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

Reading Lives: Boyhood Stories and Practices (ch. 5) & Hybrid Languages of Inquiry (ch. 6)

No matter how dedicated the teachers were with both of these students there was still a divide between their academic discourse and their home discourse. Hick’s reiterates the same thoughts in chapter 5 that were shared in chapter 2. Students tend to be more comfortable with the values of those they love the most. I asked myself is it too much to ask that our classrooms make better connections to what is important in our student’s lives? Is it manageable with a class of twenty or more students for each child to make such personal connections?

I thought the comments that Jake’s kindergarten teachers made to create a scrapbook to help bridge home and school were interesting. It would be a great way for him to share is love of NASCAR and it would certainly make for a more authentic writing activity. (I wondered if this recommendation was taken by the first grade teachers.)This recommendation reminds me of the Personal Education Plan meetings we have for certain students that have similar difficulties in our school. We too are looking for that hook a way to draw the student into our more formal literacy.

So yes I think a hybrid classroom is obtainable. Not every student would need the same amount of support but through the use of reading and writer’s workshops these individual need can be met.

Jake reminded me of many students that I have taught throughout my career. He was a hands-on kind of guy that had a good work ethic as long as he saw purpose in the activity. I have struggled in my own classroom connecting with this type of learner and it certainly takes some creativity. After reading Hick’s research my approach to these students will start with not only what they connect with but what is happening in the home. I would start with a parent survey about their views as well.

One other distinct difference I saw between these two learners was the task of telling their own fantasy story to Hick’s. Laurie used story language about a magical garden but Jake was all over the classroom doing a dramatic reenactment of a NASCAR race where someone was crashing into the wall. I think Hick’s did a beautiful job with her description of this somewhat comical event.

I found the introspections of Rose interesting and was struck by what was most formative for him growing up in South L.A. It wasn’t the violence that was disturbing but the lack of passion and energy. He spoke of a barren and aimless existence for the working class people who lived there. To me this leads back to the classroom where it is our responsibility to make sure that connections are being made so that our students can build connections and see purpose in their learning.

Candy Mooney

Overall I have enjoyed reading Deborah Hicks' book. While reading these final chapters of Reading Lives I had mixed feelings about them. In some ways I felt as if what was being said made perfect sense, but on the other hand I questioned it too.

In chapter 5 when Jake's dad's workshop was described, it reminded me of my dad's workshop when I was little. No matter where we lived, and we moved a lot, my dad always had a workshop. My younger brother got very into working with tools around the time he hit his teen years and together he and my dad rebuilt a car from the ground up for his 16th birthday. I think I always felt a little tinge of jealousy about this because it was a way in which they bonded that I wasn't able to be a part of and wasn't invited to be a part of. Although I never thought about it much, I guess it was gender stereotyping that played a part here. Working in the workshop was a boy thing, and doing things inside the home was a girl thing. My dad and brother now own a car restoration buisness together, and although they fight like "cats and dogs," they are doing something they love together.

On page 133 Jake's mom voices concern about Jake not being able to "continue reading at his own pace" in third grade. I completely agree with her. I feel that children should be allowed to read at their instructional level. I know that this creates problems when the teacher has to teach grade level materials to a struggling reader, but there are ways to help them with this. She could get books on tape or record her own, look into materials that cover curriculum areas but at a lower reading level, etc. I would hope that the school system wouldn't require teachers to only use grade level materials at all times. If a child is struggling and is only presented with materials that are too hard, how are they to improve? I also wondered during this reading about the Drop Everything And Read time that was mentioned. How young is too young for this? It sounded like they were practicing this in Jake and Laurie's class in first grade. We have tried it at my school in first grade, and it seemed to be counterproductive. The children mostly flipped pages and looked at pictures, which is a part of emergent reading, but I'd say about 10% of my class would actually gain any real reading experience from DEAR on a given day.

In chapter 6 on page 142 the phrase "feeling is integral to how students come to know and value" struck a cord with me. I agree that children have to feel that something is important for them to want to learn it, but is it possible to get 20 children to all "buy in" to what is going on in a classroom all the time? For example, Hicks talks about Jake's difficulties with math and how having him use cars as manipulatives would have been just as easy as using the manipulatives that the teacher gave him. While I agree that this would have been more interesting for Jake, I can't help but think about the chaos that could ensue as well. I can imagine that at some point Jake would actually use the cars as cars during math instead of as manipulatives. I also think that if you allow Jake to use the cars, then Sally should be allowed to bring in Polly Pockets, and John should be allowed to use Silly Bandz. How does a teacher do this realistically?

Also in chapter 6 Hicks says that for some children tuning out is "safer....than tackling the uknown territories of science and literature." This was a new idea for me. I know that when I do hands on activities with my students the children are always much more involved than if we are doing a pencil and paper activity. I would love to be able to present everything in a fascinating way, but in the reality of every day teaching, that just isn't possible. We are required to do some math worksheets, grammar practice, etc. and those things just aren't always fun. When I was in school I remember wanting to "be good" and to learn all that the teacher presented because it was my job to do so. It wouldn't have mattered if we sat at our desks all day long, I would have just payed attention because I had to. I realize that there are some students like this today, but more and more I see children in my classroom that just seems so disconnected from school. I think sometimes we tend to stamp these children as having attentional problems like ADD because they seem to be focused on something elsewhere (or just not focused on anything) so often, but what it they are "checking out" just because they don't want to take the chance on being wrong about something we are presenting in class? This is definitely a perspective that I will be thinking about in my classroom from now on.

Hicks' book really gave me some things to ponder as I think about starting over with a new set of children in August. I think that sometimes as educators, especially once we have been teaching for a number of years, we get into a rut and do things just because we have always done them that way. It is nice to read something that makes you think about what you do, why you do it, and evaluate if it is truly effective.
-Elizabeth Norwood

Jake was considered a gifted learner in the context of his family life and according to them. It just seems that a lot of parents view their child in a higher sense than most educators do. It seems only natural to view your child in this type of perspective. But I believe that this is where a lot of problems develop from. Parents feel as if their child is gifted and talented in their own way while teachers may feel differently about a child’s academic performance. It is hard to get these types of parents to understand that their child is struggling in class. They only want to see their child as a successful person outside of the classroom without taking in consideration of their unsuccessful events in the classroom and amongst their academics.

Jake loved to tell stories and his narratives provided insight into his discourses that helped shape his response to literacy practices. His stories of NASCAR, Sega, and Max 1 and 2, provided Hicks a window into his home life, what his parents valued, what he valued, and most of all what influenced him. Jake had two discourse communities he had to rotate between. His home life and school life were very different and he did well for a while with being flexible between the two. He seemed subdued at school and rambunctious at home. He really liked to be loud and quite physical. Even when he told stories he had to use a lot of gestures. Towards the end of Chapter 5 Jake started to have trouble going between his two discourses. I think his father caused some of this trouble. Jake’s value of literacy was challenged when he lost interest in reading at school and his dad kept supporting the thought of Jake not continuing schooling in college but just going on into the family business. Like so many children that struggle in school Jake decided to tune out his school lessons and replace them with fantasizing. I think this caused him to fall behind even more in school.

Jake’s parents made literary references at home and I was happy to hear that. I liked how they referenced the spiders that were at their home as Charlotte, like Charlotte from the book Charlotte’s Web. I think it is wonderful for parents to make these types of connections as much as they can at home. It really links together school life and home life. This was something that Jake needed.

Hicks just knew that Science and using a Science journal would be what Jake needed to get back to writing. Unfortunately this did not help inspire him when he was in his lapse of writing. Jake said it was “dumb.” Chapter 6 suggested using hybrid strategies to interweave social commentary and school writing assignments. For some students the shear pleasure of pleasing their teacher, like Rose said, is all they needed to be prompted to write. Regrettably Jake didn’t care to impress his teachers through his writing abilities. But he did however really enjoy writer’s workshop. His writer’s notebook was a great way for him to situate himself between his home and school identities. Jake liked to write about things he had done at home and places he had been. Maybe this is why he liked to write in writer’s workshop so much, he got to use it to link home life and school life together. Chapter 6 suggested that writing can be a form of social activism. It can help to change the way that we educators see and construct teaching. Through writing people make language their own. How we feel and the influences we have are shaped by who we speak with, learn from, etc. I think a lot of college students experience this phenomenon that Bakhtin talked about. People who leave for college and come back with a mind of their own I think have experienced this change.

As educators there are many things we can do to help students who refuse to write or do various assignments for us. As Murdoch and Bakhtin suggested, teachers should best instruct critical literacy with the right kinds of relationships with their students. They can do this by having patience and addressing discourses appropriately. Another suggestion that Hicks had was for teachers to draw on their very own histories to connect with students. Hicks also suggested that schools should create an environment that all students feel accepted in. Jake and Laurie seemed to exhibit feelings of outsiders at sometimes. This may have affected their academics. Overall, creating classroom discourses that address our students’ needs is essential.

Maria Blevins

It’s awesome being a boy post

It is wonderful when research utilizes the truths, identities, and lives of its subjects. I have read a thousand or more research texts and none have touched me like the stories of Laurie from last reading and Jake from this one, both of whom struggle as blue collar kids in a world dominated and taught for the upper middle class.

Jake’s sense that all work had to make sense and had to have some achievable goal, in order to be not “stupid” is truly resonant of the discourses I hear from my teenage, middle class boys in my writing classes. Also, his sense of action within all walks of life, really represent what it means to be a boy; always doing something so that we can do something else. My wife yells at me all of the time because, just as soon as I finish one project on our home, the next weekend I am working on a new one. When Jake is asked to draw a picture for the fictional tale of Fireman Dale and says “of course not,” with a frankness that only small children have, I nearly fell into the floor laughing.

Jake is every teenage boy I have ever taught.

When I first started teaching writing, my principal told me that the one thing he wanted most from me was not high test scores, but to see the “young men” in my classes learn to write because all of the teachers that he currently had were unable to reach them, and as a male teacher it would be my job to bridge that gap. Well, let’s just say that my first semester of teaching was terrible.

I tried everything to get these boys to write about their feelings, their past, and most of all I tried to get them to write cause and effect essays as their ability to pass the writing test would lead to my own successes and job protection. It was disastrous, which was actually the best thing that ever happened to me.

I was so overwhelmed with discipline issues and a real realization that these boys would never write an essay that I finally stopped trying to teach them to write for the writing test and started teaching them to write for themselves; my logic being that if I could not force them to pass the writing test, I could at least teach them to write.

First, I developed project style writings, having the students, who like Jake, LOVED VIDEO GAMES; make a videogame of their own. They took large sheets of poster board and created elaborate story boards for their games supported by magnificent drawings and magazine clippings. Then they asked if we could film a commercial for the video games by acting their story boards out, so I took them outside and we built “sets” from large pieces of cardboard and things that they brought from home. They revised and revised and revised their storyboards until they were comfortable with other people seeing them. Then we filmed and it was the funniest, best films I have ever seen. One group decided to make a fishing game and filmed themselves fishing at a pond while a serial killer tried to kill them. I was amazing.

Then we took the skills learned from the project and applied that to the writing test essay style papers. I had a record number of students pass the writing test from our school and we even got AYP and school of distinction because of it. This was an inner city school with gang issues, race issues, and issues of all other sorts, let alone the fact that all of my children are on free or reduced lunch. It was amazing and since then, for kids like Jake, I take them under my wing and we do “action” to learn reading and writing skills.

I also want to take a step back and discuss how Jake created his identity as a self learner, role modeled by a father that said “he’ll learn for himself.”He wanted to be just like his father in every way, he wanted to be successful by his family’s definition of success, and truthfully, why shouldn’t he be considered successful by his own measurement? Why do we spend so much time and effort trying to force children to meet our standards of success instead of their own? Obviously, kids need to know how to read, write, add, and subtract, as well as learn to be lifelong learners, so that we as a society will prosper, but at the same time, it makes no sense what so ever to try to dictate that success to children. Let them learn their way. Let them own their education.

One of my students, like Jake, wants to be his father. He wants to work on cars for the rest of his life, and he is very good at it. Why then do we consider him becoming a mechanic, a profession that blows my too literate mind, a bad thing? He can become rich from his work, he can support his family, and he can be happy of his own accord by doing what he loves, and as someone who loves what he does, I can honestly say that that is just as valuable if not more so than a four year degree. As a high school teacher, I see teachers tell juniors and seniors that they should want more for their lives, but in reality, they will have more if they follow their hearts.

Finally, I would like to add to the importance of finding authorial self as a writer. Jake and my students could and often do, benefit from being able to narrate the events and proposed events of their lives. I too use a writer’s notebook to develop this in my children. They get their notebooks at the beginning of the semester and immediately ask, what do I HAVE to do with this? And my response is always the same, write whatever you want. The only restrictions I place on it is that they, somehow, fill a certain amount of pages every week in a way that shows that they own it and they own their writing. I had a student, a bad one at that, that filled her notebook with everything from dog hair to leaves. She even had dirt in it (Given, so does mine that I display for them and write with them). Everything in it told a story that was unique and beautiful in every way, and she proudly takes it with her every where she goes.

