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MAKING THE BEST OF IT:
CONDITIONS FOR OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
AND EDUCATING THE WHOLE CHILD IN A RURAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
By

Kelly Reffitt

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy

Department of Teacher Education

2008

ABSTRACT
MAKING THE BEST OF IT:
CONDITIONS FOR OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
AND EDUCATING THE WHOLE CHILD IN A RURAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
By
Kelly Reffitt

This dissertation examined literacy achievement in first through fifth grades in a rural
elementary school. Grounded in the social theory of literacy and learning and the
traditional research on effective schools and classrooms, this work identified the potential
components that created conditions for student literacy achievement, despite the
challenges that the rural school faced, especially poverty. The study addressed the
following questions: Why are the students in this rural elementary school performing so
well on the state language arts assessment? What factors support high student
achievement? How does the school community define the cultural models of schools,
literacy, and learning? The study employed the qualitative inquiry approach of grounded
theory combined with discourse analytic methods to conduct an in-depth case study of
literacy skills and practices that contribute to students’ ethical, social, and academic
development. Results showed that school personnel helped meet students’ physical,
emotional, and social needs to create positive relationships that contributed to students’
increased motivation, self-esteem, and resiliency. Staff provided effective literacy
instruction with an emphasis on differentiation to satisfy students’ academic needs.
Educating the whole child led to students’ academic achievement, good citizenship, and
positive school experiences. The project will contribute to the paucity of mainstream

research in rural education. In addition, it will increase the body of research on at-risk,

effective schools with a sociocultural perspective of schools and learning. Limitations of
the study, including self-reporting and causal relationships, were discussed. Implications

focused on teacher preparation, family advocacy, and administrative leadership.

Copyright by
KELLY REFFITT
2008

For Kathryn — all is for you.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am profoundly grateful to the faculty, staff, students, and parents of
New Era Elementary for their open door and hospitality. I especially want
to thank the principal, Mr. Todd Kraai, for his enthusiasm in participating in
my study. I could not have done this without his willingness, genuine
concern, and stories about kids. I am so thankful that Ms. Carol VanDuinen,
the family advocate, let me tag along with her and was so patient when I
asked too many questions. Even during their busy days, the teachers still
gave me their time to talk about their instructional strategies, triumphs, and
challenges. May God continue to bless you all for your genuine commitment
to children and their families.

I was always humbled by the brilliance and integrity of my mentor
and friend, the late Dr. Michael Pressley. Saying thank you seems so
insignificant.

Last but certainly not least, I cannot thank my family and close friends
enough for your patience, support (including babysitting), and

encouragement through this process. You deserve credit for this work, too!

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................... ix

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................. x

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1

PART 1

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................... 4
Underdeveloped Rural Education Research ................................................ 4
Studying Effective Schools ................................................................. 6
Research on Characteristics of Effective Schools ....................................... 11
Effective Literacy Instruction ............................................................ 12
Contributors to Literacy Development .................................................. 13
Educating the Whole Child ............................................................... 14
Character Education ........................................................................ 15
Poverty and At-Risk Children ............................................................ 17
Summary .................................................................................... 18
Research Questions ......................................................................... 20

METHODS ............................................................................................ 21
Determining Rurality ...................................................................... 21
Identifying a High-Achieving Rural School ............................................ 21
Participants .................................................................................. 22
Data Collection ............................................................................. 24
Procedures for Analysis ................................................................... 29
Discourse Analysis ......................................................................... 30

PART 2

RESULTS ............................................................................................ 32
Chapter 1: Sense of Place ................................................................. 34
Chapter 2: Educating the Whole Child .................................................. 41
Chapter 3: Effective Literacy Teachers ................................................. 64
Chapter 4: The Principal’s Leadership .................................................. 75
Chapter 5: Home-School Relationships ................................................ 89

