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

Wow, this read was much better than chapters 1 and 2. I actually could comprehend what was going on and make connections of my own with the text. I enjoyed these chapters much more. In chapter 3 Hicks used the quote ...“practices occur in engagement with others, such as the caretakers who help shape learners’ values, feelings, and attachments at a young age.” This is something to ponder. It is who our children are around that can influence their literacy development. So if a child plays with other children who continually express a love for reading then just maybe that will wear off onto the first child and they too will love reading. Is this so? This idea reminds me once again of the importance of cooperative grouping and seating arrangements within the classroom. This example is why it is important to use cooperative groups and seating arrangements within the classroom.

Children use reading as an escape from their lives. I often read for pleasure to escape from reality. I can see how that can work with a child trying to escape their home life. It is sad that they would have to rely on reading for this. As hooks stated
she too used books to find solace and pleasure. Frame used reading and writing to reinvent everyday mundane experiences and create new ones. This was evident in little Laurie when she would write about the wedding. Children can use this type of creativity to prompt writing. Laurie did. A bored child may also find pleasure in reading action based stories. Frame read about To the Island. This offered her a sense of fun and adventure all in just a book. Linking the world of living and reading is something I thought was unusual. I used to do it a lot when I was younger, but I thought I was the only one who did this. So I was happy to learn that others do this as well. I was happy to see that not only Frame used The Twelve Dancing Princesses to connect reality and reading, but Laurie did too with Where’s Our Mama.

I thought it was great how Hicks used her own experiences and life situations to connect with Laurie.

Laurie’s sense of story is evident in her pretend readings that she does in Chapter 4 in Kindergarten. My sister and I would do this all the time when we were little. I didn’t know that it was of value and we were actually developing something. We were developing our sense of story.

I wondered if Laurie’s ADD medicine really affected her year in first grade. It seemed she had mood swings from it and just seemed really disinterested in life after being placed on medicine. She became withdrawn and didn’t seem as vibrant. I know Hicks later on in Chapter 4 goes on to explain that Laurie’s home life may have caused her mood changes. But I wonder if it was her medicine, if it was it not only harmed her mood and demeanor but her academics as well. I think the medicine caused her to change her social relations which in turned changed her attitude and thus her commitment in school which ended up hurting her grades and academics. I also think that the way her school’s curriculum was run had an affect on her downward spiral of bad academic performance. The curriculum was composed mainly of published anthology texts. There was not much material for a struggling reader. It was a fast track program of accelerating reading. If you missed something too bad the train keeps going and you are just left behind. A lot of our classrooms conduct their lessons like this. It is evident that sometimes the train needs to make a couple of trips back to pick up those left behind. It won’t hurt the other children. An extra review may enforce what they have already learned and help them to understand other topics even more clearly.
Maria Blevins

In chapter 3 on page 37 Hicks writes that “I am filled with words and images that do not readily fit within the discourses of cultural and critical literacy research.” As I thought about this statement it made me think about all the different cultural experiences each individual faces every day. As Hicks wrote about Hook and learning to be a “good girl” I thought about a previous comment someone posted to one of my posts about how we are all trying to be “good” people, but there are so many different roads that lead to different outcomes in each person’s life, that even if we think we are on the “good” road, we are side tracked by all our surroundings. Every road we may travel down may include bumps, smooth surfaces, or come to a sudden dead end and with each detour in life; we must make a choice to decide what path to take next. Hook’s spoke of the difficulties she faced as she created her own identity guided by the experiences she had faced in life. How do we truly understand where we come from if no one is willing to explain to us where our ancestors have come from?
As I continued to read and think I thought that the quote on page 42, “Reinvent everyday, mundane experiences and create new ones,” guides Frame’s writing performance and explains to me a good writer’s process, through some guidance on how to teach writing. Going off of life experiences and taking those experiences to begin her writing. She explores her life, but recreates her writing to make it relevant to others or the events she is a part of. I like the use of the word REINVENT, because as writers, students should be able to have a mentor text or author to use as a guide for their own writing. One of my favorite books is by Sharon Creech, Love That Dog; it is a book about a young boy who doesn’t think he can write poetry, but through dialogue with his teacher and a mentor text as a guide the boy becomes a writer. I think it is a great idea to let children use other books to help guide their writing, and many authors who are knowledgeable of their work being used as mentor texts love the fact they are helping children begin to become writers.
In chapter 4 Laurie is constantly building her social and self confidence by putting Nicholas down, since he is not as knowledgeable as she is in different areas. I find this to be very common in the school system as well as in social settings. Students use their strengths to make themselves feel better, without regard to how they are making the others feel. What does this do to children who are trying their best to learn how to read and write or even ride a bike when they are constantly being belittled by others? As children grow and see others receive incentives for good behavior they too want those incentives. Teachers try everything under the sun to get students excited about good behavior, reading, learning math facts, etc. exhausting all odds when instructing. Much of my experience with rewards has been successful and a lot of the times it didn’t take me hounding my student for their bad choices, but instead continuing to rewards those for their good work and behavior. The students who want the rewards begin to reshape themselves as Laurie did with her actions.
Many children struggle with literacy as Laurie did and I found the use of the ”Young Reader’s Card” incentive to not only helped build Laurie’s personal library but also helped her build her knowledge of books that she could use to further her writing practices. This “Personal Library” idea gave me the idea that I will try to buy books at yard sales, at the dollar spot from scholastic, or find double copies in my book collection to use as incentives in my own classroom to help my students build their own library, since many of my students do not have a lot of these materials at home and love to borrow the books from our reading area to read.
In the end 2 questions lingered in my head: How does medicine for ADD or ADHD affect a child’s academics and social lives? Is retention a successful approach to helping children grow socially and academically in the areas they are having difficulty.
Meredith

In reading chapters 3 and 4 of Reading Lives I was able to make many connections. Chapter 3 brought to mind the way that I began to feel about reading as a child. I have always loved books, but around 6th grade or so I began to really “form relationships” with books. I would read and reread favorites, and began spending every spare moment that I had reading. No one else in my house felt the way I did about books, and my brother thought it was strange that I would rather read than play video games. But, I found that in books I could go anywhere and be anything. It was exciting and freeing. I continue to feel this way about books today and in the summers I often read several books a month, because once I start a book it is all I can think about. I get wrapped up in each story and in the characters and I find myself transported to a different place and time. It is this love of books that I try to instill in my children at home and my students at school. I also think that it is one of the toughest challenges I face as a first grade teacher, how to get children interested in reading when it is not something that they like to do.

In chapter 4 I found myself identifying with Laurie’s story. Each year I have children that are much like Laurie, and I always find myself wanting to help them find the reader that is within them. Luckily where I work we do not have to solely use the reading series that we have adopted, because like the series mentioned in the chapter, it would lose many of my students if we were required to use it for reading groups. In my classroom I do ability group for reading and I keep the groups flexible so that if a child is making progress they can move up to a new reading group, or if a child is struggling they can move to a lower reading level group. I feel that in this way each child can work at their instructional level and can make more progress than they would if they felt overwhelmed by what they were being asked to read each day. It also allows me to tailor whatever instruction I am giving in reading groups to the needs of the group that I am working with. I may be discussing how to deal with unfamiliar words in a text with one group, while talking about author’s purpose or main idea with another.

Reading these chapters made me think about how I have my class structured and the kinds of activities that I plan for my children each day. It actually made me want to go back to work and start thinking about next year already! I think that as teachers we have to always do what is best for children, and we have to do that through our instruction. Although we may be inundated with new programs each year, as I said in an earlier post, we have to pick out what works for our students at that specific time and use that to their benefit. We cannot treat each child the same as the next and expect to have each child succeed. It seems to me that without the attention that Deborah Hicks was paying to Laurie she could have ended up being a child that slipped through the cracks. I would be very interested to know what happened to Laurie in subsequent years of school. Each of us need to think about who our “Lauries” are each year and do all that we can to ensure that they get the instruction they need, because we are the ones helping to build their foundations for future successes or failures.
-Elizabeth Norwood

Many of the situations Deborah Hicks wrote about in these two chapters reminded me of either myself or the situations that occur in my own classroom. As I read about Laurie trying to be “a good girl,” it brought back memories from my own childhood. I had a very loving family who read with me every day, but I still had the urge to be a “good girl” and do just the right things at school and home. I couldn’t stand the thought of not pleasing someone or disappointing someone (I’m still like that today by the way). The book talked about how some girls were good and smart while others were just good. I think Laurie (and many young girls in today’s classrooms) use the “good girl” image to cover up what they lack in other areas. Laurie thought that if she was good and did exactly what the teachers asked of her, her struggles in reading and writing might go unnoticed.
Another thing that Hicks writes about is a young girl’s fantasy world. Laurie wrote about her mama getting married, life on a farm with horses, having a daddy, etc. Laurie wrote about these things in which none of them were true. Young girls have ideas about what life is supposed to be like. For example, Laurie thought she should help her school friend, Nicholas and her younger siblings. She thought she should be the motherly type and even said to Hicks, “I’m too old for my age.” Laurie had an idea that girls should be mothers, keep house, and clean. Although I don’t agree with this today, I once found myself doing the same things Laurie did. I played house, tried to be the motherly type, liked fairy tale endings, and thought women should just do certain roles. I think this is true of young girls even today. Girls have in their mind what the “job” of a girl or woman is, and they seem to get confused when things in their lives don’t add up to these images. Laurie felt she should have a daddy who earned most of the money and gave her and her mama a fairy tale life. When Laurie’s life didn’t turn out the way she thought it would, she became upset and started trying less in school.

Laurie’s school career was hurt by her family life at home. She lived with her mother and grandmother who didn’t have very much time for her. Laurie didn’t get the attention she needed at home because her caretakers worked so hard to make ends meet. I see this happen quite often in my classroom. I have many kids who just live with their mamas. Their mamas love them, but are so busy, the “learning” time they spend with their kids often gets neglected. All the various discourses our students have reflect their learning at school daily.

Another thing I found interesting in these chapters was the fact that Laurie’s first grade teacher couldn’t teach from anything except the required reading text book that was adopted by the county. These textbooks were too hard for Laurie, and the stories kept getting harder and harder. I see this in my own county. We are required to read a story a week from our “reading textbook.” The average student does fine with these stories, but the lower and higher students are at a disadvantage. My lower students cannot keep up with these reading textbook stories and often give up while we read them. My higher students often find these stories too easy. Fortunately, I am allowed to supplement other texts to meet the needs of my high, average, and lower readers. I don’t agree with forcing the lower and higher students to read stories from the textbook that I know aren’t the right level for them, but the ability to offer other readings through reading groups and self-selected reading helps with this issue.

Laurie is very similar to the young girls many of us have in our classrooms today. We need to remember that our students’ lives don’t just begin and end at school. Our students come to school with last night’s problems and yesterday’s worries. As teachers, we need to be understanding of the home lives many of our students live in. I also think we need to spend some time with our girls (and boys) talking about gender roles. I think we need to explain that girls do not have to clean the house and be the mommy all the time. Likewise, boys do not have to work on the cars and cut the grass constantly. We need to help students realize that there is no perfect world, and the gender roles they imagine do not have to be true for everyone. We also need to remember that no child is the same, and try our best to choose literature and writing activities that will best meet the needs of our students.
~Jamie Brackett

Like father, like son….Like mother, like daughter”

“You act just like your father!” “You act just like your mother!” Do you act more like your father or your mother? Whether we like to admit it or not, our identities, as well as literacy discourses, are shaped and molded from our families, histories, and earliest relationships. The role that our surroundings have on us as we develop in our literacy history is powerful. I use the word “powerful”, because this influence is one that changes us. Deborah Hicks writes in chapter 3, “Moments of reading and writing and the desires that led to them are narrated as shared among family members and friends.” Whether we have memories of learning to read, like Janet Frame, and her being just like her mother, writing poetry, or Deborah Hicks not knowing memories of earliest reading experiences, we all have had some kind of influence on our histories. In chapter 3, Hicks writes of the desire to be of the identity of her mother, middle-class femininity; “my education was shaped more within a value context connected with my mother.” (pg. 50). Hicks continues to write of the identities that are shaped from young girls’ love for their mothers, and the goals as females to live beyond their “material limits” and “social-class” standings. I find there is great truth in Hick’s history and her desire to be just like her mother. I recall memories of my childhood history, of wanting to be like my mother, who was always dressed in her best, with pearls around her neck. She desired to find happiness in others, longed to be the “good girl”, pleasing others in her job, family, and surroundings. Growing up, I have found that I share the same characteristics of my mother, and still strive to walk in her footsteps. It is the “good girl” role that most females want to portray. The “good girl” label is one that is connected with the desire for classiness and is apparent in the school and learning, as well as means of gaining power, as we read Laurie benefited from. There were and still are today, great benefits in being the “good girl” in the classroom. I find it interesting that there is a transformation of today’s society in the desire to be a “good girl”, is now the desire for some girls to be a “bad girl”. Are girls in our classrooms turning “bad”? Do we have more “good girls” than “bad” girls? (I understand that this depends on each individual classroom.) What role does society and media play in this transformation?
Reading in chapter 4, I continued to find that Laurie, like most females desired to be a “good girl”. Discovering more about Laurie’s school and home discourse, I realized that I have had “Lauries” in my classroom. Like Laurie, many of my students would turn to “copying” others work when they began to struggle in the classroom. I have found that their desire to do their best work (which is what we stress daily), results in their feeling that they must copy to get the answer correct. When confronted about copying someone else’s work, these students become defensive, or upset. I try to encourage my students that doing their best work is also doing their own work. How do we work with students to encourage them to do their own work, whether it is correct or wrong? I have fault the battle this year, of students copying to simply get the “correct” answer. I also feel that I often contradict myself in asking students to copy notes, writing, and problems, from the board. For young elementary students, I am sure that it is tough to decipher when copying is right (when the teacher asks you to do so), and when it is wrong (doing one’s own work).
Concluding chapter 4, I am curious as to what happened to Laurie as she continued her school career? Did she become a successful reader? How did her home discourse and school discourse affect her education, as well as the battle of being diagnosed ADD? Did she follow in her mother’s footsteps?