William Byland

There are two things that stick out to me when reading chapter 5; ideas about what’s important, and how boys learn differently than girls. First, I think it is very clear that Jake’s dad has a very different view on education when compared to Jake’s mom. Both parents agree that school is important and seem to want Jake to be successful. Both also state their educational philosophy is that children need to learn from their mistakes and to learn for themselves (p. 102). In contrast, Jake’s mom would like to see Jake go on to college while his father fully expects Jake to take over the family business. His parents have taught Jake (either conscientiously or sub conscientiously) how should education should occur. At home, Jake learns from his apprenticeships. He also sees literacy used for functional and purposes. These lessons and core values are in sharp contrast to what Jake receives in school. The connections to what Jake knows and values as a learner from his family are not made when he is at school. Thus begins Jake’s downward spiral as a student. I can see this same dilemma in my own working class students. One boy that I taught last year has aspirations of taking over his dad’s auto body shop. He, like Jake, sees a complete disconnection from his goals and his family’s goals from what he is being taught in school. He has even commented that many of the things taught in school will not matter when he is working for his dad. In some ways, I have to agree. Yes, he needs to be literate and have the ability to manage the day-to-day operations of a small business. With that said, does he need to know calculus and how to interpret Shakespeare? It would make him a well-rounded individual, but that is not the aspirations of many of our working class students. They do not want to attend college, work in office buildings, or live the white collar lifestyle; they want to be like other members of their family. As of now, Jake wants to work for his dad’s business when he grows up and there is nothing wrong with that. He finds a great deal of success and pride in the learning he receives from his family. This doesn’t mean Jake should stop his formal education and I agree with Jake’s dad when he states on school could be more engaging, all they had to do was connect the students’ interests to the academic tasks. (p. 134) I think some teachers and schools try to do this, but it is done in such a trivial way with no thought as to what the students are really about. Writer’s Workshop seemed to be the only place Jake found some success in his struggle to bridge the gap between his two worlds; unfortunately, that is not enough. I do agree with Hick’s final assessment that Jake will eventually lead a happy and productive life. His strong family ties and support will see to that.
Deborah Hicks uses chapter 6 to discuss how discourses have an impact on both literacy learning and learning as a whole. She discusses Martha’s Nussbaum’s theory of love’s knowledge (knowledge between persons and of persons). She also quotes Nussbaum as saying, “narrative discourses focus readers’ attention on how relations between subjects engender changes in identities, beliefs, practices, and understandings. New relationships can constitute new forms of knowledge- some empowering, some tragic.” (p. 138) I believe what Nussbaum and Hicks are saying is that much of what we learn is caught up in the social relationships we have with others. Hicks thus begins to explain the impact of Nussbaum’s theories on pg. 139 when she writes, “If, as Nussbaum suggests, much of what we come to know is shaped by relations with concrete others, then attentiveness to those relations may be important for shaping educational theory.” Deborah Hicks writes, “Therefore, it is important for literacy education that we, as educators, work to empower the poor and working-class students we teach. There must be a moral shift and a willingness to see others that are different from use. (p. 152) I thought Rose’s excerpts were particularly powerful as he explains the differences from his life and the life of his middle-class school. As he explains, in his neighborhood were no role models of higher education, love of a career, or passion for a cause; there was only existence. I suppose for some educators it would seem only reasonable that a student would jump at the chance to better themselves and move forward. But, as Rose explained, this is a scary transition into a foreign world that does not seem all that appealing. Not to mention, it’s hard to want something you don’t even realize exists for you. There is a book, The Pact, which is written by three young African-American men who were able to pull themselves up from the gang violence and drugs of the inner-city and become doctors. It is a very inspiring book, yet it gives a realistic view of what it was like for these young men to move from the only life they knew, to the middle-class world of college and, eventually, to the elite world of being medical professionals. They describe many of the same feelings as Rose and each had times that they wanted to quit and go back to the neighborhoods where they felt they belonged. The only things that helped these young men become successful were each other and teachers who really understood and cared. The final part of the book gives a brief summary of where they are today. One of the young men has since moved back to his old neighborhood and is a dentist nearby. At the time, I wondered why he would do that. Why move back to such a depressing and dangerous place when you could afford so much better? After finishing Reading Lives it now makes perfect sense.

Sally Elliott

I found it interesting that Jake’s thoughts and actions seemed to be rooted in more concrete thinking than Laurie’s. Jake liked to talk about reality – things that had happened, will happen, or could happen in his life. He seemed to have a good grasp on who he was and what was expected of him. Laurie, on the other hand, seemed to live in a fantasy world at times. I suppose that is just one of the differences between girls and boys.
I allow choice in my classroom. My students are free to read what they want and when it comes time to write, they can choose their topic. I give them choice so they can pick what interests them, and often times I get fantastic work out of them. When we are having class literature discussions I emphasize that there are no wrong or right answers. I expect them to support their thoughts and be respectful of each other’s opinions. And from this, we evolve into a close family. We all bring unique experiences to the discussion and learn from each other. We are all equal.
As I read chapters 5 and 6 in our text, I kept trying to find a connection to my life and classroom. I think I do a good job of reaching and relating to all types of students. I grew up in an upper middle class family in a metropolitan area. I understood what was expected of me while living that life. After college I got married and moved to a rural area. This was the first time I had ever experienced small town life and had a very hard time adjusting, but after being here for about 17 years, I think I’m finally getting used to it. I continued living in the upper middle class bracket during my marriage. Then I divorced, became a single parent of two toddlers, had to apply for social services assistance to help make it on my own, and worked just to make ends meet. I was working-class. I get it. While single I took a job visiting families of children 0-5 to teach child development and parenting skills. I was in these people’s homes on a regular basis…some I didn’t want to sit down in, but I sat. I listened. I taught. I learned. From there I became a teacher.
I think the varying experiences of my last 20 years led me to the classroom. I don’t care where my students come from. They can’t control their environment…they’re just kids. My job, as a teacher, is to love them unconditionally, treat them as individuals, and teach each of them to the best of my ability. I think my experiences inside those working-class homes helped open my eyes to the situations my students come from. I know their parents might not have the time or knowledge to help them with their homework. I know their parents might not value education. I know their parents might be busy working to feed their family and not have time to spend with their children. I know. It is not my job to judge my students. My job is to welcome Jake and Laurie into my classroom, know them, teach them, encourage them, love them.
Jennifer Wagoner

The stories of Laurie and Jake have really touched me. Two kids struggling with the education processes while growing up in blue collar households. In Chapter 5, we meet Jake, Hicks’ next research subject. While it is obvious that the home environment has a great influence on how children learn in the classroom, not every teacher provides lessons that mirror the home environment. Jake was familiar with exploring and using kinesthetic learning activities. School was a new experience. Why is it so hard to break away from the norm and teach to each child’s learning style at school? Could it be because our class size is too big? I have had as many as 33 8th graders in a class. How would I be able to incorporate kinesthetic learning activities in a classroom so crowded on a daily basis? Children need diversity in classroom activities for social and academic reasons, and we all have different learning styles. Therefore, I would like to be better at creating more diverse lessons.

In chapter 5, Jake’s mother states, "Children need to learn from their mistakes, to learn for themselves.” This was also my mother’s philosophy, and to an extent, I am glad. My mother always provided guidance, and I have taken a similar philosophy in rearing my own 3 daughters. I believe it fosters a sense of independence and satisfaction. I think because of the way I was raised, I am more cautious as an adult, observing and calculating before I make a decision.
While Jake showed more interest into his father’s woodwork than education, his father’s education was similar to his mother’s philosphy of learning from his mistakes. Experience is the best teacher.

Jake was an active child hopping from one activity to another. If Jake wasn’t on board with whatever was going on then he tought the task was stupid. I see a lot of Jake’s in my classroom. As inferred in Chapter 6, sometimes a student will think a task is stupid because he doesn’t get it and doesn’t want his peers to realize that. I see this "tuning out" every day, but my job is to try to keep the students engaged. As teachers we need to make an effort to realize every student’s strengths and not focus so much on the weaknesses. Unfortunately, because of accountability, I think teachers focus on what needs fixing instead of on the student's strengths.

Jake's mom is concerned that Jake is unable to "continue reading at his own pace" in the 3rd grade. I think all children should be taught at their instructional level. However, that becomes nearly impossible because of standardized testing. This past year I had an 8th grader reading independently at the primer level. Our middle school doesn’t even have materials at that level and if we did, would they be age appropriate? We do have Play-Aways in our library, and I encouraged him to check those out. Play-Aways are pocket-sized “Ipods” that have the book recorded on them. The students can bookmark a passage, speed up the reading, slow down the reading, or reread a passage that they didn’t understand. This year I tried a new reading “program” called Readers/Writers workshop, and a lot of my lower readers were checking out the Play-Aways. I had tremendous successes by allowing all my students to choose all their own reading materials at any reading level. I challenged them to read 40 books during the school year and many students reached that goal. I had them write each week about their books in a reading response journal. My EOG scores went way up. Out of 115 students, only 4 didn’t pass.

After reading this article, I will be more in tune with my student’s interest in the real world. All career paths do not lead to a four year college. Jake wanted to be just like Dad. Is a blue collar profession really a bad thing? If Jake can be successful enough to support his family by doing something he loves, how can that be bad? I teach 8th grade and my students have to chose a career path by the end of the 3rd nine week grading period. All of them are not college bound, nor should they be. Yet, according to the new North Carolina graduation requirements, all students are required to take some of the more advanced courses that many of my blue collar parents have never taken. Sadly, without passing Algebra 1 or the Algebra 1 EOC, these students will not be able to earn a high school diploma.
Karen Chester

Being a male I have always struggled when educators would say about a boy in their room, “well he is just a boy, and you know how they are.” That frustrated me to think we were just accepting his behavior because of gender. I realize there are differences between genders, but I don’t think those should be used as excuses as to why someone is not succeeding in class. Boys can be more active and aggressive as we read in chapter 5, but I took away more than just acceptance of behavior differences. I realized that Jake was active, and yes he was a boy, BUT he did have literacy skills that went unnoticed. Did this happen because his teachers looked at him and said, well he is a boy and you know how they are? He had interests, thoughts to be expressed, and a beginning literacy base to work with. It puzzles me that he wasn’t more successful at school. But then again, that goes back to building relationships with your students. Maybe the teacher had categorized him as an active boy that needs to focus more. His passion for NASCAR and building was a perfect opportunity for the teacher to engage him in school work. I know we need to expose children to a wide variety of text and learning opportunities, but in doing so we are not meeting the students where they are at. We are expecting them to jump to where WE want them to be immediately, rather than support them along the way. Jake struggled tremendously navigating between the two discourses of his life. I relate to Jake a lot in his thinking. He would attend to a task if it had merit and allowed some element of choice. As a student had many of the same thoughts as Jake did. I can remember asking in class “Why do we need to do this?” I don’t think my teachers appreciated it, but when they would give me an answer that seemed to make sense, I paid attention. The times when they ignored me, or punished me, I tuned out and self engaged. Jakes father provided a literacy model. Many children do not see their fathers reading and form of text, much less informational books. Jake internalized that and valued that. As he continues to grow up and reach upper grades, I am sure the engagement will increase since the content will mirror more of what he sees at home. However, will it be too late? Will he have developed reading skills that will allow him to read at those levels? Assessments are necessary and give us a wealth of knowledge, but for someone like Jake, his abilities weren’t allowed to shine though. The assessments currently being completed n most early primary rooms require students to demonstrate knowledge of phonics, phonemic awareness and a list of other reading subtests. For Jake, he was a “big picture” thinker. He understood it all in context, but grew bored and frustrated when items were asked to be analyzed to a greater depth. He didn’t see the purpose. This did not fit in with is discourse at home. A common theme I saw between Laurie and Jake was the change in lesson delivery. Kindergarten allowed the students to chose activities and work at their pace. While the time was structured and the teacher had planned certain objectives to work on, they were still allowed to bring their home discourse into the task. As they moved into first and second grade, their options were being taken away. Again, just because we show the children the classroom expectations, it doesn’t mean that they won’t struggle throughout the year navigating the two discourses. The lives our students lead at home drastically impact who they are at school. I believed that prior to this course. However, I used to think well, tell them that may be the way they act home, but this is the expectation here at school. I just expected them to get on board with life in our classroom. I never thought about how conflicted they must have been each day. Literacy practices at home define how the students attend to school tasks. While it is difficult, building relationships that foster support and acceptance will help all the students succeed.

Michael Lemke

As I read about Jake and his experiences with literacy and finding his place in the classroom, I found myself comparing him to my three sons. I have a Jake myself and he is so much like the Jake in the reading (chapter 5) when it comes to school, if it is not hands on activity, with choices, and some freedom to move about, he was not at all interested. Still today he is the same way. Kids learn in many ways and should have the opportunities to explore each way within their classrooms.
Jake in the reading was such a smart boy. He was fine when he was free to learn in ways that he could express the things he enjoyed (building, NASCAR, puzzles, etc) but he seemed to shut down when he felt he was being forced to conform or do things he did not enjoy. When he told Hicks this is “dumb” when the teacher wanted him to do specific writing in his Science Journal, this was typical behavior for many students who struggle with reading and writing, just to shut down without even trying to complete a task. This is not limited to boys.
I personally feel that Jake’s parents should have offered more guidance. I did not like their philosophy about letting him learn just through making mistakes, like when playing ball. A simple bit of directions can go a long way and prevent some painful lessons.
In the reading when Jake’s mom references him going to college and Jake says he is not going to college, and dad affirms that saying he will take over the family business. I think that only confirmed to Jake that school was not really necessary.
If as parents we do not make school valued, whether our children are interested in school or not we are planting seeds. I believe even if students never go to college it should not be because they can’t due to grades or necessary skills.
There would be nothing wrong with Jake growing up and working along side his father but it should be because that it is true desire, not doing what he has been told all his life he should do. Children are so impressionable and as parents and teachers we should only guide the student toward finding their role or natural vent in life, the place where they feel confident and assured, where they can be known as they really are themselves.
My Jake has just graduated high school. He can build just about anything, and fix cars (mechanics) without a thought. It just comes natural to him, like a duck swimming. He has no desire to go to college, in fact if you were to ask him how he feels about school, you’d get a firm ,”I hated it since 3rd grade!” Although he has completed school and can go to college, he has joined the Marines were he plans to be a diesel mechanic, or a construction engineer. This is his dream; at no point in his raising did I tell him to join the armed forces, but a part of me says seeing his dad come home in his Army uniform and playing war and all those sort of games with his brothers, planted a seed that took root and will be expressed in way or another.
I would be interested in knowing what Laurie and Jake do in their lives in 10 or even 20 years from now. Maybe someone will write about the impact of this research on their lives as adults.
Tracy Icenhour

Boys Will Be Boys

Before I begin, I wanted to say that I have spoke of gender segregated classrooms for upper elementary students. I am considering using gender segregation in my reading literature circles this year to see how it works. I have known it to be successful with other teachers in the county I teach. I found this article from Newsweek and thought someone else may be interested in it too. I feel, especially after reading about Jake, that boys often slip through the cracks. Female teachers plan lessons thinking that they are appealing to males, but we really don’t know. Some teachers don’t even try to bridge the male style of learning when teaching. I am willing to give any teaching method a try, as long as it benefits the children. Here is the gender segregation link:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/22/the-new-segregation-debate.html

I learned a lot after reading Chapter 5 on Jake. Obviously, not being male, I had no idea what goes on in the male mind during school. I had no idea how important it was to link activities to their interests. I thought that as long as I thought it was something that boys would like it would be fine, but it was still under my control. I doubt what my idea of “boyhood likes” are the same as Jake’s, since mine would never refer to NASCAR. Also I had no idea how important the father relationship was in the life of a boy. Jake aspired to be just like his dad, no matter what. The book said “Like other things in his family life, reading had to make good sense to be something of value to Jake.” This was an ah-ha moment for me. In my reading classes I use lots of fictional novels with my students. These however interesting to me and the female students, hold no real value for the males in my class. I will consider more real life relavent readings this year in class. I also found it sad when Ms. Hicks said that “resistance and tuning out became a safer route than giving up his passions and identities, and perhaps the comfort of more familiar kinds of knowledge.” There are many times when I look at boy students, especially in my remedial class, and see that they have tuned out. I always thought that they were being disinterested or disrespectful. Now I am seeing that this is not the case. I had never stopped to ask them what they were thinking about or rather or not they found what we were reading interesting. The book also gave illustrations about when teachers and even the researcher thought that Jake was off task and not listening and he really was. Several times I have called on male students that I thought were off task, but they were able to provide a correct response. I have learned that active listening and paying attention do not always look the part. It is possible for a student to be drawing and listening or fiddling in their desk. I know the teacher took Jake’s car away at one point in the chapter due to him having it out because she saw it as distracting. I try to be aware of issues like this. I allow my students to have materials out that may help them in writing or reading. However, when they begin to play with the items or passing it around to others I do take the item away. This was a huge issue for Jake and I can understand his disdain for the practice of taking personal items away. I always give the items back at the end of the day because I feel that it was important to the student (and otherwise I may forget). I also found it interesting that Jake’s parents saw his as a bright student at home, even though he was struggling in the classroom. I think that often parents’ views of school and home are the same; when in reality they are totally opposite. Jake was allowed to go from space to space freely at home and his attention did not have to be given to one task at a time. Also any activity that resembles reading (looking at magazine pictures, flipping through informational books, etc.) was seen to his parents as reading. This is not how it is in a typical classroom. Because there are so many different styles of children that a teacher must differentiate for in the class, the structure of the class cannot be individualized like it can be at home. Also the goal of reading for a classroom teacher is too increase word knowledge, gain comprehension, and improve fluency. These things were not what the parents were looking for in the home setting. The thoughts of Jake’s future even differed between the parents; mom was hoping for college and dad wanted Jake to help out with the family business. Jake spoke up and made his voice heard that he wanted what dad wanted. I have seen a lot of this at school this year. During IEP meetings, I heard one parent say they want the child to go to college and the other say they want the child to go into the workforce. These are often working class parents who live together and speak everyday with the child. Maybe at fifth grade children shouldn’t have to be deciding their future quite yet. Being the first person in my family to earn a college degree, I didn’t decide until tenth grade that I wanted to go to college. Yet now it seems that even before kindergarten parents seem to know what they want for their child, with little regard to their desires.
I have enjoyed reading this book about working class children. I feel that it has opened my eyes more to another side that I would not have known. Deborah Hicks explained in Chapter Six, how she used several others’ research to help her in her study of working class students. I agree with Murdoch when she, like Bakhtin, says that “I can only choose within the world I see”. Currently I live in a middle class society. This is what I “see” in terms of education. When I previously made decisions about lessons, writing journal topics, and reading selections, it was my middle class students that I had in mind. Through reading this book I am now able to see another important group of children in my classroom. I believe that I will become more of a hybrid teacher in terms of literacy choices that I give to students, one that will allow more involvement of individual students’ cultural and home discourses in their assignments and lessons.