DISCUSSION ...................................................................................... 137
Summary ................................................................................... 137
Conclusions ................................................................................ 1 3 8
Implications for Teacher Education and Educational Leadership .................. 144
Researcher in the Middle ................................................................. 145
Study Limitations .......................................................................... 146
Future Research ........................................................................... 146

vii

APPENDICES ...................................................................................... 165

A. New Era Elementary MEAP Test Results. . . . .. .............................................. 165
B. Teacher Interview Questions ........................................................ 167
C. Principal Interview Questions ......................................................... 168
D. Beliefs about Student Achievement Survey (Modified) ......................... 169
E. Transcript of Home Visit ............................................................. 171
REFERENCES .................................................................................... 196

viii

Table 1.

Table 2.

Table 3.

Table 4.

Table 5.

Table 6.

Table 7.

Table 8.

LIST OF TABLES

Student Population by Grade Level ................................................... 149
Demographic Summary of School Faculty and Staff .............................. 150
Audio Recordings ....................................................................... 151
Original and Modified BASA Survey Questions on Gender ..................... 152
Results of the Modified Beliefs about School Achievement Survey ............. 153
Coding of Field Notes/Themes with Definitions and Examples ............ A ...... 155
School’s Additional Funding Sources for 2007-08 ................................. 157
Main Line/Off Main Line of Plot Material from the Home Visit ................. 158

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. How the School Contributed to Students’ Academic Success in Literacy. . ...160

Figure 2. How the School Educated the Whole Child That Contributed to Students’
Academic Success in Literacy ................................................. 161

Figure 3. How the Teachers and Support Staff Contributed to Students’ Academic
Success in Literacy ............................................................... 162

Figure 4. How the Principal Contributed to Students’ Academic Success in Literacy...163

Figure 5. How the Family Advocate Contributed to Students’ Academic Success in
Literacy ........................................................................... 164

IN TRODUCTION

Like all schools, rural schools have challenges. The implications of the No Child
Lefi Behind legislation are demanding for all districts, specifically rural ones (J imerson,
2004). Rural schools and districts are small with a low number of test-takers, creating
statistical challenges when determining academic performance. Rural schools wrought
with financial problems cannot compete with suburban and urban districts that offer
higher teacher salaries. Also, some rural areas are suffering a population decline that
reduces per-pupil state aid. The geographical isolation can be problematic for teacher
recruitment, student support services, and accessibility to professional development
opportunities for teachers. Furthermore, some rural schools are experiencing a rapid
ethnic diversity and are finding it hard to educate students with limited English
proficiency for the first time (J imerson, 2004). Regardless, some rural schools, despite
those challenges, excel.

How does a young child, even an at-risk child, growing up today in a rural
community become proficient in literacy? Undoubtedly, there are many complex factors
involved in a child’s literacy development, such as the child’s cognitive abilities, family,
school, and the larger sociocultural community. Numerous studies on student
achievement in literacy attribute academic success to schools with effective literacy
teachers (Duffy, 2003; Knapp, 1995; Pressley, Allington, Wharton-McDonald, Block, &
Morrow, 2001; Pressley, Wharton-McDonald et al., 2001; Wharton-McDonald, Pressley,
& Hampston, 1998; Taylor, Pearson, Clark, & Walpole, 2000; Pressley, Mohan, &

F ingeret, 2005; Reffitt & Pressley, 2007). More generally, effective schools research over

the last few decades has revealed school-level and teacher-level characteristics, such as

those pertaining to leadership, curriculum, assessment, expectations, classroom
management, environment, and home-school relationships (Hoffman, 1991; Reynolds,
Creemers, Stringfield, & Teddlie, 2002; Shavelson & Berliner, 1988; Teddlie &
Reynolds, 2000; Pressley, Raphael, Gallagher, & DiBella, 2004; Mid-continent Research
for Education and Learning, 2005).

