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

WOW! I loved it when Hicks talked about caretakers shaping the learners’ values, feelings, and attachments. (page 36) This reminded me of the time that my son was two years old and in daycare. The day care that my son was attending was beginning to get my attention. I was seeing multiple things taking place that I was not pleased about. For instance one day I SAW the owner pull a small child down the hall by his arm and put one child in the kitchen closet for time out. I quickly realized that this was not the place for my son. I called a Christian lady who kept children in her home. My son absolutely loved/loves her and even refers to her as mom-maw. Not only has he learner respect but he has also learned excellent manners. I can definitely see lots of her values instilled in him. As parents we must be careful of whom we trust with our children. If a child is in the wrong situation then a lot of damage can occur.
I disagreed with Hicks on page 40 when she made the statement about black being a woman’s color and you have to earn the right to wear the color black. Clothes are items that we wear, no more or no less. As long as we have something clean to put on then it does not and should not matter what color it is. As I read about children reading to escape that triggered my memory. I have never read to escape, I have always read for pleasure. It made me wonder about our student’s home lives. How many of our students read to escape the family life. This makes me sad to even think about. About a decade ago many people would get married because of a pregnancy. The majority of the time this leads up to an unhappy family and later on a divorce and the child is stuck in the middle of a bad situation. The emotional distress of the child/children plays a large role in their child’s ability to learn. I am glad that our society has evolved and this doesn’t occur as often these days. With this being said and I moved into chapter four this seemed to be somewhat similar to what was happening with Laurie. She was being raised by her mom and grandmother both of who were working. She was forced to take care of two younger siblings. After being placed on medication for ADD Laurie’s attitude and learning changed for the worse. This makes me ask myself in some situations are the children’s parents doing this do their child/children with out even realizing what they are doing. It was sad to hear to Laurie coming to school complaining of the side effects. This was hard for me to read, I can only image what the teacher/observer was feeling. As a teacher I am very careful when I talk to parents about the children’s problem with focusing. I have been teaching for five years and I have only recommended one parent to consider seeing a doctor. Most of the time I find with a little extra attention and praise the student will do better and become more engaged.
Misty Mistretta

I enjoyed reading about the author’s childhood. I couldn’t help but laugh at her description of being socialized in the South and the way it seemed to be synonymous with being socialized into Christianity. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where Christianity is not embraced in the culture as it is in the South. Mentioning Christianity in public places often visibly makes people uncomfortable. I was shocked when I moved to the South and people talked about Jesus pretty regularly. Also, they prayed at public events such as graduation. This would never happen where I came from. So, I guess this further illustrates Hicks point that we are socialized into a culture, and that culture comes to be what we expect. When we face something different, it is baffling at best and incomprehensible at worst.

“Children have never just learned how to read and write and then looked around for uses to which they might put these skill” (37). To me this seems to mean that children have a reason for reading and writing. It always serves some kind of purpose in their lives. And it may serve different purposes depending on the culture this child is a part of. Therefore, some children may not see usefulness in school literacy and as a result they are not as willing to engage as a child who has been socialized in a way that values school literacy.

Chapter three gives a detailed picture of different literacy experiences. Each woman described used literature, in part, as a way to escape the reality of their lives. Literature became a friend, and adventure, an escape. It was more than just something necessary in school. It became a personal and meaningful practice that each individual embraced and therefore excelled at. If we could get students to embrace literature in this way, it would not be such a chore to get them to read. The question is how do we get kids to engage with literature this way? How do we get the reluctant ones to understand the magic that reading has?

I love the story of Laurie reading the book Where’s Our Mama. Her engagement with and connection to the story is obvious in her response with the umbrella after reading the story. Her story continues in a less positive way. This is a young girl who struggled greatly with school and reading. I couldn’t help but notice the connection that her home life had to her struggles. She was not getting the attention and affection she needed at home, and therefore was unable to do what she needed to be successful at school. Also interesting to me was how her attitude toward school changed along with her home life. As I read this, I couldn’t help but hope that Laurie would not get stuck in the same home life that she grew up in. It is obvious that she is loved by her mother and grandmother, however the stress and strain of taking care of the family left some of Laurie’s needs unmet.

Shannon Keough

I appreciate Hicks sharing with us a part of her childhood memories. I can understand how and why histories of her childhood ring so vivid and aid in her becoming a lifelong reader. I’m glad she acknowledges the childhood memories of Hooks and Frame, helped in shaping her literacy framework. As for myself, growing up in the South was quiet different from how Hicks describes her childhood, but it wasn’t as strained as Hooks childhood either. After all, Hooks and I are both Black. She is “light-skinned”, I’m dark-skinned…maybe she’s older than I am; maybe she was raised in a rural area that was deeper south than where I was raised (which was Charlotte, NC). None the less, I can understand the fear and possible hate she had growing up. I can even relate to how she felt in school when in class, slavery was mentioned and the other students’ reaction to the word savage. Being a dark-skinned black person, and the only one in class (I was the first child in my family to go to desegregated schools), I to could not relate to a savage, even though I am a dark-skinned sister. But when reading her memoire I can understand why “she married a man whose skin is the color of soot and the other wonderful black things…” Because as she stated, yes light-skinned blacks has and still are being treated better than dark-skinned blacks, but none-the-less Hooks (who was light-skinned) still was black, BUT not black enough…or light/white enough. Therefore that’s why her husband is black like all the wonderful things she loves. As the memoire continues (p.40) and the statement was made, “Black is a woman’s color”. That doesn’t mean only woman can wear black. It is more of a cultural thing. When I was growing up, my mama told me too that, “You are not grown, when you become a woman, you can wear black”. We, black people, just think that the color black is too BOLD of a color for younger girls to wear (really that’s it!). In fact when my daughter was growing up, she didn’t wear her first black dress until she was 15 years old!
Laurie, who was being a “good-girl” in 1st and 2nd grade, and her academics were in a downward turn; reminds me of so many students who come into 3rd grade. I don’t know who if anybody is the blame, for these children not being prepared when they get to 3rd grade. I taught 3rd grade for four years. When these children come into our class, after all the parents send their best to school, parents don’t understand or have a clue why their child (who just entered in 3rd grade), is behind. The parents tell you how “good” they have always been in school, and how much they loved school in 1st & 2nd grade….now these same “good” students have to sit and read to learn, instead of learning to read…That is a problem!
Toni Wheeler