Amy Reep

" Literacy education for working-class children is sometimes viewed as a process of helping children move from more familiar language practices of home and community to the more unfamiliar textual practices of the classroom. Children from working class communities, it is argued, can experience painful cultural conflict in their primary grade classrooms. Through a [process of apprenticeship learning or more direct instruction and sometimes both, children from working class communities have to gain access to the discourses of middle class institutions." These statements by Hicks to me sum up the difficulties many working class children have once they begin the process of public education. They come from a world where they have experienced great success to one that's so different that the same success don't seem to matter very much. I have been so unaware of the difficulties these children experience or at least why they experience these difficulties. I knew the background they came from but not the degree that these backgrounds affect their " formal education."

I have seen many "Jake's" over the years. I have one that in particular comes to mind. He is in the 4th grade and excells in sports, hunting and helping to run the chicken farm where his dad works. He's the star basketball player on the recreation team, constantly speaks of all his successful hunting outings and he could probably run the chicken farm himself. His dad is his hero and has always struggled himself with reading and writing, school in general. Dad at times seems in denial to the difficulties his son is experiencing. Austin chooses projects when given the choice, that are based on his successful experiences and turns off completely when the topic is unrelated to what he is very familiar with. Many of the school discourses necessary for success don't appeal to him at all. He simply cannot make them relate to what he already knows. Just like Jake, if the activity has no value or he sees no purpose in it, he is not interested at all. As Hicks states," His problems lay more in conflict between an institutional system of middle class practices and the life world he embraces as a boy. For his opportunities to change in school a deeper process of change would be required. To make space for Jake's," or Austin's, " primary values in school would mean opening up the curriculum to the form of knowledge voiced by working class men like his father." And the saddest part to me is that, " The classist nature of schools and society at large pretty much guarantees that won't happen."

Maybe it won't happen but just maybe because of our fresh awareness of the struggles of these boys, we can make a little difference in their lives at least to show understanding and to give them the support they need in helping to bridge the gap between school and home.

Linda Bohland

Hick’s study of Jake mirrored many of the boys I have taught. Unable to find a connection with school practices, they struggle with literacy, as well as other aspects of education. What is an alarming statistic is the number of boys in Special Education that outnumber the girls. Typically in my EC classrooms, I will have one girl to six boys. I have heard these phrases (and from my own mouth): Boys do not develop as early as girls. They are not developmentally ready for school as early as girls. Girls mature faster than boys. But, what is maturity? Is it the ability to conform to “institutionalized” rules of behavior in classrooms? Is maturity the ability to successfully bridge the discourses between home and school and walk comfortably in both worlds? Perhaps, yes, that is part of maturity. We all must learn how to navigate the rules set up in our societies for order to be maintained. Classrooms have rules and procedures for that same purpose. Classrooms, however, are not regularly set up to meet the needs of students who learn by movement and exploration. These students are often our boys.
Our job as teachers is to help students, especially our diverse populations, make a connection to school and learning. “Schooling in the primary grades should ideally become a set of opportunities for children to experience new identities connected with textual practices. To be successful, the learner’s primary values, language practices, and identities must be valued in the classroom.” (Hicks, p.113). Like Jake, many boys learn by moving and are active. Providing occasions where boys can move and use their hands and bodies can help them feel more secure and “at home” at school. They can make connections and may not feel as disengaged with other learning tasks.
Jake so much reminds me of the boys who I tutored in my practicum last semester. Both boys were “struggling readers” and considered below grade level in literacy skills. The first one was a third grader who obviously did not have a connection with literacy and did not like to read. At times, it was a struggle to engage and interest him in our tasks. Several times, he balked and refused to work, especially when pressed to contribute to conversation about text. I attempted to find books that I thought would interest him. Most of the books I chose, however, he did not make connections with. From talking with him, I learned that he loved NASCAR, video games and had a strong bond with his father and grandfather. He was able to relate a story to me about his birthday party which included his extended family watching a race on TV. The second boy was a first grader who readily and happily did all that I asked of him. He seemed to enjoy the books we read and asked questions about the text. He always had a smile on his face! He was a fiddler, playing with whatever was in his reach. Without fail, he took a mid-session break each time to go to the restroom. That boy just had to move! His family was a sports family. All of the children in his family, including him, played sports. This was all he wanted to write about in our writing time. So, we did! He was able to dictate narrative stories about different sporting events connected to his siblings and himself. I usually wrote while he dictated. He had such good stories, but due to his age and writing skills, worked very slowly when he had pencil in hand.
In the tutoring sessions, working one-on-one, I was able to get to know my boys and work with their interests and learning styles. In the classroom, this is difficult with 25 or more students, at many different levels and from many different backgrounds. However, to enable our students have positive experiences in school, this is our first step in reaching them to create successful learners. I hope that my boys have learned from me. I know I have learned a great deal from them and how to be a better teacher.
Susan Hines

As I read the chapter on Jake I thought of many of the boys that I have taught over the years. Like Laurie he could be an average child in my class. Jake struggles with school and home. At home Jake was read to as a child and literacy was positive in his home. He enjoyed being read to by his mom and mom-mom. Jake’s literacy experiences were relative to what his family valued. They liked NASCAR, history, and construction. His values were decided early on by his family life at home. At school Jake was a very active child. Like Laurie he was successful in kindergarten. Kindergarten allowed him to make more choices and move from different activities if he was bored or disconnected. Jake liked to write and tell stories on his terms alone. If a subject interested him then he was totally engaged, but if a subject did not interest him then he was off task. This seems to be typical of a lot of kids, not just Jake and Laurie. As Jake moved to first and second grade the structures of the classroom changed and he was required to do more seat work and less choice activities. I see this happening at our school as well with some students. They just seem to shut down in first and second grade when the demands and structures are higher. He really enjoyed readers and writers workshop where he got to choose the books to read and the topics to write about. Looking at his entries in his writer’s workbook, we see that Jake grew as a reader and writer. But his growth was not enough compared to the other students in the class. He was behind in his reading. He was just emerging as he began first grade and he quickly fell behind when the books became less predictable and dependent on pictures and patterns. Jake needed some guided reading on his instructional reading level to improve his reading skills. I teach in a school full of Jakes and Lauries. These students struggle when school demands more than they can give. They struggle with the demands of the classroom. They need someone to take an interest in them and work with them on their level.
Jake’s parents supported literacy, but their views of their son were different than the views of the school. Jake’s dad involved him in the family business taking him on service calls and encouraging him to one day take over the family business. His dad did not see the need to further his education after college because he could just work at the family business. He could be taught the trade. The quote on page 121 sums up how Jake feels about his family. It says “The stories voiced about us, by those whom we most love and value; shape our identities in ways more powerful than even the most authoritative institutional systems of social regulation.” This is true in Jake’s case. He loves his parents and what they believe in him is the power that pushes Jake. Jake was torn between the discourses of home and school and home would win out in the end.
Jake’s mother made the comment that why did it matter that he was reading differently from the other students. She is right in a sense that Jake should be taught at his level regardless of the level he was at. Jake’s family also questioned why he could not use cars as manipulatives in Math. Jake’s family wanted him to be able to use his interests from home and carry them over into the classroom. I have to say that the reality is that we do not always get to do what we want. Things in school interest different kids and some things just have to be taught. As a teacher it would be impossible to allow each child to only write and read about the things that interest them. You would have 20 different themes in your classroom. While I do believe that students do better when they have a connection to the topic you are discussing, it is not possible to connect with every child each time you read a story or do a math or science lesson. I do believe that we as educators need to find out the interests of our students and get to know their home life situations. This gives us a window into what the child deems as important when you get to know the family. The problem with working class students attending school that is taught my middle class teachers is that our lessons do not always reach the students. The curriculum is not written to their interest or experiences. So what is the answer to this problem? I am not sure, but I think that like chapter 6 says on page 152 “change also has to entail a moral shift, a willingness to open oneself up to the possibility of seeing those who differ from us. This is very hard work, but work that lies at the heart of teaching.” I do believe that we are educating a different breed of children. The students have changed since I have been working at our school. I believe that there has to be a shift from the way it used to be done to more differentiated instruction to meet the various needs of the students in our class. We as educators have to be willing to change some of the ways that we have been used to doing things and change the way we deliver our instruction. It is our job to leave no child behind.

Michelle Moffitt

As I read more about Jake, his family, and school experiences I began to reflect on my on teaching styles. As a female I tend to relate more easily to the girls in my classroom because I feel like I have more in common with them. At times I am not sure how to handle all the movement my boys need in order to learn and meet their social and physical needs. This past school year I did an inventory of the books in my classroom and noticed that I had a lot of books that relate to girls. Many of the books I have in my room were mine when I was a little girl or are ones I have bought that seem interesting to me. So, this year I focused on buying and acquiring books that would appeal more to boys. Each time I received a new boy book I read it to the class and put in our classroom library. My boys would race over to read the books I had shared with the class because they found the stories interesting and could relate to them. I was amazed at how well the simple task of having more boy “specific” books in my classroom would encourage my boys to read. I teach 1st grade and I think it is a very hard transition for students from kindergarten to first. So much is expected of students in first grade, especially with their reading skills. However, I do not want my students to reflect back on their school year and dislike 1st grade, much like Jake did. After reading Jake’s story I began to brainstorm of ways I could help learning become more active and inviting for my boys.

1.Use songs and movement during lessons
2.Provide my students with more opportunity to move during reading group time instead of just giving them seat work
3.Perform Reader’s Theatre to help with reading skills
4.Try to incorporate more media and computer time in my lessons
5.Take small stretch or exercise breaks throughout the day
6.Allow the student of the week to get to pick something they want to learn about for the week
7.Provide my students more opportunities for them to work in small groups
8.Writer’s Workshop
***Please let me know what works for you in your classroom.

I was amazed at how well Jake liked Writer’s Workshop. He felt like this was his time to connect his home values to school values. Jake was able to write about things he wanted to and did not feel the pressure of having to do something he could not relate any meaning too. I also saw this trend with Laurie in her story. This has really made me see the importance of giving my students the chance to write about what is important to them. I don’t feel like I am a very good writing teacher because I am not sure how to teach my students how to write. Maybe I need to focus on letting my students write, because they all have a story to tell. Then, I can focus on the mechanics of writing. This way writing will be successful for both my students and me.

While reading about Jake I could really see how he valued his family and their beliefs. Then I began to think about myself and my students and realized that we are all shaped by the people that mean the most to us. I think Hicks said it best on page 123: “The stories voiced about us, by those whom we most love and value, shape our identities in ways more powerful than even the most authoritative institutional systems of social regulation.” As a teacher I cannot shape my student’s identities unless I become someone they love and trust like their family members. Once again, I am seeing the theme of the importance of getting to know my students on a personal level and being more than just a classroom teacher but a mentor and someone they can confide in. I enjoyed this book and it has really made me evaluate myself as a teacher and provided me with great ideas on how to become a better teacher.