Historically, scholarship in rural settings has been underdeveloped. Why should
educational research focus on rural schools? An overarching reason is the large number
of students who attend our rural or non-urban schools. The Rural School and Community
Trust, the country’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to issues surrounding rural
communities and schools, reported that in 2002-2003, 12.5 million public school students
(27%) attended school in communities less than 25,000. However, using the most
conservative definition of rural -- communities in open country with a population of
fewer than 2,500 - 8.8 million students (19%) attended school in communities with a
population of fewer than 2,500 in 2002-2003 (Johnson & Strange, 2005). Given the large
number of students in our rural schools, we need to examine them more closely.

The primary purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover and identify
characteristics contributing to literacy achievement for students at a high-achieving rural
elementary school. Educators and other participants were able to speak for themselves to
give their perceptions of what they believed lead to high literacy achievement. In order to
contribute to the theoretical and practical knowledge base of literacy acquisition and to
help fill a significant gap in the rural education literature, I used grounded theory to
explore the combination of complexities that enabled them to outperform many of the

other rural schools in the state. This study also sheds light on the heartbreaking and

painful realities that some of the students faced and how school personnel combated
those challenges and fostered a safe, caring environment for children to learn, thrive, and
be happy.

The following review of literature centers on research of effective schools, rural
schools, effective literacy instruction, literacy development, and a comprehensive view of
learning. The third section lays out the design and methods of the study, and the fourth
section reveals the results, including discourse analysis of a home visit. Finally, the
discussion section elaborates on the findings, includes the limitations of the study, and

concludes with directions for future research.

PART ONE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The history of rural schools in the United States points to the lack of mainstream
research conducted in these settings. In fact, rural schools became the enemy of some
19th-century school reformers and were viewed as old-fashioned and archaic amidst
rapid economical, technological, and political changes. Some thought that rural schools
could not serve as successful models for the institutionalization of public schools in
America (DeYoung, 1987).

By the 20th century, many Americans and their leaders believed that the future of
the country lay in urbanization and industrialization. Some say rural schools were poorly
organized and inefficiently governed but hoped to define and implement positive rural
characteristics, such as a sense of place, to educate “the whole child” as Dewey (1900)
promoted. On the other hand, reformers felt the need to “improve” rural schools by
documenting their inferiority and assuming them to be less intellectually stimulating, less
desirable administratively, and less successful financially (DeYoung, 1987). Thus, the
rural common school was taken away from the local community and forced to
consolidate with other rural schools to create the one best system of education for all in
this country (Tyack, 1974). Since that time, there has been sporadic interest in rural
communities. Why?

Underdeveloped Rural Education Research

Given the historical background of research on rural education, a number of

distinct approaches exist in current research trends on rural education that may contribute

to the underdeveloped mainstream scholarship in this area: There is the Romantic view of

rural America as the ‘bucolic village’ with moral superiority, the preservation of rural
institutions, and a rejection of everything urban; rural areas may be seen as
undereducated, impoverished, culturally bankrupt, and without much economic or social
value, so that consolidation of rural schools is the solution to all problems (Ward, 2003);
rurality may be based on the model of deficiency, dysfunction, and irresponsibility that
includes deficient cognitive abilities, deficient language, poor motivation, devaluation of
education, and poor parenting skills (Purcell-Gates, 1990); and some may hold an elitist
view, showing disdain for anyone not part of a diverse urban society, thus the rural
community is extraneous and not worthy of concern or study (Ward, 2003). Since the
number of rural schools has decreased in the last 75 years, attention has turned away from
them and toward urban and suburban districts (Schmuck & Schmuck, 1992).

A comprehensive abstract and review process conducted by the Mid-continent
Research for Education and Learning (Arnold, Newman, Gaddy, & Dean, 2005, April 27)
revealed that there was a lack of high quality rural research literature. In fact, after
searching the ERIC and Psyclnfo databases, they identified a total of 498 abstracts of
various quality on K-12 rural education research studies conducted in the United States
and published between 1991 and 2003. Sixty-six percent specifically studied rural
education issues and 34% occurred incidentally in rural contexts. Programs and studies
for students with special needs was the topic receiving the most journal articles. Many of
the 40 abstracts relating to instruction compared academic achievement between rural
and non-rural students. In addition, the group reported only one rural-specific study
directly relevant to reading, three in reading programs and strategies, and two rural-

specific studies dedicated to literacy development.

