Report from the field

Walking into my old elementary school nothing seemed the same. Not only were my memories of the brand new building gone but also so was the shiny appearance it once held. The school has not only changed in the physical sense, the student population has also completely transformed. A school that was once largely upper middle class kids is now filled with students on free or reduced lunch who have no support at home. Even in my mom’s kindergarten classroom it is easy to separate the haves from the have-nots. Kindergarten has not changed much from the constant chaos, but amidst it all learning is much further pushed. As I first run an activity with small groups, the focus was not only on being able to read their worksheet but also to comprehend what was on it in order to answer the questions. While some kids blew threw it answering comparison questions such as “the ice cream is white as ______” (yes we were also giving these children ice cream before their 10:15 lunch period), others could not even distinguish the line that they were to write their names on. This wide range of reading levels came out again later in the day. Reading to larger groups, those who had been able to read and comprehend the worksheet earlier in the morning were more engaged and interested in the small books I read to them while the others got distracted and were disinterested.

 

While I knew I would witness this discrepancy in the schools, I was saddened to see how early the gap starts. These kids are already being funneled into reading level groups, which will allow those with already high levels to escalate quickly while those who are struggling may feed off of each other, and only minimally build on their reading level. It is a sad cycle that creates a widening gap as kids escalate through the grades. Many teachers are working to minimize this. One method that they do at the elementary school where my mom works involves volunteers coming in and reading one on one with kids in the lower reading groups. I was able to get involved with this at the end of the day. By reading with a few of the kids I was able to help them sound out words and work through what they don’t know while also creating a dialogue about what we were reading. Obviously kindergarteners are not reading or having read to them such complex books that there are intense things to be learned. Nonetheless, I believe the personal read along that we did do will help these lower level kids to push through in the future and hopefully continue reaching beyond their reading level in order to lesson the gap between themselves and some of their more well off classmates. 

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcxxb8TGANI&feature=youtu.be

 

Adapting Language

When I first began reading Feed I was tripped up by the occasional “like” that was thrown in with the other teenage language. I read the language as the author’s attempt at making the teens, sound like teens. As I continued abbreviations flooded in such as “meg” for which I can assume mega and other very the likes which context clues had to be used to decode this somewhat abbreviated language. Again, I assumed the author was imprinting a young feel to the teen language of which readers would have fun with. Soon though I found that there was much more depth to this language. It did not represent just teens but all living in this time of the “feed”. This futuristic book showed how a false utopia could alter down to even the way we communicate. When parents first entered after the original jolted feed they even spoke as immaturely as the teens. Short speak was used and I realized this was not the way of the teens but rather a result of the technology, they were speaking how they m-chatted. 

This new structure of speech was not all that I noticed about the language in the book though. As the issue of appropriateness has risen several times throughout the class, I could not help but question it for this book as well. I still cannot pin down quite what age group should read this book. While I found it interesting and potentially enlightening to teens, the language used so casually seems beyond what I know at least my parents would find appropriate. But, yet again, perhaps the author is just pushing to the future. As teens today get more and more worldly at a young age with their language and their actions, so places the advancement of these teens in the far future. 

Strength and Knowledge

Becoming Naomi Leon is a good contrast to Bud, Not Buddy. Bud is immediately catapulted into adulthood and stuck analyzing how adults act as well as dealing with loss in his life. The rules Bud disperses through the novel show the knowledge he has gained as a result of his mother’s early death. Bud did not have anyone protecting him from growing up too fast and had to learn on his own. On the other hand, Naomi has family members protecting her childhood and attempting to prevent her from growing up too early. At many points in the novel her issues are more similar to those a normal child faces rather than Bud’s protecting his only belongings. 

This made me question which is more appropriate for a child. While obviously a child deserves to be naive and young, keeping things hidden can cause resentment like Naomi had when she learned the truth. With the differences in how Naomi and Bud learned about the hard times in their life, both showed great strength. This young strength seems to be a theme in much of children’s literature. Coraline exhibited strength as she won her parents back, Alice showed courage in the mysterious Wonderland pushing through adventures, and even Max in Where the Wild Things Are dreaming of a wild land full of scary creatures. The progression of strength in the imaginary to strength in reality mirrors the intended audience’s age progression. While Max exhibits courage in his dreams and Alice in an imaginary world, these novels are intended for a younger audience. Bud, Not Buddy and Becoming Naomi Leon are both meant for slightly older kids and thus are written about a more specific reality. 

Playing with Words, a Play on Words

Beginning to read The Phantom Tollbooth I was concerned with how well this book reached children. From my own experiences reading to children and listening to them read aloud I have seen numerous examples of skimming over words they don’t know or buzzing through a chapter only to have no comprehension of what was just read. This was the difficulty I experienced at the start of Juster’s book. Then came Dictionopolis and my opinion of the book began to grow as the complexity unfolded into wisdom. Milo’s interactions and exploration showed this dynamic side of words that children are not normally exposed to in the classroom. Words are no longer just letters typed on a page to learn but rather a gateway into a greater world in which the possibilities are endless.

Juster begins this way, by giving children just a taste of all that can be done with words and the fun that can be had. Learning new words becomes this great game and even a way to excel as the King gives Milo his dictionary as protection for a treacherous journey. Words in Dictionopolis are life. They add color and fun into everything done and this adds a certain playfulness that is also educationally based to the book. I see great importance in what Juster does here and it relates to the book from childhood I have written on, Anne of Green Gables. Both books use obtuse vocabulary that children would never hear before and likely not know but in such a way that the meaning can be deduced and excitement to learn more can occur.

Juster does not only play with expansive vocabulary. Words and phrases are flip-flopped around through much of the book. This causes children to slow down and listen to what is being said as well as think a little deeper. While, for example, (when speaking of a bucket of water) “from an ant’s point of view it’s a vast ocean, from an elephant’s just a cool drink, and to a fish, of course, it’s home.” this is a fun word play it is also something to think about. Everyone has a different perspective on things while still all being right and this is a great lesson for children to learn. There are many examples of these quick snippets that Milo is told that can actually be projected as great lessons for the children reading the book. Overall, this book seems much on the surface a fun and playful children’s book but if you take a closer look there is much depth and thought put into it that can really foster a child’s reading ability and passion for language.