Emily Rhoney

Wow even though Laurie and Jake were both children growing up in working class families they lived very different lives. Laurie longed for the influence of a father. Jake lived with both parents and the person he looked up to the most was his father. Jake was described as a successful learner at home. He learned by doing at home. He was allowed to move freely from one activity to another. He was very hands on and was encouraged but not forced to work with his dad. Deborah Hicks committed when observing Jake at home she frequently found him work side by side with his dad. His dad worked in carpentry and mechanical contracting. Jake’s dad was a self-taught man, with a ninth grade education. He was direct in his nature and believed that children learn by doing. Jake’s discourse at home continued when beginning kindergarten. In kindergarten Jake was able to continue to move from one activity to another in much the same fashion he did at home. He preferred centers that focused on building things and putting together puzzles. However he did not enjoy activities that involved reading or writing. Overall Jake liked kindergarten.
Gender was definitely a factor in their home. Jake’s younger sister Lee Ann played dress up and decorated her room in pastel colors while Jake dressed up as NASCAR drivers and played video games. Jake like many children his age did not like to sit still for long periods of time. Jake was constantly on the move at home. This proved to be an issue when entering a more traditional school setting in first grade. Jake did not like to sit for long periods of time to complete an activity such as reading. Like Laurie, Jake struggled academically in first grade. I struggled with the discrepancy of how he was viewed at home and at school. His parents told Ms. Hick’s that he was extremely gifted and an excellent reader. However this was not demonstrated through his lessons at school. I was concerned that there was a lack of communication between his teachers and family. His teacher should have conference with his family to let them know what was expected academically of Jake. Jake though struggling academically was viewed as a student who followed the rules. I’m sure Jake was frustrated in first grade which was why he was move physically expressive at home. He didn’t want to risk getting in trouble at school and held it all in until he got home. We have all been guilty of this from time to time. I’ve always said my family gets the worst side of me. I wish Jake’s first grade teacher would have given him the opportunity to bring more of his home discourse into the classroom.
Things began to look up for Jake when entering second grade. He had the opportunity to express himself through writing workshops and was given the opportunity to read on his comfort level during reader’s workshop. Jake was allowed to write about his own experiences and fantasies. This made all the difference in the world for Jake. In my experience the majority of children enjoy writer’s workshop. In my class I let my students share what they write about (if they want to) with their classmates. They are so excited to get to share their stories with their friends. Jake also enjoyed reader’s workshop. Reading was less stressful for Jake. He was allowed to select his own stories and sit anywhere in the room to read. Jake was improving but he was not on grade level. Jake continued to thrive at home. His father had named him vice president of his mechanical contracting business, and Jake was convinced that mechanical contracting was his future. His mom wanted him to go to college, but Jake had no desire to go to college at this point in his life.
After reading about Laurie and Jake I have began to reflect on my own teaching. I want what is best for all of my students. I am currently using writer’s workshop in my class and it seems to work well with my kindergarten students. I also allow my students to read independently (or for some look at books) of their choice. My books however are not organized by levels. Over the summer I am going to explore my books that I have in my reading center to see if I can set them up in a kid friendly manner where each student can locate books that they find interesting as well as instructional to their reading level. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
To write in different ways is to live in different ways. It is also to be read in different ways, in different relations, and often by different people. (Williams, 1977) No two people are the same. As educators we need to learn to embrace our student’s individuality. Let our student’s pull from their past experiences and share those experiences with their classmates. We shouldn’t be closing doors but opening doors for our students. Think about Rose’s high school science teacher who took the time to review Rose’s test scores. If she had not looked into his scores, Rose would not have been given the opportunity to enter the college-prep track. Rose had given up when originally placed on the vocational track. He felt he was viewed as a working class student who could not succeed in school. When placing student’s within “tracks” isn’t that the same as labeling a child. I don’t know if I agree with the different tracks in high school. I would love additional information in this area also. Honestly I don’t believe I had a teacher who truly believed in me until I was a senior in high school. His name was Mr. Bumgarner. Mr. Bumgarner looked after all of his students and had our best interest at heart. He challenged me to work harder than I ever had in school. Mr. Bumgarner was in charge of the school paper and he encouraged me to be a co-editor my senior year. Because Mr. Bumgarner believed in me I stepped out of my comfort zone and I was a co-editor. I truly hope my daughter doesn’t have to wait to her senior year to have a teacher like Mr. Bumgarner.
After completing this book I know that I want to be the type of teacher that makes a positive difference in my student’s lives.

After reading the last two chapters, I feel like I have more of an idea of how I can help bridge the gap between working and middle- class values in my class. One thing that seemed to be important is all children having access to the “literacy practices valued by middle-class society.” It is important for students to be exposed to these practices, because if a child is not exposed then they will not be able to make any connections. So, explicit instruction in reading and writing is important. But, after reading Hicks we can’t forget that when we do this explicit instruction we need to build on home and community discourses. It would be best to start with something a child is familiar with and can relate to in order to grab their attention and help them make a connection with the literacy practice that they are not familiar with.

For example, I really liked how Jake’s second grade teacher used the book Up Goes the Skyscraper to help teach communities. It was during this time that Hicks noticed Jack was “alert and engaged”. He usually would not pay attention during story time. It makes sense that Jack became engaged because he was able to make a connection to his family life. I think another thing that makes this book interesting for Jack is, he sees a purpose. It makes sense to him, because one of the discourses in his family is everything must have a purpose or it is considered senseless or a waste of time.

Hicks had also said that our histories help us to understand our students. So, when I read about Jake and the book about building skyscrapers, it reminded me of my dad. My dad works with wood and makes things just like Jake’s dad. When Hicks described the backyard shed and how meticulousness it was, I immediately thought of my dad. His workshop is the same way. When I was growing up, everything we did had to have a purpose. This was just one part of Jake’s history that I was able to make a connection with. This connection and knowledge about working –class boys, will help me teach boys in my class who seem to exhibit some of these traits. If I can build on their histories, then I can begin to expand their knowledge of other cultures. This knowledge will help them become more well –rounded and be able to express empathy for others. But, I first have to accept who they are and they have to know that they are valued in the classroom. They have to know that their voice is being heard.

Thinking back to my second grade classroom last year, during writing the girls tended to write more imaginative stories with feminine identities. The boys liked to write informational books and stories with more masculine identities such as fighting, video games and winning which is in line with masculine identities. During reading, most boys liked informational books like Jake. He seemed to like them, because that is what he saw at home from his dad. I also noticed last year that I had a large number of girls who got excited about informational books, which I find interesting considering what I have learned about girls through Laurie, Hicks and my own histories. I also have to remember that each child is different and they are coming from many different discourses. So when I notice something in my classroom, I have to remember that they will not be exactly like Jake, Laurie my own histories or other research I find. There may be something else “hidden amid discourses about cognitive learning are in fact some of the most meaningful truths about learning.” My goal is to try to uncover these truths, especially when a child is struggling in literacy practices.
Trish Edwards

Reading chapter 5 and 6 helped remind me of the characteristics many boys in our classrooms possess. Jake seemed very well educated at home because he could do many neat things his father taught him (such as working in his father’s workshop and going out on repair visits). His father did teach him to do things, he just didn’t spend his time teaching him to do “school” activities. Jake was very much like many of the boys in my classroom. He loved to do hands-on activities, often staying in the centers that allowed for movement and more physical activity. He liked to feel as if his school activities had a purpose (such as writing about Nascar, which he loved). Jake also liked being able to decide what he was going to do in school. He adapted nicely to getting to pick his own centers, but often whined when he was asked by his teachers to do certain activities. Many of the boys in our classrooms today have these same qualities. Many boys will pick hands-on center activities because it gives them the chance to move about and not be confined. My boys often pick non-fiction books or magazines to read during self-selected reading time because the topics in them are “real.”
One good thing I noticed about Jake’s family was that his dad, mom, and grandma did let Jake see them reading. Jake’s mom and grandma often read fiction, and his dad liked to read history books. Jake wanted to be just like his dad, so it wasn’t surprising that he liked to read books about historical topics as well. Boys like reality and books that give true facts.
I found it interesting that Jake enjoyed writing workshop so well. He loved to write stories about Nascar and racecar driving. Jake probably found great joy in the opportunity to choose what to write about as opposed to being given a prompt to write about.
I made a connection with one of my students when Hicks told Jake to tell her a make-believe story. Jake told a story about driving a racecar into the wall. He could not be still and sit down to tell his story. He was out of his seat acting out what was happening. I had a student who would do the exact same thing. Whenever he told me any kind of story (real or make-believe), he would be out of his seat acting it out. For example, if he was telling about his baseball game, he would have his arms up in a batting position. I think boys may do these activities because of their need to move around. This particular student was later diagnosed as ADHD in my classroom and started receiving medicine. After getting on medicine, this child continued to act out all the stories he told. I wonder if acting stories out helps boys to get their point across more easily?
I think that Jake was perfectly capable of learning. I believe that boys just learn in different ways than girls. Boys need to have plenty of time to be off their seat and on their feet. They need time to move around the classroom, get their hands on manipulatives, and explore learning first hand. As teachers, we need to find activities that interest our boys. Since Jake (and many other boys) prefer non-fiction books, we need to make sure we have a large collection of these books in our classroom. We need to give our boys some choice in deciding what literacy activities to do in class. Obviously, our boys cannot choose everything they do, but we need to give them choices as often as possible in writing topics, books, and center activities. Teachers need to remember that boys and girls do not learn the same and offer activities to meet the needs of both genders.
~Jamie Brackett

Awwww, Man!!!

First thing, here’s a little back ground on me. My parents divorced when I was very young, about 3 or 4. My sister and I would travel back and forth among their two homes which thankfully were located in the same town. My parents had joint custody with the arrangement that we stayed with my mom from January 12th to July 12th with visits to our dad’s every other weekend. So, you can assume that we stayed with my dad from July 12th to January 12th with visits to mom’s every other weekend.

Even though we stayed with my dad the exact same amount of time as our mom, all of these games, actions, and attitudes that were used to describe Jake I know I was never exposed to them. I’m assuming that I gained my self-concept through the discourse of my mother. Yeah dad would take us to play, watch sports with us, but those things never seemed to stick to me. I preferred reading, shopping, playing with my Barbies, and my make-it and bake-it oven all which are components of the female discourse.

Needless to say, the male discourse and I are not close personal friends. After this reading, I’m struggling with the thoughts that I’m not able to offer my male students an appropriate discourse. In my classroom, my boys would definitely be hybrids as far as their discourse. When they come into my classroom, they have to learn the appropriate discourse. It is always a struggle to get some of my little boys to understand that hitting, punching, or wrestling are just not going to be tolerated. So these guys are really having to focus on the discourse of my classroom leaving little attention to their learning.

This past year I had the pleasure of receiving two interns that were college juniors, one of which was male. While usually my kids love having new people working with us in the classroom the boys especially flocked to this guy. The whole time I wondered what the attraction was the boys had with him until Hicks’ work clarified this issue. They were glad to have a male figure in the school setting. These boys, who are surrounded by women all day while they are at school, now had someone with a personal discourse that aligned more to their own discourse. This guy was able to connect with my male students in a way that I would never be able to as effectively as he did.

For our reading groups the first grade children are leveled into groups based upon their instructional reading level. In these groups, especially for those that are working in below grade level material I need to make sure that it is engaging and intriguing to the group. Earlier in the school year, when we leveled groups, I got a group of all boys who were reading below grade level. When I would go pull books to use with these boys, I tried to make sure they were about subjects the boys would want to learn about such as space, vehicles, animals, etc. I knew then that if I selected something about princesses or puppies they might object or I would lose their interest and not be able to complete the lesson. I only wish I had more resources to pull from to stimulate boys.

I’m also now questioning my instruction for my struggling readers. Are all struggling readers dealing with a battle within themselves between their social and academic discourses? Is that what is really happening when my students are having difficulty with the material? Now I realize I’m going to have to make some extra effort to learn about the discourses that are affecting my students as individuals in order to help them maximize their learning.

Nikki Leggins

Jake’s mother spoke about Jake reading at his own level and not on a 3rd grade level, and it made me question while I was reading…What is grade level? As Jake struggled with reading, he was always compared to his peers, such as “he was still about 6 months behind his peers who were on target vis-a-vis grade-level expectations.” I know that we have criteria for our students from the counties we work for, and the state, but most of all with No Child Left Behind, but what can we do to make the politicians see that we cannot continue to compare each child using the same information? With all these “scores” hanging over teacher’s heads that a lot of creativity is being left behind; is this what happened to Jake? Is this what is happening in most classrooms today? I know I feel an obligation to get my students on grade level and even though I am not trying to leave the ON and ABOVE grade level students behind, I feel like I do. I spend a lot of time focusing and helping the students who are not where the “higher up” say they should be, and the other students are left to do independent work. With less classroom help and higher standards, I feel as if I’m doing all I can to meet the criteria and I’m neglecting the interests of my students. What can I/we do about this situation, because if we voice our opinions we’re complaining, and if we sit back and do nothing about it, we are going to work ourselves to death? Is there really a way to not leave a child behind?
When Jake’s father said, “Don’t worry, she’s really tough,” and “He’s gonna find out himself,” it made me think about growing up and how my parents would teach me the right way to do things, and would help me out in situations, but in the end they would always say I would have to learn on my own. I know that they were always there for me if I needed them, but I was able to understand and take on the world because I learned things through my eyes, my choices, and my consequences. I think that Jake’s parents were hoping Jake would do the same, and he would be able to learn from everything he experienced in life. In today’s society children are learning a lot on their own, and for some they have the guidance and support of their parents and adults, but some do not, and are making decisions they may or may not harm them. What can we as teachers do to teach them the right way to live without stepping in someone else’s territory?
There was a clear difference between both Laurie and Jake in Hick’s book, as the two children struggled with literacy; they both took on literacy with different knowledge and focus. It was clear in the way they read and especially in the way the wrote. These were just two examples of children and their struggles with learning due to the various discourses in their lives, but there are many more we meet every day with a story to tell, we as teachers just need to find each child’s inner story and make them into authors of their own life!
From north to south, east to west, and the mountains to the cities everyone has their life to live and choices to make. No one chooses the family they are born into, but they have the rest of their lives to make their own choices to shape their future. After reading through the chapters, I have come to realize that I can’t teach based upon my upbringing and my discourses, but must learn about my students and where they come from in order to connect with them and what makes them learn and succeed. It will not happen over night for me as it didn’t for the researchers in the book, but with time and effort I will be able to find a way to reach each of my students no matter what their back ground or home life is.
Meredith

Being of a different gender, I find it interesting to see things from a "boys" point of view. When discussing the girls, the majority of them at least wanted to be good and please the teacher by doing what they can. Reading about Jake I realized I relevant we need to make assignments for our students. As he completed his Science notebook he said it was, "dumb". He found relevance in writing about his own life in the Writing Workshop, and he enjoyed the experiments involved with the insects, but didn't see much point in writing about the insects. As a student in grad school, I feel his pain. There have been assignments given that felt are given as "busy work". I personally want the work I'm doing to be meaningful and useful, so I need to make sure I do the same for my students. I know in my head why the assignment is meaningful and useful, but it is my job to make my students understand this and get them motivated and personally involved in the literacy tasks at hand.

Another characteristic that stood out to me about Jake was how he would interact and get involved when he became interested, but during group-time, or "learning" time, he would pull back and not get involved. I find it heartbreaking to see such a young child already frustrated with his education. I feel that this should be the time when we can still "trick" our kids into learning and they think it is play time. My daughter just finished her kindergarten year. Everyday I would ask her what she did at school. She would reply, "We played and colored." I would then ask her, "What did you learn today?" Her reply, "Nothing." Throughout conversations things that she learned would come up, or she would start teaching her sister things she had learned at school. She thought of school as being fun. Even though she was working in stations that involved literacy and math activities, she just thought they were fun and enjoyed them. Now, she doesn't struggle in school, but I also think her teacher did a great job of making learning fun. I know we find ourselved entertaining our students, but I have found that I enjoy teaching and my students enjoy learning if we are having fun!

I also found it interesting how differently Jake wrote when writing about an educational topic (Apollo 13) and when writing about his homelife. He wrote this entry later in the year, but it exhibited more writing control than all his other entries. Earlier we discussed children code-switching between the slang used at home and Standard English at school. It seems that he is making this switch as he works on an educational topic. It seems that he wrote in the same ways he talks as he wrote about his homelife, but switched to writing expected in schools when writing about Apollo 13.

