These two chapters were difficult to read but hopefully I got through them with some good information. These two chapters show that children from all different classes, gender, etc. struggle. In the second chapter I started to understand what the author means by literacy being affected by the child's social surroundings. I do think that the way you are brought up and the way that your parents and family speak and interact affects your literacy. I was shocked when I read the example of how Lee Ann was told to go jump on Jake from his mother and mom-mom. I would have thought that they would have called her over to talk to her about being nice, and explain why we don't call people names. This showed how issues are solved differently in different classes. I think that Hicks taking students home lives into her study was very important so that she got a whole look at the students lives so she could see whether literacy was affected from all areas of the children's lives. I work at a title one school and I see the behavior like Lee Ann showed. The students are not taught to come tell the teacher they are taught that it is ok to fight back if someone bothers you. I also see how we expect children to change in school whether it fits their social class or not. I think that it is important as a teacher to try and make children of all classes, gender, and race feel special in my classroom. There are adjustments that students have to make when they come to school.
I think that these two chapters closely relate to the other articles that we have read. It all comes back to how students language and environment at home affect how they might talk at school. As teachers we need to try and engage students and make them feel like their language use is a choice. We as teachers realize that we can not change a lot of the things that students come to school already having learned. We just have to try and show our students that there are important ways that we need to act in school and rules that can't be broken even if they are at home like Lee Ann hurting her brother.
Megan Machuga
Comments (6)
I agree that all that we have read is related. The common these is how the people who first surround us, our parents or other caretakers, are very influential on how and what we learn.
If we come from families like most of us probably did, we start school with a foundation of great knowledge. I can rememeber my parents reading to me at night before bed. I can remeber my father taking time off of work to come to school to eat lunch with me. I remeber my parents putting my school papers on the fridge for all to see. I had a library card practically before I could read. We took weekly trips to the library.
If I had come from a family in which education wasn't valued or where my parents had not had good school experiences themselves, my life probably would have turned out very differently.
I would imagine that is the story for most of us.
Posted by Caroline Walker | June 23, 2009 3:25 PM
Posted on June 23, 2009 15:25
One of our struggles as educators is to bridge the gap between home and school. Children come to us with many prior experiences that we must work with and homogenize so the school culture can exist with a measure of sanity, structure, and comfort as we learn together. I believe it is extremely important to look at each child’s background with a bent on how to best help them. Sometimes we bury our head in the sand as to their family’s functionality or lack thereof. Even though we cannot change the child’s situation, we can keep from adding to the problems they have by being caring, compassionate, and understanding. They do not need excuses for bad behavior or laziness but perhaps we can afford them a bit more of our help, knowing their circumstances. Children may come to us like Jake and Lee Ann but our hope is they will not leave the same way. Most of the public do not know that we are doing more than teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. We are also teaching life skills for our students to succeed as members of society.
Posted by Janet Gross | June 23, 2009 5:39 PM
Posted on June 23, 2009 17:39
So much of a child's first year in school is about learning the school culture, especially for those who have never been in preschool. Kindergarten use to be the place where this was one of the main objectives. Now, it is being addressed less and less due to the push in academics. All students, not just the minority, lower class, Native Americans, or immigrants need time to learn the school culture - how to act, talk, and learn in school.
Posted by Tamera Wilson | June 23, 2009 9:18 PM
Posted on June 23, 2009 21:18
I’m just noticing that none of us mention that impact of being an upper class kid who is thrown into a middle class school environment. I really had never thought of it until this year, when my school read Dr. Ruby Payne’s book A Framework for Understanding Poverty. I don’t agree with all she has to say, but most of it is fascinating. There were 3 “survival checklists” included in the book, one for each of the lower, middle, and upper classes. Each list was a “would you know how to…” followed by a different statement. For example on the lower class list: move in under 24 hours, take public transportation to X location, apply for government aid, use scissors as a knife, etc. In the middle class list there were items like: use tools in the garage to make minor repairs, sign your child up for t-ball, balance a check book. Then, what really blew my mind was the upper class list that included items like: enroll your child in a private/elite academy, order your favorite meal in another language, choose fine china, etc.
I’m sure I haven’t remembered them all correctly, but it was a fairly clear—if perhaps stereotypical—listing of what I would call literacies from each culture. If we think about the expectations of adult behavior in order to be successful in a certain climate, it only makes sense that their children would mimic those behaviors.
Maybe we don’t need to change everything, but help students see some increased possibilities.
Posted by Ruth Johnson | June 23, 2009 9:36 PM
Posted on June 23, 2009 21:36
I liked your idea about letting children feel they have a language choice. These articles have really made me aware of how to incorporate home language and give students choice without compormising my position as an educator. I took a multicultural course that help me to realize the many differences in children and I am hoping to address these issues using more literature and language investigations. Kim Shaw
Posted by Kim A Shaw | June 23, 2009 9:55 PM
Posted on June 23, 2009 21:55
I agree that we cannot really change things that students have learned prior to coming to the classroom. And I'm not sure that that should ever be our goal anyway--since all of the things that they experienced at home and school work together to form their literacy. What we have to work hard on is bridging home and school. It seems that this idea gets harder and harder as the years go by. Also, we can do our best with them when we have them at school. We can model, model, model, and hope that students will find our same love for literacy and desire to share that!
Jessica Jackson
Posted by Jessica Jackson | June 23, 2009 10:29 PM
Posted on June 23, 2009 22:29