I found myself seeing my own childhood when the author was describing her childhood.. As a daughter of the south – born and raised in North Carolina by parents who were born and raised by southerners, I really saw myself in the author’s stories of her own childhood.

I remember Bible School and Sunday School, singing “Jesus Loves Me,” eating cookies, and drinking juice. Going to church was mandatory – my parents, my sister, and I attended every Sunday. I knew Bible stories as well as I knew the story of The Three Little Pigs. I still have a copy of Bible stories I received as a child – it still has a chocolate ice cream stain on the inside cover from reading it while eating an ice cream cone.

My parents purchased books for us, like the author I had many of those Little Golden Books, and both read to us every night. The TV did not come on except for an hour or two a night. We played outside, helped in the garden, and read. We listened to our parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles tell stories about when they were little.

While we weren’t wealthy, we had what we needed. My parents, if they had financial concerns, never let us know about them. While I see many of my own stories in the author’s memories of her childhood, I see many of my students’ stories in Laurie’s story.

Teaching at a school with a student population of only working and lower socio-economic class students, I know that students sometimes know too much about adult problems. They know the day when food stamps arrive. They know that they have to go to grandma’s house to take a bath because their water got turned off. They know they have to get homework done before dark because the power was turned off and they won’t be able to see their books if they wait until late to do it. They know they better eat their school lunch no matter if they like the offerings or not because they might not get to eat until school breakfast the next day.

Their parents can choose between attending parent teacher conferences or working so they can put food on the table. Many parents do not have the comfort level needed to help their children with even the most basic of assignments. It is hard for parents to worry about 3rd grade math when they also have to worry about paying for the glasses a child needs.

It is also hard for a child to focus and concentrate on what needs to be done at school when he or she has seen and heard things most of us never had to worry about at that age. I had a student whose mother used to disappear, without a word to anyone for, days. Her car would be found in a parking lot with the contents of her purse scattered all over the seat. Her children would be afraid that something horrible had happened to her. Their grandmother had to pick up the pieces. She would remind the children each time it happened that their mother had done this before and just was trying to get attention. Both children were extremely bright, but of course could not focus on what they needed to focus on to be completely successful at school. Most of us as adults could not focus on what we needed to focus on if we had so many outside issues distracting us.

Caroline Walker

I was pleased to jump into Chapter 3 and not need my dictionary (which I have not placed on my computer dashboard).

I enjoyed reading each of the ladies stories. I could relate to each of the working class girl’s stories.

Although white, I could relate to bell hook’s story. She spoke of church having a great impact on her becoming a reader. While my immediate family went to church sporadically, my caregivers during the day, were Mr. and Mrs. Parks, a minister and his bride. My mother teases when she says, “That is why I turned out so good.” They read the Bible to me, took me on trips, treated me like their granddaughter. They had no television, but 6 children much older than myself to keep me entertained. I know they shaped my behavior and my literacy experiences.

I found it interesting all 3 ladies read for escape. Don’t we all have something we do for escape from the stresses of life? Pedicures. Bubble Baths. A Glass of Wine. Scrapbook. Reading about places you could be or places that might be can give someone just enough hope to make it through tough times. I believe once we find something that gives us that escape we need, it can also be a source of pleasure. These ladies developed a joy of reading even though it began as an escape.

I didn’t find it strange the mother-daughter relationships, good or bad, played such a big part in literacy. Generally, most mothers have that special bond with their children that is just different from a father’s relationship. While there is the notion of being a “daddy’s girl,” so much of who we are and what we become is based around our mother -the care giver.

“With classes that are too large to manage and increasingly stiff curriculum mandates, it becomes difficult for teachers to come to know children with the kind of depth that engenders successful change (96).” Just in my teachings since 1992, I have seen such a push in academics that makes the classroom teacher go, go, go with curriculum. We are jumping through hoops and pushing the curriculum often at the expense of those already struggling to keep up. I have felt the push and find less time each year just to “talk” and get to know my students on more personal levels. I miss that. As with all the chapters and articles before, teachers need to “listen” to their students and give them a voice no matter what their culture, race, class, or gender.

Tamera Wilson

The personal and professional light with which we were allowed to view Laurie fills a void for me in connection with my own students. Often times I wonder what is going on with children at home and why. Although we still are not able to see what happens when Hicks is not present we do get a glimpse of the reasons as to why Laurie is looking for her knight in shining armor.