Katie Johnson

As I read about the girls in chapter three I quickly discovered they had a lot in common. They used literacy as an escape from reality. When reading they used their imagination and became the characters within the story as each page seemed to come to life. When writing they wrote of their fantasies and wishes. Reading and writing helped them escape their somewhat mundane life. They also used literacy as a way to connect to their families and community.
I felt a connection to each of these ladies. When Deborah Hicks wrote of growing up in “God’s country,” I couldn’t help but smile. My mom always told me as a child how lucky we were because we were lived in “God’s country.” Just like Deborah Hicks I attended Bible School each summer and drank my kool-aid and ate my cookies. Listening to the Bible School teachers read passages from the Bible and then taking the time to explain what they read will always be a fond memory of mine. I would imagine most working class children growing up in the South have a Bible School story to share. Hooks wrote that her first exposure to literacy was through her church. She remembers an old man reading in church. She said this experience helped to form her young life as a reader within a specific place and time.
Janet Frame’s background though similar to the other girls in chapter three had one major difference. Frames grew up in New Zealand. Like Hicks and Hook, Frames grew up in near poverty conditions. Her mother was a huge influence. Her mom was a poet which inspired Frame’s to write. Frames said, “I created adventures connected to reading and writing. I discovered that I could reinvent everyday, mundane experiences and create new ones.” As a teacher that is what I want for all of my students. I want them to discover that they can create adventures through their writing. I want them to know that the world is only a page away. When reading a book they can visit anywhere in the world. When reading they can let their imagination take over. I want them to enjoy reading and writing.
When reading chapter 4 my heart broke for Laurie. This child wanted to fit in so bad, and find her place socially as well as academically. In kindergarten Laurie felt comfortable and was able to be herself. She brought with her many of her discourses from home. She was nurturing at home and she was nurturing at school through her friendship with Nicholas. Kindergarten was a time of exploration for Laurie. Laurie felt safe in her class and confident in her abilities. As I read about Laurie in kindergarten she sounded like students I have taught. I was concerned with the decision of putting her on medication. I would love to know who requested having her put on medicine. I’m sure it wasn’t her kindergarten teacher. I know Laurie had many issues to deal with, but it appears that the addition of medication only increased her problems instead of helping.
When entering 1st grade Laurie was quickly at a loss. I think the change in teaching styles from kindergarten to 1st grade was a struggle for Laurie. She liked working independently at centers. In 1st grade it sounded as though most of their work was completed as whole group lessons. Many of their assignment consisted of completing worksheets. This was not working for Laurie. Laurie needed more individual attention. Laurie quickly became disinterested in school. I found it interesting that even though Laurie struggled so much at school, she had the ability to cover it up. She would answer questions she knew, pretend to read at independent reading time, and was overall considered a “good girl.” However, her frustrations played out at home. Laurie began to withdraw from school and her classmates during this year. I know retention is a difficult call, but did Laurie really benefit when promoted to 2nd grade. Laurie I’m afraid is going to be a child that slips through the system. She needed additional skills in order to be successful in 2nd grade. I don’t know what is right in this situation, but I can tell you Laurie’s needs were not being met.
Laurie did begin to write more in 2nd grade. I liked the writer’s workshop style of writing used by her second grade teacher. Like so many working class girls Laurie didn’t write about her realities the majority of the time she wrote about fantasies. She wrote of how she would like her life to be. Writing was a great outlet for Laurie. Like many other girls she longed for love, nurturing, friends, and a different home life.
Laurie is another prime example of how each child brings their own little bag into class with them. I know that our jobs as teachers are to teach the curriculum, but we have to take the time to get to know our students. We may be the most stable and reliable person in their life. I’m sure Deborah Hicks had a difficult time leaving Laurie. I would love to know if she keeps in touch with her today. Pam Aubuchon

Thoughout the two chapters the author continues to mention how girls from working-class families escape their rough family life through the use of writing and literature. I wonder if how much this is related to coming from a working class family, or if it is related to their personality and using literature to escape (whether for good or bad reasons). I am from a strong, middle-class family and I feel that I have always done the same thing, but for different reasons. I read all the time as a kid to live vicariously through the characters. I remember reading The Sweet Valley Twins, and imagining it was me going through those girly issues. I still read as an adult, but not to escape the difficulties of my life. I read everynight to escape the many, many things on my mind that need to get done the next day. If I don't read I lay there running my "to do" list through my head. If I read for a good twenty minutes than I fall asleep thinking about the lives of the characters in the book (girly books). I don't want to take away from the fact that working class students will use different forms of literature to escape their difficult lives, but I think we will find lots of students that are escaping their lives (good or bad) through literacy.

I could definitely relate to the section where the author discussed girls working hard to be "good girls" in school. This describes the girls in my class this year perfectly. Even the girls who stuggled academically tried to do everything right to gain that higher status in the classroom. They would raise their hands, participate in class, volunteer to help me in any way, etc. I can relate to this because I was also this same girl in elementary school . . . oh wait . . . I am still that girl! I never related this to a gender issue. I always thought it was more of a personality issue. I have always been a people pleaser. I always wanted my parents to be proud of me, so I did my best at school, my best at sports, my best at everything, so I definitely fit this gender role perfectly. Now that I think of this as being a gender issue, I think I want the boys in my class to act more like girls!!

I definitely think our schools today are encountering more and more Lauries. I think our school does a great job of accepting students for where they are when they first step into Kindergarten. We know that some students will already be able to read, others might not even know a single letter in the alphabet, but we accept this and teach them at their appropriate level. Hoping we can get all students to at least a certain point by the end of the year. These students leave feeling confident because they were so successful in this first year. Then, just like Laurie, these students move to first and second grade where the teacher begins teaching all students on the same level. They pull out the basal reader and off they go. Everyone is expected to read the same material, answer the same questions, and write the same way. We knew they all came to Kindergarten on a different level. Why do we think now they are all on the same level? I am proud to say that our school (most teachers) is really working hard to meet every student at their academic level. This takes a lot of work and patience, which I think many teachers don't want to take the time to do. We also have teachers that say, "Well, they have to be able to take that EOG at the end of the year, so they need to be exposed to fifth grade reading." Somehow we need to get these teachers to understand that we can't get a student to make three years growth in one year, but if we would provide appropriate level material for these students they should at least be able to make a years growth. When we only put them in material that is frustrating for the child, you're not going to see very much growth at all and the child is going to begin to give up on literacy.

Angie Sigmon

“Learning ….entails small, and at times imperceptible, moments of shading, valuing, and imaginative reconstruction. Those small moments and histories are as critical to a theory of learning as what we might describe as socialization or positioning in discourses. Very importantly, practices occur in engagement with others, such as the caretakers who help shape learners’ values, feelings, and attachments at a young age.” (Hicks, p. 36). Hicks quotes Jane Miller saying, “gender is shaped in relation to the specifications of those early words and attachments. “Reading is part of children’s situated histories.” (Hicks, p. 37).
I connected with Hicks’ recollections of her girlhood. I also remember stories of my mother’s life as a farm girl and how hard they worked in the tobacco fields. My grandparents raised four children on a farm while instilling values of honest, hard work. When my mother was a young woman and mother, she longed for the “classiness” of the upper-class. When my sister and I were dressed for church (where you showed your best), we had on gloves, patent leather, and those crinolines. Man, they were itchy! That was part of my history where my value as a girl was to look pretty and be nice and well behaved. I identified with Walkerdine’s description of a dual identity as a way that girls can be successful at school. Smart girls who were also “nice and helpful” can attain a high classroom status. So… I was a nice girl, did what my teacher asked, and learned to read.
I saw in Laurie’s experience so many of my EC students who fall further and further behind as they progress in school. Due to many and varied issues (social discourses, classroom practices, curriculum materials and pacing, chronic states of stress or crisis), students have difficulty learning to read. (I don’t include students with low or borderline IQ’s. There is often understanding as to their rate of learning). Some students are identified as a student with a Learning Disability or Other Health Impaired, if they have a medical condition (ADD or ADHD) and if they meet state guidelines. As to the overuse of medication, I will just say, medication is beneficial when needed, but often complicates things when it is misused. In Laurie’s case, it points to how medication is often used to “help” students “focus,” but creates side effects that do not outweigh the benefits. After Laurie was diagnosed with ADD and started her medication, “she seemed to lose her voice.” “The diagnosis changed her social relations in school.” On medication, she continued to struggle with issues at home and continued to lag behind in her reading development. Interestingly, Laurie did receive specialized reading instruction through the Chapter One Program, but she began to show more progress and be happier with school when her mother had a man in her life Laurie thought of as her new father. This changed things for her positively. When, he was no longer in her life, she again was making little progress and showing task avoidance behaviors. Was her behavior truly ADD or a response to the stresses in her life?
Hicks eloquently describes our tasks as teachers, “The paths to creating negotiated movements between culture and classes are, however, never simple---never reducible to a single method of teaching or theory of learning. Such moments of teaching require the hard work of seeking to understand the realities of children’s lives and to respond in ways that extend from those contextualized understandings.” “The starting point for critical classroom practice is girls’ own words and experiences---words that echo the value of their mother and other loved one. They can take on new practices of literacy as they form relations with middle-class teachers and take risks in trying out new practices and identities.” (Hicks, p. 96)
Susan Hines

As a teacher I realize that I only have 180 days to develop relationships with my students and their families and provide my students with a good foundational knowledge of 1st grade material. That is a large task to accomplish in such a small amount of time. Every year at the beginning of the year I send home a parent letter introducing myself and the expectations of my classroom. At the end of my letter I always conclude by telling my parents that they play the most important role in their child’s education. After reading chapters 3 & 4 I am more aware of the struggles some parents face with trying to help their students succeed in school. The majority of parents will tell you that they want the best education for their children and will try to help them the best they can. However the struggle lies with having to balance taking care of other children, jobs, homework, and personal affairs much like Laurie’s mom.

I grew up in a middle class home where my parents were very involved in my life and in my education. Therefore, I never had to face the struggles that Laurie had too. When I read her story my heart broke and it reminded me of a girl I taught this year. The student I taught this year comes from a working class family. She is a very sweet and caring student who never gets into trouble. However, she struggles a lot with school work, specifically reading and language skills. Many times she would bring in her homework and tell me she had to do it herself because no one was able to help. She had friends but tended to want to hang out with another boy and girl in the room who came from more of a middle class family. She constantly longed for my approval and attention. At the time I did not realize that what my student was doing was trying to cross over class barriers. She was trying so hard to fit her working class home life into a middle class school setting. Wow! What a juggling act for such a small child. Reading Laurie’s story and reflecting back onto my student reminded me again of how vital it is to be involved in our students’ lives outside of school. Maybe if my students could see that I value where they come from and appreciate them in their home setting they would not feel as much pressure to try to fit in at school.

When Hicks talked about the effects of ADD medicine on Laurie I begin to think back on my students who have been diagnosed as ADD. I never really thought about how many of the diagnosis may be due to students trying to find a balance between home life and school life. When one of my students come to school who I know takes ADD medicine and begins to act up, I immediately think they did not take their medicine. Until reading these chapters, I realized maybe I should ask them questions like: Is everything is ok? Did you get enough rest last night? What did you do when you got home from school? Maybe there is an underlying problem that we are covering up with medicine. I wonder if we as teachers took the time to try to ask those tough questions and develop a deep relationship with those students and parents if we would have as many students being classified with ADD as we do today.