Studying Effective Rural Schools

Questions for this study emerged from my research practicum in 2005-06 in

which an university professor and I examined effective literacy instruction in a rural

school district, grades K-5, using grounded theory (Reffitt & Pressley, 2007). Based

heavily on observational data, we discovered and identified school-level and teacher-

level characteristics that promoted literacy achievement, which was supported by

traditional effective schools research:

General Teaching Processes: well-planned lessons; orderly environment with
high expectations for student behavior and academic participation; much
encouragement provided by teachers for behavioral and academic
accomplishments; and high expectations for teachers in promoting student
academic growth

Teaching through Direct Instruction: direct explanations and modeling of literacy
skills; and scaffolded application of literacy skills

Stafling: experienced classroom teachers; special education teacher with much
time spent on literacy skills; classroom instructional aides who tutor small groups
or individuals; foster grandmothers who support the teacher and tutor students;
and high school students who volunteer as teacher assistants and who sometimes
work with individual students

Home-School Connections: immediate student feedback on graded papers; notes
and class newsletters sent home on regular basis; immediate notification to

parents regarding missing assignments; and frequent interactions between parents

and teachers during special events, PTO meetings, school board meetings, and
informal conversations in town

Progress Monitoring and Assessment: STAR test associated with the Accelerated
Reader program to determine student reading levels (three times per year);
Stanford Achievement Test in the spring; state assessment in math, reading, and
writing in grades 3, 4, and 5; and frequent classroom assessment on the
curriculum

Heavy Skills Focus in Primary Grades: letter-level instruction in kindergarten;
systematic phonics instruction by first grade along opportunistic phonics;
emphasis on sight words; study of word families in second grade; substantial
workbook activities to support letter-, sound-, and word-level instruction; and
explicit vocabulary instruction including opportunistic vocabulary

Substantial Skills Focus in Upper Grades: significant skills instruction associated
with workbooks/worksheets; vocabulary instruction (additional vocabulary
instruction in grade 4); and extensive computer skill drill programs in some
classrooms

Reading of Good Children’s Literature and Content-Area Texts: basal stories used
primarily in grade one; combination of basal stories and trade books used in grade
2; substantial reading of trade books in grades 3, 4, and 5; a variety of read aloud
methods with silent reading in upper grades; heavy emphasis of read —alouds and
class discussions at grades 3, 4, and 5 for social studies and science texts

A Great Deal of Comprehension Instruction: class discussions with teacher posing

questions followed by students’ responses; written comprehension responses;

vocabulary words connected to text; Skills practiced often with social studies and
science content; and constant reminders by teachers to use comprehension
strategies as they are reading text

I Participation of Accelerated Reader Program: beginning in grade 1; individual
student progress charted in class; grade level goals based on Accelerated Reader
points; tangible rewards and salient notice of achievement; listed on report card to
notify parents

' Writing: Focus on printing letters, whole group compositions of short passages,
and beginning emphasis on capitalization and punctuation in grade 1; paragraph-
to page- length writing by grade 2; and short stories and essays (about one page in
length) in early grade 3; four and five paragraph essays, substantial practice of
writing single sentences and one paragraph essays in late grade 3 and early grade
4; emphasis on details, voice, word choice, transitions, and various forms of
writing in grade 4; complex planning, emphasis on ideas during the drafting
phase, and high demand for mechanics, spelling, and organization on final drafts
in grades 4 and 5; state test practice writing in grades 4 and 5; and writing skills
practiced out of context beginning in grade 1

