After an auction, some students will feel overwhelmed because they got caught up in theaction and spent most or all of their money.
I like that there is a list of questions to help students reflect on how they spent their money, I think this will be really helpful!
upply and demand
I like that they tie in this concept, but again why an auction? that's not how people are get their needs and wants most of the time.
Bankers:
explain how banks work, not just about how to be a bank teller.
Police Officers:
... maybe explain to students to make sure they are being fair and not giving tickets out willy nilly. explain the real life implications of the justice system.
e their “clients.”
I feel like classroom economy might start a hierarchy within the classroom, so I think it's important to discuss all those issues when using this program.
start with the least-requested jobs
I like that they give you suggestions to make the process faster and easier.
If you like to include your students in creating class rules and policies,
I think it is definitely important to make sure that students are a part of making the rules and expectations for the classroom economy, you could hold elections too, make the classroom a democracy where every students feels they have a voice.
Explain how they canask for such a letter from a previous year’s teacher.
I feel like this should've been at the beginning of the document, I had asked a question about this in an earlier annotation.
F I R S T DAY
I like how they lay out each day and how much time each thing takes, this is something I find super helpful when implementing a program like this.
Require your students, or offer them the option, to buy renter’s insurance on their desks.
I hate insurance in this country!!! but it's still a very important concept to teach.
encourage them to build a nest egg that isgreater than or equal to that amount.
Such an important idea!
This can beespecially effective if you are studying disasters in science or social studies.
I like this idea a lot! You could also bring charities into the mix too.
Allow students to bring their own items to be sold at the auctions.
Does it have to be an auction or can you have a little pop up store that you bring out once a month? Auctions aren't the most common thing, and then if you do the store, then you could use that as an opportunity to teach about sales tax.
You can also raise their salaries, but we suggest you raisethe price of the desks more than any salary increase to stress the importance of saving andoutpacing inflation.
hate this, I don't even understand inflation, money is a made up concept and so is everything else.
Taking property ownership a step further, allow students to purchase the deeds to otherstudents’ desks.
Ope, I do not like this, no monopolizing please or else we're going to have a 1% in the classroom, just like we do in real-life, but this goes back to my earlier annotation about teaching about economy and class inequality, making sure students aren't learning in a vacuum and they know what they will have to deal with when they get older.
The records can also be used as teaching points during the year-endwrap-up and throughout the program.
This is a great way to keep closer tabs on students and really get to know them and how they operate.
These arenot recommended for teachers implementing the program for the first time.
I like that they added ways for teachers to go even deeper with their classroom economy. I also liked how they established that first years should stick to the basics and make sure the basic program works for them and their students.
You can have your students write letters to ask for them.
I like this idea of writing letters and asking them to have lunch or whatever, I think it's also great writing practice for students.
Swap desks with the teacher for a day/week
absolutely not in my classroom, my space is my space.
Rent
I don't know how I feel about students paying rent for their own desk, kind of gives me an ick feeling, but alas, this is the way the world works.
Print the bills on colored paper.
monopoly money? maybe they could make and decorate their own wallets for their money, that would be fun and cute.
visual displays
a very important thing to include, especially for ELLs.
$200
I do hate that good and bad behavior and the whole classroom is running and based around money, which is why the world kind of sucks as bad as it does. But I feel like this might be a good way to segway into wealth inequality, economy, and civics.
P R E PA R I N G M AT E R I A L SThroughout the year, you will need classroom economy materials, such as money and bankingpaperwork, for the students. You can download the materials or order printed copies at nocharge. Gathering and preparing materials will take approximately 2 to 3 hours.In addition to the materials we provide, you may wish to purchase or gather the following items:S U P P L I E SNo. 10 business envelopes in which students 1 per student plus a few extracan conveniently store their cash. for BankersPortfolio folders with clasps where students can 1 per studentstore their bank logs and other materials.Cash drawer or box to store excess cash. 1 per classYou might create one from a shoe box or use anitem from an old board game, such as Monopoly.Popsicle sticks or paint stirrers for 1 per studentauction paddles.Sticky notes for convenience during auctions. 1 slip per student per auctionA clipboard to hold the offense log in 1 per classwhich you keep track of fines.Items for students to purchase at auctions, 3–7 per auctionsuch as toys, baked goods, or gift certificates.Student foldersPut the following items in each student’s folder:I T E M Q U A N T I T YJob application
bank log and job applications would be a super valuable skill for kids to learn.