The part that stuck out to me the most while reading these chapters was how much Laurie loved to write. Writing was her avenue or outlet to a world she wished she could be a part of. On page 89 Hicks says, “…writing in second grade created a safe space for exploration and risk taking…” for Laurie. I never really thought about how writing could open the doors and allow my students who are struggling with finding a balance between home life and school life feel safe and explore new worlds. This has prompted me to give my students more opportunities to write about what they want to write about. So many times I tell my students what they need to write about instead of letting them have that choice. As a graduate student I have really enjoyed classes where my professors have given me choice in my writings and projects. I feel like I have ownership over my work. So, I can only imagine the inspiration and encouragement my students would feel when receiving the chance to have a free write. Writing might be a student’s only way of feeling a connection between home and school. It might be their safe haven or place of endless possibilities. It could also be a way for me to find that connection with a student that is hard to reach.

Emily Rhoney

Heartbroken
My heart broke as I read of Laurie’s desire for a daddy. I can’t imagine what that is like. Her mom is trying to better herself by attending college at night, but Laurie is in need of desperate attention. As a teacher, I see so many students who are like Laurie. That is why it is so important for us to know our children. We can be aware of their needs and issues going on in their lives. I come from a home with two parents, dad who worked and mom stayed home until my brother and I were both in school, then went back to work as a teacher assistant. My brother was a troubled boy during school (and afterwards too) who needed supervision, encouragement, and constant attention. I, like Laurie, craved that attention and often sought it from male students. Fortunately for me, I was the good girl at school and home. I breezed through school with relative ease, even in AP classes in high school. After many broken hearts and unhappy relationships, I was able to see, eventually, that the person who I needed to really make happy was myself. This was not an easy thing since I lived earlier for the longing of acceptance from my parents. In my mind I was not as important enough or didn’t have struggles that needed attention. My parents saw me as self sufficient and let me be. I longed for attention for boys in the wrong ways, like I see in Laurie’s story. Most of the children I teach are college bound and I know that they will face many obstacles in their school careers. I try to get them to see that boys and girls, friends, and fades come and go. The one that they are left with is themselves. The only person that they have to please is them. I share this message with my students each year. Laurie’s story is so troubling. I am afraid that she sees boyhood affection as the driving force behind her existence. I wander if her mother talks constantly of men or if it just perceived by Laurie to be so important. My husband grew up with an alcoholic father who was verbally and sometimes physically abusive to his wife and children. His relationship with his father has scarred him as well. I often ponder is it better to have a dad who is mistreating, or no dad at all? To me it seems that they are both horrible experiences, but then again what if you have one that doesn’t pay you attention, but you know loves you. Is there any perfect scenario for family life? I think that you glean what you can from your family and then make choices that put you on your own path. Those choices are up to you.
I think that girls are growing up feeling more self confident and not relying on relationships to define who they are as much. I believe that the women’s movement has opened society’s eyes that women are an intricate part in the global world, not just homemakers. I do think that this message is slowly filtering down to the working class, and it does take longer. Laurie’s mom is trying to set the example by earning her degree and reading to her nightly. However, mom needs to let Laurie know that her job is to be a child, not the mommy to her siblings. Laurie sees herself as a grown up at home and has carried this over to school play (like her actions of slapping Steven and caressing his face). I think that if Laurie’s mind was free and not bogged down with home issues that she could more actively attend to school instruction. I truly believe that Laurie’s home life is weighing her education down, which can result in devastating effects.
Also I want to applaud the decisions made by Laurie’s second grade to teacher to use materials on the children’s levels instead of the prescribed reading series deemed appropriate by the county mandate. We as teachers should be allowed to use materials on non grade level for struggling or advanced readers. I believed that our job is to motivate all students to be the best they can be, but placing them in material too challenging can cause students like Laurie to shut down, as she did, or material that is too easy will hamper a child’s growth.
Amy Reep

Such a Sweet Little Girl

There are so many aspects of Hick’s childhood that parallel my own. I was raised in the Southeast, spent summers in Bible School , coloring pictures of Jesus, and drinking Kool Aid. I cherish the many warm memories of those times learning to be a “good girl”, never realizing that those moments were having such an impact on my beginning literacy experiences. As Hicks writes, “Those small moments and histories are as critical to a theory of learning as what we might describe as socialization or positioning in discourses. Very importantly, practices occur in engagements with others, such as the caretakers who help shape learner’s values, feelings and attachments at a young age.” I loved the Bible stories and the sweet, sweet voices of those who read them to me, one of whom was my own mother.

I have found in this course that to try to better understand the thoughts and feelings of those people in the articles and chapters we read, I need to look inside myself and my own experiences first and then I can get a better grasp of the feelings and experiences of others in their literacy development. Fairy tales and princesses, wonderful imaginary places and scenarios were a huge part of my life as a child. The reality of my life and what I thought it was supposed to be like at times just didn’t mesh so I created stories and experiences to bring them together, to go to places exciting or peaceful, where I could be whoever I wanted or needed to be at the time. Laurie, early on, learned to do that as well, to help create the world she had learned was supposed to be hers, the princess, the classic feminism, the beginning of her literacy.

It is incredible how things that happen to us help create who we are, that how we relate to others shapes our own beliefs and literacy experiences. Laurie went through changes throughout her early years based on situations occurring at home. She created her prince, the missing father, in her stories which so expanded her literacy learning. She loved writing beginning in Kindergarten but events in her life changed that for a time. I have always been aware of how a child’s home life can affect a child’s experiences in school whether negatively or positively but I never really understood how that could affect literacy to such a great degree. Laurie’s success or struggles in school ebbed and flowed with experiences and events at home. At the end of the 3 year study, Laurie was still struggling in school. I wonder how much this study helped impact her school experience. How closely did her teachers and the researcher work together to help her overcome these difficulties? Even if we know how things happen to affect out students, what can we learn from this knowledge to help them redirect or modify their literacy experiences?

Linda Bohland

As I was reading, I kept thinking, “How can we help students like Laurie?” The one thing Hicks said was hindsight has given her the wisdom that could have helped Laurie in the moment. She also said the more time that passes from working with Laurie; the more she realizes how she and Laurie’s histories differ in relation to literacy. Hicks was able to reinvent herself through reading whereas Laurie struggled with reading and writing. This made it more difficult for Laurie to “explore different ways of living femininity.” When Laurie did write, her fictions and reality had contradictions. This tension is where Hicks says we as teachers or I think even guidance counselors could talk to girls like Laurie about how they can deal with these contradictions.

The problem I see is Hicks spent three years working with Laurie, so she was able to get to know and see her family life. She was also able to witness her academic life at school. As teachers we usually only see what happens at school. The information we get is what the parents and students tell us. To try and get into the minds of all the struggling readers in our class, and try to figure out the underlying reason of why they are not learning is overwhelming. We don’t have three years with each student and are not able to dissect conversations under a microscope. But, we can learn from her study and see if it might help our struggling readers who are working-class girls.

We can’t forget that literacy learning and a child’s history go hand in hand. We can’t look at just one and make our decisions. We have to look at both. I think our schools would rather us not look at the histories. When things are tried out in the classroom and it is a hit, the teacher or program will get full credit. From Hick’s study it is not just the teacher or program, but everyone involved in the child’s life. If Laurie’s second grade teacher didn’t understand what was going on, she would have thought the reading and writing workshop was the sole reason for Laurie’s increased confidence. In reality it was the workshop paired with Laurie looking forward to a new dad. Then in February her school work started to decline and it was because she wasn’t going to get a new dad after all.

I have had students in my class who will do well and I assume it is because of how I taught them. Then later down the road, I will use the same method and the students will struggle again. As teachers we think, what can I do differently? From Hick’s study it looks like it is when a teacher creates a positive learning environment and there is not a big gap between fictions and reality, which learning can occur.

From Hick’s study, it did seem the writing workshop is a good avenue because students get to choose their topics and it can create confidence in students. If students are feeling confident, then they will try more. It was during these writings that Hicks was able to learn even more about Laurie and understand her. But as Hicks said she realizes more of how she could have helped Laurie as more time passes. I think we do this same thing as teachers. There is a teacher that I work with and she hates the end of the school year. Usually it is a time of great relief, because vacation is right around the corner. This teacher says she thinks about all the things she should have or could have done with the students. She really thinks it can be a depressing time of year. I think this is her hindsight kicking in. So, what we need to do is learn each year from our students, other teachers and research. The more knowledge we have, the better we can serve our students.
Trish Edwards

I really connected to Chapters 3 & 4. I didn’t have a “normal” family life growing up with a mom, a dad, brothers and sisters, a dog and a white picket fence. While my mother was the only one of 11 children to graduate from high school, she didn’t have much education beyond that. My father graduated from college and was a pharmacist; however, he was killed in an automobile accident when I was only three days old. My mother never remarried, so I was an only child raised by a single mother earning a working class wage. She had the burden of being both mom and dad to me, taking care of the house, the yard, the car, and the bills, and the responsibilities wore on her constantly. Somehow through all the turmoil in my young life, I managed to do well in school and graduate with honors in the top ten of my high school class. My mother provided well for me, sometimes working two jobs, and was able to send me to college. Because I saw how hard my mom worked, I tried to please her by making good grades, staying out of trouble and wanting to become successful in life.

I spent a lot of time at the sitter’s house or home alone growing up, so I didn’t have a lot of encouragement to complete my homework in the earlier grades. By the time my mom got home from work, even though she was exhausted, she would begin to prepare a meal for us or tend to the yard work and my school work took a backseat. By the time I hit middle school, it clicked and I knew I had to do better in school and focus more on important things. I knew I didn’t want to have to work like my mom. My mother and I had a close relationship except for the teen years when I began to rebell. Yet, she stood firm behind me, and I always knew her expectations.

Like Laurie, I was shaped by my caretakers. I stayed in a private home during my early elementary years with a lady who kept lots of other children. Most children tend to pick up on the language, habits, and values of those who are taking care of us, and I am sure I did as well. These caretakers spend far more waking hours with us than our parents and are our first teachers. Behaviors are typically learned from observing others and it stands to reason that a child’s approach to literacy learning would be modeled after that of his/her parents or caregivers.

Chapter 4 was heart-breaking. Poor Laurie! She wanted to fit in so bad. She struggled socially and academically. I have seen girls like Laurie in my classroom. Most often there isn’t a strong family support network behind them. As for her being labeled ADD, I wonder, would she be medicated if she lived in a different environment? Hicks felt that Laurie was reacting to stressful material and her emotions.

While I understand that being a single parent is tough, I was raised by a single mother too. Maybe we need to reevaluate the system, the system where the government provides more money for more babies born out of wedlock. Perhaps education classes, parenting classes, birth control and job training would be a better use for our tax dollars. On page 64 Hicks says, “Amid the economic and child care stresses faced by the adults, Laurie’s needs and interests were sometimes lost.” Parenting is difficult, yet, anyone can have as many children as they want without a license and without training. Situations such as this are a viscous cycle that keeps repeating. We must do a better job caring for our children; they are the future.
Karen Chester

When I first began reading this book I worried that once again I wouldn’t be able to relate to the stories that were being told. I didn’t grow up in a working class home, my parents were married, and education was regarded very highly in my home. Yet as I read I began to realize that I could relate quite a bit to Laurie. As I child I was constantly looking up at the clouds to see what animal I could see. I had a grand imagination and I often played pretend. In my pretend games I was sometimes a princess and I was running away from the horrible monster who was trying to eat me, (my brother). Sometimes I was a teacher, sometimes a doctor, and sometimes I was a lawyer. I also loved to read and be read too. I still remember reading The Babysitter’s Club books and being so excited every time a new one was published. My point in saying this is that I didn’t read or pretend to escape a rough home life. I did it because I loved it and it was who I was. I do think a number of the things that Laurie does are a direct result of her upbringing and the fact that she has to take on a “mothering” role at times; however I think you could find many of those same traits in other little girls no matter what their socio-economic background. The other trait that I identified with and can relate to in my classroom was Laurie wanting to be the “good girl”. I teach Kindergarten and have taught it for seven years. At this age my students take on somewhat gender specific roles. My girls have no trouble answering a question or bragging to a boy that they know more sight words than he does, but when in play centers they take on more feminine roles. When the text was talking about the example of the girls telling the little boy that he wasn’t doing a good job coloring his rainbow because he colored out of the lines I felt as if I was sitting in my classroom. In my room I do try to use positive reinforcements. I want the students to feel good about the choices more often than they feel bad about them. It is my experience that my girls generally take on the role of wanting the praise more so than my boys. My girls love when they get a sticker or a compliment where as my boys seem to like it for the moment but the goal of “being good” quickly fades as soon as the reward is gone. In my opinion this is more of a gender issue than it is a socio-economic one. In my classroom I teach students who live in poverty and others that are very wealthy, no matter the wealth or lack there of , my girls in general strive to be “good girls” across the board.
The other part of the two chapters that really interested me was the difference in both performance and confidence from Kindergarten to First Grade. I teach Kindergarten and have often heard First Grade teachers talking about how badly a child is struggling in their classroom. I am sometimes shocked because when I worked with them, they weren’t my highest student but they were performing at grade level. I think in our school we try to make it so that the First Grade teachers are doing small group work and working with students on the instructional reading level and not just reading from a basal but I am curious to know what happens during that transition that can make a student go from average to below average in just one year. I have always wondered about this and next year I will be teaching First Grade so I am very excited to see the transition first hand. I think after reading about Laurie and her struggles with having to stay focused and sit with out movement for longer periods of time, this will help me when working with my lower performing students.
Katie Templeton

Reading Lives: Working-Class Children and Literacy Learning Chapters 3 & 4

I enjoyed these two chapters in a way that was very different than the first two because of the focus of the relationship between Hick’s and Laurie. The writing seemed very personal intimate as we followed Laurie through her ups and downs within the classroom and also in her personal life. I feel that Hick’s made a wonderful connection between what was happening in both facets of her life. I appreciated the way Hick’s interacted with Laurie and worked to draw Laurie into a world of literacy. It wasn’t just the trip to Borders but the discussion on the way, the careful search for a book that met her needs and fell within the $4.99 price limit. I wondered why she didn’t give the child a little extra money to buy a fantasy book but after giving it some thought I feel certain that she was tempted but by giving into an impulse she might have taken away from the child’s personal achievements. Hick’s also pointed out in the last lines of chapter 4 how difficult this type of relationship is to have within the parameters in which we teach. That is such a shame because we all have a memory of a teacher that was there for us and perhaps if things don’t change those memories may fail to exist.