The disturbing thing for me is the fantasy story about the flowers. “I’m gonna kill (unclear word) who did it and (unclear word) break the heart flower [feigns crying]” I could not help but call out in my own mind to Hicks, “find out if someone is molesting or abusing this child!” Hicks states, “Violence and goodness sit in complicated balance in Laurie’s Magic Garden story.” (p. 79) It really upset me that Hicks treated this as normal writing for a first grade student. Anyway, it was just more proof that home contexts spill over into the classroom setting, playground, and cafeteria. Children cope with issues as they have seen others cope. They must develop defensive strategies that make sense of their world if they can.

For educators, this can be a difficult thought to recall amid the daily stress and business of teaching first grade to a challenging child among 20-25 other children. The significance of Hicks’ research thus far speaks as much to the current styles of educating the masses as it does to how our specific histories affect how girls “write, voice, and live in school.” (p. 97)
Janet Gross

I kept questioning my own responses as I read these two chapters. I understand Hicks’ observations of Laurie and the contrast Hicks includes between Laurie’s home reality and the possibilities for adult women, of multiple social classes. However, is it really so wrong for Laurie to want a Daddy? Perhaps her outpourings point to emotional confusions about life, but it seems she just wanted the element that she believed would make her world okay.

I’ve been whiney and close to tears all day, delayed onset of grief & coming of a hormonal surge, I guess. None the less, I found myself to be irritated by the seeming slant of Hicks against ideas of women fulfilling traditional gender roles. I guess I’ve gotten to a stage in my life where I recognize my upbringing (complete with a crazy family whom I love), understand the value of education, and still want to find a husband and make babies. I fully intend to eventually get my doctorate and be a college professor, but if it came down to it, I’d choose to be a stay-at-home mom, at least for a bit, without hesitation instead. Does that somehow make me less of a woman or show that I have foolishly conformed to the standards of our culture? I don’t really think so. If feminism is about options, then let me choose.

Perhaps Hicks does validate my way of thinking by including the quote from Jane Miller on page 80 “[Literacy] offers scope for imagining multiplicity and change, and for resisting, as well as yielding to, the seductions of the domestic and the feminine.”

Now on to Laurie’s behavior, which most fascinated me in the article. At home, Laurie is a junior parent, watching two younger siblings and helping Mom & Grandma keep things together. She has to discipline her siblings and behave as an adult. Then, she goes to school and her primary focus becomes being a “good girl” who is quiet and well-behaved. Talk about a switch! Sometimes I struggle when it’s time to switch from being the teacher to being a student. Can you imagine a switch from adult to child? In a setting where you are falling behind? Blah!

I think there’s no surprise at all that Laurie was diagnosed with ADD and subsequently medicated. She seems like a highly imaginative little girl who was unable to successfully get out her energy or creativity at school; when she returned home with 8 hours worth of store energy, it was too much for Grandma to deal with while working. Isn’t Kindergarten a bit young to label a child & start medicating them? Help me out Kindergarten & first grade ladies. It seems ridiculous to me. Again, let me identify a personal bias here. My nephew will start Kindergarten in the fall. I am already praying for wisdom & strength for whoever his teacher will be. Nephew-boy doesn’t need Ritalin, he needs to move, think, tear apart/put together, and explore his world.

Laurie was rendered unable to explore since her angry outbursts were behaviorally unacceptable, the work of first grade was cognitively beyond her instructional level, and her peer relationships were strained, at best. Yet, her primary concern seemed to remain “being good.” Hicks says, on page 75, “Laurie resisted school by tuning out rather than through overt disruptions. She was never openly resistant in school.” Now that, I totally agree, is a socially constructed gender issue, with a little bit of genetics mixed in.

I feel like I’m still processing these chapters, so I may have the urge to say more later. Thanks for bearing with me through my little rant about wanting kids. I’ll close with this quote that makes me feel better about my rant & thought pattern: “Teaching, like research, involves situated readings of students. We read students’ lives in ways that draw on our own histories as learners.” P. 56

Ruth Johnson

Yes, our caretakers then teachers impact our child's life in ways that will stay with them forever. Sad to say some mothers don't have time for their children, I see them sitting in fast food places talking on their cell phones while the child in front of them sits in silence. Being a single mother is not the worst option today, society has made a few wrong turns, including not considering a fetus a baby, I remember being ecstatic when I found out I was expecting, now it's, is it convenient for me, do you want to help me with the responsibility or shall we continue on our merry way. Children used to be a treasure. Enough of that, The discourse of the Bible Belt made it to NJ where I raised my children, there are many rural areas of our country where morals are still set from the Word.
I see many of my students in Laurie's position, trying to be a child with the responsibilities of an adult. This is very detrimental to their school work. It is hard to think about academics that you don't see as important, when more urgent issues wait for you at home. Many parents try to help their children the best they can, but their experiences with school are shaky at best. On p. 56 it mentions we read student's lives in ways that draw on our own histories as learners this can be helpful if we came from the same background, but how many of us did? Again the point is made on p. 65 “children learn what they live”. Hybrid identity appears according to region and time/era. Dad's giving books to their little girls to write in so they can be like their moms is nice, yet still sending the message of "place" this is not always bad. The idea of girls seek power by being nice, kind and helpful, should be transparent to veteran teachers. Page 66 talks about Laurie living a dual existence as a model student who was learning how to fail, we see this in classrooms and as in Laurie's case, we don't have enough staff to give the one on one they need. If we could only concentrate on the lower grades, get them to read, we wouldn't have the problems we see in the upper grades. I seen the idea mentioned on p. 73, reading to a stuffed animal wok in my room. This is non-threatening so they take more risks and make more progress. I have used the writers notebook in the past but these readings have given me more ideas, I don't know what to try first. It offers them freedom from tension, it is their space, and I usually learn much more than I want to know, but it helps me understand my students. I know this was all about girls but I see these behaviors from boys also.