As I read the last chapter it was such a reminder of how we as teachers need to develop strong relationships with our students. When you know your students well, you know information about their family, their neighborhood, and their community. The more we know about where our students are coming from, the more we can alter our classroom decisions to provide the best educational environment for these students. We need to ensure we aren't leaving these students behind and are giving all students a chance to learn at their pace, but still hold high expectations for these students. We all have students that struggle with grade-level material, but we can still hold high expectations for where expect these students to be by the end of a period, year, etc.
-Angie Sigmon

Reading what Deborah Hicks had to say about Jake in Chapter 5 of Reading Lives reminded me of a student I had during this past school year named “Cal.” Cal was an older pre-kindergartner (a September birthday) and he would have been in kindergarten this year if the cut-off date for entry into kindergarten had not been changed from mid-October to the end of August. Cal’s dad was an auto mechanic and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. During the home visit at the beginning of the school year, Cal showed my assistant and me his room and all the toys he had. His mom told us that he loved building things with blocks. He loved playing with cars, trucks, and dinosaurs. She said they read quite frequently at home and that his favorite book was one by David Shannon entitled No, David! (In case you’re not familiar with the book, a little boy named David runs around and gets into various kinds of mischief, always followed by the admonition, “No, David!,” but it ends with the mother’s voice telling him she loves him.) She said that they often read the book at home, but they liked to substitute Cal’s name for David’s.

Because of Cal’s age and the literate environment in which he seemed to be raised, I expected that Cal would be one of my top students in that he would do well with letter recognition, letter-sound awareness, etc. When I assessed him during the first couple of weeks of school on such items, he did not do well at all. He didn’t know any letters or any of the things that I thought he might know. (Yes, we have to assess them on such things in pre-K!) What I did notice about him during those first weeks of school, however, was that during center time, he gravitated toward blocks and other manipulative items. He was able to build elaborate buildings to make a city and he would make roads for the cars to travel on. Occasionally, he would crash the cars into one another and make horrifying sound effects to accompany the crash, while also jolting his head and body in such a way that I’m surprised he didn’t give himself whiplash. Very rarely would he enter a center that was more “academic” in nature without some serious coaxing on my part. When I was able to coax him into another center such as writing, he would want to write about planets and spaceships, Spiderman, or Transformers. He found value in learning to write his own name so that he could label his creations.

While all of Cal’s actions were certainly acceptable in the pre-kindergarten classroom, I often wondered why it was such a struggle to get him to move beyond his areas of comfort (blocks, manipulatives, etc.). Hicks provided an answer in Reading Lives when she stated that “Because of the open-ended nature of many kindergarten practices, Jake was able to construct connections with school on his own terms” (p. 100). She goes on further to say, “He [Jake] often chose to work with three-dimensional tasks . . . Jake resisted activities that involved two-dimensional texts, such as reading or pretend-reading; writing, drawing, and dictating stories; or using numbers” (p. 100). This sounded so much like Cal that I felt like she was describing him.

As academics are getting “pushed down” into the primary grades, I am increasingly convinced that there are going to be more and more students, especially boys, who feel that the discourses of their school and home lives do not mesh with one another. Even though Hicks finds that Jake has a connection with his kindergarten environment due to a similarity with his home environment, I believe that this has increasingly become the exception rather than the norm. One of the reasons I moved out of kindergarten was that I felt the school district was requiring that too many paper-and-pencil assessments be used with kindergartners. I did not feel this was the best use of my time or my students’ time. When I look at the kindergarten classes at my current school today, none of them have dramatic play centers, block areas, sand tables, etc. that I had when I left kindergarten eight years ago. It makes me wonder how much longer it will be before the same thing happens in pre-kindergarten. If this does happen, I believe increasing numbers of students will be “faced with the challenge of appropriating language practices and values that may seem unfamiliar or unwanted” (p. 113) and this reluctance will “be seen as forms of resistance” (p. 113). With this in mind, I could not agree more with the assertion by Hicks on page 135 that “schools need to change if students such as Laurie and Jake are to experience the sense of belonging in school that they experience with loved ones at home. How devastating it must be for the reverse to occur – for children to feel themselves to be outsiders in their own classrooms.”

One connection I made in Chapter 6 on page 142 was in the description of how Rose “was able to shape new identities, new possibilities for living, in response to literacies.” When reading this particular section, I thought of the movie Dead Poets Society and how Mr. Keating (Robin Williams) inspired within his students a newfound love for learning and applying literature to their own lives and purposes. To his students, poems were no longer just words printed on a page with a literary merit to be determined by some mathematical formula. To them, literary text became a living and breathing thing that provoked within them a desire to “seize the day” and experience life in a new way, much like Rose describes the teaching of MacFarland on pages 143 and 144. Oh, if it were such that all teachers could make this connection with their students!

Lastly, one quote I found especially compelling is found on page 148: “Particularly as children leave the intimacy of home and family, the constitution of identity from other subject locations can be limiting or damaging” (p. 148). Since my students come to me as a result of having been labeled “at-risk” based on information gathered on them from the parents and assessments, I believe it is imperative that I do all that is within my power to erase that label, which can definitely be damaging, as they begin down the road of their academic career. There will be plenty of other labels imposed upon them to constitute their identities as the years go by – ELL, OT, F/RL, PT, EC, AG – but if I can do what is within my power to take my kids where they are and use what they know to make early connections to the world of schooling, perhaps “at-risk” will not be a label that is used in "pigeon-holing" their identity to a certain set of letters.

Clyde Rice

As I read the last two chapters I couldn’t help but think of the boys I have taught over the years. Many of them were just like Jake in that they did better when there was movement in the classroom. I have taught Kindergarten for seven years and movement is a way of life in my classroom. Next year I am moving to First Grade and before reading these two chapters I was nervous, just like any other teacher switching grade levels, but now I am scared!!! I don’t want my boys to become disconnected with school when they have other wise been involved but yet I don’t see how I can set up my First Grade classroom and teach the things that I am expected to teach in the same manner in which I taught my Kindergarten classroom, nor am I sure I want too. I was looking forward to First Grade because although their will be movement in my classroom through workshops I was very much looking forward to having to deal with the constant “organized chaos” that was Kindergarten. Now I am faced with the challenge of keeping my “Jakes” as interested in reading and in learning in a much more restrained setting as they were in a room of free choice. I appreciated that Hicks pointed out that Jake did much better in Second Grade because he was allowed to do writer’s and reader’s workshop and was able to have say in some of his choices. I had planned on doing reader’s workshops but I wasn’t sure about writer’s workshops. After reading these chapters I have decided that having my students participate in them will help all students no matter what class they are from stay engaged and connected. The problem that I now face is what Jake’s teacher’s faced. How do you make every single subject and work area have a personal connection to every single student. I don’t think a person can do this and still teach what their school or district mandates that they teach. I agree with Hicks in that until there are universal changes made in education we aren’t going to be able to reach Jake and others like him all the time.
The one thought I keep going back to after all of the articles and this chapter as well is that no matter what our gender, race, or social class, we all at times have moments of discourse. It is learning to function appropriately in those moments that defines who we are as learners. Jake was obviously most comfortable “learning” about the ideas and skills that were important to his family. Topics such as NASCAR and history were such important topics to Jake because that is what his family valued. I think no matter who are students are we need to find out what is important to them and try to include that in our everyday teaching. Yet at the same time we need to teach students to try and find an interest or an important point in a topic so that they can make it their own.
Katie Templeton

Carol Sherrill

Reading the narrative on Jake and Laurie made everything come together for me. If there is one word I take away from this book it is CONNECTION.

It sounds like Jake had a good relationship with his dad, He was kind of like a mini-me to his father. Becasue of this CONNECTION, what he had to learn from his dad was important. He didn't have to stay seated, he could work with his hands and he wasn't required to use a pencil and paper. More importantly, Jake was successful in his learning and he was given responsibilty. It was also clear to me that Jake's family valued "home" learning. You could say Jake got a lot of his education at the School of Hard Knocks. I did hate to read about Jake's temper tamtrums and anger issues. I would like for there to have been more text on dealing with those issues. There was an obvious difference between Jake's home discourse and his school discourse.

For my research class, I completed a research study on separating the genders in the classroom. I have quite a few Jakes. What I learned was, I have a lot to learn. It is a fact that the genders learn differently. That can not be ignored by us as educators. If we want children to be successful, we have to teach them like they learn. Jake is a prime example of this.

The author stated in Ch 5, working class children need to have equal opportunities for success in school and work. I have a problem with the word equal because it makes me think all of the same. Children are not the same. I haven't even been able to find two alike. They all need to be provided with opportunities that meet their needs. Jake was provided with the same opportunities as the other children but that wasn't exactly what he needed. He resisted and said I can't but what he really meant was I don't know how. As teachers we need to make the CONNECTION between our students and how they are going to learn. Not an easy feat! We also have to find a way to help children understand the value of an education. Jake's dad was on to something when he said that schools should be engaging environments. I don't think anyone could argue with that.

The conclusion of the book led me back to CONNECTION. The world of education is a complex, ever-changing world. We have to connect with it. Teachers can't sit back and use what they learned in college. We have to be life-long learners. and reading other people's research is a way to do that. At the end where Hicks was talking about teachers being frustrated with students they couldn't reach and parents that didn't support them made me see a lack of CONNECTION. If that is your attitude and you are always looking for someone to blame- you are in the wrong profession.
Carol Sherrill

In reading the last two chapters, 5 & 6, I thought back over the years I have taught to a few boys that were like Jake, one in particlular I taught this past year. I'll call him Tim (psuedonym) for the purpose of this post. Tim, like Jake in chapter 5 would let his mind wander off many times throughout the day. I would call on him or use other strategies to draw him back into the lessons. He had some trouble with reading and writing but was always right there teetering on the edge of being on grade level. His parents & I talked about this throughout the year and came up with different techniques and tools to help him, but I still worried about how he will do next year. He expressed often times he just couldn't think of anything to write about, even when given a topic. He said things like, "I just don't know what I want to say," or "I don't know how to spell that." So he and I would work together on getting his ideas down on paper. He got better at writing and being able to express his thoughts, but he still said he never liked it that much. He had a love for the fantasy world of Star Wars and could talk for hours on length about the battles and characters in each of the movies. We used this interest to get him excited about reading. His mom and I found Star Wars books written on his level and some that were a little more difficult that mom read to him. This seemed to help him and got him reading things he wanted to read. I noticed at recess time, when we played indoors on a rainy day, he always was engaged with either blocks or legos and loved to build things. This characteristic reminded me of Jake as well. I didn't thing about it then, but perhaps Tim was tuning out sometimes because he felt disengaged with the lesson. He said over and over how he had dreams of one day being in the Army and helping people, maybe he thought he wouldn't need to know how to write for that job, just like Jake felt writing about science was dumb.

Writing is one of the hardest things I teach in my opinion. I feel this way because it's difficult to teach very young children who are just learning how to read to take their thoughts and put them onto paper. It sounds so simple, but when you think about it there are so many things at work when we write. You have to think of what you want to write, formulate thoughts & ideas, and for young students, they must also think of how to spell what they want to say. Tim was also not a strong speller and that made the daunting task of writing much more labor intensive for him. By the time he was finished, he looked tired. Jake had much more success when it came to his writing experiences in 2nd grade, at least when he wrote for Writer's Workshop and was allowed the freedom to write about topics meaninful to him like his family and NASCAR. Tim too is a fan of NASCAR and racing. I am going to implement Writer's Workshop in my classroom next year. I am excited to try something new with a new group of students and I hope I see excitement and enthusiasm for writing as well as progress without the stress. We want all of our students to be successful, we need to find out their interests and tie our instruction into those as much as possible! Furthermore lessons need to have real-world connections and our students need to see how the things they're learning can be applied to real-life situations just like the things Jake's dad taught him at home. He was interested in those things because he knew they meant something and that his dad was doing them for a reason.
Reshawna Greene

I found reading about Jake more enjoyable than Laurie. I, myself enjoy the games and need the hands on approach to learning. However, I am very much the girly girl…when I get dirty, I want to get cleaned up right away, but do enjoy learning how to use the power saw!

Today, there is great influence on how we see others and that influence is the media. The video games that we are pushed to buy mostly show violence; even my crossword video game has a male show host. Jake’s NASCAR craze is extremely influenced by the personalities shown on TV. Even from the Budweiser Shootout, opening of the season, to the local Coca Cola 600 the observers are influenced even by the advertisers. This is a part of the home culture that we have to be aware of as students enter our classrooms. For those of you who know about NASCAR…true fans are devoted through and through, hardly ever missing a race day!

Jake’s family did share the enjoyment of reading, but there was a clear purpose in reading that they participated in. For the most part, reading was done to “figure something out”, not just to read for pleasure, but for learning about someone/something or learning “how to”. As he entered into academia, Jake often was not allowed to do this type of reading and he began to struggle. This is where our education system is doing our students a disservice. Jake proved to “need more time to solidify his strengths and fluency” in reading. It is expected of us as teachers and our students to have a whole classroom of “grade level” functioning in one year.

This year, I moved from 2nd grade to 3rd grade. Puzzled and a little intimidated by a testing grade level, I questioned several “veteran” teachers about methods they used to teach…much to my dismay the response was that once they get to 3rd grade, there is no room for leveled reading. “At the end of the year, the test will be at grade level, whether they are ready or not.” Shame on the system of education, when we cannot teach how our students can learn. If Jake were here, would he have gotten lost in the “system”? Gives us something to ponder…

I really like the idea of Reader’s Workshop. I was not real familiar with this method, so I looked it up at www.readersworkshop.org. Amazing! Jake seemed to be engaged and even was quoted that he did not like when he had to quit writing! This method provides student choice, while interacting with the teacher to make sure that all students are successful. There is support for the strong readers, allowing them to choose books at a higher level; while the fledgling readers are getting small group support! I cannot wait to look at this method a little closer to implement in my classroom!

Response to literature doesn’t always have to be writing or answering multiple-choice comprehension questions. The teacher has to provide the opportunity for students to use the academic language. I like how Bakhtin’s work said that “social dialogue mediates learning”. All of our students learn in different ways, I don’t have to tell you all this, this is what our class has been about. It is our challenge to teach our students and provide them with a “cultural toolkit” so that they can be successful students, not just in our classroom, but in their school career. Jake is a prime example of how the facilitation of learning can affect how a student feels about their education!

Angela Steele

These chapters really opened my eyes, not only to the differences in my classroom, but in my own home as well. I have a son and a daughter and when it comes to school work, they are as different as can be. Both are smart, high achieving kids, but they study in such different ways.

For example, I find myself explaining things to my son in ways that he understands, or in ways that interest him. For example, I often compare how things work to the ways farm equipment works, because that is something he is interested in. Or i try to find a rhythmic way to spell out words to help him study for a spelling test. When doing homework, we have to take breaks inbetween subjects so he can refresh and refocus.

My daughter likes things to be more straight forward. We have to sit down and roll through the assignments all at once. She also likes a check sheet so she can see what she has accomplished and what is remaining. There cannot be any distractions, or she will end up in tears. When comparing things to help her understand, it is best to reflect on a memory.

I found it amazing to realize that I use these same little tricks in my classroom. I often try to bond a new idea to something familiar with the boys while using the fantasy side of understanding with the girls. I never paid much attention to it until now.

I never realized that boys needed things to be so concrete. That explains why typically math and science are their best subjects. While girls enjoy the art of fantasy thinking and day dreaming. That only makes sense that they would do better with reading and history.

