Wow!!! Finally, something I can really connect to and enjoyed reading. I have 3 sons: Kyle is dyslexic and has ADD; Ross is autistic; and Seth is “typical.” Needless to say, I know boys and Jake, to me, in school, was all boy (at the beginning). He wasn’t interested in drawing, writing, or reading while he enjoyed puzzles and blocks (100). When I was a sub, I can remember a first grade class, and one boy stuck out – he could not sit still; he could not stay focused; and most of all he did not like to color, write, or draw. Boy, if I knew then what I know now, I wonder if I could have done something different.
While I was reading this, I could not help thinking about a boy, “John,” I had in class last year. John lives with an older couple (friends of his grandmother) on a farm. John takes care of the animals and helps his paw paw tremendously around the house. Paw paw cannot read or write that well so John has to go to the grocery store and fill out the checks. John has to go to the doctor’s office with paw paw. Therefore, John misses school more than most. When I read that Jake’s dad took him to a job in the middle of the night, a light bulb went off in my head, because John’s paw paw does the same thing in a different way (102). Jake and John are learning so much in life’s skills, but not so much in education. This is where I struggle. I just cannot fathom why a grown person would do this. Then it hit me. They probably had a bad experience in school, and they love their children so much that they don’t want this to happen to them. Hence, they feel that they have done just fine without that high school education. However, what they do not realize because of lack of education is that, in today’s world, a job is hard to find without a college degree let alone a high school diploma. Again, this is where I struggle. How do I fix this? How do I help these boys?
I loved reading the section on “Negotiating class identities in school” (132-135). Hicks said that “children from working-class communities have to gain access to the discourses of middle-class institutions.” Again, another light bulb! This makes perfect sense. I just never thought of it that way. I understand, completely, how these children feel; the way I felt while reading some of the assignments. I couldn’t imagine having to sit through class after class reading and responding to these types of literacies. I would lose interest and lose motivation to learn. Hick’s states that “his problems lay more in conflicts between an institutional system of middle-class practices and the life worlds he embraces as a boy. For his opportunities to change in school, a deeper process of change would be required” (134). All that I can say is – AMEN!!!
Teaching is a romance (144). What a clever metaphor. We have to woo our students and invite them into our relationship to gain knowledge. We also have to “woo” our parents, but how? For the last couple of years, in our school improvement plan has been parent involvement. We have done several things – Donuts for Dads, Muffins for Moms, and Goodies for Grandparents. Yes, some parents come. We also have to have 100% parent conferences; therefore, I have made several trips to my students’ homes to meet with parents, because they do not come to their child’s classroom. Again, I struggle.
Loren Van De Griek
Comments (9)
I am glad to see I am not alone in the quackmire of "expectations" for what we must do for the student. Sometimes the parents make it difficult for us to identify what is really going on in a child's life. Is it the curriculum, effort or homelife that is causing the disconnect. I get frustrated with the run around for a conference, but we must admit it often sheds a light on what we can't see without this piece. I know you do an exceptional job identifying issues, you have a clearer perspective than many of the rest of us due to personal connections. It always helps to hear from people who live this experience. Thank you for your insight.
Posted by Grandma Cunningham | June 29, 2009 9:56 AM
Posted on June 29, 2009 09:56
So many times what we are reading does make sense - the lightbulb! Still, it is the how? The task is overwhelming. One of us and so many of them - next year even more of them and even less of us (with so many assistant going). It would be nice to get a real "how to" book. How do we teach to everyone's interests and still cover the curriculum? How do we meet with every family and still have time for our own? When do we stop beating ourselves up when we do the best we know how to do and give all we know how to give? As this course comes to an end, I know my best isn't good enough... there will still be someone I miss... something I could have done differently.
Posted by Tamera Wilson | June 29, 2009 11:41 AM
Posted on June 29, 2009 11:41
One thing that my students have learned from is me going to graduate school. Why? Because I talk tot them about it. They know the nights I have class after workign all day. They know sometimes they have to help me with my homeowrk by doing certain things -- whether it is a poetry unit or an IRI. One of tyhe funniest things was my students asking me how my school was the next day and if my teacher was nice to me.
One child asked me why I was going back toschool since I was already smart. I told her that sometimes you need to get even smarter and I was going back so I would be a better teacher.
There will always be the child who is more difficult to reach. We have to do the best we can to reach as many as we can.