Just as Hicks mentioned her childhood had an effect on her appreciation and love of literature. When I think back on my childhood, I can’t recall my mother or father ever reading to me. If my mother were alive I am sure she’d say differently. As a child I liked to read, but never really eastablished a love for reading for enjoyment. Now, I love to read for my students (children books), and occasionally will read a book seen on Oprah. Had I been raised in a house that modeled reading for enjoyment the outcome most likely would have been different.

It is crucial that we help students establish a purpose for reading. In order to truly value this skill, they must find it applicable to their everyday life. To do this, we have to incorporate literature that is exciting and interesting to our particular grade level. I remember reading stories that were so
Far-fetched from my personal life as a child. I remember reading Dick and Jane –really who can connect to that? Today, literature is beginning to “tune in” to what kids want to read about and publishers are supplying topic s that bring in “real life” themes that children can make some personal connections too.
At the beginning of the school year, I have my parents complete a reading survey with their children. Questions relate to their hobbies, interest and personalities. This is great way to get to know more about my students so that I can provide them with books they will find interesting.
Reading how Laurie’s home life affected her literacy development reemphasized that something needs to change! If parents do not become more active in educating their children, the cycle is only going to continue when they grow up and have children of their own. I don’t know how what more we can do as educators to help parent realize this. At my school, we have done things like supplying free books, holding literacy building workshops (with free transportation, childcare and dinner) and still the response is sparse. I wish someone would come up with a solution to this ever growing epidemic!

Kim Shaw

These 2 chapters, unlike the first 2, really drew me in and brought up an array of emotion from me. I’ve read on many posts about how family life was growing up. I didn’t really have such a normal life growing up. I guess by normal I mean the typical American family. Neither of my parents even finished middle school. My home life was somewhat dysfunctional; my parents separated after I was grown but they didn’t get along when I was young, and my father didn’t help my mom out with us or financially either. She had the burden of being the emotional and material provider for me and my 2 much older siblings. Somehow in the midst of all that I became a good girl at school and managed to stay at the top of my class. I think I tried so hard because that made my mom proud of me, and since she didn’t have much time to give me it was a way to get attention and approval from her. I didn’t have much in the way of role models for reading and writing. My mother loved and still loves me and we have a close relationship, but I can really connect with some of Laurie’s issues. My mother was in her late 30s when she had me, so she wasn’t a young mother raising 3 kids but instead a mom who already had teenagers and wasn’t really planning on adding a new baby to an already tough situation. When a kid comes out of a less than ideal situation like that, one of two things can happen. They can be rebellious to show their anger at their situation, or they can strive and work hard to try to rise above it and make a better life for themselves than they had as children. It seems that what usually happens is the first.

Laurie was very much shaped by her caretakers. This is not a news flash for any of us. Kids pick up on the language, body language, habits, and values of those who are taking care of them daily. Parents are truly their child’s first teacher. Behaviors are learned from watching others. It just makes good sense that a child’s approach to literacy learning would be modeled after that of his parents or caregivers. I understand that Laurie’s mom and grandmother were in a bind so to speak with raising 3 young children, and they were doing the best they could. Still, I can’t help but be angry at situations like this. We have so many women out there (of all colors) who are single moms raising kids by themselves with no father around. I don’t want to anger anyone, my own dad was present but not involved in my life either. I just don’t understand how and why these women end up with 3 or more kids by the age of 25, no husband or father to help raise the kids, and no job or education to rely on. What do they think is going to happen to these kids? And why do they keep having more babies when they can’t care for the ones they have? I am in my late 30s and I have 2 girls. I am married, so I have a husband and 2 sets of grandparents to help out. I work and go to school, and it is HARD to manage things and be a good mother when I am so busy. Many of you are in the same boat and know what I mean. I just don’t understand how these ladies let themselves get into such difficult circumstances; it’s the kids who suffer because they are not getting the attention they need, as was Laurie’s problem in the story. I don’t think she had ADD; it sounds like she just needed somebody to be a good parent to her and give her the attention she needed. You can love your kids and still not be a good parent to them. Hicks even stated that she thought Laurie was reacting to stressful material and her emotions. I wonder how many kids we have on Ritalin that really are not ADD, but just come from a less than ideal home situation.

While I understand that being a single parent would be difficult, and in some cases things happen that we have no control over, it just seems to be so common these days for young women to be raising kids alone or with grandma’s help. That often creates a financially stressful situation in which the mother doesn’t have time to be a mother because she is too busy just trying to survive. Kids have to deal with so much emotional baggage, how can they be expected to behave at school and be engaged learners? There is a sentence on page 64 that says, “Amid the economic and child care stresses faced by the adults, Laurie’s needs and interests were sometimes lost.” And in addition to her, there are 2 other kids in the family who are going to be in the same situation as Laurie when they enter school!! Maybe what we need to work towards in our country is educating our young people about how difficult being a parent is. Maybe rather than trying to fix the problems of all these children we could do more parent educating and lessen the number of kids we see coming from situations like Laurie’s. It is a viscous cycle that just keeps repeating itself. Our children are our future-we have heard that so much but I don’t think some Americans really take it seriously. If we don’t do a good job raising our children, both academically and emotionally, we are headed for a big mess.

