Reading about Daniel left me frustrated and puzzled. Daniel was such a smart boy, why did he not do his homework and complete his class work? He knew how to do it and he knew that he could complete it, yet he didn’t complete it. Could it have been that he felt that it was not relevant to his Indian Culture so it wasn’t important to learn about? I wonder if his parents told him that it was important to learn about other cultures as well as learning more about the Indian Culture. It seemed to me like his family was very supportive of him, but never once did it say that they helped to make sure that he finished his homework. Did they communicate with the school? I was so frustrated when he did his horror story and he was so hoping that his teacher would read the story to the class but his teacher just skipped right over it. I felt crushed inside; I wanted to scream at that teacher!!! I think that as a teacher if you know that you have a child that is struggling you should take extra time to build that student up. I find that if I have a student struggling in their writing and they wrote something that they were proud of I would take the time to either read their writing or let them read it. In the reading it said, “…he slumped in his seat each time she passed over his…. Later he expressed disappointment that she did not choose to read his story.” If I were Daniel I would not want to write anything to turn in again because what I did was not good enough to be read. I just wish that the teacher had taken the time to encourage his writing!! I know that he had AMAZING potential I just wish that people took more time to help them develop their talent.
Zonnie’s academic life was frustrating as well. She was such a smart girl, her parents believed in her and believed in a good education. Why did her teachers not do as much as they could to help her? She was a great poet yet her teachers did not take the time to read what she had and comment. Noll says “…her language arts teacher rarely read or responded to her journal entries…” yes it made her write more, but why did they not read them? Did they not care about her style of writing? Did they not understand her style? I got so frustrated!! She only received Bs and Cs and it seemed like they knew that she could do more but they didn’t do anything to help her do better.
This made me really think. Do we as teachers really do everything that we can to help every child of every race? I know that I try my best but from reading this I have really learned that I need to be much more aware of what I see and what I can do to help each student succeed.
Natalie Enns
Comments (3)
I think as teachers, we have every intention of doing all we can for our students. But in reality, if you have a class of 20 kids, 15 who speak English, 4 who speak a mix of English and Spanish, and 1 who speaks no English, it is hard to attend to the needs of 1 when you scarafice the others. This is where assistants, volunteers, and tutors make teaching possible. We need to extend ourselves as much as possible in order to grasp every child in our classrooms.
Posted by Sarah Hutson | June 10, 2010 8:42 AM
Posted on June 10, 2010 08:42
It is a hard thing to read this article and see the potential both these students had that was not addresses and encouraged by their teachers as much as it should have been. I think that if the parents had been as supportive at school about the “boring” school stuff and expected their children to apply themselves as much in school as they did the cultural community stuff this would have been different story all together. It is hard for teachers do meet the needs of all their students even when they give their all, with all the other things they are required to do besides their teaching.
Posted by Tracy Icenhour | June 10, 2010 8:11 PM
Posted on June 10, 2010 20:11
Like you I was heartbroken when Daniel's teacher did not choose his story as one to read to the class. I think you're right that he possibly didn't want to right for her any more because of that. It made me think about when I was in school in similar situations. There were times when my stories or pictures were not chosen by the teacher to share with the class, but I don't remember the details. What I do remember, however, is one particular time when my story WAS read to the class. You want to talk about motivation!! It made such an impact on me that I can still remember the story! I think as teachers we need to be very aware of the effects the choices we make everyday have on all our students, especially those like Daniel, who may need a little more support motivationally. I think it is great that you realize this and that if you were his teacher you would have read his story! :)
Posted by Marcia Smith | June 11, 2010 5:02 PM
Posted on June 11, 2010 17:02