I did have two very specific points that were shared by Hicks the first was from page 63 about Laurie’s diagnosis of ADD.
“As much as Laurie wanted to be successful student, she encountered serious trouble that revolved around the material and emotional stresses of working-class family life. In kindergarten Laurie was “acquired by” a medical disorder that was to transform the shape of the year and impact her performances and identities throughout primary school. “

After reading this section and thinking about the many children that I teach who have been given this label which impacts their institutional history. Like Laurie the change after medication was not positive. They seemed to lose a love for life and learning and go through most of the day in a compliant but bored state. I know that there are situations where medication is necessary but maybe we should equip the children with the tools to handle the stresses of school and home rather than a pill that makes them less interactive.

It all connected to Laurie’s desire to be a “good girl” in the classroom and her pride in winning the Superstar award and her desire to be good for her new second grade teacher. She seemed at this point to be fluent with this discourse. She knew what was expected of her and how to make the teachers aware of her efforts. Even though she had disappointments at home during this time period she had learned to separate her two worlds of home and school. I find it amazing that children of this age can handle such grown up situations and make it look easy.

Candy Mooney

Like Hicks, memories of church permeate my earliest recollections. I remember being in the youth choir at church at the age of five or six. I can still remember many of the songs we used to sing – “This Little Light of Mine,” “Zacchaeus,” “Jesus Loves Me,” etc. I was especially thrilled with the song “The B-I-B-L-E” because it meant that I could spell. I also knew my mother loved reading the Bible because I saw her do it every night. I knew singing that song would make her proud – “The B-I-B-L-E! Yes, that’s the book for me!” I remember the draw of the grape juice (the Southern Baptist “wine”) used for communion that my mother made. I wondered why I couldn’t have any during the church service, but then it became okay after the unused grape juice was poured back into a pitcher from the little communion cups. I remember the pleading of the pastor when the invitational hymn was being sung – “Won’t you please come?” – and how to this day any phrasing of a question like that makes me cringe. (In fact, it happened just the other day when reading Nancie Atwell’s book In the Middle for Dr. Robin Groce's class when Atwell is asking her students something like “Won’t you take a few minutes to do ______?”) Until reading Chapters 3 and 4 in Reading Lives, I don’t believe I would have really thought about those early experiences in church as having a big impact in terms of my literacy development, as Hicks described with her tale of going to Vacation Bible School. This also resonated with me due to the fact that, like Hicks, it was my mother who engaged me in these experiences, as my father did not attend church.

I must admit that these two chapters were difficult for me to read, but perhaps not for the reasons you might think. I am not saying that they were difficult in that they were hard to understand. The reason I found them difficult is for a simple reason – I saw so much of myself in them, even though these chapters focused on girls. For this reason, I found myself questioning many of the things that Hicks and others whom she quoted said about girls and whether or not these statements could just as easily be applicable to boys. For example, when she relays the story of bell hooks on page 39 concerning the notion that gendered roles dictated that she should ride in the wagon while her brother pulled, I automatically balked at that notion. On one level, I can understand what she is saying, but as someone who is gay, I do not automatically agree that this would be the case for those of us who knew we were gay or lesbian from an early age. While we may have felt a desire to conform to these gendered roles so as not to “rock the boat” and upset the “security blanket” of family, I think there was always a feeling of why did things have to be a certain way. I can see that there was more of a questioning stance regarding such issues. My hope is that there is even more questioning about such gendered roles among families in today’s world amid a broadened sense of equality between males and females. I especially wonder about those who are transgendered and how they would feel about this matter.

In the section “Someday My Prince Will Come” beginning on page 84, Hicks refers to Walkerdine’s assertion that girls get messages from texts and media images about how they should wait for a prince to come and sweep them off their feet. She relates this information to Laurie playing right into this fantasy by creating a scenario in which her mother was swept off her feet by her wonderful boyfriend who then became her husband. Again, I agree with Hicks and Walkerdine that this absolutely happens, but I know that when I was growing up, I wanted a prince to sweep me off my feet as well, but I did not see this depicted in anything I read or watched. Did I automatically place myself in the female role? Granted, I grew up in the 1970s in rural NC and things have changed somewhat in this day and age. There are books out there today that do depict a prince sweeping another prince off his feet (King and King, for one), but providing access to these books within a school setting can be a controversial issue. Believe me, because I tried it this past April. As Hicks states on page 85, “Such is the power of stories, as they assume moral weight and influence in the context of our histories.” If there is no prince sweeping another prince off his feet or no princess riding in on her trusty horse to whisk away her beloved princess in stories, what message does that send to those kids who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered)? The sheer absence of such depictions can place a heavy weight on these children in that they might begin to see themselves as abnormal or wrong in who they know themselves to be.

As a teacher, I know that I have always identified more with my female students for the most part. I have found that I have an easier time relating to many of the girls’ choices of activities and their general demeanor. Just like Laurie, many of these girls possess “an ethic of moral goodness and obedience” (p. 67) that I can relate to personally. Hicks goes on to say “Girls enacted their schoolgirl identities in part by voicing discourses of niceness and conformity to norms of practice” (p. 67). I was such a student so it stands to reason that this particular discourse would mesh well with others expressing that particular discourse. I find that to be an interesting way of looking at my relationships with my female students. Before reading these chapters, I would have attributed my preference to working with the girls as an indication that they were just “easier” to teach because they weren’t typically “troublemakers,” not that our discourses meshed.

While reading Chapter 4 concerning Laurie and her struggles in school, I immediately thought of a former student who would have now finished third grade, provided she was not retained. (She is no longer at my school, so I can’t keep track of her progress.) This child lived with her mother. There was no dad in the picture, although the mom did have a “serious” boyfriend. Like Laurie with The Valentine Bears on page 62, this child had a knowledge of book language in that she could “pretend-read” stories, sounding very much like a storyteller in the process. Like Laurie, she would draw and “pretend-write,” although she did not have much familiarity with letters in terms of recognition or sound awareness. In approximately mid-October, after we had been in school long enough to know some of the things of which the kids were capable, this child surprised my assistant and me. We were having bananas as one of the sides for lunch and as soon as this child saw them, she immediately started singing, “Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S” from the song “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani. It seems that she was more literate than we had initially given her credit for! We had just not found the right channels or discourse to uncover some of this working-class girl’s knowledge.

Clyde Rice

Reading Lives – Chapters 3 & 4

It is essential that we as teachers become as vulnerable, as we ask our students to be. The vulnerability comes from those differences in discourse…How we think about femininity, how we address conflict, etc. We cannot ask them to write, read, or even know how to act in the lunchroom without having taught them how to do these tasks. We ask our students to write…Yes, writing is both personal and a craft. We have to mold students to become “readers and writers”.

Reading and writing are not skills that are perfect from the beginning; we don’t enter Kindergarten and once we can write our own names, begin to write novels. The way we read and write, as well as, and the way we make connections to texts ARE influenced by where we live (culture) and how we grew up (socioeconomic status). My first year of teaching, naive as it may seem, I asked students to write about a trip to the beach; most of my students were able to complete this task. I remember one of them coming up to me within a few minutes and telling me they had never been to the beach. This is a prime example of discourse of social standing. I know now to keep writing topics more open, so that all students can be successful.

Will all our students become authors? No, but they will use some form of writing in their everyday lives. So we have to teach them those stepping stones to improve their writing. Chapter three begins with a quote from Jane Miller, “A reader is a person in history, a person with a history.” This same quote could apply to a writer. To me this means that you can always have some connection to make with text, and always something to write about, YOU! These ways of thinking may be different, but it is the teacher’s job to make that student comfortable with what they need to “get off their chest”.

Both Chapter 3 and 4 give information about students’ writings. The author of Reading Lives has made herself vulnerable to us as readers of her book, but also to students she has come in contact with. Making myself vulnerable has not been easy…In one of my Graduate School classes, I was asked to model poetry. Once I did modeling, writing in my classroom became more rewarding. When I ask my students to write, I often write my own Journal/Writer’s Notebook entry to show students that writing IS important.

Through this experience I also recognize the importance of using a mentor text (a text that you can model writing after). In this same experience, I used what my professor had made me do and carried it into my classroom. My students were totally engaged; not only were they engaged in the reading, but also in the writing process. This is true for both memoir and fictional writing.

Am I the perfect writing teacher? Not even close, but using tools from other Graduate classes and readings from this one will improve my teaching. Reading needs to bring forth that imagination, as it has done for Hicks; and writing needs to be free for students to have an outlet, when they can’t always say it out LOUD!

Angela Steele

I really enjoyed reading chapters three and four. These chapters were very relevant to the types of students that I am teaching in our school. I can relate to the typical southern girl growing up in a conservative home. I remember there were certain standards that were acceptable and unacceptable. My parents and grandparents read stories to me and also told me stories that had been passed down through the generations. Manners were expected at home and in public. I was a “good girl” in school. I wanted to please the teacher in all areas. I am still a people pleaser. I try to do my best in my school work even now that I am grown.
Laurie could be a typical girl in my class on any given year. Laurie struggles with the structures of the classroom and school. She is a typical good girl in the classroom because she does want to please her teacher especially in her coloring and writing. Sometimes these types of children fall between the cracks in our classrooms if we are not careful. Laurie is a quiet child that does what is asked of her in the classroom and on the surface she seems like she is with it. But when you dig deeper she seems to be one of those kids who need that extra budge from the teacher to keep going. She seems to be an average student who just needs some extra time in reading. She loves writing and enjoys choosing that as a free choice activity. She does seem to have an interest in reading and writing. She does not move at the pace of the reading curriculum. This is true for many of the students that I teach. My high students need to move faster and my lower students need to mover slower. Five years ago I was teaching mostly whole group just like the teacher in the book. During the past three years I have begun to differentiate my instruction to meet the needs of the students who are moving faster and slower than the pacing guides. I have established reading groups that meet the needs of the different ability groups in my classroom. My reading groups change weekly or monthly depending on the skills that we work on that week or month. The groups are flexible so that students can move up or down a group depending on their progress. I even do one-on-one instruction with some of my lowest readers. Laurie’s teacher that was bound to the county reading adoption had her hands tied. I am thankful that I am able to use what I need across reading books and series to meet the needs of the students in my class. I use older reading series that we have, book sets, and trade books to meet the needs of my students. Since I have started the masters program I see now more than ever that students must be taught at their instructional level in reading. If the material is too hard frustration sets in and other problems begin to arise just as we see happening with Laurie.
I was very surprised to see the diagnosis of ADHD on Laurie. She seems like a free spirited kid that may just need some structure in her life. She seems to be a victim of the instability in her home life. School seems to be the only place that is consistent for Laurie. I have seen so many kids put on medication and it changes their personality drastically. I have also seen the medicine make the world of difference for the better in a child’s behavior and personality.
I think that the main thing to remember is that kids come to us all along the ability spectrum. Our job as classroom teachers is to teach them at their level and to do all that we can to meet their needs in our classroom.

