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

Nothing in chapter five surprised me. Jake seems like my mental image of a young male learner. At the moment, I am sitting in my parents’ backyard waiting for my nephews to get here for some silly time at the pool. (We are most definitely a middle class family…the pool did not add to or subtract from the value of the house; they moved last year because of job loss.) Mom and I already moved any objects that can be turned into deadly projectiles, have an overload of towels ready, and have juice boxes prepared for hungry mouths. Why? Because my nephews are ALL BOY! I realize this chapter mentions some of the socialized roles of masculinity, such as the games on Sega that encourage young men to be warriors, victors, and powerful. However, I know that my one year old nephew has never seen a video game, is exposed to all realms of gender roles, and still loves to engage in “fix-it” tasks, anything athletic, and enjoys a good tussle with his 5-year-old big brother. At the same time, he is incredibly gentle, loves animals, and loves hugs. So, did we socialize him to be that way, or some of it just genetic? I go with genetics.

As I was reading chapter 5, I kept thinking that Jake was a small version of a lot of the boys I teach. Actually, I had one young man who liked to growl at us in frustration this year, so maybe not unlike Jake, at all. We’ve long known that boys and girls learn differently, so classrooms that are run primarily by middle class women most likely will not be ideal environments for boys—of whatever class. We’ve got to build movement, motivation, and a sense of purpose into our instruction in order for boys to buy in.

I love the common sense wisdom that Jake’s parents add to the piece. His Dad explains that school could easily teach the same curricular concepts that they are required to teach, but with a focus that would make the courses interesting and relevant for boys. Of course! His Mom and Maw Maw worked to read to Jake, help him see the importance of education, etc., yet for Jake, school was just another task to do. A task he may or may not decide to engage in.

I did my inquiry project in children’s lit about motivating adolescent boys to read. If any of you are interested in middle school boys and reading motivation, I would highly recommend two books. You can pick & choose the chapters you focus on, but both include interesting field data, book lists, and practical suggestions for improving male friendly literacy opportunities in your classroom. Both are also written by male researchers/authors, so they take into account the male perspective. ASU has both in their library. William Brozo’s To be a Boy, To be a Reader (2002) and Smith & Wilhelm (2002) Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys.

The final chapter gave some further insight into the thinking behind research. I highlighted several quotes that seemed to point to the ideas of relational literacy—meaning relationships between people, within specific class groups, and defined by specific geographic locations. My favorite quote from chapter six is found on page 154; it sums up the “irks” I’ve had while reading these essays and reading through blogs and responses from our class, “This is not so much a set of general theories about “what works” for working-class children (or girls, boys, Latino children, etc.). Rather it is an effort to learn about this community, this neighborhood, this family.” I appreciate Hicks’ intention of looking at the specific cultural and familial situations of Jake & Leslie, not just at a subgroup, as a whole.

I feel like we, as a culture, have the tendency to want to group things. (That’s our naturalist and logical/mathematical intelligences kicking in.) However, there is a danger in always trying to clump things—be it people, animals, or whatever else. In the two case studies Hicks includes, both children come from families that are vastly different, but both representative of working-class families. While their school careers seem to be taking a similar root, Hicks lets us know that the reason behind their lag in education, are likely different from one another.

I’ve enjoyed reading through this book, even though Hicks had me re-reading and making all sorts of questions in the margins throughout. I feel like reading her first and last chapters gave me a glimpse into what defines her as an academic and scholar & also gives me a jump-off point if I need to delve further into the issues of class and literacy.

Ruth Johnson