I am forming lots of ideas of ways to incorporate this new understanding in my classroom. I look forward to reading everyone else's ideas as well.

Sarah Hutson

Reading this chapter made me think back a few years to a group that I taught in first grade that consisted on mostly boys. I found the story of Jake to be similar to the experience that most boys have in school (especially with reading). Boys (like Jake) are so interested in learning with their hands. They want to move and learn by doing not sit in a space and read and write. I have noticed in my teaching experience that many boys are very active because that is the life they live at home. I also believe that boys stuggle more with reading because books are limited about topics that are of interest to them. I do believe that more and more books are being written about topics of interest to boys, but for the longest time teachers would buy magizines to interest boys in the classroom.

I feel that boys have a harder time with school than girls (for the most part). It seems that boys do look to their fathers for inspiration (as girls look to their mothers). In a working class family, a boy learns that the man is the person responsible for taking care of the family. Boys see their fathers get up early and go to work, often coming home late and repeating the same thing day after day. I believe that most fathers that are working class also struggled in school and find it hard to encourage their children to put in the extra effort needed to be successful in school. Since boys aspire to be like their fathers, I think this may be why boys stuggle to find a balance between school and home. I think boys that are encouraged to be successful by their fathers find more success in the classroom. Many times the mother is the person who is involved with the school life (attending school meetings and events) and boys may feel that their fathers have little or no interest in their successes in school.

I found the difference between literacy for Jake at school and home to be very interesting. Jake appears to be more successful with reading and writing at home. His mother and grandmother discuss how he is doing so many things successfully (such as his knowledge of the presidents). I understand that Jake is involving himself with things of interest at home. I just wonder if Jake's family is in denile about his abilities to read and write. It seems like the things they work with him on at home is memorized in an effort to please his family and they see this as an ability to read and write.

I think every year I have had a student in my room (a boy) that I have had to struggle to find books that they would read that was of interest to them. I find most boys to be more active in the hands on activities (such as math and science) and less involved in reading because they believe that books are written to appeal to girls more than boys. I do believe that teachers need to work hard to find books that appeal to boys as well as girls so that all children can find success in the classroom. Sure this puts a little more work on the teacher, but in the end isn't it worth it?

I agree that as teachers it is our responsibility to go outside of our comfort areas in order to help our students become successful. Learning about our students and where they come from will help us to provide better instruction, allowing our students the comfort to become successful.

It is interesting that on the surface Jake had the background to become a fluent reader. He was read to regularly, his family valued and modeled literacy skills, and he had access to literary materials. He should have been well equipped to be successful in the classroom. Hick’s seems to again blame the curriculum for moving so quickly that Jake is left behind and overwhelmed. Both Jack and Laurie began tuning out when the material became too difficult for them to follow. Both retreated into their own worlds, Laurie camouflaged by good girl behavior, and Jake into his fantasies and hobbies at home. I have never thought of this behavior as defensive, but it makes sense that passivity is less risky for students than engagement. Hick’s says that, “Resistance and tuning out became a safer route than giving up his passions and identities and perhaps the comfort of more familiar knowledge.” But is Jake really being asked to give up who he is? At seven does he really know who he is anyway? Isn’t the purpose of school to expose children to other ways of being and knowing (to borrow Hick’s phrase), so they can decide who and what they will become as adults? It seems these children must be able to not only code switch, but move freely between the discourses of home and school.
Hicks also points out the subtle differences in the types of literacy practiced at home and at school as another part of the difficulty Jake encounters in adapting to the discourse of school. At home, Jake was able to exercise choice. The activities he engaged in had a stated purpose and corresponded to the family’s values. I identified with Jake’s desire to understand the purpose of activities and disengagement when they seemed to him “stupid.” Although Hicks says “Things were not dramatically different for Jake in terms of the connections between the identities he lived within his family and those valued in school.” the men in Jake’s family “…did not bother with practices that were not linked to constructive action or informative learning…” Throughout my school experience I learned a lot of things that never became a part of my daily life (calculus comes to mind). Yet the process of learning is sometimes just as or even more important than the actual learning. Elementary school is the preparation of the mind for critical thinking in later stages of life, when information is more complex and patterns more difficult to identify. If someone had conveyed to Jake that just because information is not immediately used does not make it useless, perhaps he would have been more accepting of tasks that did not produce tangible results.
In some ways Jake’s dad was working against the values of Jake’s school in asserting that Jake didn’t need to go to college (and by assumption the preparation school provides), thus validating Jake’s opinion that the work was purposeless and stupid. As Hick’s says, “The stories voiced about us, by those whom we most love and value, shape our identities in ways more powerful than even the most authoritative institutional system of social regulation.” Jake’s future as a mechanical contractor was secure, regardless of how he did in school. No matter how much time we as teachers spend with students, it is still parents that have the greatest influence over what students will believe and how they will behave. The closeness of their relationships, the time spent together, the sense of belonging and identity family provides, ensures that they have the most impact on a student’s discourse. Perhaps if we truly want to change student’s discourses, we also need to work to change parents’.
At the end of Hick’s research I am still left with the question of how to connect the discourse of working class children with that of school. I see opportunities for improvement in the classroom in making those connections, but the larger issues, like curriculum and pacing, are outside of the regular classroom teacher’s control.
-Rebecca Ashby

“…moving freely from one activity setting to another; learning by doing, not by talking about parts of a task; engaging in constructive activities in which printed text was connected to three-dimensional objects.” When I first read the sentence, I questioned whether or not this was in a boy’s DNA. Boys are movers and shakers. My son acted like Jake at the age of 5. He spent hours slaying imaginary dragons with stick swords, riding his battery-powered four wheeler around the yard, cutting the grass with the bubble mower or building things with his Legos. He listened to stories when forced but it was not a chosen activity. He painted and colored freely and enjoyed books that gave step by step direction on how to draw particular things. For my son, reading had to have a purpose.

As I continued to read I was disappointed in Hicks “working hard to understand passions and interests that in many cases I did not myself share.” Jake learned by doing. Jake preferred working puzzles and building things instead of drawing, writing and reading. He liked to play baseball, video games and race his miniature cars. What is so difficult for a young female teacher to understand?

Jake was constantly in motion. He told stories as he worked. I wondered if his father told him stories as he worked. His stories were action filled and part truths from his world. Jake was a true storyteller. His voice and his body told the story. Have you ever seen a storyteller sit still and tell a story? It was obvious he could tell a story but motivating him to put it on paper was the problem. The teacher could have taken his recorded story and transcribe it to paper. Jake’s job would have been to illustrate his story. As he become more comfortable, he would begin to write his own story from listening to his recording. I have used this process in my first and second grade classes. It is not a quick process but it does get the student writing.

Jake’s reading philosophy reminded me of my son—dumb. I asked my son why he did not like to read. He said real (nonfiction) stories made sense and you can learn something but make up stories (fiction) did not make sense. I discussed this with several teachers. They said their husbands read the news, how-to books or nonfiction. A few husbands read science fiction. Jake’s father taught himself by reading and read JFK for pleasure. Maybe men and women are wired differently. Therefore, they need a different approach for instruction.

Jake’s parents had different views of education. Jake’s father felt school was somewhat unimportant because Jake could go into the family business. Jake’s mother wanted him to read well so he could go to college. Therefore, they saw Jake’s difficulties in school from different spectrums. Jake’s father seemed to give Jake an out for his education but I wonder if it is more of another door to open when the classroom door closes for him. Jake’s mother may dream of a better life for him. She believes he is gifted enough to do more than the family business, but unsure of how to fix the problem. The solution may lie within the walls of the classroom. Students need a connection between their interest and academic goals.

Zandra Hunt

In concluding Hicks’ Reading Lives I have found that I have observed much of the research conveyed in these chapters in my own classroom. The case study that was most prevalent to my current classroom situation was the case of Jake. The early case study of Jake seems to be a “typical” boy. He is active, impulsive and curious. He likes things to be “hands on” and enjoys solitary activities. He wants to stay to himself, and finds happiness in simply creating stories about race cars going around tracks. I think all of these characteristics or traits are common with most of my boys that I see in class, but I want to focus on one activity that Jake loves, and that is: video games.

Video games are sooo very common in my classroom. My boys (and some girls, but mostly boys) are constantly trading “cheat” books for codes to beat their games. They are checking out books at the library that give them background knowledge on their favorite game, and are using their recess time planning gaming sessions on the weekends. In such a digital world, I am not surprised by this trend. If students aren’t playing their video games, they are texting, chatting, Skyping, Twittering, Facebooking or Myspacing. Although many of these tools are out in cyberspace for kids to get a grasp on, there are parents who say “no” to online personal sites such as Facebook and Myspace. I hear my students discuss how they like to log in to their X-Box LIVE accounts and talk to other players across the world via a headset and microphone. Others enjoy Nintendo Wii, which provide games that get students up off the couch and have them bowling, riding skateboards or even doing yoga! Thinking about Jake, and his need to move, move, move I believe that boys utilize these tools more because they too, need to move, move, move.

My brother and I grew up in a working family. My dad worked third shift at a factory job and my mom worked office type hours from 7-5pm. We were encouraged to play sports from the time we could walk. I enjoyed sports, and continued these organized activities all the way up until present day. My brother, on the other hand, played because he felt he “had to”. He says he felt that he was pushed in to playing because my parents expected him to play. He would have much rather been inside in front of Nintendo Game Console. I can remember my parents giving me a time limit on my phone “talk” time, while my brother go his time limit on his video games. As he focused more and more on his games, he saved up money and upgraded his systems. He became less and less social. I continued to be outgoing and loud, while my brother kept to himself within his room playing every game possible. He would look for “cheats” and trade tips with other students in school that like games like he did. My parents continued their working family routine, and my brother seemed to get deeper into an unsocial pit.

As we have grown into adults, me in my mid-twenties and he just a couple years behind me, I’m still the outgoing, loud person that I grew up to be as a teenager and young adult. My brother, on the other hand, learned to become social, but only when necessary. He avoids crowds, being around those he doesn’t know and hides out in his room, playing those video games. He was a bright student in school, and struggled some in college, but I often wonder, did his video game habits help or hinder his academics? He was always the typical “math and science” kid, always looking for the black and white path, never any grey. He did not, and still does not enjoy reading for pleasure. He was never into doing school projects, writing, journaling or speaking on his views of a piece of literature. His main goal in any academic situation was to get the job done, in the shortest amount of time possible, without the aid of others.

Relating this back to Reading Lives and Jake, I wonder how his love of that Sega Video Game Console will impact his social realm. I wonder how those video games will impact his academics. I know that every case is difference and each child is different when it comes to school and academics, but I find it interesting that Jake, many of the boys in my classroom and my brother all have one goal in common: Video Games.

Renee Hennings June 28 2010

When I was reading about Jake, many things came to mind. First of all, there are so many kids today with two discourse communities:home and school. I have heard from many parents in conferences that "he/she isn't like this at home!" When I hear that it's usually half say it because they are so good at school, and not at home, and the other half say that because they are so good at home, and don't know why they are misbehaving in school. Either way, parents seem floored when they hear of different behaviors that are being expressed in school.
Second, I respect her research and have found it interesting to hear all her documentations on these kids. But, nonetheless, I don't agree with what they are saying. I'm not against in any way making school differentiated and adjusted according to students' needs or interests. But, I do not agree that because a student doesn't like to write about a topic, that we automatically let them choose what they want to write about. That just isn't reality. If a student gets a job and they are asked to do something, they just can't say "sorry, I think that's dumb." It's not all about what a student wants or doesn't want to do. There is a reason it's called public education. We are told what to teach, and that's that! Having a student come through a public school is supposed to make a student well rounded in all subject areas in order to become the best citizen they can be to make a difference in society. I'm sorry if Johnny doesn't like to subtract, but reality is, if Johnny can't subtract, he won't make it in the real world. Sometimes I think we as educators are being pushed to make ALL kids learn and like learning. Yes, we are, but it's not only up to us to get the job done. Families should recognize this sometimes and find out what they can do to accomodate to make their child better in school....and not always the other way around. "What can you do teacher, to adjust to what we've taught at home?"
Third and lastly, I do think we are to bring our knowledge when instructing all the different languages and discourses that our classroom community bring. Acknowledging and adapting literacies in order to teach the different discourses is important and part of each childs' education. Understanding backgrounds is crucial, and knowing where and how each child was raised will have a significant understanding to their path of knowledge.
Abby Boughton

Boys will read when…

What could be more frustrating for a teacher than to finally get a boy into a regular recreational reading habit as the school year winds down only to discover at the start of the next year he didn’t read a single book, article, or page of print during the entire summer? (Brozo, Bill, pg. 7). As I was concluding Chapter 5 & 6 of Hick’s book, I came across the article, Boys will read when their interest is piqued, in “Reading Today”. The question above caught my eye. I was intrigued to read the article. In summary, the article discussed the constant battle for parents to have their children read during the summer when there are so many distractions and other activities, like playing basketball, swimming, and playing video games. The article suggests that parents should capitalize on their interests. (I stopped to wonder if Hicks had written this article; we have read of this importance throughout the course). Furthermore, the article discussed examples of ways to linking text to the things they like such as a boy who loves to play baseball, should be reading about his favorite team in the newspaper, or a boy who loves to go camping should be offered opportunities to read park pamphlets, field guides and safety guides. The article highlighted that the goal is to make reading seem an important and useful activity for boys who are not willing to read during the summer just because their teachers and parents say so (Brozo, Bill, pg. 7). As teachers, how do we work to accomplish this goal?
In connection to the article read in “Reading Today”, Hicks discovered that Jack succeeded in school when he was able to connect to the literacy. His excitement to tell his story of racing reflected in part his home discourse and love for racing, influenced from his father. I was interested to read that Jake began to act out this story. I have found that telling a story before writing it is key, or drawing a picture, but haven’t considered the effects of allowing a child act out a story as they are telling it, or before writing it. I think my second graders would love to take the time to act out the story that they are going to tell. Their actions performed would encourage detail writing in the story. Having my students act before writing is something that I hope to implement next year. This will also allow my students to have time to take a “stretch break”, or implement movement for students who need to do so throughout the day.
When reading about students like Jake, as teachers we are often reminded of students that display similar character traits. I had a Jake in my classroom this year, which I have spoken of throughout the course. Tim (pseudonym for my student) joined our class half-way through the school year. Tim dealt with a tough home-life and had experienced more and could talk about it, than I would wish upon any child. He had a difficult time deciphering between his home discourse and school discourse. When Jake began to struggle in Second Grade, and speak that he “hated school; I hate teachers because they boss you around,” I imagined my Tim saying the same words. Tim became distracted by anything in the room, keeping him from paying attention and affecting his learning. He would often separate himself from the class. I struggled with this child because like Mrs. Williams, I often thought that this child was becoming difficult to deal with, especially as he became defiant. Like Jake, he has blown up when I would confiscate something from his desk that he may have been playing with. Now, I wonder, does this child need something to keep him active to help him learn? Or, is he tuning out and being resistant and stubborn? How do we know?
After reading Hick’s work, I feel that it is vital to allow boys time to be active, and make connections to their learning, through literacy. In fact, I think we can take Hick’s research of Jake, and apply it to genders, girls and boys. Even though students have different discourses, we could take advantage of their learning styles in having them teach others in the classroom by sharing connections that they have with literacy. I think it would be fascinating to observe Jake and Laurie in the same classroom, encouraging Jake to teach Laurie about NASCAR through literacy, and Laurie share with Jake her literacy of fantasy with horses, magical places, and fairies.