Michelle Moffitt

Reading chapters 3 & 4 made me think about my own literacy experiences growing up as a young girl. Like Laurie, my mom and grandmother both worked and were examples of strong females in my life. Unlike Laurie though I have a father who also worked nearly everyday. I had the support of my family throughout my academic career, and still do to this day. As I read I could see parts of myself in Laurie. I always strived to be a "good girl." I always tried to please my parents and teachers and wanted to be thought of as smart and responsible. My worst fear then was that I would do something to make them mad at me or dissapoint them in some way. I too had a strong imagination that was evident when I played and in my writing as well. I didn't really struggle with reading as she did however, but I see the struggles many of my first graders go through as they strive to become independent, strong readers. I notice when they seem disconnected to a lesson or they may try to rummage through their desk during writing to mask the fact that they don't know how to begin.That's when I try to go to those students as my other students are working independently and give them help.

It was interesting to read and follow the life of Laurie over a three year time span. Unfortunately, we do not get that luxury of that amount of time to get to know our students. As we have read in almost every article, we need to take the time to get to know our students so that we can connect with them and earn their trust. I believe that's the only way to reach many of our students, especially those who may have already had negative experiences with school and are "switched off" to it. The researcher was able to form a bond with her that allowed her to reach out to Laurie to help her in ways her teachers couldn't. They also shared a mutual understanding and respect for each other.

I was glad to see Laurie's second grade teacher take a different approach to reading and writing instruction that allowed Laurie to grow and gain confidence. I had hoped that with her being in a special reading program and the additional support she received from Deborah she would have made more progress than what she did. However, I had to remember she had started second grade with a deficit in reading and writing and although her mom reads to her each night, she had to catch up with her classmates. I was surprised at the violence in her story about the flowers and the good vs. evil that was very apparent in her writing. As pointed out, her stories often were fictionalized in some parts. I found this to be clever on her part that she would write about her life as how she wanted it to be. I was amazed at her later entries in her writing notebook at how much her content had improved not only in length but in detail and spelling as well. I would love to know how Laurie is doing today and how she has developed as a reader and writer. I would be thrilled if she were performing at or above grade level in reading and writing.

Reshawna Greene

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

While reading chapter 3 in Reading Lives, I started thinking about my own childhood and how I think it affected me as a reader. I started to see how certain events that occurred growing up probably aided my desire to spend a great deal of time reading. I think books opened up a whole new world to me outside of the small town I grew up in. I also started to see how my middle-class upbringing solidified what type of student I would be. I, too, was raised Baptist and knew very well what was expected of me in certain situations. Adults were seen as authority figures and I was to do as I was instructed. I was to always be polite and respectful. School tasks were relatively easy for me and I had an internal drive to do my best. I used to think I was born with that desire, but now, I think it stems from watching my own mother “do it all”. I was born in 1971 and my mother was definitely striving to meet the expectations of feminists during that time. She worked as a nurse full-time, headed the PTA on several occasions, made many of our clothes, cooked every night, ran the household, and participated in almost all church functions. My dad owned the town funeral home so he was rarely home to help out. I remember thinking that this was what was expected of women. Yes, we could be whatever we wanted, but we better be prepared to work hard if we wanted it. One of my favorite book series growing up was Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods. Again, I always thought I liked the stories because they were adventurous and had a strong female character I could relate to. After reading Hicks, I now wonder if I liked the stories so much because it was totally different lifestyle then what I had in reality. I can even remember playing pioneers during recess with several of my schoolmates. All of the information in chapter 3 was interesting upon reflection, but it wasn’t until I read chapter 4 that I started to understand Hick’s research in relation to our students.
Laurie reminds me so much of a student I had this year. This student comes from a very troubled working-class home. Her parents have been divorced for some time and her mother was recently released from jail. Both parents have drug/alcohol issues and no one in her family has ever graduated from high school. My student has grown up with a deluge of social discourses that are both traumatizing and contradictory when compared to the educational discourses she has experienced. Until this year, the student had been a struggling student. She had not put much energy or effort into her schoolwork and had set no goals for herself. This past school year (her eighth grade year) has been much different. Our guidance counselor began working with her on dealing with family and emotional issues as well as helping her set goals for herself. She has gotten a tremendous amount of support from her teachers and a great deal of positive feedback and encouragement from school. She was also enrolled in my reading class where she made substantial progress. My class gave her an intimate and safe outlet to work on her reading weakness. She was able to grow as a reader and even began to choose to read outside of class. She enjoyed books about romance and typical teenage topics. More importantly to me, she began to discuss her readings with me and would even ask for help if she came across text that was confusing. My class also gave her a place to write and share her feelings through her writing. She wrote many poems this year that detailed the pain and frustration she felt towards her parents. During this past year, the student started to see herself differently. She began to think of herself as a good student who could and would graduate from high school. Her grades improved and so did her EOG scores. She started to work on making the transition from what she thought were inescapable facts about her reality, to what could be if she chose to make the changes. Due to her family circumstances, the student came to us with a lot of confusion about what it meant to be a strong woman and what it meant to be educated. She has watched her mother for years move from one abusive and dead-end relationship to another. She has witnessed both parents use the social system for support. No one in her family supports her goal of graduating and they have even encouraged her to drop out when she turns 16. Luckily, we were able to intervene and put a plan in place to help her build new ideas and discourses to support her future plans. I do worry that next year, without proper support, the family discourses that are so deeply ingrained will sabotage her education. She still continues to struggle with her desire to gain attention and affection from boys and easily loses focus when she is in a relationship. The guidance counselor and I plan to check in on her next year at the high school. Unfortunately, this is just one student and I know my school had many more that could have used the same help from us. Hicks states on pg. 96 that, “working class girls can take up new practices of literacy as they form relations with middle-class teachers and take the risks involved in trying out new practices and identities.” I think the student I depicted above is a perfect example of this.

Sally Elliott

Hick’s recount of literacy in her childhood was interesting to me. She commented that her parents felt reading should be taught at school, that there was no connection between home and school to support the reading process. I am sure many of us can identify students in our classrooms who have parents who share the same philosophy. However, Hicks was able to succeed in school. I believe one of the supporting reasons is that her mother is had a gift for storytelling. As we have read in past articles, we know the power storytelling has on literacy development. The sense of story and book language she would have gained from her mother’s stories would have supported the classroom instruction. So even though the parents had a belief about reading, they were actually supporting the teacher more than they thought. As I was reading I kept pondering why some children of poverty or working class seem to get what school is about. Those few become readers and productive students. Maybe they learn in spite of their home life and desire a different discourse.
As we gained insight into Laurie’s world I realized she did not have the storytelling mother as the author did. Laurie’s literacy experiences were limited to the verbal interactions with others. While they did read books nightly, the busy life of the mother was a hindrance to the overall experience. Maybe reading was being shown as a task. As with the author reading was not valued, but Hicks gained an appreciation for stories and the reading process through the stories of her mother. Maybe just having that one additional literacy experience at home allowed her to develop her reading abilities at school easier.
The glimpse into Laurie’s interactions with others in school resonated with me. I remember my first couple of years teaching I felt I was successful because my students were quiet, on task, and over all well behaved. I was relieved when the principal would walk through my room and see my students “hard “ at work. My students were high poverty and did have a reputation for being behavior problems, so when I saw them working, I felt satisfaction. Then one day is clicked with me. I was controlling my kids, but what learning was happening. I am not saying they were just doing busy work, but I started to watch them more closely to see who was truly engaged in the lesson, and who was trying to fool me. Reading about Laurie’s quiet behaviors the teacher didn’t realize, made me flash back to those early years in the classroom.
Reading about how educators value “good girls” caused more reflection to happen. Too often we do consider the girls who work quietly and are well behaved to be “good.” The power struggles that were exposed between the students was new information for me. I always found it frustrating to deal with such petty arguments and tattle tailing. After reading about the power struggles, I realize a there is an entire different purpose and need that is happening through that process. Reflecting on such disagreements as a teacher could help us understand that student better and perhaps be able to support them more instructionally.
It was refreshing to read about the impact small group reading with materials on their instructional level had on Laurie. I have had conversations with teachers about the impact of Guided Reading groups. Many teachers fully support the instructional method; while others just can’t seem to believe it would have that much of an impact on their class. This research supports the need for a focused reading approach.

Michael Lemke

I’m not sure that I ever thought about the role of fantasy in literacy until Hicks brought it up in chapter three. Of course imagination plays a critical role in writing and research says that good readers ‘see’ what they are reading, but Hicks bring out the impact of reading on Laurie’s fantasy life. What she dreams, imagines, and plays are impacted by the exposure to literature and vice versa. What she is interested in reading and writing is impacted by her imaginative play. It saddened me to read that Laurie’s fantasy’s of becoming a reader and writer were so far removed from her school experience. So many of our kids come to school excited to learn to read and write and yet loose that excitement somewhere in the process.

Hicks makes an interesting point later on in her work on page 56 when she speaks of Laurie’s attachment to her mother and identification with her mother’s fantasy of finding a “prince charming” to release her from financial, social and emotional stress. Every little girl wants prince charming to find her, but most put aside the idea of rescue from life’s worries by adulthood. This made me think back to Henry’s’s article where she mentioned young black girls being viewed as sex objects. I disagreed that educational institutions were responsible and felt that this perception came from the music, dress and habits of Black culture. Is it possible that these behaviors are perpetuated by a desire to attract a ‘prince’? Are these children dressing in ways that cause them to be perceived as sex objects because they believe in part sex or being sexy may be one way secure their future? Would this be why Black females are, “evaluated by their physical characteristics such as hair texture and skin color…” as Henry asserts? What is becoming clearer and clearer through these readings, is that what children are taught to believe about themselves and the world around them has a direct impact on not just their educational performance, but their entire future. What we are doing is so much larger than teaching math and reading. We as teachers are not simply teaching, but re-culturing and reshaping our student’s worldviews. What we do impacts not only their literacy, but the ways in which they choose to live out their lives.

I was puzzled by the quote from Walkerdine that said, “It is perhaps important, then, that many young girls do not understand high attainment and femininity as antithetical” (p. 68). I thought that the discourse of Sothern women was the idea of the steel magnolia; women who are independent and capable, but soft and feminine at the same time. I fail to see how they are mutually exclusive. I was also a little confused when Hicks said that, “Deceit had become one of the ways in which Laurie was maturing socially.” (p. 75) I am not sure I can agree that deceit is a sign of maturity. Deceit seems a safer way for Laurie to gain control over the contentious relationship with her mother and avoid the consequences out outright defiance.
-Rebecca Ashby

After reading through Chapters 3 and 4 in Reading Lives, I found some interesting connections to some of the racism that still continues today.

As I read about bell hooks’ account growing up in the southern part of the US. She touches on random acts of racism that impacts her attitude and ideas. She felt that she was connect with others in her community and had trouble “inventing herself” pg. 39.

AS hooks goes through school she describes a time where she and her classmates were learning about slavery. She describes herself as feeling “disconnected” from the photos of naked slaves and from the idea of Race. (pg. 40).

I worked with a brand new teacher this year that stepped into a teaching position that was left in December. The class that was left for this teacher was by no means a “terror” class, but just like any other class, had it’s set of issues. I can recall this new teacher asking me for suggestions on teaching social studies lessons. In the 5th grade curriculum, students learn about the history of the US as well as the geography of Canada and Mexico. This teacher was picking up at the point where students were to learn about Civil War, which, of course, leads into Abraham Lincoln and slavery. Our school is about 75% African American. His class was about 94% African American. He was a fresh college grad, but a white male. I was apprehensive about how he would handle this situation with his students if questions came up, but was eager at the same time to figure out what would come of his plans for this time period in history.

This teacher decided to incorporate a Reader’s Theatre program to discuss the issue of slavery. I feel that he did a nice job at introducing the ideas and facts behind slavery, but had a student who wanted to get on his soapbox regarding why “White people call black people niggers”. Just as you can imagine, the teacher was taken aback, but from what he shared with me, he took the question very openly, and discussed that these words were not allowed in school, and that secondly, the word “nigger” was a slang term that had been carried on from generation to generation by groups of people who felt that it was necessary to continue this usage of the word. I was so happy that this teacher addressed this issue so quickly and so professionally. Unlike the instance in hooks’ classroom, the idea of “Race” was addressed, and students then had a clear understanding of why and how the word was used in history. I think it is important that we address any questions that our students have and address those questions with respect and share “just the facts”.