The list of behaviors that elicit fines should reflect your own standards.
I like that it seems pretty easy to make sure that students are disciplined or fined more "harshly" for values that the teacher thinks is most important for that specific class of kids to learn. The program can be pretty flexible and seems like it would be pretty easy to really make it your own as an educator.
In the classroom economy, the role of fines is to help students understand costs andconsequences—it is not to punish them.
I think this would be a great way for students to be disciplined and have consequences for bad or hurtful decisions they make in the classroom. This way you don't have to yell or do anything of that sort, you can explain to them why that behavior is getting a ticket and then you make sure that they see those consequences and it effects their status in the classroom economy. On the other hand, I don't agree with the justice or ticketing system in this country and I feel like could perpetuate class and race stereotypes if not utilized properly or even if it is. I also feel like it could lead to come assumptions, judgements, and behaviors in regards to their other classmates.
oming to school earlyto get academic help, completing all homework assignments for the week, participating in amath competition or science fair, playing a sport, or joining the school orchestra.
I really like this because it's really important for kids to come in for help when they need it, I want my kids to be able to ask me for extra help so that they can improve. For the homework assignments I think this would be extremely helpful because students in my host classroom have been so horrible about turning in their homework assignments, so maybe something like this will help them out.
The following bonuses should be included if at all possible
I think the benefits will be very helpful, having an incentive to do well and work hard on their assignment will be really helpful in aiding in motivation. Although, I will say that I do think rewarding students for positive things is a little iffy for me, although I know it's pretty effective for the most part, but kids should know that these are things they should just be doing without getting rewarded for it, other than feeling accomplished. But, alas, everything is nuanced and has pros and cons.
Most temptingly, they have the chance to buy their desks outright and be forever free of rent.
These are all great benefits to being smart with their money and I feel like I can clearly see how this would be a great motivation for students.
You can take the missed payment as an opportunity for a discussion about choices,then encourage the child to earn bonuses so that he or she can catch up on rent and get in onthe Auction Day fun.
I think it's a good and effective idea to exclude students who didn't make rent on the monthly auction, but I think it's important that those students sit down and have a talk with the teacher so that they can create a concrete plan with appropriate, realistic goals to get back on track. This is something that I am still learning, so it would be helpful for them to learn this early on.
R E N T
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT, I LOVE THIS, especially when being smart with your money and paying rent/having extra money reaps benefits, which is how it is in real life.
Changing jobs quarterly or in the middle of the year is an option
I think it's good that students keep the same job in order to keep convenience for the teacher and students, and to give students lot and lots of practice to master their job and the skills required to do it. I do think however that it is good for students to try a different job to gain other sets of skills and practice for those skills. I feel like over winter break their could be another round of prep and assignments before school starts, that would be an ideal time for a switch, even if its a little more work. I think it really depends on the classroom, school, and teacher.
Requires a recommendation.
Who is the recommendation from?
chance to reflect.
reflection is key!
llow 2 to 4 hours per month to complete these activities. Because students will become more efficient atbanking as the year progresses
I love the idea of this classroom economy, I feel like I would've benefitted so much from having something like this in my own grade school education.
Keep in mind, this time does not need to betaken from your curriculum time because it can replace time that you would otherwise spend explainingyour class rules
I like how this program makes sure that no time is taken away from the curriculum. Obviously, sometimes you have to take time away in order to go over expectations, especially nowadays, but still.
Allow 2 to 3 hours to choose jobs, bonuses, and fines, and an additional 2 to 3 hours to prepare allof the materials
I really like how they give the steps and run-down right at the beginning, especially the time it will take to assign jobs to students. I think this program ensures that teachers are prepared before the year even starts, which aleviates a lot of stress.
