Jake was considered a gifted learner in the context of his family life and according to them. It just seems that a lot of parents view their child in a higher sense than most educators do. It seems only natural to view your child in this type of perspective. But I believe that this is where a lot of problems develop from. Parents feel as if their child is gifted and talented in their own way while teachers may feel differently about a child’s academic performance. It is hard to get these types of parents to understand that their child is struggling in class. They only want to see their child as a successful person outside of the classroom without taking in consideration of their unsuccessful events in the classroom and amongst their academics.
Jake loved to tell stories and his narratives provided insight into his discourses that helped shape his response to literacy practices. His stories of NASCAR, Sega, and Max 1 and 2, provided Hicks a window into his home life, what his parents valued, what he valued, and most of all what influenced him. Jake had two discourse communities he had to rotate between. His home life and school life were very different and he did well for a while with being flexible between the two. He seemed subdued at school and rambunctious at home. He really liked to be loud and quite physical. Even when he told stories he had to use a lot of gestures. Towards the end of Chapter 5 Jake started to have trouble going between his two discourses. I think his father caused some of this trouble. Jake’s value of literacy was challenged when he lost interest in reading at school and his dad kept supporting the thought of Jake not continuing schooling in college but just going on into the family business. Like so many children that struggle in school Jake decided to tune out his school lessons and replace them with fantasizing. I think this caused him to fall behind even more in school.
Jake’s parents made literary references at home and I was happy to hear that. I liked how they referenced the spiders that were at their home as Charlotte, like Charlotte from the book Charlotte’s Web. I think it is wonderful for parents to make these types of connections as much as they can at home. It really links together school life and home life. This was something that Jake needed.
Hicks just knew that Science and using a Science journal would be what Jake needed to get back to writing. Unfortunately this did not help inspire him when he was in his lapse of writing. Jake said it was “dumb.” Chapter 6 suggested using hybrid strategies to interweave social commentary and school writing assignments. For some students the shear pleasure of pleasing their teacher, like Rose said, is all they needed to be prompted to write. Regrettably Jake didn’t care to impress his teachers through his writing abilities. But he did however really enjoy writer’s workshop. His writer’s notebook was a great way for him to situate himself between his home and school identities. Jake liked to write about things he had done at home and places he had been. Maybe this is why he liked to write in writer’s workshop so much, he got to use it to link home life and school life together. Chapter 6 suggested that writing can be a form of social activism. It can help to change the way that we educators see and construct teaching. Through writing people make language their own. How we feel and the influences we have are shaped by who we speak with, learn from, etc. I think a lot of college students experience this phenomenon that Bakhtin talked about. People who leave for college and come back with a mind of their own I think have experienced this change.
As educators there are many things we can do to help students who refuse to write or do various assignments for us. As Murdoch and Bakhtin suggested, teachers should best instruct critical literacy with the right kinds of relationships with their students. They can do this by having patience and addressing discourses appropriately. Another suggestion that Hicks had was for teachers to draw on their very own histories to connect with students. Hicks also suggested that schools should create an environment that all students feel accepted in. Jake and Laurie seemed to exhibit feelings of outsiders at sometimes. This may have affected their academics. Overall, creating classroom discourses that address our students’ needs is essential.
Maria Blevins
Comments (5)
I had a child in my room a few years ago that was not struggling academically, but was meeting the minimum requirements for being on grade level. At our first conference in October, I remember her mother telling me that she was clearly gifted and that I should be doing more to challenge her. I remember being a little upset that she felt I wasn't challenging her child, but tried to see her point. I told her that once her daughter started showing that she could do more than the minimum I would come up with some more challenging activities for her. Afterall, I wanted to make sure that she could reach above where she was performing before I presented her with material I thought was too difficult. Her mother thought I was crazy because I didn't begin giving her work that was a grade level ahead immediately. Throughout the year this mother and I talked about how her child was doing and that she was an average student, but she continued to argue with me that she was truly gifted. It was frustrating! As a parent I can see wanting to believe that my children are head and shoulders above all other children, but I also have to be realistic. I will push my children to do all that they can, but at the end of the day, if they are doing the best they can do, I am happy with that.
-Elizabeth Norwood
Posted by Elizabeth Norwood | June 24, 2010 11:13 PM
Posted on June 24, 2010 23:13
Maria,
This " teachers should best instruct critical literacy with the right kinds of relationships with their students. They can do this by having patience and addressing discourses appropriately. Another suggestion that Hicks had was for teachers to draw on their very own histories to connect with students." is something that I try my best to do every day. I tell my students about my history and present at the beginning of every class. One of my students put, on my teacher made evaluation, that he thought that he liked the class so much because I was the first teacher who ever bothered to not only ask him how his day was everyday, but I told him about mine as well. I love the relationships that we build with our students because I think it is hard to learn from someone you hate.
William Byland
Posted by William Byland | June 25, 2010 11:40 AM
Posted on June 25, 2010 11:40
Maria, Boy can I relate! I had a child on my team this year "placed" in the AIG reading class and in the Algebra 1 class with all the other AIG students. This student was not AIG, and the reason he was "placed" in there is appalling. But since this is a public post I will not go there. I will tell you that the average YTD grade in my AIG class was 98%. That student finished the year with a 75. His reading EOG score for the 7th grade was in the 53rd percentile. He barely passed. His classmates were in the 95th perctile and higher. In Math, he was a full 20 points behind his peers on the Arlin and on his EOG scores from the 7th grade. He was clearly out of place and as a result, his behavior was less than desired. He did learn and grow this year, but I wonder how much his self-esteem suffered because he was clealy out of his league.
Posted by Karen Chester | June 25, 2010 10:58 PM
Posted on June 25, 2010 22:58
I see this a lot in kindergarten. Parents are uncertain of what is expected of their child in class. They are usually surprised by the curriculum. Many parents believe that children only color and learn to tie their shoes in kindergarten, and are they surprised at our first conference. As teachers we have to take the time to explain what is required of our student's academically. I don't believe in sugar coating the truth, parents need to know what they can do to help support their child in school. Just like Jake's mom, parents want to believe their children are gifted. Jake was gifted in many areas but he was not reaching his full potential at school. If Jake's teacher had conferenced with his mom perhaps he would have been given additional support at home. Pam Aubuchon
Posted by Pam Aubuchon | June 26, 2010 10:14 PM
Posted on June 26, 2010 22:14
Did it seem like curriculum used by Jake and Laurie’s teachers was behind what is expected of students now? Hick’s descriptions of kindergarten seemed more like what a preschool classroom would look like. I can relate to parents not having any idea the difficulty of learning required of students. The expectations have dramatically changed from when I was in elementary school, which was not that long ago. A lot of my parents received inconsistent or inadequate schooling in Mexico ,where often a village mom is responsible for a classroom of mixed ages. These parents have no idea what is expected of their children and often do not have the background to help with homework. Each year curriculum seems to be pushed down lower in the grades. In Virginia I was teaching cursive and multiplication to second graders, skills I don’t remember learning till third or fourth grade. . It makes me think that so many kids are behind because we are pushing them so hard to get the test scores we want instead of looking at what is developmentally appropriate for children to accomplish.
-Rebecca Ashby
Posted by Rebecca Ashby | June 28, 2010 12:23 PM
Posted on June 28, 2010 12:23