Renee Hennings June 24, 2010

Chapters 3 and 4 were such an easy read for me because I so easily identified with so many things Hicks was writing about; growing up as a young Southern girl in a rural part of NC, attending Bible Schools in the summer and using my imagination to pass the long summer days, and especially long Sunday afternoons. I was well aware of gender roles in those places, although I didn’t quite understand them either. I was aware of differences when hoeing in the field on a hot summer day my brother was allowed to take his shirt off and my older sister and I weren’t. It just didn’t seem fair to a hot and sweaty 5 year old. I always enjoyed pushing the limits of the gender roles I became aware, and was very proud that I could drive a tractor, round up the cows that had once again escaped through the electric fence, shoot a rifle and other things that were typically thought of as being ‘male’. I also enjoyed, however, the fluffy pink ballet costume I got for Christmas. When I wore that, I felt very feminine. With that femininity, however, came discrepancy. I felt pulled in two different directions. I loved being the girlie girl who twirled around in pink toile and sequins pretending to be a great ballet dancer. I also loved the tough farm girl that always made my dad, and especially my older brother, so proud of me. I enjoyed existing in these two seperate roles, though sometimes felt as if one were more accepted than another depending on the person or the situation.

As I was reading about Hicks’ literacy experiences in Chapter 3, I couldn’t help but compare them to my own and think about how my ‘histories’ related to literacy . Most of my early reading experiences that I remember were with my grandmother. She is who I saw as being a true ‘Southern lady’. I had never really thought much about the impact she made on my life in a literary aspect until now. She was the one in her household to read the paper, keep up with current events, work on crossword puzzles, pay the bills, balance the checkbook…you name it. She even helped my grandpa fill in his driving log sometimes He was a truck driver and had a 7th grade education, so it was always my grandmother who read me stories and involved me in other types of traditional literacy activities. My grandpa bought me toys and candy, my grandma is the one who bought me books.

In Chapter 4, I saw so many of my students in Laurie. Being a first-grade teacher I see that disconnection between the imaginative storyteller, and the imaginative story writer and reader. It is so hard for some to make that transition. It sounds like Laurie had a wonderful 2nd grade teacher, who tried hard to pull out that creativity in Laurie.

I see what was happening with Laurie and her first-grade text too often. The text progressed much too quickly for her, which made her more withdrawn from the text, which caused her to fall further behind. It’s a viscous cycle I have voiced my concerns about since I have been required to use our basal as the primary reading source. I see it happen every year. I agreed with Hicks when she said that looking back Laurie would probably have benefited from instruction which was more on her level. I also found myself looking at her writing, trying to figure out which vowel and spelling patterns she needed to be working on!

It was very interesting to see the struggles Laurie faced defining her role as a female, and how it so closely reflected what Laurie must have seen in her mother. I do see a more ‘mothering’ nature in some girls than others in my classroom. I have always assumed it was a mixture of learned behavior and instinct. I still think that to be true, but now wonder if more of it is learned than instinctual.

I found the probable misdiagnosis of ADD was very sad. Laurie was probably just not able to handle the shift from one discourse to another, and the stress she had to deal with at home. I wonder if she could have been better served by some counseling instead of medication. It had to be difficult for Hicks to see this happen and not be able to offer advice to the mom and grandmother. This made me question Hick’s influence on this study. I know she positively impacted Laurie’s life and acknowledges her role in Laurie’s literary history, but I wonder how much advice Hicks shared with Laurie’s mother and grandmother over the course of the study, if any.

Marcia Smith

Girls Will Be Girls

In reading these chapters much of it sounded like my own childhood. Going to Sunday school, singing about Jesus, and wanting so bad to be a “good girl” was an ever present part of my life. Much of it is still part of my life. I had never thought about it as having played such a large role in my literacy. I did not come from a family who put much value in education, but from a family that lived paycheck to paycheck, barely getting by, without time read for themselves or to me. I found my love for Jesus and reading at my church. My Sunday school teacher would read to me and tell me to always be a good girl, I remember I so wanted to please her. I think we all are influenced in our literacy and discourses by our parents or any other person who plays an important role in our lives.

When I read What Hicks wrote on page 67 about Laurie wanting to be a good girl in order to gain power it made me reflect on my own classroom. When students are “good” they are the ones who get called on first to do things like run errands or be the teachers helper and that is power to the children I have had in the past. Others think of them as leaders, so this influences them to be good to keep this power.
As I read on I was angry as I read that Laurie was put on medication for ADD. I think too many children are put on medication unnecessarily. Children do not normally sit down and remain quiet for extended periods of time. If they get bored from lack of engagement the reason for their behavior is not always their fault but the teacher or parents also need to consider what the setting is and ask if it is truly appropriate for the child to still or is it just their lack of wanting to actively engage the child.

As I read on I was glad to see some happiness for Laurie when she tells of the new man that will bring happiness to her family. This again made me think of so many of my students who are in broken homes, or single parent homes and how you could see the desire for a mom or dad in their lives. Many of my girls would cling to my husband when he came and want to read to him or have him read to them, but mainly the ones without a male role model in their life. All this definitely plays a part in a child’s literacy and their different discourses.

Tracy Icenhour

Chapters 3 & 4 really brought this text to life for me. I felt more connected to what Hicks was saying. Growing up, I never really thought about the struggles that my mother and father went through everyday to provide for our family. When I was a child, my father worked a factory job and my mother stayed at home with my older brother and myself. She did work a part time job as a waitress on the weekends when my father was off work. We lived pretty simple lives and my parents made sure that we had the things that we needed. When I began school, my mother went back to work as a teacher assistant. Although we did not have extra money to throw around, we had books and games and everything that I assumed others had. My mother made sure that we learned the things needed to begin school. I can remember using words to form sentences when I was young. I connected to what Hicks talked about growing up in the south. We went lived in a small town where everyone was either related or knew each other. We went to church and school but much of who we were and who we became centered around the relationship we had with our families.

When Hicks began discussing Laurie, I was really taken by her story. Laurie was this little girl who was like an adult in the home (taking care of her siblings and mothering them) and then in school she struggles to adapt. It is amazing to me. This little girl can adapt to being so nurturing at home (at times) and then so distant at school. I think that many children (especially girls) that feel inferior in school do try to just blend in with everyone else and appear to be pleasing to the teacher. I think that many times these young girls do go under the radar and their issues are not noticed due to the busy nature of the classroom.

I was surprised at how early Laurie and her mother begin to have problems getting along. As a child, I was always drawn to both parents. My mother provided a different type of affection than my father who was the more playful parent. I remember becoming more of a pest when I was a teenager causing disagreements with my mother. Laurie seemed to be more aware of issues that surrounded her therefore causing some problems between her and her mother.

I think that is very common for little girls in a single parent home to become attached and in love with the idea of love and finding a father figure. I think all girls grow up with these fairy tales that make them think love is something perfect. I think that Laurie wanted to love of a father because she felt unwanted by her own father. Being a new mom, I can't imagine how a person can give up their child and not want to be apart of their lives. With that said, I could not imagine how a child would feel knowing that they were unwanted. I think if I would have felt unwanted and unloved as a child, I too would have had problems at home and school.

I believe that what Hicks did to aid Laurie in her literacy skills progressing was above and beyond what most teachers do for their students. Coming from my previous school (where many students need extra help in literacy areas), I think that kids that have so many needs would rather be at school than at home because of the support and stability their teachers provide for them. As a teacher, I try to provide support and stability to all my students but I think some students that are from working class homes find more value in that than other students that live more cushioned lives.

Laurie Post

I choose to focus this post, as per the syllabus, on the overarching issues presented through the readings, which I will do through chapter four as Laurie’s story strangely spoke to me.
Margret Atwood, the author of the opening quote used to define the often static definition of “woman” within our society, is a phenomenal writer of women’s issues and is a paramount figure within women’s studies; I particularly loved the Eatable Woman, which recaptures the essence of a woman’s choice to be independent, to not feel eaten by a male dominated society. If you have not read it, do so soon because it will change your opinions of feminism through the simplistic nature of the symbolism presented, allowing ones mind an easy focus on the truth behind the words.

I have been a feminist since the day my mother gave up on her own future, dropped out of college, and started working in a predominantly male ambulance factory so that she could ensure, her now fatherless son, would have a real chance to fulfill whatever destiny that life had in store for me; in short, she gave up her future for mine.

In a home that was filled by hard work, exhaustion, and a longing for the father figure whom had just died on an impassionate highway from a heart attack that he saw coming and yet did nothing to stop it because “he was only 40,” it was difficult to find the attached “love” that all young teens need. Much like Laurie, I too became violent at school and sometimes incontrollable in class, but more over I started acting the role of father and caretaker, finding it hard to live the two lives of adolescents and man just as Laurie found it hard to live the “roles of mom and child seemed both to empower her and complicate her life.”

I enjoyed reading of how Laurie manipulated and concealed her struggles of reading and also the social dichotomies that developed as she matured and started making hard choices as a young child, between good girl and bad girl, as I too was faced, much later in life than her, with the same options as a male in a predominantly female world as my mother and teachers were all women as well as 75% of my class. I have actually seen this take place with one of my students as well, we will call her Yesinia. She takes care of her brothers and sisters as her parents work long hours and do not even get home until after everyone in the house is asleep. This role of mother came into stark contrast with her teenage self as she found love in a boy named Manuel. She slowly, so slow in fact that I could actually see the stages of it, became a bad girl and rebelled against her family because he wanted a girl friend not a mom friend. Her development down the wrong path still continues.

The story Laurie tells about the pet being killed and her sister being in the house and Nicholas standing guard next to her really made me question a lot of assumptions I had made of young kids. Why do girls feel so repressed at such a young age? Why do they see themselves as caretakers? And more over, why do they see themselves as caretakers instead of those being cared for? Is this common in all children or just those from working class families? Then the questions furthered as I continued to read as I asked myself if it was the influence of the boyfriend in her mother’s life that made her take on the traditional role of wife or did this kid really just typify what it means to be a little girl? I clearly remember my niece, who comes from a broken home also, acting out the role of wife with my cousin as they played together, which, at the time, I associated with adult role-play as they matured into early childhood, but now I question the influence of her surroundings. I really find it difficult, even though it makes perfect sense, to believe that young girls are doing any more than fulfilling the traditional roles they see acted out on television and within their homes, which are prescribed by a society based on puritanatical values of what a woman should be.

Then my mind raced further over the next ten or so pages with how this could influence a child’s development. Is my wife, a hater of all sports, really just a result of too much I Love Lucy, or does she, a devout feminist in her own right, just hate sports? Is it possible that she too, as a house wife, tried many roles of womanhood and chose the one that suited her best? Was she influenced not to participate in PE because it was just too boyish?

Taking a step back from the questions, I would like to reflect back on the fact that Laurie was also screwed by the evil system of education that forces children to progress as readers and writers even if they are not ready. I can’t believe that we just look at children and say catch up or fail. That is the most illogical thing in the world, especially since we know for a fact that learning takes place at its own pace and that there is no real pace that works for all kids. Then she was even further mislead by yet another candy store diagnosis of ADD…they hand these things out like they are on sale!

This was a very interesting read.

William Byland

So much depends upon the red wheelbarrow…So much depends upon the tolerant teacher…
Many of you may recognize the beginning line from Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. I love that book! Jack is a fortunate boy to be in her class where everyone is respected and encouraged to find their poet’s voice. I did not have the same experience with writing and continue to struggle. When we look inside a child’s life, who they think they are, who they want to be and how they are perceived at home and at school, we can finally understand that growing up to appreciate and excel at education is just down right hard! So much depends upon a tolerant teacher! From the case studies we are given clear examples of how much our upbringing effects how we learn and if teachers do not take the time to add this into our yearly planning then many children are doomed to fail. Negatively judging a student because his/her parents are poor, tattooed, un-married, unorganized, or fat is just as bad as judging them based on race or religion. Teaching is an emotional rollercoaster and it is exhausting dealing with the ups and downs of twenty-four different personalities. There are so many variables in any given day it is a wonder that we make it through our lesson plans. Instead of complaining that “my students are so needy” we must make time and take time to humanize them and look for ourselves in their trusting eyes and respond to them with kindness. We can blame the parents, the child, even society but in reality we need to go the extra mile to meet the needs of our students. Our students are not to be blamed for the choices of the adults in their lives; they will work for many years to re-invent themselves if given a chance. I know many of us have done so!
Elizabeth Achor

I find that it is such a special time when you hear a child say, “Do you want to hear a story that I wrote?” When my students say that to me while we are reading my heart flutters with excitement. I love hearing that because that shows me that they are becoming a more literate person. My students were able to use their imagination while they were reading and sometimes when they were writing.

I find that is the same thing was true in chapter 3 in our reading. The girls all took the stories that they read and imagined themselves in the story. I can remember growing up and getting so immersed in a story that I would not want to put it down. I would imagine myself being one of the characters, or being on that island and it was wonderful. I loved how Hicks puts it, talking about Hooks, on pg 41 she says “As she read, she searched for ways to connect her emerging life experiences with books”. That is my goal for my students every year. We are constantly talking about how we can make “text to self” connections. I want to them to say, “Miss. Enns, this makes me think about….” Then I know that they really understand what they are reading. I love it when I see my students so immersed in a story that they don’t want to put it down. I find that those students that spend more time reading have more of an imagination. They are able to use what they have read and they can create some amazing stories! I try to get my students to write them down, but if they are unable to do that at least I have them tell me them. I find that at the young age their stories sometimes are very similar to the stories that we have read in school or stories that they have read.