S TA N DA R D
I like that they immediately use examples and tie the program to standards. This is a major green flag in my eyes.
t allows students to learn valuablelife skills and make progress on topics that are integral to the curriculum.
I feel like this might shape up to be something that could help students from learning about things in a vaccuum, this might be a good way to integrate real issues children will face. We will see as I keep reading!
My Classroom Economy
The two paragraphs of this document make this classroom economy thing sound so easy, when classroom management is so scary and overwhelming. I like the idea of the classroom economy mimicking the real-world, I think that's a very valuable thing for students to learn and practice. Depending on what I read further into the document, maybe this would've been helpful when I was in elementary school.
The creation of 3/4 of 2/5, however, does notcompletely solve the problem, because we need toknow what amount of the whole this quantity is.
We need to figure out what the whole of the quantity is order to solve problems like 3/4 of 2/5.
To illustrate how partitioning and iterating can behelpful in thinking about fraction operations, con-sider the operation of multiplication. For whole-number multiplication, the first number indicates thenumber of groups; the second number is the numberof wholes, or ones, in each group; and the answer isthe total amount of wholes, or ones. For example,3 × 2 means 3 groups of 2 ones, which is a total of 6ones. Thus, to solve a multiplication problemrequires finding the total amount of ones that are ina certain number of groups of a certain size.
This also makes sense with fractions because fractions can be represented and compared using the multiplication groups method.
The images of partitioning and iterating canaddress all these misconceptions. Unit fractions ofthe same whole are always the same size becauseboth images lead to the creation of equal-sizedparts. Improper fractions, such as 3/2, can easilybe interpreted as 3 one-halves.
Because of partitioning and iterating, students can see that 3/2 is 3 one-halves instead of seeing "3 out of 2" which can easily confuse them and lead them to believe that this improper fraction may be impossible.
Children may never come to see fractions asbeing fundamentally different from whole num-bers and thus may fail to understand fractionoperations.
This is why we use methods such as partitioning and iterating in order to see the fractions as fractions that can be divided or multiplied, instead of seeing the numerator and denominator of a fraction as separate whole numbers. This can be very confusing for students to think about this way.
For example, if 3/4 is thought ofas 3 out of 4, then 4 is the referentwhole because that is where the 3 istaken from and what the 3 is com-pared with. This view is problematicbecause the referent whole may notbe 4 at all. The fraction 3/4 mayinstead be referring to a fraction of anumber other than 4, such as 3/4 of2/5.
The denominator is not always a whole, which is why "out of" is problematic because with this thinking, the denominator and numerator are always viewed as a whole, when in reality the fraction could be a fraction of another fraction.
Improper fractions may be nonsensical to chil-dren because they may think that a quantity thatis more than the original amount is impossible.For example, 3/2 thought of as 3 out of 2 thingsis problematic, prompting the child to ask howshe can take three things when she has only twothings total.
iterating is a process that makes improper fractions a lot more understandable. Using iterating, we can see that we have 3 equal parts of 1/2.
the shadedregion in figure 4 might be 1/3 when viewedfrom an “out of” perspective.
The shaded region of the triangle is really 1/4 but with the "out of" method, students see this as 1 out of 3. With the partitioning and iterating of the circle, students can acknowledge and show that the entire circle can be partitioned into 4 equal parts (1/4) or the shaded region, 1/4, can be multiplied 4 times to create the whole circle.
The 8 things arenot thought of as eighths, nor is the 5 conceived ofas 5 one-eighths. Furthermore, the actions that ledto the creation of the parts (partitioning) or the cre-ation of the whole (iterating) are never acknowl-edged, thus obscuring the relationship of the partsto the whole and the very actions that can be usedto create and operate on fractions.
this method makes it much harder for students to create, understand, and operate fractions because they are thinking about fractions in the way of whole numbers, instead of as 8 equal parts or a fraction that can be multiplied to make a whole.
With an “out of”image, children see themselves presented with 8things, then taking 5 from those 8 things. In thisimage, the numerator and denominator of the frac-tion are merely whole numbers.
