Rose Response Chapters 5 & 6

Response to Question #3


I found the language used by the schools to be discouraging. Use of words like deficient or remedial or illiterate can have a dramatic effect on the future lives of children. It is almost the self fulfilling prophecy, tell a child they cannot do something and they will begin to believe it.

I had a similar experience with this in high school. My brother had a learning disability, he couldn’t read very well and was hindered in all of his classes. Our principal, in a phone call home to our mother told her that my brother wasn’t “Academic Material” and that he should begin to focus his life and career in a vocational direction.

This had a terrible effect. My brother began to lag in his classes, even the ones he had previously excelled in. That principal had made it clear to my brother that he wasn’t smart enough for school. Thankfully, my mother never let up and always somehow managed to get the best out of my brother. Now every time my brother gets a degree, he now has two and is working on his master’s, my mother sends a photo copy of the graduation notice and his diploma to that same principal who didn’t believe.

I think as teachers we need to be aware of labels and the effects that they have upon our students. I was told that we receive the student files in the beginning of the year. After long consideration I have decided not to open or to check the files. I would rather come into the class with no pre-conceived notions of the students and their abilities. Imagine what it would have felt like to walk in a class room and know that you are working on a clean slate.

The only thing that really matters are the students and it is our job as teachers to give them the best possible access to information possible. If we hinder ourselves with our own judgments and ideas we will lose focus on the fact that each student and each situation is unique.