Posted by Caroline Walker | June 29, 2009 5:20 PM
Posted on June 29, 2009 17:20
One thing that my students have learned from is me going to graduate school. Why? Because I talk tot them about it. They know the nights I have class after workign all day. They know sometimes they have to help me with my homeowrk by doing certain things -- whether it is a poetry unit or an IRI. One of tyhe funniest things was my students asking me how my school was the next day and if my teacher was nice to me.
One child asked me why I was going back toschool since I was already smart. I told her that sometimes you need to get even smarter and I was going back so I would be a better teacher.
There will always be the child who is more difficult to reach. We have to do the best we can to reach as many as we can.
Posted by Caroline Walker | June 29, 2009 5:20 PM
Posted on June 29, 2009 17:20
One thing that my students have learned from is me going to graduate school. Why? Because I talk tot them about it. They know the nights I have class after workign all day. They know sometimes they have to help me with my homeowrk by doing certain things -- whether it is a poetry unit or an IRI. One of tyhe funniest things was my students asking me how my school was the next day and if my teacher was nice to me.
One child asked me why I was going back toschool since I was already smart. I told her that sometimes you need to get even smarter and I was going back so I would be a better teacher.
There will always be the child who is more difficult to reach. We have to do the best we can to reach as many as we can.
Posted by Caroline Walker | June 29, 2009 5:20 PM
Posted on June 29, 2009 17:20
One thing that my students have learned from is me going to graduate school. Why? Because I talk tot them about it. They know the nights I have class after workign all day. They know sometimes they have to help me with my homeowrk by doing certain things -- whether it is a poetry unit or an IRI. One of tyhe funniest things was my students asking me how my school was the next day and if my teacher was nice to me.
One child asked me why I was going back toschool since I was already smart. I told her that sometimes you need to get even smarter and I was going back so I would be a better teacher.
There will always be the child who is more difficult to reach. We have to do the best we can to reach as many as we can.
Posted by Caroline Walker | June 29, 2009 5:20 PM
Posted on June 29, 2009 17:20
One thing that my students have learned from is me going to graduate school. Why? Because I talk tot them about it. They know the nights I have class after workign all day. They know sometimes they have to help me with my homeowrk by doing certain things -- whether it is a poetry unit or an IRI. One of tyhe funniest things was my students asking me how my school was the next day and if my teacher was nice to me.
One child asked me why I was going back toschool since I was already smart. I told her that sometimes you need to get even smarter and I was going back so I would be a better teacher.
There will always be the child who is more difficult to reach. We have to do the best we can to reach as many as we can.
Posted by Caroline Walker | June 29, 2009 5:20 PM
Posted on June 29, 2009 17:20
I think that your story about your John relates very much to Jake. I think that some of the working class parents have made it by without having a great education and they do not always see it as a need for their children. I have children that are taken out of my class to go places with their parents just because they had some errands to run. These parents frustrate me because I feel they do not make education look important to their children. I would think they would want their child to get a good education so that they could live a good life. I know like you said that a lot of these types of parents have probably had bad experiences with school and so they are trying to protect their children from the pain but in the long run they are not doing anything but hurting their chances at having a brighter future.
Posted by Megan Machuga | June 30, 2009 12:11 AM
Posted on June 30, 2009 00:11
Interesting comparison between John and Jake! I wonder what kind of experiences in school could have been bad enough for his pawpaw to not want him to experience the same and thus keep him out of school. I wonder sometimes if parents like this keep kids out of school for necessity sake more than anything else. My husband had quite a different experience than John and Jake for which I am thankful. My father-in-law has a 3rd grade education. His mother put him on the bus when he was in 3rd grade and told him some people are made to be mothers and some are not--this was the last time he ever saw his mother. All through 3rd grade he and his dad moved every time the rent was due. He finished 3rd grade and began to work with his dad, which was much easier than facing the ridicule that he found at school.
In raising my husband he wanted him to have exactly the opposite of what he had in life. My in laws are still married today, have lived in the same house for over 20 years, and were my husband's biggest cheerleaders when he graduated with his Masters from Asbury Theological Seminary. There are not many situations where we see the "curse" broken, but we must teach to make a difference in the lives where there will be a difference!
Posted by Jessica Jackson | June 30, 2009 10:38 PM
Posted on June 30, 2009 22:38