Katie Johnson

How many times as an educator do you hear “boys will be boys?” For me I hear this quite a bit and I get really frustrated. I think that the problem with Jake in school was that there is very little structure in the home. They allowed Jake to jump from one thing to the next and that is hard for anyone to do. I think that boys at a young age need to be taught to finish one thing before they start another. I think that Jake’s parents should have made him sit down to do constructive work every day. Yes Jake had a hard time focusing but if they did it in very small increments he would slowly improve. I have parents that come to me and tell me that their son is very rambunctious at home because he is a boy and I have a hard time with that. I tell my parents that they need to have structure at home so their son can get used to the structure at school. I still have parents, just like Jake’s, that do not make their boys sit down to read or do anything constructive and it hinders the way that they work in school. I think that if you give your child more structure while they are at home they will have a much easier time adjusting when they get to school.

I think that boys are very visual people. I think that if they have something in front of them to write with they should be allowed to use it. I was so upset at the teacher when she took away Jake’s cars while they were supposed to be writing. Did she know that Jake loved Nascar? I think that if you have a child that has a love for something and you take that away from them it devastates them. Why did she not allow Jake to write about those cars he had? It sounded like at the time they were free writing anyways, so was writing about Nascar so wrong? If writing about what you love to write about makes you enjoy writing then I would completely allow my students to bring something in. I should try that next year! I think I am going to allow my students to bring in any toy that they want to write about. I would be very interested to see how well they do.

I love what Hicks says in chapter 6 on pg 153 “Some have described the role of teachers as one of creating instructional scaffolds that help to bridge students’ primary discourses with middle-class literacies (eg., Lee, 1993; Tharpe & Gallimore, 1988). I cannot agree with this statement more. We as teachers need to do our best to make sure that our students have a good bases in order to help them succeed in life. We need to create that “scaffold” to make sure that every child succeeds in every way possible. We need to reflect and “draw on our own histories as they construct readings of children’s experiences”. We need to make sure that as educators we are giving these children the background knowledge that we can to help them understand every text that they read.

Natalie Enns

Sustaining interest in an activity also required that the task make sense. A task had to be something that needed to get done. Otherwise, as Jake would sometimes later voice about school activities, it was just plain “stupid”.”

This quote speaks volumes! How many times have you been asked to do something that doesn’t seem to have any value? For example: Teachers were assigned a duty in the afternoon in which they had to stand and count children as they boarded the bus. This alone does not sound “stupid” we want to make sure that our buses are not overcrowded and our students are safe, but why couldn’t the bus driver count the students? He or she is sitting right there! The students may not board the bus if the driver is not present! This was not a productive and valued use of any teacher’s time! This practice went on for several years, until someone finally explained how the teacher’s time could be better spent planning, grading papers, or meeting with teammates to discuss education issues. In all honesty it was a “stupid” idea to begin with, but because no one chose to speak up and disagree it became common practice.

Now, I am not promoting the rights of all students to invoke the “stupid” clause, when faced with all topics of low interest, but sometimes educators need to take a closer look at what we are asking students to do and why. An example from my childhood that always invoked the “stupid” response was the before and after Christmas writing activities. My family was too poor to believe in Santa and we knew we would be lucky to have a tree and receive one gift. Year after year the assignment came and year after year I listened to the wonderful stories of the abundance of Santa and year after year teachers couldn’t understand why I did not value this ‘opportunity to share’. Finally, I refused to write! Except for state and local testing why can’t students have a choice in what they read and write? John T. Guthrie, Department of Human Development, College of Education, University of Maryland, has dedicated many hours of research and writing on the topic of choice. As I continued to read the published research an article in the Educational Psychology Review, about enhancing engagement in reading, proposes that book choice paired with other creative outlets motivates readers and affording students choices of texts, responses, or partners during instruction are motivation-supporting practices (1998). With this type of information available to educators, how can we continue to ignore the facts? I know that many teachers are bound to certain tasks by administrators: Do you have the strength and courage to ask for the opportunity to make research solid changes in your classroom? As parents do you have the ability to choose your child’s teacher based on your child’s needs? A teacher’s personality or philosophy can hinder or help any child’s education. Because Jake valued self-reliance and freedom of choice his needs were better met by his Kindergarten and second-grade teachers(page 133). Think about how many BAD years he will have before/if he finishes school. For Jake so far two out of three ain’t bad.

Raymond Williams, the beginning of chapter six states: “To write in different ways is to live in different ways.” This reminds me that we need a purpose for reading and writing. Children need to be able to express themselves through a variety of texts and writing activities. It is injudicious to believe that every student will feel the same about a story or writing activity, therefore, is it just to assign every student the same story or writing activity? There are better practices for teachers who want to make a difference. Hybrid by definition is something made up of a mixture of different aspects or components. Why not challenge the recipe that is public education? Why not look for a better mixture of teaching practices? Isn't that what GRAD school is all about?
Elizabeth Achor

Guthrie, J., Cox, K., Anderson, E., Harris, K., Mazzoni, S., & Rach, L. (1998, June). Principles of integrated instruction for engagement in... Educational Psychology Review, 10(2), 177.

Chapter 5 was interesting and easy to read. I enjoyed getting to know Jake and his family. Jake had a very strong relationship with his dad. You could tell that he valued his dad’s opinion and looked up to him. He shared common interests and attitudes with his father. Some of them were race cars and being in motion. Jake liked tasks that involved movement and tasks he felt had a purpose. He did well in kindergarden because he was able to choose the centers that he wanted to work in. He was also able to move freely from place to place. First grade was a different story, he felt more constrained and isolated. He did not have the freedom to move from place to place. He was expected to perform more work that involved him staying seated. Second grade was better for Jake because this teacher taught reading through reader’s workshop. Jake had freedom of choice to read books on his level and freedom to move around. His attitude also began to change as he began to express anger when he felt frustrated. I would love to know what happened to Jake and how he did as he progressed through each grade level.

Some things that I noticed about Jake was how he was a very quick learner at home but seemed to struggle at school. I wonder if part of the problem was that he saw value in jobs he performed at home because they were important to his family. Family had a huge impact on Jake and how he saw the world. I also wonder, if his dad had become more interested in Jake’s performance at school would he have done better? Jake’s dad was okay with him just taking over the family business instead of going to college. I do not think that Jake’s dad had high enough expectations for Jake. I think if the teachers would have tried to get to know Jake and include some things he was interested in into the curriculum it would have helped him. “All they had to do was find ways to connect students’ interest with academic tasks.” As teachers we need to get to know our students and what things they value. We need to try and include these things into our curriculum. How do we do this with all the things that are required of us? I think Jake felt disconnected from the curriculum. He could not find the part that related to the person he was at home. I think so many students feel like Jake. They feel like school is dumb and they are not good at it. They can’t see themselves in the curriculum and instruction. I really see this with little boys. They do not care about reading and writing they care about cars, video games and playing outside. We need to make these two worlds come together.

Ashley Caldwell

I enjoyed reading the final two chapters of this text. I like that Hicks chose a girl and a boy to study to give the reader more insight and perspective into the lives of these working-class families. I found the final chapter more difficult to read than the narrative portions due to the technical language. Overall, I learned a lot from this book.

One thing I found interesting as I was reading was the author’s conclusion regarding family apprenticeship and school literacy practices. She stated, ‘Faced with substantial risks when confronted with challenging school practices, ones that would require him to think and be in new and unfamiliar ways, Jake chose what must have seemed the safer route: Tune out, fantasize, resist; then go home to live the relations that were so warmly embracing (p 123).’ My thoughts are: Why risk it? The child in this situation-between working-class and middle-class values-knows that the teacher has a class full of other students and is not able to devote enough time and support to him or her through such a transition. At home, the parents are able to devote their time solely to their children. Furthermore, the teacher and the values that accompany are with the students nine months out of the year. The family and its values are for life. I can see why working-class students reject or ignore middle-class values.

Another topic I found interesting was the research on the presentation of self. I found it fascinating that Jake told his story in a way that differed from Rachel based on their working-class and middle-class values. Rachel told her story using the method of authorial self whereas Jake performed his story. Working in a school that is primarily composed of low income and working-class families, I am excited to see if my students identify with Jake in terms of the presentation of self. I feel that having read this portion of the text will help me better understand my students.

In addition, I enjoyed reading about Reader's and Writer’s workshops. I, too, feel that both practices are effective because they reach the students on their levels. I think it’s important to give the students choice, to show interest in their interests. As a result, I plan to read more about both to incorporate them into my classroom. Writer’s workshop, in particular, is of most interest to me as it is the most difficult for my students being mostly ELLs. By using implementing Writer’s workshop, I think I will be better able to meet the students needs based on their levels.

Finally, and of most importance, I have come to the conclusion that socialization-culture and home values-directly impacts literacy learning. In order to reach my students, I don’t need a certain academic program or lesson plan. I need to be open-minded and willing to develop authentic relationships with my students and families. This won’t be through texts or theories, but through real interaction. Hicks best sums up what must be done when she says, ‘…change has to entail a moral shift of willingness to open oneself up to the possibility of seeing those who differ from us. This is very hard work, but work that lies at the heart of teaching (p. 152).’

Laura Corbello

I enjoyed reading chapters 5 & 6. As I was reading Jake's story I noticed many similarities in male students that I have had in the past. Male students in kindergarten seem to be more focused on "play". Often time teachers see this "play" as just that. I don't agree with that. I believe that students learn through active play. Boys interact in the classroom in a different way from girls. Often times they are louder use more sound effects and seem to have a motor running. The fact that Jake was able to move freely in his kindergarten classroom helped his transition to formal schooling.
Jake's family valued education but in a different way. Education for them had a purpose. Jake was working and learning to do what his dad did. His family discourse was very involved and supportive. They used literacy in their house daily. They interacted with text. Jake saw his parents reading. They were reading for a purpose.
When Jake entered formal schooling he did not see his purpose with reading. The fact that his kindergarten teacher allowed him to express himself freely in centers was helping Jake bridge the gap between what he saw at home and what he did at school. He used the centers to narrate what he knew and was taught at home. Unfortunately when Jake entered first grade he was not allowed the freedom and the demands of formal school was more visible for Jake. He was behind in reading because the text did not have purpose for him. The first grade teacher did not seem to be able to adapt her teaching to provide scaffolding for Jake. He was lost and did not have any way to relate to what was being taught at school. In second grade I believe that Jake's teacher gave him the opportunity to close some of the gap between his home and school discourses. She provided the opportunity for Jake to be able to write on topics of his choice. This allowed Jake to write about his family. By the end of the school year Jake was writing in a style that showed he understood classroom practices in writing.
Jake and Laurie both needed and approach to school that was a balance between what they know at home and what they need to be able to do in formal school. As a teacher I believe that you can provide this balance of Hybrid approach to teaching by learning about your students. As teachers our job is to provide the resources, scaffolding and experiences in school that will make our students successful. This can be a very difficult balance and is individual for each child. We have to be able to related to the students and provide reading and writing instruction that will be meaningful them as students.
Angie Somers

As I was reading these 2 chapters, I thought back to when I was a student. Jake did much better with the Writer's Workshop because he had more choice as to what he could write about. As a student, I hated these assignments...Free Choice. I was a "teacher pleaser" and wanted to make sure and do things "just right." I wanted to be told exactly what to write about so that I could be sure and do it exactly as the teacher wanted. Even now, I want to know exactly what I need to do for class. As a teacher, I struggled with giving my students Free Choice when writing in Writing Journals because of the way I felt as a student being given this assignment. I got an idea from a Staff Development several years ago that I love and it makes me feel much better when telling my students they have free choice concerning the topic of their writing entry. On the very first day we start writing in our journals, we make a "Heart Topics" list on the front page. I draw a big heart on the page and then fill it with a list of all of the things that are important to me and that I love: family, school, church, reading, field trips, family vacations, etc. I explain to my students that when they're writing and they can't think of anything to write about to look back at their Heart Topics list to find something. This seems to help the ones that need a little more instruction and yet allows some of the other ones the freedom to write about a topic of their choosing.

The other thing that "stuck out" in this reading for me was a quote that Jake's mom made on page 133. Hicks talks about his mom being dismayed that "he couldn't read at his own pace" at the beginning of the 3rd grade. She wondered why it mattered that Jake "was reading differently from some of his classmates." This makes me really sad, but at the same time I agree with what she says. I teach 1st grade and I believe in teaching reading on a child's instructional level. I had so many different levels in my classroom this past year- from non-readers, Emergent to 7th grade readers. I had to consolidate because I physically couldn't teach so many different levels. I ended up having 5 flexible reading groups. I assessed, formally and informally, frequently so that children could move within the groups as needed. I wonder, just as Jake's mom, why students can't read at their own pace. I do believe that students need to be exposed to grade level material in any way needed, but in order to make growth, I feel students need to be taught on their instructional level.
Marsha Warren

As I began reading these chapters I was reminded of so many boys that I teach. It occurred to me that maybe this is what happens to boys in the early grades of school and therefore when they get to middle school their attitude about school is completely negative. I have had so many boys especially, like Jake, who seem to have no motivation and no drive to try in school. They have already decided what they are going to do when they are older, and most of them want to do what their dads do. As I have learned in the past few readings, with Laurie and the stories about the boys from Sudan, I have realized that there is so much more involving literacy than we really think. When I first heard of this term, I thought of books and reading and if a child could not read then they were illiterate. But obviously I had this completely wrong. Jake, like many other students, was very literate. He could construct so many things which was mentioned several times in these chapters about how he liked to do centers in kindergarten that involved making things. He worked beside his dad and learned so many things from him, such as heating and air conditioning and race cars and he learned how to use the computer. It also mentioned how he helped build an outdoor swimming pool. I was very impressed when I heard this because he could help out so much at such a young age. However, this is why it was so difficult for him at school. He was seen as a hero at home because of all he could do and all he had been taught. He had a passion for constructing things and working with his hands. It seemed as though when he started school he was limited to what he could do. There was more focus on reading and writing, subjects which were emphasized highly at his home, but the things he read and wrote about were not of interest to him. As a teacher I have noticed how most of the times boys are more disengaged in school than girls. Boys are often filled with energy and like to move around a lot. Sometimes it is hard for them when they get to school because they have to find other outlets for their bottled up energy. Could it be that school is not as engaging for boys? Jake was like Laurie in a lot of ways. They both had positive role models in their home and they both like to imagine things! Laurie, with romance and material things, and Jake with race cars! As teachers we must ensure that all students have a way to express their imaginations. We allow students to write, but what if students are like Jake and call writing "dumb"? As I have been reading over and over, the point that finally came to me was that literacy starts at home with children. It may not start with books and writing, but it takes place where the student child spends the first five years of their life. In the case of Jake, he was allowed some freedom to figure things out on his own, which caused him to learn on his own. He was very curious and his mother was correct when she said he was a fast learner. However, we see too often children such as Jake who can make learning look so easy, but the problem is that they choose what they want to learn. Reading and writing were not important to him unless it was something he could connect with his life at home. This is important for us to understand as teachers. It seems as though school is catered more to the needs of middle-class children. So what do we do about all others? What do we do with the Lauries and Jakes in our classrooms? This is what we have to understand. In my opinion, after all of these readings, learning is something that is innate in everyone. Children are born wanting to learn. So we have to make learning interesting to them, not to mention on their instructional level, in order for them to gain anything! It is completely normal to have a room full of rowdy Jakes in the room. Does that mean they are behavior problems? I have thought so, but maybe they are just trying to express themselves because they are struggling with the task they are trying to complete because they have no connection with it. These chapters about Jake reminded me so much of when I was in the undergraduate Special Education program at Appalachian. For one of my classes I had to research on a topic of my choice and I chose to research on why boys are overrepresented in the special education program. I made a connection with these chapters and my research from several years ago. Boys take a little bit longer to connect with what they are learning. It is almost like you have to find the perfect button in order for them to "get it". It seems easier for girls because girls are raised in a way in the south with the attitude of pleasing people. They are more concerned with pleasing their teachers and boys are wired with energy and need to find outlets to express themselves. Often these boys are recommended to the Special Education programs because it seems as though they lack the skills to learn, but really they are very capable of learning. It is how does what they are learning connect to previous experiences and what goes on at home. Once again I say that teachers must find a way to get to know each and every student in their classroom and also find ways for them to relate to what is being taught!