Lorie Hedrick

We shouldn't be surprised to see in a chapter that where a child grows up has an impact on their literacy. It breaks my heart to read about students like Laurie or to even see random kids out in public and automatically know that they're not getting the attention they need at home. Its not always low income, single mother families, but it's also families where parents are too wrapped up in their own lives and careers to even recognize that their children aren't getting the attention they need. I was very lucky in my own childhood. I had both my parents around and all four of my grandparents. My mother was a stay at home mom because she always wanted to pick my sisters and I up from school and help us with homework and what not. Although my dad worked the typical stressful 8-5 job, he would always come home curious about our school days, ready and willing to play outside with us and most definitely always ready to tuck me in with a fun story, a Bible story, and a prayer. I was also very lucky to have two older sisters who liked to be my other moms. I was very well taken care of and I probably got too much attention. I have a very hard time relating to situations where there is a young single mom struggling to make ends meet. That concept is luckily very foreign to me. Knowing that there are families out there who don't take the time to work with their children on important matters such as literacy makes me want to strive to work even harder in my own classroom to give these students the attention they need in order to form a strong foundation in literacy. Laurie had more responsibilities than she should have at her age. I want to be able to provide an environment in my classroom where it's ok to be a kid and learn at a reasonable developmental rate. I just wish there was a way for me to get parents more involved in what I do in the classroom.

Erica Spicer

I enjoyed reading the last two chapters. I could relate to bell hooks reading on being treated differently than her brother. During my upbringing my parents allowed my brother to do a lot more things than I was, using the reason “because he is a boy and he can handle himself out there. Still when I was in college and would come home for the summer I would have a midnight curfew, unless I was out with my brother than I could stay out till 2:00am. My brother, who was two years older then me, would be able to go out snowmobiling with his friends, but if I wanted to go with my friends, who mostly were guys, they would have to come in and endure the grueling “If anything happens to our daughter out there” speech from my parents before they would tell me if I could go or not. I can relate to bell hooks, in this sense of gender roles in the family.
I also thought it was very interesting that she was told to fear the white folks, but didn’t really have a clue as to why she was doing it. This is a prime example on how not to teach equality and respect. I actually had a mother one year tell me that her daughter would not respect me because I am white. I was SHOCKED and didn’t really know what say to the mom, except that we needed to figure out a way for us to be able to respect each other because, at that time, there was only one black teach in the whole K-5 school and her odds of having another white teacher would be very possible. How a child is raise in their household before coming to school and during has a huge impact on their education. I do not treat my students any differently. I love them all and couldn’t picture tuning one out because of race, class, or gender.
The theme I came across in all four stories, from bell hooks, Janet Frames, Hicks, and Laurie was that imagination plays a huge part in a girls upbringings. Hicks’ story about her childhood kept me nodding my head and relating her middle class upbringings to mine. I too was the teacher pleaser that didn’t read much outside of school. I used my imagination all the time in my basement to entertain myself. I could also relate to her story because my mom wanted my family to look “classy”, just as her mom did. While taking notes as I read I wrote a whole page in my notebook alone writing the similarities of Hicks childhood to mine. The only big difference was that she grew up in a small southern community in the piedmont escaping her small town life through school, reading, and writing, and I was raised in a small northern community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and escaped small town life through music, dance, and sports. I really felt that connection of being a girl in a middle class, small town.
Laurie’s story was another two pages of written comments in my notebook, but I wanted to focus on the fact that her “good behavior cloaked her academic distress”. We have so many students out there that have slipped though this same crack in education. As a teacher, I feel that her first grade teacher should have picked up on this then. Instead Laurie was going unnoticed, as Hicks said, from day to day. Even though the teacher was experienced and she did know Laurie was struggling, it did not appear to me that the teacher was doing all she could with her to help her get caught up. If the gap is not corrected early on it hinders a child from feeling successful as their school years go on. In Laurie’s case, by second grade she already coined herself as the “slow one”. Thank God she had a second grade teacher that focused on Reading/Writing Workshops. This seemed to help Laurie a little bit. It just breaks my heart to see how much Laurie struggled with school, which was very apparent in her writing journal entries, and because of her competing identities between school and home, it makes it a lot harder to help Laurie the older she gets.

Barbara Terauds

The account of bell hooks, Janet Frame, and Deborah Hicks childhoods are great examples of how life’s experiences shape who we are and how they play a role in developing our literacy. I was moved that hooks and Frame were able to escape some of their childhood feelings of iniquity and conflicts that went on in the home that influenced their literacy learning. I know some of those same things go on in the lives of my students, but very few of them turn to reading or creating their own stories as ways of escaping. It seems, these days, children are turning to roads that lead them down paths that lead to destruction. Maybe this happens because they aren’t able to identify with anyone.
The account of Laurie is heartbreaking, because as I continued to read about Laurie, many of my own students I have had throughout the years surfaced in my mind. As I read about Laurie’s angers, I felt she had every right to feel the way she did. I thought about her longing for a father, a sense of security, attention, and more pleasant, loving relationships with her mother and grandmother. Underneath many of our students outbursts of misbehaviors, are merely children that are hurting and longing for a sense of belonging, somewhere. If it hadn’t been for Hicks research, that led to home visits, and eventually tutoring, there is no telling what would have happened to Laurie. It was obvious that a connection was made between Hicks and Laurie that left, probably, the only positive influence upon Laurie’s literacy. I was disturbed during the section Laurie wrote about the flowers. Literacy practices give teachers great insight into their levels of learning, but so much more as well, as we see through her writing. I was a little frustrated that the teachers (according to what I read in the chapter) did not seem to reach out to Laurie, and try to individualize her instruction. I had a child move in a couple months after school started this year. She was medicated for ADHD, and struggled in reading and math. At the end of the first nine weeks, I was a little nervous about how her mom would react to her grades during our conference, even though she got a weekly folder containing her work and grades. It turned out that her mom was excited. She said it was the best her grades had ever been, and when the mom asked why, the child said because of her teacher. I will say that I do my absolute very best each and everyday to differentiate and individualize for my students who need it, although it cannot always be done the way I wish due to lack of resources, time, and assistance. However, it was more than just differentiation and individualizing. I treated this little girl like I did every other child in my class. I have to say I noticed she was somewhat different in various ways than the average girl, but I would not treat her any different or let her fail. I believe educators have the most difficult job ever. Not only are we trying to teach these children, we need to tap into their lives and understand who they are and why they struggle like they do. I have always known and understood that a student’s home life impacts every aspect of their being, but I never thought about their connections with literacy based on their home life and sense or, lack there of, belonging.
Heather Houston