In chapter 4 when I read about Laurie my heart broke. All that Laurie wanted was a dad someone she could call “prince charming”. It seemed to me what when she did have a dad she did so well in school, it seemed like she knew how to do it all along and when she had a dad she was happy so she showed it in her work. Laurie had a hard time reading and writing. I am thinking there could be an autistic side to Laurie but I am not sure. She seemed to always be lost in her own world and her writing seemed to be very imaginative. I believe that she wrote that way because it gave her a chance to escape her reality and go to a “happy place”.

I think that literacy is used very much as an escape. People use it to escape their sufferings and hardships. All of the girls in our writing did just that. When they wrote, they wrote about things that made them happy and when they read, they got lost in what they read. That is what I wish my students would do every year!

Natalie Enns

I approached Chapters 3 and 4 with dread because I had such a hard time with the first two. Surprisingly, they were relatively easy to read and understand. I enjoyed the narrative form and felt like I knew Laurie by the end. I had many thoughts and connections running through my head as I read, but no big “ah ha” moment. My thoughs seem scattered and unsettled.
First, I had serious issue with Laurie’s diagnosis of ADD and the decision to put her on medication. I am amazed at how quickly folks put children on medication. I think Laurie was trying to find her place in the world, in her class, and at home and figuring out how the world works around her. She had a lot of issues to deal with for a little girl, and I was saddened to read how her behavior changed after her diagnosis. I would be interested to read the study on Laurie without ADD. I wonder how she would have been different, if at all. My gut tells me she would have progressed quicker and she wouldn’t have had such a hard time with peers.
I was also saddened by Laurie’s dream of a prince…for her and her mother. I teach middle school and have a hard time identifying directly with a lot of these primary scenarios, but I do know the importance of a male role model. When I am searching for classroom volunteers I always try to find men to come into my class. I know many of my students do not have strong male role models at home and how important it is for them to make connections with them. This year I was fortunate to have two male volunteers visit once or twice a week to help out. The students – male and female – took to these men instantly. The classroom climate changed when they were there. Each of them showed up as a surprise at the end of the school year and stayed the entire day. The students soaked up every second of their attention they could get and I might as well have taken the day off. My hope is that these two men have made a positive impact on some of my students that really needed it.
I think Laurie is wise beyond her years. She has a lot of insight into how relationships work, perhaps because she has to deal with a difficult homelife. Her knowledge shows in her dreams and her writings. However, Laurie is also quite immature at times which are also displayed in her dreams and writings. She seems stuck in a lonely place and doesn’t seem to know how to remedy her loneliness. Her writings and fantasies appear to be an escape.
Jennifer Wagoner

Thinking back to my early years, I played a lot with Barbies and read many books. I know we owned many Golden Books and Disney books. With those, I had two older sisters to play and imagine with. Like me, we all were into the "girly" things, and always were playing dress up and house.
Looking at the text and seeing that those early years of all the play that took place, I didn't really ever relate it to literacy in any way. My mom stayed at home, and my dad ran his own business. When we got older, my mom helped my dad at his business, and we did too when we got old enough. We lived in the country, not on a farm, but in rural WI. The closest town was a 10 minute drive, and we often just stayed at home and played. We did have lots of things to do, and when the weather wasn't good to play outside and make forts, we played inside. I was very fortunate to have my sisters to learn from. They were "good girls." They were both academically smart, loved to read, one was more musical than the other, but all in all were very smart and good in school. I on the other hand, struggled in elementary school. I didn't like to read much on my own, and only read because I had to. I didn't like math because I really struggled with story problems. One thing my mom reminded me of was my determination to solve my problems. I guess my abilities were more athletic than academic, and that is what gave me my identity so to speak, not my literacy abilities, like my sisters. The princess and happily ever after came for me that I can remember from the Disney movies we watched over and over (the times we were let watch tv that is). I wasn't too girly and feminine until I went to high school. That's where the feminine role of women really started to sink in. My family believed in all sharing in the work, no matter what it was.
My mom didn't ever tell me any stories of her high school sweetheart days, so I couldn't relate to the text when she talked about that. It was interesting and easy to see how that could definitely play a huge part in her development in reading and especially writing. It was heart breaking at times to see how Laurie developed throughout her school years. The times she struggled to the times where she was successful. Tutoring a child makes you see more into their life than just what's on the surface. I know as teachers we wish many times we could just spend more time one on one with these kids to really reach deep into their struggles, and most of the time we can't. As things in our country continue to change, the role of education does too. I'm afraid of what may come, and the opportunities to reach struggling students are not going to be there. Our tutoring services during the day at our school are looked to be cut. If it wasn't for Laurie's out of school tutoring, she may not have regained her confidence and grew in her abilities. I hope someday to be a stay at home mom, and tutor on the side. I know there are kids who need and would really benefit from the help that their parents may not be able to provide.
Abby Boughton

These two chapters were much more interesting and easy to read. I enjoyed getting to know Laurie. I like how Hicks took on a journey through Laurie’s home and school life from kindergarden through third grade. In kindergarden, Laurie was involved and engaged in her classroom. She was very social and had friends. Her literacy seemed to be on track for the most part, she knew her letters and was retelling stories. Her home life was playing a part into her interactions with her peers and teachers. She was taking on the role of “caretaker” or “girlfriend.” These are roles that she was carrying over from her home life. In first grade, her problems with reading and writing became so much clearer. Her problems with literacy made her have problems in all areas. She struggles at academics, social interactions, completing her work. She was not progressing as fast as the other students in the class and she was getting so far behind. In second grade, her problems continued but when she thought she was getting a “daddy” she began to improve. This is proof that your home life has so much to do with your school life. Laurie wanted so much to be a good student and to be smart.

Some of the points that really struck me from these chapters are the fact that in first grade they were using a reading program that moved at a fast pace and it was leaving Laurie behind. I think this is the case in so many classrooms. Basals are too hard or school systems adopt a new reading program that just does not work for children. How can we get school systems and the state to understand that what works for one student does not work for all?

I felt so bad for Laurie having to grow up without a father. I can’t imagine what that was like to not have a father. My dad is such a big part of my life and always has been. I have very fond memories of spending time with him as a child and him helping me with homework. How can we as teachers help students who are growing up in homes like Laurie’s?

Ashley Caldwell

These two chapters were much more interesting and easy to read. I enjoyed getting to know Laurie. I like how Hicks took on a journey through Laurie’s home and school life from kindergarden through third grade. In kindergarden, Laurie was involved and engaged in her classroom. She was very social and had friends. Her literacy seemed to be on track for the most part, she knew her letters and was retelling stories. Her home life was playing a part into her interactions with her peers and teachers. She was taking on the role of “caretaker” or “girlfriend.” These are roles that she was carrying over from her home life. In first grade, her problems with reading and writing became so much clearer. Her problems with literacy made her have problems in all areas. She struggles at academics, social interactions, completing her work. She was not progressing as fast as the other students in the class and she was getting so far behind. In second grade, her problems continued but when she thought she was getting a “daddy” she began to improve. This is proof that your home life has so much to do with your school life. Laurie wanted so much to be a good student and to be smart.

Some of the points that really struck me from these chapters are the fact that in first grade they were using a reading program that moved at a fast pace and it was leaving Laurie behind. I think this is the case in so many classrooms. Basals are too hard or school systems adopt a new reading program that just does not work for children. How can we get school systems and the state to understand that what works for one student does not work for all?

I felt so bad for Laurie having to grow up without a father. I can’t imagine what that was like to not have a father. My dad is such a big part of my life and always has been. I have very fond memories of spending time with him as a child and him helping me with homework. How can we as teachers help students who are growing up in homes like Laurie’s?

Ashley Caldwell

Right away in these chapters I realized that I had a similar background as hooks when it came to how hooks used reading as an escape for her, trying to make connections from what she read to how it affected her own life. My parents divorced when I was very young and so books and reading were distractions for me when my family was going through difficulties. Growing up I was also an overweight child who had trouble creating my own self-identity. Books allowed me to take the place of a character that was nothing like me. Throughout adolescence I was never without a book in my hands, realizing now that my actions were my forms of escape and where I could retreat to another place.

When it wasn’t possible for me to do something, books allowed me to have those opportunities. I can remember being in upper elementary school where all of my friends and I were reading the Baby-Sitters’ Club series. We would each assume a character and pretend we were that girl. Looking back on it now, the girls in the books were not very different from what we were at that time. So books didn’t necessarily have to take me somewhere, but allow me to make a connection whether it be the story, characters, etc.

When I read Hicks comments on Laurie’s desire to be a “good girl” I was dumbfounded. She mentions the children reading the school creed every day in the classroom. This hit too close to home for me. School wide we always begin the day on our morning announcements with the reciting of our school creed, “I believe I can be a good student. I believe I can achieve. I believe by working hard I will succeed. I will work hard today. I will do my best. I can learn. I will learn.” So as a school we have set a discourse for our students to perform their very best at school and our levels of high expectations for them, not taking into account what is affecting them outside of the classroom.

The last two years I have had the pleasure of teaching a little girl who reminded me so much of Laurie. This child wanted so much to be a pleaser. Yet she struggled with this due to her literacy abilities. She had a very interesting home life. Her mother and father were both high school graduates from a fairly rural town. They both worked in a local grocery store where mom was a manager and dad was a stocker. She had no previous experiences of interacting with other children besides her little sister. When she started Kindergarten she was not able to write her name, knew no letters, no colors, no numbers or shapes, demonstrating little at home learning prior to school. It wasn’t this child’s fault that her parents had not worked with her to give her a head start before beginning school, yet she was the one who had to suffer the consequences. And for the last two years, we tried to play catch-up so this little girl would be able to feel confident and successful. When her Kindergarten year ended, she was promoted to first grade. She was placed with me again in first grade as I looped up with my students. This past year she did gain a year’s growth of learning, yet will begin second grade reading below grade level. Not significantly below, but still not where she could be if she had had some sort of learning in her home environment prior to school. And as for her little sister, my student goes home and plays school with her, giving her the head start she never got at home.

For so many of our students, reading and writing are the only escapes they have from their reality, just as it was to many of us when we were children. Whether that reality is good or bad depends on the child’s situation of course. As a teacher I want to make sure to help that child reach that fantasy destination they desire going to through their literacy learning. And I don’t want it to be in ways that demean or belittle a child’s identity development which can be so fragile. I just hope that I will have the tools and resources I need to help these children along in their journey.

Nikki Leggins

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

Chapters three and four of this text were much more informative and enjoyable to read than the first two chapters. Not only was the text written as a narrative, but the author seemed to use less technical language in order to express her research findings.

In both chapters the author noticed some parallels and differences between herself and Laurie. Both grew up in rural southern towns in working-class families. Literacy learning occurred through socialization for both the author and Laurie within the contexts of relationships (mother-daughter), values, feminism, gender roles, and make-believe/fantasy. The author and Laurie mainly differ in their values: the author’s family had a strong desire for middle-class values, manners, and luxury. Laurie’s family, however, never seemed to consider these values as they were more concerned with making ends meet. As a result, it seems that the author was able to transcend her class’ boundaries. I wonder if Laurie will be able to do the same without having middle-class dreams?

While I enjoyed reading both chapters and while the results seem meaningful, I am wondering how the author’s research findings shows attitudes and behaviors that are different from any child. All children experience times in their lives when they role-play and spend time in a make-believe/fantasy world. For example, children dress up and play house. They create imaginative stories with elements of real life and make-believe. In addition, most children experience difficulties and hard times at home and in school in regard to parental involvement, support, finances, etc. Without trying to seem harsh, it seems that Laurie is similar to most children. Or, perhaps Laurie does exhibit real difficulties and differences, but I feel that the author does not express it clearly in her writing.

Laura Corbello

I decided that this would be the best title for this entry because I think it sums up the life of Laurie and the other girls she represents in this society, past, present, and future. So many of our students that we teach are "Lauries" in our classroom. However, what saddens me is that some teachers do not even take the time to know the life that these students live. For example, I teach with a couple of teachers who prefer not to get to know the children they teach because they say teaching them is their only job. Now I see these teachers as having great classroom management. Students do not misbehave in their classroom, and in fact they are even scared to sneeze or cough in the room. However, this particular teacher has no idea who her students are. She comes to work everyday and teaches math and then leaves. I have had problems with classroom management in my resource room, but I think a lot of it is because I actually take the time to get to know the students and interact with them on a personal level. I know about their family and how many siblings they and who they live with. This is important to me, and I am sure the main reason why I am like this is from being in this master's program. I never knew before taking some of these courses just how much a child's family and environment they grow up in affect their attitude and success in school.

