The stories of Laurie and Jake have really touched me. Two kids struggling with the education processes while growing up in blue collar households. In Chapter 5, we meet Jake, Hicks’ next research subject. While it is obvious that the home environment has a great influence on how children learn in the classroom, not every teacher provides lessons that mirror the home environment. Jake was familiar with exploring and using kinesthetic learning activities. School was a new experience. Why is it so hard to break away from the norm and teach to each child’s learning style at school? Could it be because our class size is too big? I have had as many as 33 8th graders in a class. How would I be able to incorporate kinesthetic learning activities in a classroom so crowded on a daily basis? Children need diversity in classroom activities for social and academic reasons, and we all have different learning styles. Therefore, I would like to be better at creating more diverse lessons.
In chapter 5, Jake’s mother states, "Children need to learn from their mistakes, to learn for themselves.” This was also my mother’s philosophy, and to an extent, I am glad. My mother always provided guidance, and I have taken a similar philosophy in rearing my own 3 daughters. I believe it fosters a sense of independence and satisfaction. I think because of the way I was raised, I am more cautious as an adult, observing and calculating before I make a decision.
While Jake showed more interest into his father’s woodwork than education, his father’s education was similar to his mother’s philosphy of learning from his mistakes. Experience is the best teacher.
Jake was an active child hopping from one activity to another. If Jake wasn’t on board with whatever was going on then he tought the task was stupid. I see a lot of Jake’s in my classroom. As inferred in Chapter 6, sometimes a student will think a task is stupid because he doesn’t get it and doesn’t want his peers to realize that. I see this "tuning out" every day, but my job is to try to keep the students engaged. As teachers we need to make an effort to realize every student’s strengths and not focus so much on the weaknesses. Unfortunately, because of accountability, I think teachers focus on what needs fixing instead of on the student's strengths.
Jake's mom is concerned that Jake is unable to "continue reading at his own pace" in the 3rd grade. I think all children should be taught at their instructional level. However, that becomes nearly impossible because of standardized testing. This past year I had an 8th grader reading independently at the primer level. Our middle school doesn’t even have materials at that level and if we did, would they be age appropriate? We do have Play-Aways in our library, and I encouraged him to check those out. Play-Aways are pocket-sized “Ipods” that have the book recorded on them. The students can bookmark a passage, speed up the reading, slow down the reading, or reread a passage that they didn’t understand. This year I tried a new reading “program” called Readers/Writers workshop, and a lot of my lower readers were checking out the Play-Aways. I had tremendous successes by allowing all my students to choose all their own reading materials at any reading level. I challenged them to read 40 books during the school year and many students reached that goal. I had them write each week about their books in a reading response journal. My EOG scores went way up. Out of 115 students, only 4 didn’t pass.
After reading this article, I will be more in tune with my student’s interest in the real world. All career paths do not lead to a four year college. Jake wanted to be just like Dad. Is a blue collar profession really a bad thing? If Jake can be successful enough to support his family by doing something he loves, how can that be bad? I teach 8th grade and my students have to chose a career path by the end of the 3rd nine week grading period. All of them are not college bound, nor should they be. Yet, according to the new North Carolina graduation requirements, all students are required to take some of the more advanced courses that many of my blue collar parents have never taken. Sadly, without passing Algebra 1 or the Algebra 1 EOC, these students will not be able to earn a high school diploma.
Karen Chester
Comments (6)
Karen,
I applaude your effots with yoru struggling reader. Too often as children work thier way up they fall between the cracks of the schooling system. I don't think it is ever done intentionally, we just don't know what to do. He made not of been able to make significant growth, but the time you did provide for him to read at his correct level, or close to it ha smade a difference.
I appreciate you comments about all students going to college. I agree not every one is headed for a 4 year degree. There are many occupations that require advanced training, but that doesn't always mean college. Again that shows the middle class white goals we have for all our students. Expecting them to follow what we think is acceptable. I just don't think as an educational system we meet our students where they are. We want the world for them, but we expect them to miraculously get there. High expectaions are needed, but many students require time and lots of support. Schools struggle to consistency be able to provide such items.