I really had a pretty normal childhood. I was lucky. I was never discriminated against or teased... nor did I see any of my peers get discriminated against. My parents treated me the exact same way as my older brother and held us to the same standards and let us do the same thing. It wasn't until I was in high school that I really met anyone who was racist or sexist. It was pretty shocking to me.

But the thing that really got me thinking when I read these two chapters was the idea of being a mother or a caretaker. Now, I am young... only 24. And I've only taught three years so I'm still pretty new, but I can't imagine having my own child or children at home to take care of at the end of the day. It's not that I'm not a responsible person or that I don't one day want children. I just don't have time right now and I'm always so tired after teaching all day. I guess as I get older it will get easier, but right now if I had a child to come home to and take care of something would suffer... either my family or my career. So to all of you mothers out there who are also teaching and earning a Master's Degree: Way to go! I don't know how you do it!

That being said, as a first grade teacher I am often one of the most important caretakers to a child. Because so many of my students go to after school in the afternoons, I spend more time with them than their mothers, fathers, or other guardians do. That's the truth! In addition to teaching academics all day, I teach social stuff too like respect and manners. Because my mother never worked when I was growing up, these are things I learned at home, but unfortunately many students do not learn these things in the home anymore. I often find myself mothering many of my students too. This is something that many of them need. I think a lot of their mothers don't have time to listen to every worry, bandage every boo boo, and ease every sore tummy. But we teachers can balance it all, right?

Kelly Beckley

While I was reading these 2 chapters several different emotions came to life in me, but most of all I said, “WHAT?”. However, with each emotion, I learned something and learned to accept something different.

I totally agree with Miller when she said that children have never looked for new ways to enforce their new skills of reading and writing. As children learn to read and write, they are learning how to embrace a new culture (37). Since I have moved to NC, I have learned to embrace a new culture. I am now on vacation and visiting my friends in Boston and I am defending the “ways of the South.” Believe me, I never thought it would happen, but it has and I actually felt good about it. On the other hand, hooks said that she “struggled to invent herself in a rural Back community” (39). I believe that children struggle depending on their culture and where their culture is. I moved to FL from MA, when I was in the 3rd grade and fit in just fine. I didn’t struggle to find friends or anything. However, when I moved from MA to NC (I was an adult), I had a tough time fitting in mainly because of my beliefs. So, I believe culture, society, and children can struggle or not to “fit in.”

STORIES, again stories being told helps people become part or learn their culture. The author remembers “sitting on the linoleum floor” listening to her mom’s stories of growing up in Arkansas (44). Stories are what makes our lives go round and keeps our culture alive. If people told more stories and if stories were told more in school, then just maybe cultures would be able to come together. There would not be any misunderstandings or maybe the misunderstanding could be turned around.

Unfortunately, the author made a great point about values and class (not just socioeconomic, but elegance) (48-52)) when she discussed her parents. Her mom and dad were from different socioeconomic classes and had different values. Again, spoken language in the home versus spoken language within company was different. These mixes make it complicated for a child growing up. We are what are parents make us to be.

Now, I feel that I am a well-educated person and somewhat intelligent. I grew up in a middle to upper class family and now my children are in a middle to upper class family. Education is important to me and I teach as well as talk to/with my children. With that said, when I first started reading chapter 4, I was appalled. I mean, Laurie was only 5 and Hicks is talking about “desires for love” (59). As I continued reading, the teacher reminded me of the articles we read regarding teachers preparing their students to fail. Laurie was diagnosed with ADD and she wanted to be successful, but was dealing with the stress and emotional problems of working class life (63). Again, this is my whole class. I just get tired of hearing the problem and want to hear the solution. Finally, Laurie’s 2nd grade teacher (master teacher) made a difference. Yes, Hicks states in more words than this – that it takes hard work and alternative classroom spaces for these working class students to explore the limits between the values of home, community, and school (96).

Loren Van De Griek

I enjoyed reading these two chapters. The beginning of chapter 3 begins with a quote that says “A reader is a person in history, a person with a history.” After reading these chapters I realized really how true this statement is. I also realized how thankful I am for my upbringing and the hard work that my parents did each day to make sure that I grew up in a loving, nurturing environment. After reading this material I was reminded again exactly how much students’ literacy experiences are shaped by their environments.

I too remember much of my literary experience beginning using Bible stories. In my family, if we did nothing else during the day, we did read our Bible story at night. On a good night we even got to act it out! My brother and I looked forward to my parents coming in and reading from our picture children’s Bible and saying prayers with us. We looked forward to it so much that we couldn’t sleep without it! I also remember the little Golden books that Janet Frame mentioned. In fact, a few of my favorite Little Golden Books I still use as read alouds to share with my students.