With the "out of" method, instead of the children being presented with 1/8 and multiplying or 8 equal parts of 1/8 as with partitioning and iterating, children have 8 separate wholes and they see fractions as taking 5 out of 8. Which is just whole numbers with a spatial relationship, instead of actually understanding fractions.
One of the most common ways of talking aboutfractions involves the phrase “out of,” such as “5out of 8” for 5/8.
This is how I think of fractions
Withoutpartitioning, the creation of smaller, equal-sizedpieces is difficult; without iterating, the creation oflarger pieces from smaller ones is difficult.
The use of partitioning or iterating offers the ability to create smaller equal pieces or multiply the pieces to make the whole, and explicitly states the action that needs to happen, either multiplying the little equal part or dividing the whole into smaller equal parts to more easily visualize the fraction.
Then he could cre-ate 5/8 by taking the 1/8 and making copies until hehas 5 pieces. Once again, the justification that thecreated amount is actually 5/8 can be drawn fromthe process by which the amount was created: Eachof the 5 parts is 1/8 because 8 copies of any 1 of the5 parts produces the whole, and the 5 parts togetherare 5 one-eighths, or 5/8.
With the partitioning method, the student can take 1/8 and make a whole by creating 8 equal parts, then taking 5 of those parts, and understand and see that that is 5/8s.
child could partition a whole into 8 equal pieces tocreate eighths, and then take 5 of those eighths tomake 5/8. When the child is asked to justify whythe amount is 5/8, she can point to the process thatshe used to create the amount, namely, that each ofthe 5 parts are 1/8 because they were created bypartitioning the whole into 8 equal parts, and the 5parts together are 5 one-eighths, or 5/8.
By using the partitioning method, students are able to visualize actual fractions and how fractions actually work. Instead of having a whole and shading in 5 of the 1/8s, the student can understand that a whole can be divided into 8 equal parts, and they can realize that taking 5 of those 1/8s would be 5/8s.
Partitioning: 5/8 is 5 one-eighths, where 1/8 isthe amount we get by taking a whole, dividing itinto 8 equal parts, and taking 1 of those parts.• Iterating: 5/8 is 5 one-eighths, where 1/8 is theamount such that 8 copies of that amount, puttogether, make a whole.These two different ways of conceptualizing 5/8can lead to a variety of ways of actually creatingand justifying the quantity 5/8
Using two different methods, partitioning and iterating, students have two different ways to understand fractions and will gravitate towards the method that works best for them. Mine would be partitioning.
raction 1/8. What does this fractionmean? How do we describe it?
Describing it to see if I get it right, before I read the explanation: the fraction 1/8 means a whole partitioned into 8 equal parts. The fraction 1/8 through iterating means 8 copies of 1/8, which makes a whole.
The actions of iterating and partitioning havelong been recognized as important tounderstanding and operating on frac-tions
Iterating and partitioning are effective methods in actually building students' understanding of fractions, not just as wholes with spatial relationships.
Thesecond action, iterating, consists of making copiesof a smaller amount and combining them to createa larger amount.
By iterating, they then made 8 copies of 1/8 which happened to make a whole. Once we had the whole, we could divide the whole into 3 equals pieces of 1/3, which led us to add one more in order to get the answer of 4/3.
The first action, partitioning, consists of creat-ing smaller, equal-sized amounts from a largeramount. Often the larger amount is 1 whole,although it does not necessarily have to be so.
In order to get to our answer, they first started by partitioning bar A by dividing the bar into smaller amounts, making the car go from 3/8 to 3 equal pieces 1/8s.
One possible solution would be to partition the 3/8bar into 3 equal pieces, yielding 3 one-eighths. Oncewe have found the size of 1/8, we can easily make 1whole by making 8 copies of the 1/8 and gluingthem together. We can then create thirds by slicingthe bar of size 1 into 3 equal pieces. The fraction 4/3is merely 4 copies of 1/3, so we take our bar of size1/3 and make 4 copies to produce 4/3
This one explanation just blew my mind, I have never thought about fractions in this way and it makes so much more sense to me.
