I sat in on a 2nd grade language arts lesson. The teacher has been incorporating National Women�s Appreciation into her lessons by focusing on extraordinary women that had overcome insurmountable circumstances to do great things for America. Mrs. Cruise began by showing black and white photos of Eleanor Roosevelt. The pictures showed Eleanor as a child, with her family, with pets, doing hobbies, going to prep-schools, having a coming out party, getting married, being with her own children, and being seen as a great supporter for her husband�s presidential campaign. Mrs. Cruise explained a little about Eleanor and then told the students she wanted them to get to know Eleanor as a child and get a glimpse of her childhood experiences. The children were amazed of the hardships that a child of a wealthy family had endured. The opening line of the story set up a depressed feeling. It said that, ��from the beginning the baby was a disappointment to her mother. She was born red and wrinkled, an ugly little thing. And she was not a boy.� It went on to tell how Eleanor�s mother called her names in front of their friends telling them how funny and old-fashioned looking she was. I noticed how some of the children just looked in disbelief with their mouths open. It didn�t seem as if the book would ever hit a high note: Eleanor�s mother dies when she is eight, although her father adored her, he was an alcoholic and was unable to care for her so she and her two brothers moved to live with her grandmother who didn�t show much affection. Her youngest brother then dies; another year later her father dies. At the age of 15, her grandmother sent her to Europe so that she could attend one of the finest prep schools in the country. It was at that point that Eleanor experienced life with love and acceptance. After the reading, Mrs. Cruise had the children get with their book buddies to discuss the book. She had them focus on the question, �Imagine you are Eleanor, how would be feeling as a small child?� I chose to report on the reactions of Charlie. She and her book buddy first dialogued. Charlie: I think I�d be really lonely. Buddy: Yea, me too. How can a mom not like her own kid? Charlie: I get real lonely all the time. Buddy: I wish I could get time to be lonely. I have 3 sisters and a brother. There�s never any quiet in our house except when we sleep. But I�m asleep when it�s quiet so I don�t get to remember enjoying it. Charlie: You�re silly. I kind of think I�m like Eleanor. My mom�s not dead, but me and my brother live with my grandma. Buddy: Where�s you�re mom? Charlie: She�s in jail. She�s been there since I was in kindergarten. I don�t know when she gets to get out. My grandma says is will be a long time. Buddy: What did she do? Charlie: Drugs. I guess she didn�t love us either. When you love your kids, you shouldn�t do bad things that will hurt them. Eleanor�s mom use to call her names and that made her feel ashamed. I�m ashamed that I have a mom that does bad things. Buddy: Man, does your grandma like kids? Charlie: Sure. She�s great. I guess I�m lucky for that. Buddy: Yea! The dialogue went on and they even ventured off into conversation that didn�t relate or link to the assignment but there was definitely higher order thinking occurring. I was somewhat amazed at how Charlie was able to relate her experiences to Eleanor�s. I believe Charlie used an aesthetic stance because she focused on how Eleanor must have felt by relating to her own personal feelings dealing with her mother. Charlie used higher order thinking while using a reflective process to make meaning from the text. She stated how her own mother must not have loved her because, ��she did bad things that took her away.� She said that if parents loved their children they wouldn�t do bad things. For Charlie, her personal experiences greatly influenced her understanding of the text. Her own life parallels Eleanor�s childhood in so that both were motherless at an early age, Eleanor due to her mother�s death, Charlie because her mother is in prison. Both girls had a sense of being ashamed and unloved. Eleanor�s mother calling her names in front or their socialite friends, also being left out of shared reading time that her brothers had with their mother. Charlie�s shame came from having people know her mom is in jail and feeling unloved because of her mother�s actions. Charlie is a bright child. Activities such as the reading response really give her a forum to dialogue her thinking process. She does journal, but at this age level what she internalizes and voices isn�t reflected in her writing abilities. Her journal entry simply read: �I feel lonely like Eleanor. Her mother didn�t love her and then she died. My mother did something bad is away in jail.� With continued reading reflections and journal writing experiences, Charlie will grow and mature in her writing abilities. |