I Oral Communications: emphasis on responding in complete sentences with
correct grammar beginning in grade 1; interviews and community presentations in
higher grades; and explicit lessons on eye contact, volume, pace, enunciation, and
posture

One missing factor in this district was the administrative leadership, since the principal

played a minOr role as instructional leader. Instead, distributed leadership among

teachers seemed apparent in the three different buildings. The Reffitt and Pressley (2007)
study pushed me to think more broadly about literacy development and led me to
examine multiple factors affecting literacy achievement in a rural school. Other than
effective literacy instruction, what other factors contribute to students’ literacy
achievement in a high-achieving rural elementary school? Specifically, how are these
factors manifested in the school?

Otherwise, only a small number of researchers have recently investigated rural
elementary schools producing high literacy achievement (e.g., Mosenthal, Lipson,
Sortino, Russ, & Mekkelson, 2002; Taylor, Pearson, Clark, & Walpole, 2000; Mosenthal,
Lipson, Tomcello, Russ, & Mekkelsen, 2004). Whereas economic status was not a factor
in Reffitt and Pressley’s (2007) school selection, Mosenthal and his colleagues (2002)
studied the contexts and practices relating to reading achievement at six Vermont
elementary schools serving low-, middle-, and high-socioeconomic status communities.
Based on state literacy assessment data, two schools were identified as successful “beat
the odds” rural schools. A team of six researchers conducted 8-15 daylong observations
of each school with single observations of each K-4 classroom. They timed activities and
interactions, created classroom maps and lists of materials, estimated the number of
books in the classrooms, and tape-recorded and transcribed interviews with teachers and
school administrators. Taylor et al. (2000) investigated school and classroom factors
contributing to reading achievement in grades K-3 in 14 low-income schools across the
US, of which four were rural and another four were small-town schools. Members of the

research team assessed four readers per school on reading fluency and comprehension

and observed 5 times during an hour of reading instruction. Teachers completed written
surveys and weekly logs of language arts/reading activities.

Generally, these researchers (Mosenthal et al., 2002; Taylor et al, 2000) found a
balancing of skills instruction and holistic reading and writing activities. Teachers and
administrators fostered a sense of self-regulation and responsibility in students, and
parents had confidence in the school. Similarly, Mosenthal and his colleagues (2004)
found that the effective schools had a constant commitment to literacy improvement by
faculty and administrators. Teachers were frequently collaborative and maintained a high
level of expertise and knowledge. Students were provided ample opportunities for
independent reading and discussions. In the more successful rural schools, instructional
strategies were consistent across grade levels and supplemental interventions were
implemented for struggling readers. Transition time was kept to a minimum.
Furthermore, teachers shared a common vision and often worked overtime to prepare
effective lessons.

Schmuck and Schmuck (1992) studied the assets and challenges of small districts
by visiting 25 randomly-selected districts with 300 to 3,000 students in 21 states. After
observations of at least 50 K-12 classrooms and semi-structured, informal interviews of
school-related participants, they found teachers who were dedicated to their istudents’
academic and social development, often spending their own money and extra time
helping students. These teachers remained hopeful of future economic prosperity in
small towns where people desire to live and work and where small school districts prevail
over large ones. There was a strong sense of community identity extending beyond

regional differences and the school was the center of the community.

10

Research on Characteristics of Effective Schools

For the last thirty years, researchers have focused on effective schools and have
used various methodological and theoretical perspectives to identify school-level and
teacher-level factors that contribute to overall high student achievement. Literacy
achievement is substantiated in the primary grades by a student’s reading level, quality of
writing, and performance on standardized assessments. Some of these researchers have
highlighted schools where high student achievement is not to be taken for granted, such
as in areas of poverty (Hoffman, 1991; Reynolds, Creemers, Stringfield, & Teddlie,
2002; Shavelson & Berliner, 1988; Teddlie & Reynolds, 2000; Pressley, Raphael,
Gallagher, & DiBella, 2004; Johnson, 2002). These effective schools tend to have the
following characteristics: (a) strong administrative leadership that focuses on instruction;
(b) an evolving curriculum based on administrator and teacher reflections and
improvements; (c) high expectations for student achievement with a clear school mission
that focuses on academics; (d) safe and orderly learning environments; (e) frequent
assessment of student progress; (f) excellent school and classroom management with
much time on task; and (g) supportive and encouraging environments with positive
home-school relationships.