First, they make explicit the actions that childrencan perform on quantities to produce, compare,and operate on fractional parts. Children can usethese images as tools to create and act on fractions.Second, these images provide ways for students tojustify their fraction reasoning. In particular, theyenable students to point to the pictures of fractionsand fraction operations that they create and explainhow they see the fractions in their pictures.
The article suggests two powerful images that provide a way for students justify their fractional reasoning and make explicit the actions they can perform on quantities to produce, compare, and operate on fractional parts. This allows them to move beyond whole number combinations and reasoning.
Even pictures of fractionsmay not dislodge this whole-number concept offractions. For example, in the picture of 3/4 foundin figure 1, children may not see 3/4 at all, butrather three things shaded out of a total of fourthings. With this whole-number view of the pic-ture, the fraction 3/4 is never really conceived of asa single number or quantity.
Instead of seeing the shaded circles as 3/4, students see this picture as 3 out 4 circles shaded. Which means they'll write 3/4 which is correct, but they didn't view the picture in the correct way or have the correct understanding.
see fractions merely as two wholenumbers with a spatial relationship (that is, one iswritten above the other).
I still see fractions this way, which is probably why I find fractions confusing.
Children are bound to find fraction computationsarbitrary, confusing, and easy to mix up unless theyreceive help understanding what fractions andfraction operations mean.
In order to understand fractions, students need slow, progressive, and supportive clarification to steadily build understanding of fractions. They find it confusing if it is explained to them all at once in a confusing, jumbled way.
"Using the word prediction instead of hypothesis helps make connections between language arts (where we predict what will happen next in the story), mathematics (where we predict the next sequence of numbers based on a pattern), and science (where we explore a phenomenon and then predict what will happen when we make changes or test an ideas).
MADE ME THINK: This is such a good idea yet obvious idea that I hadn't really thought of. It's such a simple change that makes a connection for students between three different subjects without them even probably knowing it. This is also makes sense as to why I never had an affinity towards science, my teachers always used the complicated words and truthfully I never never understood them.
QUESTION: Is the only distinction between an experiment and a hypothesis the different variables within an experiment? Why would kids not like experiments if it follows so closely to the step-by-step method they're so comfortable with?
"Research that does not follow what students perceive as the scientific method is bad science, and they therefore easily dismiss biological evolution, cosmology, age of the Earth, and other areas of scientific research."
MADE ME THINK: This was a really interesting statement to me and the more I thought about it, the more I could see it. I know that automatically in my mind, I do gravitate towards the thought that our science that we know now is proven and absolute. So I'm sure a lot of people think the same way, I could see how maybe people see science changing and improving as being "unsure" and I feel like that scares a lot of people. This would be less of a belief if science was not taught as such a rigid, step-by-step method.
"encourage students to try their ideas, even if their way is very inefficient or could be better studied another way. By having students make decisions, they experience science in a far more accurate manner." "Teachers should draw students' attention to the multiple ways that were developed to try to answer their questions and illustrate that scientists have to make these same kinds of decisions."
CLASSROOM IDEA:
I will encourage students to try even when I know it won't end as intended (mistakes, trial and error, physically doing, making any decision are essential and most effective in learning.) While students are working, presenting and explaining their ideas and thought processes, I will ask questions that make them think further. Questions to broaden their view and cause critical thinking to occur, I want to challenge them, tell me why or why not they think something will work or makes sense. Ask them questions that provide support and scaffolding for deep understanding.
It is important that young children, in their most important developmental years of school, know that the true NOS is not a rigid, step-by-step process, but one full of half-certain decisions, collaboration and feedback, and never-ending questions.
"Students come to wrongly see scientific thinking as requiring little creativity and its results as absolutely certain knowledge." "They perceive science to be a body of facts to be memorized." Students think a rigid step-by-step approach is required when doing science.
MADE ME THINK: Now that I think about it, I always liked my high school chemistry class so much and it was because it was very rote memorization based, following steps, being led to a clear, unquestionable outcome and I liked that predictability. But now that I have realized in college that learning is much more effective when being vocal, curious, and social. You have to question, collaborate, think critically and creatively in order to do science, it's about making new discoveries, not following cookie cutter instructions. It's not that NOS.
