Our America: Life and Death On The South Side Of Chicago

The story is told by LeAlan Jones. He grew up very poor but with lots of hope. In his jounal he talked about the neighborhood of which he lived. He described broken glass on the street, abandoned buildings, grass srowing out of the cement, broken windows, and even some abandoned churches. Violence was also prevalent in his neighborhood. It spoke about it as if it was if it happened on a daily basis. LeAlan and his sibkling lived with his grandmother. His mother was mentally ill and was not able to take care of him and his sisters. His older sister, 17 years old, already has a baby. This type of lifestyle can either spoil your dreams or inspire you to do better. In LeAlan's case, he is inspired to beat the odds. I really didn't know what poor was until I read these journal entries. This article has brought me to be more appreciative of what God has blessed me with. Also it has enlightened me to consider where my students might come from. There may be some students like LeAlan in my class. I could be his hope. Not only do teachers provide instruction for success but they also provide hope. As teachers it is important to realize the potential that some of our students may have. It is our job to help our students reach his full potential.

Fantasy and Storytelling: Children at Play

This article/story is a reflection on the author, Harry Crew's childhood. He "grew up in Georgia the son of a poor farmer." He and his friends Willalee and Lottie Mae spend all of their free time looking at the Sears catalog, or what they have named the 'magic book.' They do more than look at toys longingly. They take the models and create incredible stories about them. Harry and Willalee begin by opening the catalog to a random page, where they study the model. Then, they open to another random page and beging coming up with a story involving both of the models. The story they came up with in this article was about a dad that had an elaborate plot to kill the man that was dating his one and only daughter. He didn't trust him because he wore a fancy suit. Harry and Willalee said that men in suits couldn't be trusted and this particular one was a theif and that is why the girl's father had to get rid of him.
The time spent with the Sears catalog was very important for these children. Not only did they use it to get away from their lives on the farm, but they also used it to cement a lot of their feelings about the outside world. When they said the man in the suit couldn't be trusted they were expressing their fears and anxieties about people outside of their social class and used these stories to reinforce those ideas. I guess I never really examined the meaning behind
the things children imagine, but this one seemed pretty straightforward. I remember pretending, like most girls do, to be a mommy. I think the most important part is what we do when we're playing mommy. I would always clean or cook becuase that's what my mother did, but I'm sure it was very different for other girls. They might have gone shopping when they were playing mommy because that's what they think moms do.
The way these children used pictures of models they knew nothing about to create backgrounds and plots for each of them shows a real transformation from the sensorimotor child. A child that is still tring to grasp basic concepts like causality could not begin to invent such in depth narratives. This really sets them apart and shows their cognitive development. It also shows their views on punishment. Because they believe a man is untrustworthy and probably steals, they believe he should be shot. They want the worst punishment they can think of for him.
I could probably use this in my classroom to take a closer look at children's stories if they have a writing assignment and really examine what the characters in thier stories represent and how they solve their conflicts.

The Spatial Child

I read The Spatial Child chapter and enjoyed it. This particular child named John Dixon was not a good reader in the first grade. All of his classmates could read aloud and he did not understand why he could mot put letters into spoken words. John looked at his classmates as if they were co conspirators, simply because they were understanding something that he could not grasp. His teacher wanted to hold him back in the first grade and John was scared. The teacher made a deal with John mother that if she gives him special instruction in reading for the whole summer semester that he could advance to the third grade. John began to enjoy reading even though he read very slow. He would rush through test and reading drills just so he would not be the last one in the class to finish. John began to show that he had another type of intelligence. He was really good at constructing models of buildings and excellent at math. When John got to high school he was actually taking advance algebra classes. John states that as a child his teachers would always say that in his mind "Still water runs deep." He did not understand what this meant but as he got older he realized that he just had a different intelligence than most others and that he would just have to excel in the logical mathematical portions of school. I believe that this chapter shows that some children are considered slow learners or maybe even learning disabled when in fact they are just very talented in other ways. Children need to be tested in all areas on intelligence. I learned that calling on some students to read aloud in the classroom can be very embarrassing if they feel inadequate. I do believe that John's teacher did the right thing by having a special meeting with his mother and getting her involved in his learning how to read.

A Young Boy Becomes Man of the House cont.

I plan on taking this story into my classroom because it will remind me of all the different home situations that my students are going through. In my classroom I want my students to be able to act their age and enjoy themselves the way they might not get to at home. I do want to push my students to do their bests, but I don't want them to lose themselves in the process.