On page Frame shares that she could make a story out of anything in her life—everything was an adventure and she found much pleasure in stories—until she went to school where such moments of pleasure were “limited” because school was a “set of routine tasks.” This statement made me sad. I feel like in school we so often squelch excitement that is already in the hearts of our students in order to teach a specific unit or certain tasks. This was a gentle reminder to me once again to look for ways to teach authentic curriculum based on student needs and interests.

I enjoyed chapter 4 because Laurie’s story was so real to me. I hadn’t thought really hard about how much school practices are influenced by economic hardships. Many times we feel like just because those kids are out of their homes and away from the situations awaiting them that they should put those things behind them and be ready to learn…impossible! The more I read about Laurie, the more my heart broke! I was interested in the comment about living between classes. So often it is hard to assess the needs of our students because they do live between the classes. It is amazing to me to see the students who arrive to school in a beautiful, brand new car, but when the bus drops them off in the afternoon it is hard to believe that anyone can live there. There are many students at our school whose parents would qualify for free lunch, but don’t because of the way that “looks” but their students are obviously hungry when they get to school. I feel like Laurie spent a lot of time living between classes. This may be part of the reason that she had so much trouble with her self-esteem when she got to where she couldn’t keep up in reading.

One other thing stuck out to me. In chapter 4 it says that “Laurie couldn’t keep up with the expected progression laid out in this series, published by Houghton Mifflin.” I was startled by this statement. In Davidson County we have done a lot to make sure that we are not teaching to a text book. We work very hard to work with each child where they are in small groups. There is a large focus on making sure that a child does not spend too much time in a text that is written on his/her frustration level. The literacy initiative that we have worked with has been a ton of work, but I am thankful that we are no longer basal teachers that expect students to pass based on the Houghton Mifflin books. Instead, I can honestly say that we work really hard to make sure that we meet every student where they are as well as we can.

Jessica Jackson

I’ll admit that when I first started reading chapter three that I found myself being offended. As a Christian, I was taken aback at Hicks’ seemingly flippant, ungrateful attitude about her rearing in a Christian home. I knew, though, if I was going to be able to get through the rest of the book and actually learn anything that I would have to widen my perspective on that which I took defensive issue and back away from my quick judgment of Hicks. I decided that Hicks was simply trying to illustrate for us the dramatic level of immersion that one can experience in their own culture, therefore being rendered almost handicapped at being able to function in any situation diverging from it at all. This recognition helped me to quickly consider how foreign my classroom must have been at times to so many of my students born of cultures dramatically different from my own.

Moving on into these chapters, I began to reflect much deeper into my own experience with literacy and how my class, gender, and race have framed this very personal picture. This reflection takes us right back where we started when Dr. Jackson asked us to first introduce ourselves and our literacy experience and expression of it.

I believe that my parents raised me with a taking-it-for-granted kind of view on literacy: I grew up white, female, and middle-class in the South. From their actions and attitudes about reading and schoolwork, I’d say that they took it for granted that I’d marry middle to upper class and not have to worry with making much money because I would depend on my husband for that just as my mom did. This is not in the least an ungrateful statement but my reality. My parents placed very little importance on my education other that the concrete expectation that I would graduate high school and head straight on to a four-year university. For some, that might sound like a high expectation, but strangely enough, I never felt like school was deemed important at our house. I don’t ever remember a time when mom or dad asked me if I had homework, and they didn’t make a point to come to school functions. My dad does have a master’s degree in education, but it seems that it was earned as a means to make more money, not for the sake of the knowledge. But, then again, that’s a judgment call on my part.

So, tying all this into the reading, it seems that when there’s shaky ground in the security of home—as in the home lives of Laurie, Hicks, hooks, and Frame—the student reverts to various forms of literacy as an escape. My home life, on the contrast, was so EXTREMELY secure that I can’t even begin to describe it in “normal” terms; it was almost imperfectly perfect. Now, as an adult, I’m learning that it was not perfect and my parents are not perfect as I always thought they were. So, I never really looked for any sort of escape in books or anything as a kid. Any time after school was really expected to be spent with family in our home, but I never saw this as a dreadful expectation; it was one that was just taken for granted. Looking back, I can see how it would have seemed self-indulgent in our home to be sitting around with your nose in a book ignoring the family members around you; there was always the underlying expectation to be making a contribution to the family unit even if it was just in conversation.

Erin Farrington

I really enjoyed my reading this time because it was much easier than the 2 previous chapters. I was very interested to read about Hicks childhood and how her socilization and literacies were formed. I remember getting the look from my mother in church that I better behave. I grew up going to church and think a lot of my beginning memories with literacy were created there and in my home before I even went to school. A theme that seemed to run very solid through all of the women's stories were that they used reading to escape the lives that they were living. They used it as a way to get away from the hardships in their lives, and they also learned many of their early literacies from their mothers. It seemed that most of the mothers were the ones sharing the stories and examples of literacies.

I think that are literacy experiences are definately shaped by our communities, families, gender, class, and race. The way we interact with people as we grow up holds a significant role in how we develop our literacies. I was lucky that I was always around people that told stories about family history, and stories about their childhood. I was also lucky to have both parents read to me before bedtime at night. My father played just as big a role as my mother did in introducing literacies in my life. They were both educated and I was lucky that we had all the resources that were needed to do this.

