix and help everyone and I think that is why I get so discouraged. I want what is best for all my students and advocate for them so hard, because I have to advocate for my own son. Therefore, I want my students' parents to advocate just as hard and want just as much as I do for them to succeed. I am learning now that it is not a lack of wanting their child to succeed it is a lack of knowing how.

Yes! Jake's issues are not class related! They are definitely gender related. this is exact;y what I posted about.

Tamera you are right. Jake is such a typical boy but when all is said and done our school do not care about that. We have to engage them in subjects and activities that they might not like. Kindergarten is a place where students get more freedom but I try at the end of the year to start cutting some of that out so that they see how it will be the next year. Jake is not always goign to get to pick what he likes to do. I feel that his family needs to help him understand this a little better. We have to push our students to learn and it may not always be to their liking. It is overwhelming though when you look at a student like Jake and you think to yourself "how am I going to engage him" Sometimes you try and try and still nothing works so we have to find new ways. If we didn't have students like Jake things would not keep up on our toes.

Super thoughts! Kudos to you for recognizing that the home school connection is critical in success in school. There are not enough parents that agree that part of they also have a responsibility in their child's education. I agree with you that sometimes students must learn to do things that they do not love to do. We have read a lot about planning based on the interests of our students, and that is crucial, however, life is not fair!! It is not full of things that we all feel like doing all of the time! Sometimes we just have to suck it up and do it! I think there is a fine balance between the two extremes! Finding the balance is always the toug