A Young Boy Becomes Man of the House

In A Young Boy Becomes Man of the House, author Russell Baker describes his life after his father dies unexpectedly at a young age. His mother, after realizing that she will not be able to depend on an ex-boyfriend to take care of her family and her children's college, decides that she will have to make Russell "the man of the family." At the ripe old age of 8 years old, Russell is pushed to do things like "the man of the family" would. He has to get a job and put some of his earnings in savings and some for household expenses. He has to dress, go to church, and treat women like a gentleman. He was also punished like a man whenever he did something wrong. His mother would unnecessarily beat him because he wouldn't cry and therefore, as she thought, he didn't feel remorse for what he had done wrong. No matter how mad his mother made him or pushed him, he loved his mother.
This was a very interesting story. It was also kind of hard for me to relate to. I don't know what it is like to live in a single-parent home or to have to grow up fast like Russell Baker did. I did have to work as soon as I was old enough to have to pay for my own things, which I honestly didn't mind and I'm actually very glad that I did. It has made me into a better person I feel like. However, in this story, I just feel like 8 years old is way to early for a child to have to grow up. I feel like he missed a lot of his childhood by having to become "the man of the family." It honestly makes me sad that this little 8 year old boy had to become so responsible and demanded upon.

Madeleine's First Months of Life

"Madeleine's First Months of Life" by Brian Hall discusses the development of reflexes, language, and imagination throughout the sensorimotor stage of development. This article also discuses Madeleine's reactions to her environment. Upon birth, Madeleine had just a few reflexes, such as the ability to suck on objects placed in her mouth, grasp objects tightly in her hands, and move her limbs around. As she developed she gained the ability to recognize sounds, especially her mother and father's voices and see for longer distances. Madeleine also began to interact with her environment, especially when placed in front of a mirror by her father. In the first month of life she would recognize her father's reflection in the mirror, but by the second month of life Madeleine was able to recognize her reflection in the mirror and preferred to do so. Hall thought that this was a result of familiarity and simplicity in her face.

Madeleine's beginning speech consisted of "the easiest sounds to produce; the vowel sound ah; the labial consonants p, b, and m; and the tongue taps t and d." It was also at this time that she began tapping objects or creating a rhythm to vocalization. As she continued her language her autonomy increased. By nineteen months, Madeleine developed words to represent objects. For example, "Ba-bo" meant diaper to her and "Ch" meant chair. She also began to say "Daddy" instead of "Dada." Madeleine also communicated to those changing her diaper through her laughs and movements. Also, during a diaper change she insisted that the person changing the diaper also change her baby doll's diaper. If a step was missed she would yell the missed step until it was completed. For example, one day when Hall was changing a diaper, he missed the step of cleaning the doll's bottom. Madeleine immediately said "Bukreh!" Hall then took the diaper off and cleaned the doll's bottom.

Also, during sensorimotor development, Madeleine began to use her imagination. While playing with a wooden car in the living room she would often pretend that it was the car her parents drove around town by saying "Brrm!" as she pushed it across the floor. By sixteen months she was used her imagination with her baby doll. At meal time she would force her doll into a cardboard cylinder, which represented a highchair, and then feed the doll in a similar manner of which she was fed. By doing this she pretended to the be the caregiver to her doll as her parents were to her.

Upon reading "Madeleine's First Months of Life" I was able to reflect back to my toddler days and remember how I often imagined things. For example I always had an imaginary friend everywhere I went. Her name was Stacey. Everything I did, Stacey did. Everything I got, Stacey got. By having "Stacey" as an imaginary friend I was practicing the same idea of "caretaker" as Madeleine. It was my responsibility to make sure "Stacey" had everything she needed, as my mother and father did for me. Also, "Stacey" allowed me to never be left alone, something I was extremely afraid of.

As an elementary school teacher I will have children who use their imagination in multiple aspects. I will also be able to see how their imaginations change and develop throughout each school year as they grow and mature. Also, I will be able to assist my students in language development by teaching them new words, correct spelling, and correct grammar. I will also continue to education of communication with others. It will be my responsibility to increase my students ability to imagine things and communicate with others. Also, I will be able to assist my students in learning how to interact with the different environments. I plan to teach my students how to act with adults versus with their friends; how they should act at home versus how they should act a school. This will help them to better understand that there are different environments in our world and each environment has different behavior. It is my ultimate responsibility as an early childhood educator to continue students language development, imagination, and environmental interactions.

