Brains & Patterns

One thing I learned on the first day of class is that our brains automatically try to make sense of things we see by grouping things into patterns.
I still have a question about why this is and why we see different patterns when looking at the same thing. Are there certain types of thinkers (e.g. right/left brain) who view things differently.
The implications for classroom practice for this are that if we knew which types of thinkers/students looked at things in similar ways, we would have a common place to start when teaching.
(Robin, FYI - I posted this blog on the first week of class, Jan 10 then I accidentally deleted it when I was trying to organize my labels on Jan 28, so I just re-posted it today, Jan 30, from a printed copy I saved, KB)

Kindergarten buddy

When contemplating a book selection for my first day at Juanita Elementary School, I realized that I had no clue as to where to begin. I asked my master teacher in my new dyad placement for guidance. She specializes in teaching literacy and art for sixth and eighth graders, but I thought she would certainly know more than me about read-aloud books for a child of any age. She has been teaching for over 20 years and recommended several books for reading out-loud to my soon-to-be kindergarten reading buddy.

Before deciding on one book, I read the three assigned articles for our Reading, Writing and Communication class and discovered that one book, “The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes,” was out of the question. It had far too many words and not enough pictures. I realized that it would not be suitable for a child just beginning to learn about literacy. Through our classroom readings, I learned to notice the difference between reading books to entertain children, and books intended for interactive reading.  This might have been an okay bedtime story, but it would not have been helpful for developing literacy knowledge for an emergent reader. The words were too big for a child just learning to read. He or she would not have been able to get involved in the reading in a meaningful way. It was too complicated for a child to successfully predict what might happen, and there were not enough small words for the student to sound out and become engaged in the reading. One of the major characteristics of young children as literacy learners is that they learn through active engagement, constructing their understanding of how written language works.

The article called “Teaching for Equity and Justice” enlightened me about analyzing children’s books for racism and sexism. The ten guidelines to help detect such language, was helpful in determining the suitability of this book for young students. I only had to read until page two to find racist undertones such as “One day a little country-girl bunny with a brown skin and a little cotton-ball of a tail said…then all of the big white bunnies who lived in fine houses…laughed at the little cottontail and told her to go back to the country and eat a carrot… She grew up to be a young lady... by and by she had a husband ... then 21 babies...” This struck me as dated and condescending. There was no detailed biographical information about the author on the jacket flap except that the book was published in 1939.

My dyad teacher liked this book because it does deal with racial and gender stereotypes. The underdogs, which were brown, female, poor, country bunnies, win in the end but I wonder to myself if this is even worth reading to children. I can see a positive lesson in this story, but it seems to me that the children would be better off not even hearing such dated language. Since much of that language has been replaced in current children’s books that contain a more balanced mix of characters and story lines, I think we would be better off to just skip stories like this and avoid placing those old harmful stereotypes in the minds of young children. When they are older and able to analyze and discuss such language, the introduction to such books could provide a valuable place from which to learn. We do need to learn about the past to create a better present and future for our citizens, but I think old books like this one should not be read to young children.