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

Misty,

I commend you for your positive attitude. We all want our students to succeed. We know their success is somehow a reflection on us and our efforts to teach them. And we care! Sometimes too much. But I disagree with one thing...I think sometimes kids do have to be allowed to fail. Sometimes they didn't try, sometimes, they were unable, and sometimes are teaching was not on the mark. For whatever reason, we all fall short sometimes. Perfection is an utterly unrealistic, unattainable goal to maintain. (And I know you really didn't mean 100% all the time) But sometimes we all need the impetus to try just a little harder; it builds character is indeed most satisfying.

Misty, like you I was incensed at leaving the child on her own without any help. Were the teachers just afraid of confronting her or her attitude? Who knows! What is important is that they did nothing to teach her. They must have expected her to learn on her own! One thing that struck me as strange was that all the students in the group were to write the same sentence. They should all have written the sentence they thought of, after all they owned it. All of us have students who are stubborn or lazy and it is very frustrating. However, we cannot possibly stand by and do nothing for them. They may still refuse our efforts but we must continue to try to find that connection which will turn them on to success.

I was also angered by how Shannon was treated not only by the teacher but by her peers. They group idea was a good one but like you said there is no way the teacher was monitoring it closely if those remarks were being made. Also I don't think that students should be forced into writing the same things as the other students. Many younger students have trouble writing about an assigned subject. I have seen this in my room. So what I did was just have them write about whatever they wanted their friends or what they do at home, etc. Their writing blossomed so much from this. I was in shock that the teacher did not even attemp to help Shannon get her thoughts on paper. I alsways help my struggling students by sounding out the word like you said in your comment. I do however wonder like you if parents sometime make it easier for students to fail. I can work as hard as possible to keep all my students on grade level and the ones that are below get extra help. But there is only so much we as teachers can do. We cannot go home with all these students everynight and watch to make sure students are doing their homework and practicing skills. Sometimes the parents need to step up and help. When the parents make the decision not to help with homework it is making it that much harder for the student to succeed.

Misty: I applaud you on your efforts to maintain excellence in your classroom and with your students. It’s nothing wrong with trying to assure that each child reach his or her potential and beyond. But sometimes our jobs as educators is to plant the seed and hope that as they continue to learn and grow, that someone else will come by and water it. As their life of learning continues, someone else will come by and help the seed, which has been planted & watered, to grow into the beautiful aspiring plant that it will become.

Good job on having such high expectations for your students. Sometimes I catch myself wondering if my expectations are too high for my students. I was very angered at the teacher for not holding her students accountable for their work. In another classroom at our school, there is a child that does much of the same thing that Shannon did. When the teacher asked the student if she behaved that way at home, the child said yes, because she gets whatever she wants when she does this at home. This in itself angers me. How can we have such high expectations at school and then the child have none at home. How can a child survive like that? It must be so confusing. But going off of what Toni had said, it is up to us to plant the seed and hope that it grows somehow and someway.

Misty:

I can honestly tell you that in my school, most definitely the parents are allowing their children to fail. Education is not important to them, because they survived without going to college - some parents didn't even finish high school. I had 18 5th graders this past year and out of them: 7 were from homes w/2 parents & out of those 7, 4 received help from their parents; 1 student lived w/older guardians, because his mom didn't want him; 1 student's dad got sent back to Guam, because he was illegal; 1 student's mom died 2 years ago and dad works 2nd shift therfore his 16 year old sister cares for him at night - he is so smart (4s on EOGs - 95 percentil, but made Cs on his report card, because no homework. I hate that I had to do it, but he refused to do the homework. I talked to him and tried to help.

So, yes, parents are allowing their children to fail.

Loren, Wow you had to make some really hard descissions! Cleveland County Schools has a policy that does not allow us to grade the students homework! I am kind of split between their decission! I agree with you totally, if you do not do your homework, then there should be consequences! Some students can do all of their homework and get help from their parents and make C's on all of their tests, they are in the same boat as the child not doing his homework! We have very hard decissions to make as educators!
Misty Mistretta

I have always hated assigning homework -- gives me even more papers to grade. Growing up, it seemed like so many teachers assigned it just to assign it, without any real purpose.

My students know my homework is what they do not complete in class plus 30 minutes of reading. Their parents sign a form saying that they understand homework will be what is not done in class and reading. I also explain that policy during open house, and conferences -- whether they tak place in the school or in their homes.

Many of my students do not have anybody in the home who can or will help them with homework. A lot of our parents didn't finish high school. Very few attended any college, much less have 4 year degrees. For that reason, if the work matters I want to make sure they have a clear understanding of what they need to do so if they can get most of it done at school -- work on the hard things first -- if they need help they can ask me.

We have had lots of teachers come into our school, from other schools. They come fromschools who have a totally different population and they struggle. I have seen people named, "Teacher of the Year" at other schools who have failed their students at our school becaus ethey couldn't or wouldn't adjust their game plans to fit the situation.

A principal at a school from "the right side of the tracks" told me once, "I don't have a one teacher at my school that I think who could survive at your school."