Michael Lemke
Posted by Michael Lemke | June 26, 2010 10:00 AM
Posted on June 26, 2010 10:00
Karen,
I think that you are right about more teachers need to reflect student learning styles in their classroom. I usually take pride in the fact that I know my students due to looping and base my lessons and classroom atmospehere around student interest. However, this past year I had three classes of fifth graders, each with about thirty students a piece, and 75 minutes to teach reading writing, spelling and grammar. I felt it a stuggle to keep afloat. I have learned that this year will not be much better. I have four classes of fifth graders, now only about 25 students per class, and will teach reading for one hour. In that short amount of time I am not sure how well I can get to know them. There will not be looping so I will not already know their learning styles, and to me one hour is not long enough to teach reading. I can see how teachers can easily give in to acceptable norms in terms of activities and lessons. It is easier to teach to the majority, usually in my classes- working class students, or to their comfort zone. I will struggle with the time constraint, but I feel that will not give up on my attitudes that teachers are here for the students. They need to dictate what we do- not my beliefs.
I agree that the goal should not be for every child to complete a four year college. I am in my mid thirties and I was the first one in my family to attend college. I think that what society views as acceptable has changed in the last twenty years. I don't know about you, but I think that there are lots of skilled jobs that I could not live without. for example, the other day our airconditioning went out. I didn't call a banker or a lawyer- I called a skilled laborer to repair this necessity for me. Also when my car needs to be repaired I take it to a skilled VW repairman, who makes more money per hour than I do. I think that these jobs are just as important as mine. The world is full of different people, with different interest and dreams. I for one am glad of that!
Amy Reep
Posted by Amy Reep | June 26, 2010 2:30 PM
Posted on June 26, 2010 14:30
Karen, I agree with you totally that every child should not and will not be college bound. The world is made up of different kinds of people with different interests and different goals. To me, it's like a fruit salad. If everyone was the same there would be no salad. We need blue collar workers. Without them the world as we know it would stop. Every child should be able to be and do whatever is right for them It may not be that a child is following in their parents footsteps just because it's what the parent did but maybe it's just because that's what the child truly wants to do as well. There's nothing wrong with that. We just need to put all the options out there for them, What they finally choose to do is and should be up to them. Thanks for the post.
Posted by Linda Bohland | June 26, 2010 5:05 PM
Posted on June 26, 2010 17:05
Why the high schools in my county decided to track all kids "college bound", I'll never understand. We need tradesmen and trades women. When I was in high school students could choose to leave school at 12 noon their junior and senior years to pursue an internships in things like brick masonry, cosmetology, etc. My husband, who is a brilliant man, owns a plumbing company. Although he could have gone to college, he chose not to. He had no desire to sit in a classroom for four more years or work in an office. He loves to build things, be outside, and work with his hands. Every time our toilet clogs or our well goes crazy I am very grateful to have hiim around because, even with my college degree, I would have no idea how to fix it! Schools need to value all talents, intelligences, and abilities. We talk about multiple intelligences and teaching to them, but, at the end of the day, it all goes back to testing and formal assessments. Maybe if we valued and celebrated the families of our students more and encouraged our students' apsirations, regardless of what they happen to be, school would be a easier place for our working-class students.
Posted by Sally Elliott | June 26, 2010 10:25 PM
Posted on June 26, 2010 22:25
I also agree that we need tradesmen and women. I also think that some kids who grow up to be a mechanic or even a fast food worker, will improve their lives over their parents by 100 percent. That is all any parent can want for anyway. If those kids are successful and happy, why push them to be "college bound"? College is not for everyone.
Posted by Sarah Hutson | June 27, 2010 10:32 PM
Posted on June 27, 2010 22:32
Even if Jake does end up in a blue collar job shouldn’t our goal be to educate him as much as possible between now and then? A college degree might be the difference between owning a small business and working for one. We definitely need our blue collar population. Our society could not survive without their contributions. But even plumbers have to know math to bill customers. Another problem I see is that many blue collar jobs are going overseas or have been replaced by mechanization. There are fewer job opportunities for blue collar and unskilled laborers today than there were ten years ago. Without an education, Jake is more likely to be pidgin holed into a career and have fewer options for his future.
-Rebecca Ashby
Posted by Rebecca Ashby | June 28, 2010 12:33 PM
Posted on June 28, 2010 12:33