I enjoyed these 2 Hicks chapters. The only thing I didn't understand was why bell hooks is lowercase. I found myself making parellels between Hicks as a child and myself. My dad worked in a furniture factory and my mom was a homemaker. I grew up on a dirt road. We both found church being a strong influence in our early literacy. Bible school played an important role in my early education. We listened to stories, acted out stories, sang songs and wrote verses. I was also given room to roam as a young child. Television was extremely limited (we only had 3 channels anyway). Me and my siblings learned from listening to the adults when they didn't realize we were around, stories from grandparents and playing outside. And we read. I would read anything I could get my hands on. For special treats, we were taken to the library.
In the excerpt from hooks. I completely understand her point about children having to invent themselves. There are so many people who have expectations for children that I think children try to invent themselves in order to please all of the adults. This has to be exhausting for a child. Her comment that we accept things we really don't understand also hit hime. If my parents or grandparents told me something or if I overhead them commenting on someone or something, I believed it. Therefore, I was raised thinking things I never understood. For example, kids who went to the local city school were trouble and we needed to dtay away from them. Frame used literacy to reinvent herself through her childhood. This must be extremely frustrating for kids who struggle with reading. They do not have the opportunity to restructure or "escape" like good readers do.
Reading about the childhoods of these women helped to remind me of the importance of storytelling. All of the women realize the value of school and learning when creating an imaginary world. The themes of feminity and fantasy were evident but I had a hard time thinking they were for girls only. Boys need the fantasy and imagination too.
It was heartbreaking to read about Laurie's academic decline. There was so much focus on being a "good girl". I feel her pain in not being able to live up to the expectations of the adults in her life. I think we want children to have low stress lives and that is not reality. Children have to deal with just as much crap as adults do. All Laurie wanted to do was belong at school and have a daddy at home. No wonder she lived through so many academic struggles. It makes me wonder how we can get to know our own students better. If they are in our schools for several years you might hear stories and have some background, but is that enough?
The last thing I want to adress left a bad taste in my mouth. How often was Laurie "threatened" with retention? And how did that affect her stress level. I am not a fan of retention. I will have a student next year who will turn 14 while in 6th grade. Which leads me to ask, what do you guys do when it is obvious that a student is not where they should be academically at the end of the school year?
Carol Sherrill
Comments (5)
First off, the bell hooks thing made me curious too! Glad I wasn't the only one who picked up on that. Also, I agree with the idea that we help "create" the perceptions of children as learners. Hicks talks about how Laurie changed after being diagnosed ADD. Whether or not the diagnosis was accurate was irrelevant; Laurie started to act and react to her label. I think we do this to students a lot. Many of my students come to me and call themselves "bad readers" or they say they hate to read. Much of this perception stems from the lack of success with reading and the labels we have given them. It takes a great deal of work to change their opinions of themselves. It can be done and I see it at the end of every school year, but it takes work. One thing I found troubling about Laurie's case, however, was the fact that, even after having a very good teacher in second grade, she was still unable to catch up. Was this due to the fact that she still remained in the conflict with the discourses of school and home?
Posted by Sally Elliott | June 24, 2010 12:51 PM
Posted on June 24, 2010 12:51
First off, the bell hooks thing made me curious too! Glad I wasn't the only one who picked up on that. Also, I agree with the idea that we help "create" the perceptions of children as learners. Hicks talks about how Laurie changed after being diagnosed ADD. Whether or not the diagnosis was accurate was irrelevant; Laurie started to act and react to her label. I think we do this to students a lot. Many of my students come to me and call themselves "bad readers" or they say they hate to read. Much of this perception stems from the lack of success with reading and the labels we have given them. It takes a great deal of work to change their opinions of themselves. It can be done and I see it at the end of every school year, but it takes work. One thing I found troubling about Laurie's case, however, was the fact that, even after having a very good teacher in second grade, she was still unable to catch up. Was this due to the fact that she still remained in the conflict with the discourses of school and home?
Posted by Sally Elliott | June 24, 2010 12:51 PM
Posted on June 24, 2010 12:51
From one dirt road youngin to another--
OK, I have a theory on bell hooks using only lower case letters. I wonder if it is a reflection of her feeling inferior, growing up a black woman in the south. Maybe???
I also wanted to comment on your question about retention vs something else. I teach 1st grade and though I don't like retention either, I have retained a few students over the 14 years I have taught. While I agree with you that having a 14 yr old in the 6th grade is not a good thing, having an inmature 8 yr old in 3rd who can't read the reading or math EOG but might have been able to if he/she had received another year of reading instruction in 1st grade is not a good thing either. I don't know what the answer is at this point. Our educational system is not set up to give students who do not learn as quickly as others a fair shake. I think we, as a educators, need to do a major overhall on how we view education. We need to stop looking at it as grade specific and begin to view it as more of a continuum of skills which students must complete/master. Radical idea, huh? I know it sounds way out there, but until we start making some kind of huge changes in the system, there will always be 14 yr olds in 6th grade or non-readers in 3rd because we pushed them on before they were ready. I guess we could get together and start a revolt! :)
Posted by Marcia Smith | June 24, 2010 4:27 PM
Posted on June 24, 2010 16:27
I like how you reflected back on your early beginnings in literacy. I think Bible school is the first exposure to "school" lessons a child receives. I remember as a child copying and reciting the verses and memorizing songs in church as well. The children who are not exposed to this are at a great disadvantage. I also think that nowadays, kids are not allowed to roam like we once were. Parents are so much more mindful of the "evil" out in the world. Children are no left unsupervised for any periods of time for fear that someone may try to harm them. It is sad the way society has changed the way our kids grow up.
Posted by sarah hutson | June 24, 2010 10:57 PM
Posted on June 24, 2010 22:57
Check out the following link concerning bell hooks and her lowercase letters - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks. My first encounter with her name caused some confusion for me as well. I thought it was a typo, but when I saw it again, I knew that it must be something other than a typo. I then began to think of the poet e.e. cummings and how that name did not use capital letters either.
You brought up in your post the point that you believed things that you were told by your parents and grandparents. I absolutely agree with you on that. One interesting discussion I remember hearing between my mom and my older sister when I was around 12 or so was how my sister's husband was interested in becoming a Jehovah's Witness and how he did not believe they should promote the myth of Santa Claus with their own children because when the kids found out that Santa wasn't real, even though they were told this for so many years, they might begin to question other things they were told by their parents. Why would a child then believe in other things they had never seen with their own eyes, such as God? Even though I was past the age of believing in Santa, I remember pondering on that for a long time because I thought that what my brother-in-law had said made good sense.
Clyde Rice
Posted by Clyde Rice | June 25, 2010 10:40 AM
Posted on June 25, 2010 10:40