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

I connected to chapters 3 and 4 from the very first sentence. I loved Hicks style of writing in these two chapters. She was writing to tell a story of her life and how she related to sweet but lost Laurie. I to was raised in the church and understand what Hicks means when she says “There I was learning to be a “good girl” Look back on my childhood I did not think of it in this way. I was the good girl but my family made me that way. I was raised in a very loving and functional family. My father worked and my mother stayed home. Every morning before going to school my mom cooked breakfast. Me and my brother ate and then we walked to the bus stop. In the afternoons when I got home mom was there with a snack. My family was the good family. We played together, read together, went to church together, and any and every school event. My mom was the PTA mom. My literacy development was very much shaped by my family!
I love this quote by Benhabib “Identity does not refer to my potential for choice alone, but to the actuality of my choices, namely to how I, as a finite, concrete, embodied individual shape the circumstances of my birth and family, linguistic, cultural and gender identity into a coherent narrative that stands as my life story” This quote states that you have the choice to shape and do with what you were given. I know that this is easier said than done. If your parents were always there and provided enrichment and role models than you have all of the means of shaping your life story through what you have seen and know from your parents. I know that some children are not that lucky they have circumstances in their families that affect their life stories. Hopefully those children like Laurie have powerful role models that come into their life and help them reshape their identities. Hooks writes that she tried to escape the lonely conflicted life in her family through reading. She was able to escape and connect her life experiences through books. Hooks was making choices that shaped her life story.
The case of Laurie was a sad one. She seemed lost and unable to find her identity at school. She seemed to have a strong identity at home as the caretaker. This is the wrong identity for a young child to have. On page 65 as a second grader Laurie shared “I’m to old for my age” This was a very sad quote form a child. Laurie had not had the opportunity to be a child. She was automatically in charge because of her family situation. This caused conflict with her literacy development and education. She was stuck between two worlds with little help in either. She needed to be cared for and provided attention. Laurie seemed to be falling through the cracks at school. A child that is behind can not be expected to follow on a literacy curriculum that is reflective of grade level expectations with little to no differentiated learning, no wonder Laurie could not seem to catch up. I was bothered by what Hicks stated on page 71 “Laurie’s teacher understood that the reading selections presented did not match the needs of struggling readers such as Laurie. However, Mrs. Rhodes seemed committed to using the curriculum that the school had adopted and to supplementing with worksheets and whole class lessons that she devised herself.” Where is the instruction to teach all children! This is our job as teachers to meet the students where they are academically and social and make them grow!
I was very touched by these two chapters. At the end of chapter 4 Hicks states “As we entered the life she lived at home hit me” I was very touched by Laurie’s reaction to Hicks. Laurie cut out a page from her new ABC Valentine Book and stuffed it in the envelope attached and wrote M. D.H. on the front and handed it to Hicks saying “I love you”

Angie Somers