I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea of the rhetoric of
help and an inquiry project based on that.
I’ve been working to get a summer reading program I was asked start in
my children’s school into a community center that serves the majority of our
school’s 48% free and reduced lunch population.
If I'm honest with myself, I assumed that the center needed my white, middle class, Phd holding “help”
to make sure the children had access to the reading program.
I’ve exchanged e-mails and even met with the two folks who
run it face to face. In all of these
communications, both have seemed really excited about the idea. And yet, they have yet to respond to my
offers to come to the center and run regularly scheduled “read-ins” over the
summer.
Today, I was running a poorly attended read-in at a local
business (also interested in “helping.”)
I chose, The Fire Cat to read
when kids got tired of reading on their own and as a book for critical
discussion. I was struck by the way
Pickles the cat didn’t WANT to live in Ms. GoodKind’s house. He liked his barrel. Her house was too small. He had big paws and wanted to do BIG things.
Ms. GoodKind meant well.
She really wanted to “help.” But
she underestimated Pickles. She slotted
him into the “bless your heart, let me give you a better bed and better food” column instead
of the “this soul will do great things” column at first.
So this has me pondering . . . how am I coming at this reading program thing
as Ms. GoodKind?
..."this soul will do great things..." This phrase from your post has me thinking about how I see my own students in my classroom. For the most part, I think that this is the image I carry. However, I know there are times I slip...especially when it comes to dealing with the way standardization (in the form of assessing) circulates in and around us.
ReplyDeleteOMG!!! I LOVE the way you are weaving your summer book reading story with analysis of the The Fire Cat!
ReplyDelete@Tony thinking that it's this reflection, this noticing that we aren't in one column or the other, that they are blurry, that well helps us see the blurry, I guess.