Katy Dellinger

As I read about Jake I thought of a boy from my own class in respects to writing. He often wanted to tell me stories more than write them on paper. He was a great math student, but did not like to read or write. He loved to work on the farm with his father and knew all about it. So, many times he would come in first thing in the morning with a story to tell. As in most classrooms the morning is a very hectic time, so I would often say Trace put it in your journal. He would let out the most terrible sigh and I would have to say I know, but I can’t talk right at this minute. More often than not, he wouldn’t even write about it in his journal he would write something totally different.

How can we tap into a child’s interest for writing? I have often struggled with this concept. Even when my student could choose his own writing topic he still hated it, unlike Jake. It was very laborious for him. He seemed to get better as the year went along, but not much. I did however open up a thirst for reading in him, but he still seemed to give his parents trouble at home when it came time to read. Why do children change so drastically from school to home? I guess it is what was stated many times in the book; students want to be “good” while they are at school, because that is the expectation.

As I was reading chapter six one statement caught my attention on p. 152. “This is not just the learning of new pedagogies----genre instruction, whole language, guided reading, skill-and-drill----or even the learning of new information about dialects, cultural practices, and injustices. Rather, change also has to entail a moral shift a willingness to open oneself up to the possibility of seeing those who differ from us.” As educators we constantly have to change according to everything that the school system demands of us and some times we loose sight of the students. No matter how many times they change the curriculum we have to still teach those children the best way to reach them. We can’t forget where they came from and what they went through at home. We can’t say I am not going to teach Johnny because he “acts out” in class. We have to embrace each and every student and see past their differences to reach their hearts.

Odessa Scales

As I read through these chapters, I underlined several things that really spoke to me.
First, "Schooling in the primary grades should ideally become a set of opportunities for children to experience new identities connected with textual practices." I read that and I said, "AMEN." I try to practice this idea in my classroom every day. However, some of the children still seem to get lost in the shuffle. Each year, I try to refine this ideal practice and each year I feel I reach more of them more, but I WANT to reach them all. I like to think I am laying the groundwork for some of them who don't seem to "blossom" but I know they will not be getting this kind of classroom in the years to come. So... should I be more traditional and get them ready? I can't work that way. It is a struggle I face each year.
Second, "The stories voiced about us, by those whom we most love and value, shape our identities in ways more powerful than even the most authoritative institutional systems of social regulation." I have mentored several teachers and one of the most important things I try to teach them is "make the parent your friend." It doesn't mean you aren't honest with them, but never discount their advice, knowledge, and assistance. Even if the parent is not what you consider a "good" parent, he or she is still the most important person in that child's life and you need that person on your side if you are going to get the child to trust you. Whenever I conference with a parent, I always tell myself to remember that the parent loves the child and the child loves the parent no matter what I think of the child's home environment. Now, that being said, I have made my share of child protective reports, but the teacher can not alienate the parent or she will never get what she needs from the child.
Third, Nussbaum suggests "much of what we come to know is shaped by relations with concrete others." This speaks to me about the teacher's relationship with the family of the child as well as with the child himself. I have an open door policy and weekly have parents drop by or call. I know I am developing that good relationship with both when I get the phone call that says "I had to tell you that Johnny will not go to bed without brushing his teeth, no matter what I say, because you told him that he had to do that every night." Or a similar phone call. The parent just wants to share a smile about the child, but the child trust me enough to take home and practice what I have taught him.
Fourth, "If educators want to address the dilemmas and needs of students...questions about how we engage... seem highly relevant." So much of what Hicks has written about in this book is addressing the needs of each individual student, particularly the working class child. Getting to know each child and developing a relationship, reaaly getting to know each one, is crucial for any child's success but particulary for children who struggle. As teachers we are so busy and overwhelmed, but we have to try every day to value each child and find out what works for him.
Finally, I thought this last quote was beautiful. "Part of what defines a teaching relationship is that teachers can be moved to action by the particulars of context - of what they see in others, with others." Don't we each feel that heart-swell when we really "see" the child? When they look to you with trust and love and the desire for your praise and support? After all these years of teaching, I still feel that and strive every day to do what I think is best for that one individual child. I still wake up in the night and think "Oh yeah! that is what I need to try tomorrow!" I hope I never become so stoic as to lose that ability to be "moved."
Christy Findley

In chapter 5, I could easily see Jake in his classroom settings of Kindergarten, first- and second-grade. I could see the energetic, physically active and involved little boy building and talking as he told animated stories of Kindergarten adventure. I could also see the same little boy in first-grade sitting in back of the group during story time or other whole group activity finding something, anything else to focus on during that unbearable span of time. It hit home for me I guess because I see it so often. One particular student stands out in my mind as being very similar to Jake. They both had parents who were concerned about his education at school, but could see the intelligences in their child that might could go unrecognized in school. His mom worked in a dr.’s office and his dad worked in construction. He, too, was very involved in his father’s work, riding four-wheelers, camping and riding horses. He tried so hard to participate in classroom activities, more for me than for himself. He wrote stories almost daily about riding four-wheelers, working with his dad, or something along those lines. He always met me with excitement and a smile on his face in the mornings, but I know he LIVED for recess! When I would see his mom, she would always say, “I just don’t know what to do about him. He hates school. He loves you, but he hates school. You know, he’s just all boy!” I actually talked to her just the other day, and this past year (his second-grade year) was no different. Luckily, with support he was able to leave my first grade classroom on grade level, but I can see how a young boy with these same traits (such as Jake) could have a very difficult time in a classroom discourse as opposed to the hands-on, more physically involved discourse of home.

I also thought, of course, about my own son. Although he enjoys nothing more than being outside, he didn’t quite fit the picture of Jake. I know our situation is a little different than that of Jake’s family, but not all that much. I was thinking while I read that with one subject as a sample in Hick’s research, the mold really didn’t fit all the boys you would find in working-class homes. I hoped that people wouldn’t take her research as a generalization, or stereotype of these boys. That was a point she later brought up, though. In chapter 6 she refers to Mike Rose’s (1989) Lives on a Boundary, and states his understanding that looking at the particulars in the lives of those we study, or write, or read about could lead to stereotypes instead of overall moral understanding. Her point being that we can not look at all students or situations of students the same. They all have different histories they bring with them, and we have to look at each one as individually unique.

This passage from chapter 6 stood out to me.
“All moments of language use occur with others who give voice to culturally specific language practices. A spoken word or written text is uttered (or written) in response to some other—a particular speaker, a text previously encountered, words appearing in the media, an imaginary listener.”
She goes on to say that therefore any language act is multi-vocal, being influenced by every past experience of that person. That was intriguing, and so true! How many times have we all caught ourselves saying things that were said to us before, whether it was yesterday or as children? We are a culmination of everyone we come into contact with, and we pass on those experiences to some extent to everyone we meet. That is really something to think about. What kind of influence do I want to have on those I meet? What part of me will I leave behind with someone else through the language I engage in with them?

Marcia Smith

Okay, I know that the title has little to do with the chapter on the surface, but I will make the connection. There were several "ah-hah" moments for me as I read this section. I will start with the one as a mother.

I have been blessed with a unique opportunity as a mother. Not only do I have the opportunity to see the lives of little girls as they grow and learn, but I also have had the chance to see this (at least the beginnings) several times now. It is kind of like my own little study. :)

One of the the most obvious things that I have noticed with my girls is that they are NOT just alike. One would think with six females (especially containing one set of identical twins) that you would have a couple that were alike. However, I have learned that, while there are similarities, they all have unique ways of approaching things.

For the sake of time I won't go into more than just this one connection with them. My first daughter began life wide open academically. She spoke her first word at five and a half months and was reading by three. She hit the doors of kindergarten as a four year old and never looked back. School was her thing. She knew the rules almost innately and played the game well. I don't mean to imply that she hasn't had issues, but she has always seemed to know what to do.

My second daughter (only just over a year younger) is a very bright child as well. However, she is more reserved. She is more "tomboy" in nature and albeit loving and kind cares little for what others want her to do. She often doesn't even notice what the "rules" of interaction are. She began school and did well academically but alway seemed to struggle with being there. She has since learned to cope with the way school works and has had many successes. I have often wondered though how two children raised in the same household could have such different experiences when it wasn't really an intellect issue. Then I read this section and it hit me.

My second daughter had a different set of rules in her own head. Her discourse was rough and wild. She was hands on and questioning. She was the take-it-apart, figure-it-out, "boy" kind of girl. While this is not at all bad, she wasn't the typical girl in the classroom and teachers (as well as other students) had a hard time figuring out how to take her. She didn't know how to deal with the drama that often follows girls (especially socially) in school. This served as a struggle for her--academically and socially. Just as Jake, although a very bright kid in his own right, had a hard time playing the game of school at times, she had to acclimate as well. As much as we try as teachers to not have preconceived notions, I think we do (especially in regard to gender). These thoughts affect our students if for no other reason that it can influence our interactions with them.

This led me to think about my own students. After reading this book, I would LOVE to have the time and opportunity to learn as much about my students as was learned about these two children. I knew that different children brought different things into the classroom, but I don't know that I had ever thought about just how different the discources were. How many times over the years has my notion of what school is and how things should work prevented a child's success simply because their "rules" were different? It has definitely given me something to thing about as I prepare for the new school year!

Christy Laws

I chose Roaming in for my title because once Jake had completed Kindergarten and had proceeded on to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, he was just "roaming." Jake was there physically in the classroom but not mentally. For example, during DEAR (1st grade) time he would just wonder around the room or kind of hideout out of sight. When being asked to read or write he would usually respond on how the text was to difficult and he could not understand, yet alone write it. To me that is the first sign as a teacher that some sort of modification should have been made. It is apparent that he is a very smart boy. We see that when Hick's discusses his literacy discourse at home, along with his boyhood discourse. He learns through action, as many children do. As a teacher I need to learn to cater to this need better. But I sometimes wonder how you should do this in reading? I am a huge believer or integrating texts among different subject. As did one of Jake's teachers with a science unit. "Without the acceptance within the classroom walls of students' primary discourses, ethnically diverse and poor and working-class students are faced with the challenge of appropriating language practices and values that may seem unfamiliar or unwanted (pg. 113)." This statement really hit home to me. Acceptance of our students beliefs and values of all class types is key to being a successful as a teacher along with helping ALL students succeed! Including the working-class population and or other ethnically depressed groups.

While reading chapter 5 stuck out to me the most. I kept thinking of people in my own family. The first person that came to mind was my papaw. He quiet school when he was only in 6th grade. To this day the only thing he can write is his name. The only thing he can read is his name. The reason for quieting school was to help out on the farm. But, back then that was ok. Now at 68 years old he wants me to teach him to read and write. In my eyes my papaw is one of the smartest men I know. This men has experienced some of the hardest times anyone will ever see. Even though he did not have an education he made something of himself. Even though he is very sick, he still continues to get up and go work 14 hour days running a bull-dozer or pan, or taking care of his cattle on his farm. He was driven.

I'm not saying education is not important. I am saying anyone can make something of themselves no matter what. The family he came from was dirt poor and they too made something of themselves. But it took work, courage, and faith in themselves that they too would succeed one day. I want my students to know this. But at times it is hard to keep them interested. Just as Jake said, "I hate school!" How do we help turn that hate into love?

Jake reminds me of a student that I had several years ago. He loved dirt bikes and cars. He was from a working class family. He didn’t plan on going to “college, college” (as he put it) but maybe a school for mechanics. He didn’t need to do all that stuff. He was smart, but lacked all interest in school. He would sit there staring at the wall at times. He would pretend to read during any free time or sit and draw. I struggled because here sat this boy that I couldn’t reach. I couldn’t let it go. I tried to pick out books that were related to cars and dirt bikes. He read them and loved to share the connections he made, but he HATED, HATED writing and HATED school much like Jake. I tried different ideas and topics throughout the year to engage him. He already had modifications sense he was learning disabled, but really that wasn’t the key. The key was how to peak his interest. SO I decided I wanted to use various picture books to teach a little about the civil rights movement and develop an empathy project. We read Rosa, Martin’s Big Words, The Other Side, Freedom on the Menu, and Show Way in various groups. They discussed the books in their groups and shared pictures and important ideas. This students’ group read Giovanni’s Rosa. I was surprised at how empathetic he reacted to the story. He was angry for Rosa and the way she was treated. We had been discussing empathy recently and he was very adamant that people should be treated equally and respected. I had them create a visual reaction to the story it could be a picture, a model, a collage, anything visual as long as they could articulate how it related to their story. This child was beaming with excitement when he came in. He had spent four hours constructing a Lego model of the bus that Rosa rode that day. In a brief paragraph, he articulated his frustrations at why someone wouldn’t want to sit next to another person just because of their color. He was proud. I finally got him passionate about what he read. By allowing him to create something as a response, he was in his mechanical, hands on mode. I allowed him to be successful and triumph in class. That was what he needed. In the project that followed. They had to research a social injustice. He chose child marriage. He was angry and spent several days, which was very unlike him, working with me after school to get it just right. I was so impressed. In a very unexpected way I connected with him. That is so key and that was the connection that Jake needed. Reading this further confirmed for me the values I place on developing relationships and making connections with my students.

Amy Hardister