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

As an elementary school teacher at a Title 1 school, most of my parents are blue collar workers and have little time to be involved outside of work with the teacher due to larger families or working 2 jobs. I rarely have volunteers in my classroom and little help even when I ask for supplies for different events. As for elementary school teachers our days are full of time with our students. We rarely get a full 30 minute break from our class during the day to plan or get activities ready. We have to come in early and stay late due to lack of a planning time. We take our kids from place to place, eat lunch with them, and teach all subject areas, so the little bit of time outside of school we might have between grading papers or attending to life things, we can't go out and be with those children. I know I make an effort to go to student’s ball games, dance recitals, gymnastic competitions, etc..., but that isn't the case for most teachers. I don't have my own family, so I have a little more flexibility. I don't believe it's the teacher not wanting to get parent input or involvement, but more so the lack of time to plan during the day with a 30 minute planning block (if that isn't taken away by a sick child or meeting) and actually living a life outside of school.

Meredith

I also think that Zonnie was like most typical adolescent girls. In middle school I rarely spoke to anyone outside my small circle of friends. I did not know my teachers outside of school and they knew very little about me except that I was a quiet kid in their class. I made straight As, and was put in the highest classes. Like Zonnie, I wrote to allow myself expression but didn't share my thoughts with others. I am not sure that her culture had any bearing on her personality type. There were other places outside school where I was more vocal and involved, like church.

Also Daniel seemed like a somewhat normal guy for his age. As a fifth grade teacher I struggle all the time with getting boys to turn in work. Their parents will say it was in his backpack this morning and when we go to the backpack it is not there. Sometimes I am afraid to touch their desks because the volcano of papers, drawings and materials inside may spew out at anytime.
Amy REep

Angie,

Just from reading the descriptions in the article, it sounds like Daniel is a little more interested in keeping his culture alive than Zonnie. Daniel is very active in playing Native American drum songs, wearing a Native American hairstyle, etc. Zonnie, on the other hand, seems more typical of a teenage girl. She keeps a close circle of friends, enjoys spending time with her family, and expresses herself through writing.

I do think teachers should take the time to know as much about their students lives and cultures as possible. However, there is only so much time in the day to do this. Teachers have so much on their plate, that we don't always have the time to know exactly what is going on in every student's life. I think if we talk to our students, give them time to share a little about their culture, and make them feel like we really care about them, we have significantly helped that student's self-esteem and confidence. There is no way we can know every little detail about each student in our class, but we should make our best effort to do what we can.
~Jamie Brackett

I too come from a Title 1 school where most of my parents are not very active in their child's education. I believe it is important to get to know the kids in your class to try to see where they come from. Kids love for you to take an interest in their sports and other activities. It makes them feel worthwhile.

Angie, as I was skimming through the blogs to see which one to read, your title really caught my eye. I think the words in your title: “The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself” truly captures the essence of this paper. It seems that most middle school and high school students face the fear of the un-known (e.g.Who are they? Will they fit in? What will they do with their lives, etc…) I also thought that Zonnie and Daniel struggled with some of the same issues all most every teenager struggles with no matter their race. I think Noll was trying to point out the difficulty Zonnie and Daniel had of feeling like their culture did not have much value in their education. I also make the assumption that when my students are struggling, missing assignments, and seem not to care, that they are not receiving support and guidance at home. Why? I guess I just categorize those students and don’t really take the time to dig deep and figure out the true meaning of the problem. It is vital that we take time to learn about our students and what they care about, no matter how big or small our class sizes are. If we want students to give us their best we have to give them a part of us. It is sad that we still have to deal with human race issues today. I think we are a lot better off than we were 30 years ago, but we as teachers need to make every effort to make all our students feel welcome, equal, and important. Maybe one day race won’t matter.

Angie-

In response to your thoughts on bullying in schools, I can relate to the same experiences that you are having as a teacher. I was never really bullied in school, but I see it so very often in classrooms today. I was fortunate to have a family that taught me to take care of myself and to not let myself be lead astray by others. Students today (especially the late elementary to early middle school age) are easily influenced by their peers. I have had the worst case of bullying in my class this year. I feel like I had many instances of the “alpha-female” tendency in my instructional group. So many girls wanted to be the “leaders” but they butted heads when trying to work in cooperative groups. I could sense bullying as students would gang up on each other to talk negatively about their appearance, home backgrounds or level of intelligence. Just like Zonnie, some of the girls were fairly passive, but others, like Daniel, had learned to fight back, and in some situations were suspended for their actions.

I think our students need to come to understand that are differences in each and every unique individual and we all need to appreciate those differences. It is so hard to convince students at such an early age of this concept. I know it took me a long while to really understand the meaning behind true friends. I pray and hope that our students can be influenced by us as educators to really think about the choices that they make, and how those choices can impact others’ feelings. I’m not so sure they are receiving the tools at home or through today’s media in order to posses the ability to make the best choices about their personal decisions and peers.

Renee Hennings June 10, 2010

The student you mentioned in your post reminded me of myself in school. I was the only African American girl in my class as well. However, I didn't feel I didn't fit in until jr. high. I was always able to keep my grades up and I think that came from a strong group of friends that I had went with to jr. high. There were times when I felt that I was too different from the white students at my new school and it was hard for me to want to make new friends or approach my teachers. It can be a hard process for students if they feel as if no one gets them at school.

I, like you, have a very hard time with the fact that we are still dealing with race issues in schools and in society in general. I really don't know why people have such a hard time accepting others for who they are and realizing that the world was never intended for us all to be alike! I do think we as teachers have a huge responsibility of addressing this issue with our students, whether we do this directly or mostly through example. Either way this is something we as teachers can have a positive enfluence on, and I hope we can make a difference!

Angie I think you are exactly right. I have caught myself often blaming my students lack of achievment on their parents automatically thinking that they must not have exposed them to enough literacy or that they don't support their school work. After reading this article I now realized that parents lack of involvement doesn't neccesarilly play as big a part as I often assumed it did. I also felt that some of the characteristics that these students dispalyed were more stereo typical for their age than their culture.

I thought you brought out several good points in your observation. Literacy was found in both homes and it impressed me that Zonnie was encouraged to write her own poetry and that she felt comfortable sharing her very personal side with others. There was also other interests that bound this family together the neat thing was it was the story of their past that held them so close. How would our schools be different if we worked to build a greater appreciation of who we are and where we are from?

Trish,
I agree that many young teens find themselves in a situation where they struggle for their sense of self during the middle school and futher years. I remember going through the same thing as a non-redkneck boy in a school built for ONLY that social diacotamy, and not to mention I was a smart BOY instead of a girl. I do however feel that the tensions are in many ways worse for subgroups because at least we, the main group, have other people who feel the same as we do, even if we are less than aware of it and feel socially isolated.
William B

I think that it is easy to look to the parent when a child is not successful in school. I believe that this article shows us that before we can make that assumption, we must know our students. These students had such a strong literacy background, you have to wonder why the teacher did not find anything positive to use that might encourage success in the classroom. I agree that all students in middle school struggle to find themselves and fit in with their peers. I think that children have to learn to love themselves at this age in life and to do so they must learn what things are great about themselves and have great role models. Children that fall in the minority (especially if there are not teachers from their culture) might struggle with this because they do not have a role model that they relate.