Warm up 9/17

4. What larger generalizations/questions do these patterns raise? Make a list of 2-3 of these generalizations/questions. Beside each item, also note the writerly moves Rose took to arrive at these generalizations and/or to prompt these questions in you as a reader. List page numbers of passages you want to refer to when you share your findings with the rest of the class.

One quote that really stood out to me in chapter 5 was at the beginning when Rose is speaking with a younger male student. Rose questions him about his schooling and the boy responds with this statement: "I used to be in the dumb math group, but then, um, my teacher found out it was too easy for me. So now I'm in with the smart kids."--page 91. One generalization that I found in these chapters is that placement testing doesn't work all the time, like in the case with this boy. The thing that gets under my skin isn't so much the placement testing that is still taking place in schools today, but the segregation that ultimately comes with these kinds of tests. Just like the boy Rose talked with, who's to say that this boy isn't capable of being in the so-called 'smart kids' class, or even have the capacity to take an AP or Honors course? Because of testing, some kids never even get the opportunity to take upper-division courses, which I think is ridiculous. Shouldn't ever student have the opportunity to take advanced courses, or to take whatever course they want to take, within the guidelines of required courses to graduate?

Another piece to these chapters that I found Rose making a point with is the relationships between teachers and parents, and how important those relationships are for the developing student. On page 132, Rose writes, "Whether or not we had any small and indirect influence on these lives, I'll never know. But I can't help but wonder what desires for education blossomed as the parents of those children came to feel part of the schools." The home life of students, and getting parents excited and on board with their child's learning is a vital role teachers must engage in.