"The K-4 recommendations focus on science as a human endeavor, but what that means is problematic when one considers that history, mathematics, writing, and other disciplines are also human endeavors."
QUESTION: Can they not all be human endeavors? That doesn't make sense to me.
"Reading always involves critical perception, interpretation, and rewriting of what is read." pg 36, last sentence
"Mechanically memorizing the description of an object does not constitute knowing the object. That is why reading a text as pure description of an object (like a syntactical rule), and undertaken to memorize the description, is neither real reading nor does it result in knowledge of the object to which the text refers." pg 33, paragraph 2
"Those moments did not consist of mere exercises, aimed at our simply becoming aware of the existence of the page in front of us, to be scanned, mechanically and monotonously spelled out, instead of truly read." pg 33, paragraph 1
"words should be laden with the meaning of the people's existential experience, and not of the teacher's experience." pg 35, last paragraph
"Reading the world always precedes the word, and reading the word implies continually reading the world." "Reading the word is not preceded merely by reading the world, but by a certain form of writing it or rewriting it, that is, of transforming it by means of conscious, practical work." "For me, this dynamic movement is central to the literacy process." pg 35, paragraph 4
"Learning to read and write means creating and assembling a written expression for what can be said orally. The teacher cannot put it together for the student; that is the student's creative task." pg 35, paragraph 2
"The student is the subject of the process of learning to read and write as an act of knowing and of creating. The fact that he or she needs the teacher's help, as in any pedagogical situation, does not mean that the teacher's help nullifies the student's creativity and responsibility for constructing his or her own written language for reading this language." pg 34, last paragraph - pg 35, paragraph 1
"Insistence on a quantity of reading without internalization of texts proposed for understanding rather than mechanical memorization reveals a magical view of the written word, a view that must be suspended." page 34, paragraph 2
Truly, that special world presented itself to me as the arena of my perceptual activity and therefore as the world of my firs treading." pg 30, paragraph 2
"In those branches low enough for me to reach I experienced the small risks that prepared me for greater risks and adventures." pg 30, paragraph 2
especiallygiven the central positioning of the nuclear familyin family literacy promotional materials
We need to consider every other possible family structure out there other than the white, middle-class, nuclear family. Literacy looks a lot different from house to house and culture to culture. We have to use different forms of literacy for our students because they may have experienced literacy very differently than I did growing up.
They believe that if their childrenpractice school-related activities at home, the chil-dren will be prepared when doing such activities andsimilar ones at school.
Everybody has to practice expected behaviors, literal human behaviors, it takes practice. I like this idea of acting out school-related expectations at home or even in the classroom. It makes it fun and keeps the kids engaged.
extended family members such as grandparents inchildren’s literacy lives
My great grandma had a huge role in my literacy as a kid, playing piano, reading me books, telling me about our family and town history, walking me through her recipes, I was constantly exploring at her house, always curious about something. She also made me practice handwriting and calligraphy, I learned how to type on the type writer, and wrote my own songs to sing along with on the piano.
Thus, parent–child reading isnot a universal literacy practice, even though edu-cators fervently remind parents of the importanceof the bedtime story and probably overlook otherfamily literacy practices.
I think with each year that I study education, I realize how literacy can look different for so many people, and that socialization and talking in general is so beneficial, especially to the growing minds of students.
amily literacy is often portrayed as essentiallyentailing mothers reading storybooks to young chil-dren
My own lived experience
inner-city families with whom theyworked regularly engaged in literacy, valued literacyhighly, and supported children’s literacy learning, de-spite living in extreme poverty
Especially based on my last annotations, my privilege has been showing. I must acknowledge how social justice and cultural backgrounds play a huge part in a child's need for education. on another note, I wonder how my biases have affected the way I annotated at the beginning of this article.
learning is cultur-ally mediated and as such, will be different acrossdifferent cultural groups. Unlike in some mainstreamcultures where parents play a central role in medi-ating young children’s learning, here siblings play acentral role supported by the nannies.