While reading these chapters about Laurie, I learned a lot about children that we teach. First of all, Laurie grew up in a home in a Southern rural community with no father figure, but very much influenced by her mother and grandmother. As a little girl she became acquainted with the idea of wanting more. She desired things of luxury and imagined having these things one day. She also referenced a need for having a prince charming, which I think is what Nicholas represents. What was the most interesting to me is that she did not have as much of a chance to explore and experience things based on where she lived and her way of life. However, this made her even more of a dreamer which influenced her writing and led her to become curious and creative! Basically her limited childhood produced her into a creative and imaginative young woman! As teachers we must not hinder our children that we teach. In fact I think a lot of the time we give up so to speak on students who come from a lower social class. We just assume that they will not get it because they have a disadvantage from day one. I know that I have been guilty of this because I have met some of my children's parents and think, "well if there is no support at school then there is no possible way they will try at school." This is really sad because there are plenty of "Lauries" sitting in our classes who need the extra push and not only that but they have such a wonderful and creative imagination but just do not know how to express themselves. The point is that everyone has a story to tell. We just have to find the interest point that makes our kids want to tell their story. Once again, I am going to back to connections, but we should find something our kids can relate to.

I enjoyed these chapters because it tells me that kids may not have the experiences as others or the luxury of others, but there are so many ways they can learn to express themselves. Luckily for Laurie she enjoyed reading from the start and by reading stories which she could actually play out in her head made her want to read more! This is what we want for the children that are in our classrooms!

Katy Dellinger

In reading these two chapters I began to reflect upon my own girlhood. I thought about Laurie always wanting to be in a “relationship” so to speak and I don’t remember ever being this way. I don’t remember ever wanting to copy “appropriate” gender roles. I wanted to get down and dirty, not pretend that I was cooking. I am still that way. However, I felt that most of Laurie’s ways of imitating such role play was because of what she saw at home and what she longed to have.

It is amazing the issues our students come to school with. It affects many parts of their lives outside of the home. I can’t count the number of times I have thought; wow if only we knew the things they go through at home. Some students don’t mind telling you and others keep it bottled up. How can we expect our students to perform socially, intellectually and academically at school when they have so much pressure at home? It is hard to focus at school when you are hungry, a family member has cancer, or a parent is in and out of jail. These children begin to fall between the cracks academically and once this happens it is hard to get them back on track as was the case with Laurie.

Another issue that came up was that of Laurie having ADD. It made me think of parents I have had come to me and say do you think my child has ADD/ ADHD? The majority of the time I have seen no signs of any of the things they are talking about at school. Some times I feel that the parents just want to relieve their own stresses at home much the same way as Laurie’s mom did. Some of these children are starving for attention. They want to be recognized for more at home than just what they are doing wrong. Praise can go a long way!

Odessa Scales

I must agree with several posts stating that these two chapters were a much easier read than the first two. I loved the style that it was written in and was longing for a connection to what I was reading. I grew up in a rural area where there were no preschools, afterschool care, or many daycares for that matter. Children were kept at home with family and neighbors until they went to kindergarten and while school was out in the summer. As a child, I stayed with my grandparents as much as I stayed home. They were my "daycare". They lived in a neighborhood where there were many kids around my age. We would often meet at one house and end up riding bikes and "exploring" for hours at a time with no adult supervision. We never got into trouble, did things we knew were wrong, or got hurt. No one questioned our every move, much less what we did all day. We were good kids. We were good kids because we were raised to be good kids and we knew it was expected of us.
Most of the early schooling that was received was at church. During Bible school, Sunday school, and youth meetings. This is where we met new people and learned how to listen and pay attention.
Laurie had no childhood such as this. She was forced to be a grown up too soon. She never got to enjoy the carefree, endless days of childhood. Of course this made school difficult for her. She never had the chance to think like a kid at home, but she was expected to learn like a kid at school. There is a fine balance between who a child is at home and who they are at school. It takes time to adjust and learn how to transition between the two environments. I think Laurie lacked support from both ends. Had she had more support from home and from her teacher, she might have been able to make school a successful place for her.
My own children are not allowed to "roam" like I once was. I am much more aware of the dangers of the world to let them be unsupervised that way. Even in the same neighborhood. They have grown to be cautious of others and of things they are not sure of. Has this caused them to mature too quickly? Yes, I think so. But I cannot change the ways of the world. I just hope they do not lose opportunities due to it.

Sarah Hutson

I felt an immediate connection with Hicks as I read chapter 3. My mother influenced my love of books. I remember waiting on my monthly Dr. Seuss books to arrive. She would read them to me with beautiful rhythm. I listened to all of her girlhood stories of being the great student. The student loved by every teacher. She would tell stories about staying afternoon to clean erasers or run errands for the teacher. Her best friend in first grade and my godmother was her partner in this good girl club. My mother grew up in a traditional family with a minister as a father. My godmother grew up in a single parent home. Although they have very different home lives, they escaped in a world of books. I was taught school behavior by the two good girl’s tales before arriving in school. I listened and did my school work but I did not like to help my teachers. The books I read feed my imagination. I wanted to be the big sister in Beverly Cleary books. I wanted the traditional family found in the books.

Laurie was very interesting to me. She reminded me of students I have had in the past. The strength she brings to classroom as a nurturer is the same strength she exhibits at home. I viewed her romance with Nicholas as a means to validate her ability to take care of her ‘prince.’ Placing her on medicine to control her outbursts was frustrating to read. After taking the medicine, she appeared lost. I think counseling would have been a better option. Laurie was caught between being a kid and a grown up at home. She longed for a male figure in her life. Her anger was justified, but she needed to learn ways of coping with her feelings. Laurie’s journal entries spoke volumes. She was the slow one which caused her to be left out of the Brittney’s and Erica’s group. She wanted a happy traditional family and acceptance by her classmates. She just wanted to be normal kid without adult responsibilities.

Zandra Hunt

As I read these chapters, I related on a couple of personal points. First, I did not grow up in a home with many books. My mother read all the time, romance novels, but very little to us. She read to escape from our life, the poverty, abuse, and lonliness of her life. Like Hick's mother, she had missed opportunities and had ended up in a marriage that wasn't what she expected. She wanted the best for us but she lived in a depression just trying to make it financially and emotionally. I, like Hicks, did well in school and was a good girl. No one at my home really seemed to care how I did as long as I stayed out of trouble, but I did well.
Second, I (like Ernaux) always felt on the outside and "was always worrying about social conventions." It always felt like everyone else knew how to behave and what to say, but I didn't. I always felt awkward and books were a means of escape for me like many other children.
Third, I had a child this past year (and it seems like every year) who was unsuccessful in first grade but for enigmatic reasons. She had gone through some family traumas during kindergarten and it had had an effect on her emotionally. While she had not breezed through kindergarten, she had learned her alphabet, sounds, and could understand a story. She did not have a good concept of word but she was on track to be successful in first grade. However, this was not to be!?! I worked with her in a group of three for guided reading and spelling all year long. I had a large variety of materials at my disposal including several level one anthology basals and several preprimer older basals. She also received title one services and early steps which amounted to one hour of tutoring each day. She made very little progress. She could not learn from whole group activities as she could not pay attention for more than a few minutes so most of her day was spent in small group settings. She was EC tested but didn't qualify because her IQ was pretty good and indicated that she should be able to do the work. Every person working with her did all we know to do but she was not successful in learning to read. In some ways, I think she has not been able to overcome the turmoil that is continuing in her life outside of school. Her father does his best, but he works two jobs. She spends 4 days with one parent and then 4 days with the other. Her mother has had several new boyfriends this year. She is being lost in the shuffle at home. I will continue to work with her next year and hope to find some new techniques that will help her be more successful. My desire is to develop a trusting relationship with her. It has taken me most of this school year to gain her trust and get her to open up, but this was only just beginning as the school year ended. I want to grow the relationship stronger next year.

Oops! I forgot my name! Christy Findley

While reading this section, there were many things that I found myself wanting to comment on right then. I even talked to my husband a little about what I was reading just to be able to say it out loud (granted he was not so interested). :)

I am amazed by the thoughts and ideas that have come out during this course for me--things that I hadn't quite thought of before (or at least not in that way). As I read Laurie's story, I found myself tracing back through my own "girlhood" and thinking about the things that have influenced me over the years.

One thing that was in the forefront of my mind is how thankful I am that schools have changed (some of them) and how different my life and my sister's life might have been different now. My sister and I have very different literary situations. I was reading before I turned three. She still struggles to read fluently and comprehend at about a fifth grade level in her mid thirties. It's sad for me that she hasn't been able to develop the love for books that I did as a kid. I was drawn to the more risque books as an adolescent and even before. I wanted to read the books about abuse and hardships. I think the biggest reason was that I dealt with those things and needed it to be okay somehow. Due to the fact that I had this escape, I was able to work through and overcome some things. Children like Laurie (and my sister) had medication shoved in them quickly and struggled with "game" that was school. With the hardships that they had, they were not afforded the same escapes. I know from personal experience the struggles that my sister had trying to please teachers and other people and be able to fit in to the classroom. I listen to those same struggles today when she reads to her children or tries to help with homework. I see her face when I look at students who, despite giving it their all, still can't keep up. It really makes me want to understand how reading works and how to support these children. After all, we all deserve to love a good book!

Christy Laws

I really enjoyed reading chapters 3 and 4. I found them both very informative in such ways that will help me as a teacher when teaching my students. While both chapters were very informative, I found certain aspects troubling, especially for Laurie.

In the beginning of chapter 3 where Hicks is describing her up-bringing of church and singing Jesus Loves Me, I was able to instantly connect. As a person who has grown up in a rural small southern town and has attended church my entire life, I can tell you most churches are as the one she described. Although, I was the child that never questioned anything about anything or anyone when it involved church. But I was just being the "good girl." By being this this typically pleased my parents as well as other church members. I can remember as if it were yesterday when getting in trouble for something my mom would always say, "Now Candace what would Jesus have thought or done during that situation?" Instantly, I would usually always feel guilty until getting older and throwing that over my head just didn't work. It wasn't until college and being exposed to a whole new world that I began to take a step back and really discover what my faith and religion really were to me. I feel that everyone should take a step back and question for yourself and discover the true meaning, rather than just follow the crowd or what feels good just to please others around you.

"Very importantly, practices occur in engagement with others, such as the caretakers who help shape learners' values, feelings, and attachments at a young age (p36)." This statement could not be any truer! Everything that we encounter at a young age, even as adults, helps to shape who we are. In the end this can be either a good thing or a bad thing for someone, depending on a persons experiences. My mother though has helped shape me in my literary discourse. As a child she always read to me or told me stories. This sparked my interest in reading. But, if it was reading that teachers had assigned than I could have cared less to read it because more times than none it would be really boring!

Imagination! How can a child be a kid without one of these! Encouraging a child to use their imagination is essential to them. For many children this all that they have. It is wild to see the change of imagination from elementary to middle school. I teach middle school grades and asking them to use their imagination or look a cloud and tell me what it looks like, is like pulling teeth! Even as adults we lack the use of imagination which is why it can be hard for some of use to tell a kid a story on the spot. When we don't use our imaginations our lives become dull.

I made several connections with this reading, which was a much easier read than the first 2 chapters, but the most powerful connection I made was probably in Chapter 4 when Hicks describes Laurie's 1st grade experience. I am a 1st grade teacher and so as I was reading this description of Laurie's year in 1st grade, I was imagining how Laurie would do if she were in my 1st grade classroom. I wasn't thinking about this because I think I am a better teacher than Mrs. Rhodes- I'm sure she's a wonderful teacher. I was thinking about this because it seems as if our philosophies of teaching are different, or it may be that in her school system, she really can't supplement the adopted reading series with other books. The phrase that Hicks wrote on p. 71, "Laurie's teacher understood that the reading selections presented did not match the needs of struggling readers...," really bothered me. I know in my classroom, I ability group and have my students grouped with other students who are reading on the same level and reading books that are on their instructional level. I wondered how the year would have ended if Laurie had been able to read selections on her instructional level instead of only selections from the reading series. I know she had other issues concerning her academic performance (ex. ADD, issues at home), but still wonder if this would have made a difference.
I also made connections between the text and my own childhood. I have always loved reading, stemming from the time I learned to read until now. I can still get lost in a book. I also inherited this love of reading from my mother, with whom I have an extremely close relationship with. My grandmother always told me that one day I would realize that my mother is my best friend- and she is. On the other hand, unlike the description in the text, I have an extremely close relationship with my father as well. I guess I have always been a "Daddy's girl." Besides those facts, I: grew up in a small, rural town, have an older brother who did have different rules than I did growing up, was a "good girl" in school, little money but high expectations for manners, etc.
Overall, I really enjoyed this reading. I really liked reading more about Laurie and look forward to reading about Jake.
Marsha Warren