Angela's Ashes: Memoir of a Childhood

Many teachers encounter moments that affect his or her outlook on teaching and life. Many children encounter poverty and hardships that can affect performance in life. In particular, Frank McCourt gives a brief account of his families struggle through poverty, alcoholism, and emotional distress in "Angela's Ashes: Memoir of a Childhood." Growing up in Ireland at four years can be a diffuclt time. A father can be the most important person to a young boy. Frank considers his father like the "Holy Trinity," the persons in one. He is someone that reads to him, recites stories at night, and one who does the "bad thing." Franks father cared for his family deeply(Frank,Franks Mother, Franks brother Malachy, and younger twins); however, he did have a problem with alcohol. He is the only source for his families income. The first weeks his family eats, but after the third they are hungry Druring the fourth week Franks father does not return home, and Frank his forced to search town for his father. His mother is torn, as she searches for food and her husband. Frank has to enter bars an inquire patrons of his father. After having to credit more money for food, Frank and his family returns home. His father later loses his job.
Many children today, have had difficult moments during their childhood. They are forced to be parents, sisters, and brothers. I believe that frank,at his age, possessed love and strength that many children havent acquired at the age of four. When children are put in a classroom, they are expected to provide knowledge at the end of the year. Everyday children have obstacles to deal with just as adults. I now understand that children have to tackle everyday stress and then try not to associate that stress with school. I feel that Frank was the type of child that no only understood life from a bad aspect, but he also attained more knowledge through school. Many students may not have knowledge that can be assessed by a pen and paper. For example, I may have a child in my classroom that visualy understand the material. This child may have stress at home that I may not know about. However, it is my job to get to know that child as a person.

Sibling Rivalry, Sibling Love

In "Sibling Rivalry, Sibling Love", Nancy Samalin and Catherine Whitney reassure parents about the causes and effects of sibling rivalry. Many parents worry that fighting leads to hatred, but they use funny stories to illustrate just the opposite. Children enjoy fighting with each other and are "often having the time of their lives bickering and plotting and, finally, loving each other." They also do a wonderful job relating the fear and anxiety a child must feel when a new child arrives to a husband bringing home a new spouse. Samalin and Whitney also discuss the different things siblings fight over which mostly boil down to fairness. They see any subtle differences between the the way they are spoken to or the things they receive as acts of favoritism. Many times though, their fighting has no reason at all, sometimes it's just kids being kids.

I couldn't help but laugh at everything in this article because as a sister and a mother of two I can relate to each of the points they make. I think the main point of the article is to let everyone know that this behavior is completely normal. I can already see a lot of sibling rivalry in my children and it often worries me, but this article made me think a lot about fighting with my younger brother and how harmless it really was. It gave me a lot of perspective and I think it might help me loosen up a little when my kids are fighting over the same ball even though we have three of them. It's just part of being a sibling.

I also think I will be more lenient with my students and let them work through their problems a little before intervening because I see that a little disagreement can be both normal and productive in the right situation. Our textbook states that "Piaget identified social interaction as one of the major variables that facilitate cognitive development." Fighting with their peers and giving rational supporting arguments shows their shift from egocentrism in the preoperational stage to concrete operations. So, I believe this article is a great example of the way children relate to their siblings.

Coping With Attention - Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder by Ann Colin

What a wonderful essay. Authored by Ann Colin, the mother of four year old Willie, this essay vividly depicts the behavior of how difficult it is to deal with children with ADHD. Ann describes in details, some of the behavior problems that she and his preschool teachers have experienced with Willie. Willie has a terrible time follow the rules of the house and the classroom. Neither does he have any sense of negotiation. His behaviour is so disrupting, the preschool teachers recommended that Mrs. Colin hire a graduate student to "shadow " him.
Willie's parents realizes that the medicine prescribed ( Dexedrine) does not seem to be working, they seek the help of a cognitive therapist. The objectivity of therapy is to stretch Willie's tolerance of frustration. After months of therapy and hard work on Willie's behalf, Willie is ready to graduate. His parents and therapist were very proud of him.

I am most fasicnated with what goes on the brain of a child with ADHD. I often wonder what driving force prevents them from seeing the world as others do. This curiosity has driven me to start preliminary research on children with ADHD. As teachers, we will have our very Willie one day. It is important to search for ways of dealing with children with ADHD. Through this article, I have realized how important it is to be patient as Mrs. Colin were. Also, it is just as important to be firm and stand my ground as a concerned teacher. I hope that my research will give me more insight on how to deal with children with ADHD.