Literacy and learning literacy in different subjects is different among different cultures. Which is probably why I'm both skeptical and intrigued by this family and their approach to literacy. I also acknowledge that I felt I have been ignorant while I read this article.
Again, these gamesare purposeful, educational activities.
I think I'm gathering that the kids truly do love constantly learning and literacy, especially with the use of educational games. Genna also wanting to be a part of her older siblings projects, is also a sign that she is constantly wanting to learn. I just want to know how these kids are constantly wanting to learn, because a lot of kids are not like this.
The older children performthe role of teachers because helping educate theyounger children is one of their responsibilities.
I feel like it is a lot to expect your older children to parent and teach the younger children, but at the same time, when they adapt their lessons for their younger sister to participate they are building literacy and a deeper understanding for the content.
Helen believes that it is better for the children ifthey live in a joint family because it is difficult to workoutside the home while raising a family. By sharingparental responsibilities, she feels that the childrenwill have more attention from adults.
Despite my last comment, I do know that culturally, these people are very different from me. Literacy is second nature for them and they basically have 5 or 6 different parents that all work together and create support for one another. I think it's really interesting to learn about!
they rarely play games with them. As Olivia, Genna’ssister, explained, “Our nannies do all the things thatour parents don’t have time to do like play gameswith us.” She elaborated how Maria, one of their nan-nies, “acts wild and silly like a teenager” during theirsinging and dancing contests that the children stage.Hence, in this particular family, the nannies bridgethe gap between the parents and the children; theyare like adult siblings in the family because they takecare of the children and also play with them.
My parents never had the time nor did they want to play games with me, and neither did my sister, who's 10 years older than me, and this is something that I remember and something that honestly still bothers me. I think it's important for parents to be involved in the fun that their kids have, so that the child isn't vying for their approval and attention in only academics, essentially killing their mental health and social development for the sake of parental validation. I am glad that the children are able to have nannies that play with them, at least they have that.
the literacypractices in this home differ from many mainstreamhomes and noticeably absent is storybook reading.
Their home definitely does differ with most in their relationship with literacy. My house didn't have educational posters everywhere, my mom didn't have me do educational work books, my family and I only speak one language, my parents didn't keep and organize my school/home work, and we definitely didn't sing in my house growing up. It surprised me that this family that emphasizes literacy so much doesn't do storybook reading. I remember my mom would read to me all the time as a kid and would make it very theatrical, it was a very common occurrence for me and a lot of my peers.
They read only for functional purposessuch as reading a recipe while cooking with the nan-nies or if reading is required for homework.
By making children practice literacy constantly (I still don't know if that is what is happening for a fact, this is just speculation) have they taken the fun out of it? If my parents forced me to read or do work all the time, I know that I would grow sick of things real quick.
Posted on the bedroom wallsare school projects, posters of concepts such as thewater cycle and fractions that the children are learn-ing at school, sticky notes, and memos. School no-tices, lunch menus, and reminders are stuck to thefour full-size refrigerators by large magnetic letters.Novels, picture books, and traditional, skill-and-drillworkbooks are scattered on bookshelves, desks, andthe dining room table. A collection of past schoolassignments, tests, projects, and notes are storedin labeled cardboard boxes for each child. Practicequestions for various school subjects, written on cuecards, are filed by grade and stored in index cardholders
I wonder if these kids love and are excited about learning or if the parents are over-doing it with literacy? Granted, I believe that all literacy is good in moderation, as with anything. I also know that some kids reject their parents' attempts at over-doing it with the things that the parents expect or want their children to do.
educators have begun torealize that literacy is also complex cultural and so-cial practices that vary from context to context. Thatis, the definitions of literacy, the values and functionsascribed to it, and the ways in which it is taught andlearned vary from one cultural group and socialcontext to another
Anybody can have literacy in everything. I know I've learned about literacy before in high school, but does literacy have to involve words and reading? Is there anything out there that doesn't involved words and reading? Is literacy just anything that you have knowledge in?