I think that Hicks was very caring with Laurie and the fact that they grew up from similar home situations gave her the ability to connect with Laurie and be able to more closely relate to her and help her. I think that she tried very hard to interest her in texts that she thought would relate to Laurie's dream world and also provide her with the help she needed to pull up her reading and writing. Hicks was trying to help Laurie to understand literacy not just through reading but through her own life. This is important. If a child cannot make personal connections with text and writing then they will not always be interested. I found it interesting though that Laurie in kindergarten loved writing and drawing so much and as she got older and it got harder it became more difficult for her even though she still loved it.

These chapters help to show how much family life does impact not only our literacies but also how it can distract students from being able to focus in school. If there are things going on at home then it is not always going to be easy for these children to be able to get their work done.

Megan Machuga

After reading about Laurie, I am beginning to understand what some of my students go through at home. I realize that not everyone had a childhood like I did, which is similar to Hicks. I also grew up going to church every Sunday and attended Bible School every year. I know that many of my students do not have comfort at home like I did. I grew up reading books every day. If I asked my parents for a new book they would take me out to get one. Reading was very important to my parents and they would help me in any way that I needed. I remember going every week to the local library and checking out a bag full of books. I used to look forward to that. Many of my students have never even been to the local library which breaks my heart. After reading about Laurie, it makes me realize how lucky I was as a child.

Laurie’s writing often dealt with her emotions as do many writers. When I read my students’ work I can often tell what kind of home life they have. My students write about their families and what activities they do together at the beginning of the year. This is really an eye opener for me. Not every child gets to play board games with their family as I did. Many of my students just write about watching TV together or how they do not see their parents much in the evenings. In Laurie’s writing, you could tell that she was missing something at home, in her case it was a father figure. It’s understandable that she would want a father, I think most people do. I know Laurie’s mother probably had financial problems, but it’s free to go the library and check out books. It doesn’t cost anything to give her some attention.

Some of Laurie’s writings are dark and this bothers me. I wonder if her teacher ever addressed some of these topics. If one of my students wrote these stories I would be concerned. The length of Laurie’s stories got longer throughout her second grade year, which is good. I have a few fourth graders who are writing on about the same level as Laurie and we have been working hard all year to improve their writing skills. It’s obvious that Laurie struggles and it’s a pitiful situation that she is in. It seems like she is only getting farther and farther behind.

Dana Eudy

Chapter 3
Reading Lives

In chapter 3 Jane Miller writes of children’s identities emerging in their earliest relationships, often with mothers as important dialogic others. Recalling Lorraine Code's comments about, Miller (1990) argues that gender is shaped in relation to the specificities of those early words and attachments:
It is surely within those first conversations those shared sightings and naming, that the specificity, the material detail and concrete knowing of the world are learned as values within an actual, evolving, culture. The movement from mother to school will vary vitally according to class, place, and time. Keep in mind gender is always learned.

Reading is a part of children’s histories. Miller agues that readers and practices of reading are situated within histories of locality, gender, race, and class. Literacy learning is a part of these histories.
How do all children become readers? In the always-already social world those who read and write as girls or boys in class and racially specific locations and with the caretakers who take their hands should share in their fantasy worlds and create and share histories in which reading is a part of the relation.
She doesn’t remember much about learning to read. She states she knew it was something people did in school, or maybe in certain work places. Adults didn’t typically sit around the house reading, except for a magazine or two. Reading was also expected to be taught in school. She admits that the values associated with being successful schoolgirl: obedience, accuracy, conformity, work. She admits to working hard in school. She admits to not reading if something of equal or greater interest arises.
Summing up chapter 3 the arts of writing lay in the literacy research, attachments, and identifications are part of teaching relations. Teaching involves situated readings of students.

Chapter 4
Referring to the stress of making ends meet while taking care of three young children took a toll on the women who were Laurie’s caretakers and ultimately on Laurie’s history in school. Laurie struggled to get the emotional attention she wanted and needed. When things didn’t work out for her she had violent ways. He behavior problem at home was due ultimately to a medical diagnosis that was becoming wide spread at he the time of this research study. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Now with research progresses we have many labels of which this is most common. The diagnosis was entangled in a history lived within material stress and the emotional strain that went with them. Economic hardship, anger, and academic struggles were a great deal of Laurie’s experience. Laurie’s dreams where of having a Dad and a prince charming. She yearned for acceptance with boys. For example a kindergarten friend helped Laurie develop socially with maturity. Although the feminine identity that Laurie readily appropriated also sometimes limited her engagements in academic activities. The academic practices that were intended to occur in the Centers were on many occasions appropriated within a domestic agenda. A positive outcome of Laurie’s was as much as she wanted to be a successful student; she encountered serious trouble that resolved around the material and emotional stress of working class family life. Prior to Laurie’s diagnosis neither Mrs. Thompson not the author had noticed anything unusual about her behavior. However later on some notes were placed about behavior. Some notes suggested depression and withdrawn behavior complaining of stomach pain due to the medication. Sometimes Laurie’s needs were sometimes lost. Laurie was from a slight verbal abusive home life expressing anger and resentment. Through all of this turmoil, Laurie still wanted to be a good student. She knew that being good meant power in the world. Go Laurie, I say Want some Get Some. Children can still be motivated and medicated at the same time with careful collaboration between teacher, parent and doctor. I do have mixed feelings about ADD medication.
Girl’s such as Laurie need safe classroom spaces for living but also for challenging the felinities that are shaped through attachments and practices in their homes and neighborhoods. How can we professionals predict and integrate writing prompts that are of sound economic issues with no prejudices with race color or class? Somewhere somebody’s culture or gender is going to get stepped on. These issues need to be addressed but how and without being biased?
Robin Hand