Handed My Own Life

"Handed My Own Life" by Annie Dillard describes the parental involvement and interest in activities, acquired knowledge of the child, and final work productions of their daughter, Annie. Dillard's parents were very interested in drawings and poetry written by Dillard herself at an early age. Her work as a young child received many "oohs and ahhs" from both her mother and father. Later in her adolescent years, when Dillard became interested in playing hockey, discovering amoeba through a microscope, and observing and studying various objects under a microscope her parents were not interested in the final products and the moments of "Mom and Dad come look at this!" were acknowledged but dismissed by her parents. Through out her adolescent years, Dillard's parents continued to hold little interest in her readings, homework, tests, collections (ranging from rocks to animals), and her ability to play the piano. Despite the lack of interest in Dillard's enjoyments in life, her parents provided her with the tools and other necessities to fulfill her enjoyment. Dillard realized she was responsible for herself in life after her parents continued to sit and converse over coffee one evening instead of visiting her new discovery, amoeba. Dillard had indeed been handed her own life to plan day in and day out due to the disinterest demonstrated towards her interest and enjoyments in life by her parents.


Reading this essay allowed me to realize the luxury of life I encountered as a child. My parents were always there for everything throughout my life-school, sports, and "detective work." Anytime I asked my parents to do something or see something one or the other would indeed do so. It was not until college that I had my life handed to me. Upon graduation of high school my parents handed my life to me, allowing me to make my own decisions and began being more responsible for my finances. I am know planning and fulfilling my life, as Dillard did as an adolescent.


"Handed My Own Life" by Annie Dillard allowed me to see the importance of observing and discussing children's discovers, activities, and work with them. It allows students to expand their minds, remain committed, persistent, creative, and enthusiastic about their personal enjoyments in life and educations. Although some children may come from backgrounds similar to that of Dillards, I hope to set a different tone in my classroom by not handing my students their lives at such a diligent age. It is my desire to remain interested at all times in what my students say, do, and have in my classroom. I aim to be a teacher of understanding, question, concern, and enthusiasm for my students and their involvements, while presenting ideas and concepts to be discovered in an understandable manner. By teaching in this manner I will be able to continue to guide my students lives and better educate them.

Prepetual Motion: A Curious Baby

For my blog, I read Prepetual Motion: A Curious Baby. This essay consisted of a mother, author Anne Lamott, journaling about her son Sam and his growth. Throughout the essay, Lamott talked about how much Sam had grown and the different things that he was doing at the time. For example, she talked about when he began sitting up on his own, crawling on his own, occupying himself while playing in the play pen, climbing stairs, remembering places, and dancing. Not only did Lamott talk about Sam's new developments, but she also talked about how she felt as a mother.
Reading this essay reminded me of myself watching my own child grow. It is crazy how fast they grow and how quickly you forget how your child was when they were born. When Lamott talked about when Sam first had incounters with the bathroom, she said that he was simply amazed. Later, she said that he automatically knew what the bathroom was at that he liked the bath tub. To me, this is proof that he had clearly had a schema for bathroom/bathtub and that he liked it, so every time he saw it, after reviewing his file card on bathroom/bathtub, he remembered that he liked it. This is a very early example of how schema is used throughout the developmental stages. When I become a teacher, I hope to use examples like this to understand schema and personal cognitive growth to incorporate in my classroom. I want to take into consideration how children learn and understand things at the particular stage that they are in. I also want to present things to them in a way for them to understand and remember the information that I am giving them.

Mollie In Preschool

The essay that I read was titled "Mollie In Preschool" by Vivian Gussin Paley. The essay is in most parts the words of a preschooler named mollie. She is involving herself in a lot of imaginary or symbolic play in her classroom on this particualr day that the author is observering. Mollie pretends to be lots of different characters such as a wet butterfly, wonderwoman, the big bad wolf, one of the three pigs etc. This symbolic play falls right into the preoperational thought stage of life that Piaget discovered. Preoperational stage is known to between the ages of 2 and seven. I know from my personal experience with having a 3 year old son that with out his imagination life would not be as interesting to him. Even though he may be playing with a small toy, there is a big scene taking place in his imagination. Mollie uses a lot of assimilation in her symbolic play. At one point during the essay Mollie is combining the characters of 4 stories, "The Mushroom in the Rain", "The Three Pigs", Hansel and Gretel", and "Wonderwoman". Mollie assimulates all of these stories and makes up her own individual imaginary play. When becoming a teacher i will be able to know how to comunicate with the young children by drawing them pictures and allowing them to use their imagination to assimulate old things they have learned and new things a want to introduce to them. This will help my young students broadened knowledge of those old ideas

Posting 1, Essay Reflections

Having read your essay, post at least one entry on the chosen essay consisting of one well-developed paragraph summarizing the essay and a well developed reflection on what the essay means to you.

What connections did you find between your life experiences and the essay text? How does the essay relate to cognitive, affective and language development? How can you relate the ideas from the essay to your future classroom teaching? What commonalities do you find between your essay and the reflections of other students?