RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

Do you think that girls who are good but not smart have an advantage? I am thinking of a little girl from my class this year who started off behind. She worked so hard though and was so sweet that I couldn’t help but root for her and look for ways to help her get ahead. Her good behavior made me focus on her rather than making her blend in and her work ethic made me have higher expectations of her than of others at her level. She ended the year on grade level in most subjects, having grown by leaps and bounds. In the classroom that ‘good girl’ behavior can also be one way struggling readers can gain positive attention from adults. While Hicks portrayed the ‘good girl’ behavior in somewhat of a negative light, I think it can be an adaptive skill children engage in to get the positive attention they would otherwise not. I think Hick’s fear was that the ‘good girl’ behavior was a camouflage for all the Laurie was experiencing and came at the expense of Laurie expressing herself in the classroom.

I don’t necessarily think it is a bad thing for children to learn gender roles. They are part of the structure of our society. We all have roles that we must fulfill, gender or otherwise, and there are genetic differences between the sexes that cannot be ignored. They become a problem when children feel trapped or limited by these expectations, such as the expectation that all women will find satisfaction in cooking and cleaning at home. I have always thought that when I have children I would teach them all to cook and clean and to take care of the yard and younger children. I would want them to be independent and have all of the skills necessary to have a successful and fulfilling life, whatever their gender. That said, I see a great danger in the prince charming fantasy. For one, much like winning the lottery, it’s a gamble that may or may not happen. For another, it ignores personal responsibility and choice for one’s own future. Lastly, financial and emotional dependence are one reason women get caught and cannot leave abusive situations. These girls would be better off building their own castles rather than waiting for an invitation from prince charming to live (and clean) in his.
-Rebecca Ashby

Wow- our posts are a lot alike. After reading your comments about mamas being too busy, I began to feel guilty. My son often says I never make time for him. He is five and has always had lots of attention devoted to him, now that I am in grad school, there is not as much time left over. When I began this journey I thought my husband would be home more than he is. My husband is a reservist Marine, a school teacher, coaches three sports, and works with youth at our church. In Aydan's second and third years of life, Matt was overseas. This summer he has spent a lot of time with Marines in Africa, and is currently at Parris Island. I have always been the constant in his life and I feel now that I have left him too. He makes comments about how he hates my homework and all I do is practice reading. We have talked about reasons for my going back to school and not giving up when you make a committment, but I am not sure he understands. I try to only do my work when he is asleep or doing other things, but it doesn't always work this way. I feel that he is like Laurie in some ways. He acts out sometimes when I have work to do. Although I will not be placing him on medication to control these outbursts. We will work through them and spend quality time together to make sure that he feels loved. I know there are lots of children in the same boats in our classrooms. In the global society in which we live today, there are so many things that compete for parental time and attention. I wonder if parents think of the ramifications of their activites in relation to the kids, or should they?
Amy Reep

You pointed out something I hadn’t noticed. You mentioned that maybe Laurie thought if she were a good girl then maybe her academic performance would go unnoticed. I never thought about students doing that before. Laurie thought her struggles in reading and writing might not be noticed by her teacher if she was well behaved. But little did Laurie know, her teacher and Hicks were both very supportive and observant. They were good teachers. They knew that Laurie was struggling and that her literacy discourse may have led to this. It was sad to see her writing stories that were untrue about her life. She imagined and wrote about going to her grandparent’s orchard and doing things with them that were untrue. It was as if this was really what she wanted and so she wrote about it. Or maybe she was ashamed of the way her life was and wanted to write a story in class that would be normal and more like the other students’. Yes I was aggravated at her first grade teacher for not steering away from the school system’s texts. She should have seen the struggles that Laurie was having and created some different reading and writing lessons that would reach out to her and help her. I hate to see people be so stubborn when they teach. So many times I go to workshops with tenured teachers who sit and complain about how everything at the workshop will not work in their classroom for this reason or that. They are already convinced that the topic the workshop is on isn’t going to work before they even leave the workshop. They are not interested at all in trying out new methods. They are stuck in their ways. Teaching like this is what harms students. We as educators should always be open minded and willing to teach in ways that will best benefit our students.

Jamie,
Isn't it interesting the role that the home-life plays on the academic role of our students. As we have read previous selections and Hick's reading, it is very apparent that children truly are affected by the their home discourse. Like in your classroom, I have students who come into the classroom striving for attention because they have not received it at home. It is unfortunate that often students make bad choices, because they realize that it is then that they receive the most attention from the teacher. I had a student this year that I struggled with, because when he walked in the classroom each morning, you could tell that something had gone wrong at home. Mondays were always tough days because it was after the weekend spent at home. Often times, I would spend Monday mornings simply taking a moment to talk to this child about their weekend. It is interesting that in today's classroom, we not only have to modify for learning levels, but also modify to meet the child's need according to the home life? It is hard to discipline a young child when they don't have their homework, due to mom being too busy, or extreme instances, as mom being in the hospital. We have to continually strive to meet the child where they are.

Jamie, We had to have been raised about the same time. Our childhoods parallel so much. I too spent my childhood learning to be the good little girl doing just waht was asked of me just to please everybody. Of course that was at the expense of finding out who I really was. Even now at times I struggle with being who I want to be and pleasing. It can be a tough life. I felt sorry for Laurie and the struggles she was having. I wonder what we can do as teachers to help young girls like her to modify their literacies and become who they really are. It's truly a challenge for us all.

Amy, I just wanted to let you know that my mom went to grad school when I was in elementary and I turned out okay! It was a tough period, but it was temporary. Your son won’t understand now but he will be proud of you later, just as I am my mom!
Rebecca Ashby