Researchers from the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (2005)
identified the key components of success in hi gh-performing, high-needs (HPHN)
schools (e.g., leadership, instruction, professional community, and school environment),
often called “beat the odds” schools. Barley and Beesley (2007) followed up with an
exploratory study of HPHN rural schools expecting to find similar results with contextual

differences. The nrral schools (one elementary and three high schools) were identified as

11

HPHN based on state assessment scores and free and/or reduced-price lunch rates.
Findings were consistent with other studies on effective schools in all school settings.
Interestingly, individual case studies revealed trusting community-school relationships
that facilitated principal leadership and high expectations.
Effective Literacy Instruction

Literacy is a highly contested term among educational researchers and society at
large. I adopted the National Literacy Act’s (1991) definition of literacy: an “individual’s
ability to read, write, speak English, compute, and solve problems at levels of proficiency
necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop
one’s knowledge and potential” (National Literacy Act, 1991). For the purposes of this
study, effective literacy instruction will be defined as instructional practices that produce
high student achievement in assessment data from quantitative studies and evidence of
achievement from qualitative studies (Allington & Johnson, 2002). Recent studies of
effective elementary teachers, specifically those effective in promoting literacy (Duffy,
2003; Knapp, 1995; Pressley, Allington, Wharton-McDonald, Block, & Morrow, 2001;
Pressley, Wharton-McDonald et al., 2001; Wharton-McDonald, Pressley, & Hampston,
1998; Taylor, Pearson, Clark, & Walpole, 2000; Pressley, Mohan, Bogeart, & Fingeret,
2005; Reffitt & Pressley, 2007), claim that effective teachers do the following:

'I Keep most of the students highly engaged throughout various activities that
require them to think and that involve authentic reading, writing, and meaningful
conversations.

' Teach skills explicitly, and reteach if needed, by modeling, explaining, and

guiding student practice.

12

I Integrate skills teaching with the reading of quality literature and related writing
activities. Thus, there is a definite balancing of skills instruction and holistic
literacy activities along with scaffolded application of those skills.

I Practice the literacy skills across content areas like science, social studies, or
math.

I Make high academic demands while fostering student self-regulation,
independence, and internal motivation (Bohn, Roehrig, & Pressley, 2004).

Contributors to Literacy Development

Of course, parents’ contributions cannot go unrecognized in this type of research.
Emergent literacy foregrounds this study in that children’s knowledge and skills emerge
developmentally as they observe literacy experiences in their daily lives prior to formal
instruction (Purcell-Gates, 1995). Their early language experiences greatly contribute to
their vocabulary grth and subsequent literacy achievement in elementary school (Hart
& Risley, 1995).

Morrison and his colleagues (2005) claim that the complex development of a child’s
literacy skills involves several factors, such as the family, the school, and the larger
sociocultural community. They use Bronfenbrenner’s (1986) ecological approach
to literacy development, which depicts the child in the center encircled in broader, yet
related, forces. According to this diagram, the proximal, or most immediate, influences
on a child are the family, the school, and the local community, including peers. Of
course, the most important setting for a child is the family environment, since that is
where most of the child’s time is spent. The distal sources, or the more remote influences,

include the local government (school board and district), the parent’s workplace, mass

13

media, and dominant beliefs. Even though distal influences impact a child’s literacy
development, the proximal sources of the parents and the school play larger roles. A
child’s literacy development is determined by what he or she experiences in these
settings.
Educating the Whole Child
A comprehensive approach to learning recognizes not only academic achievement
but also students’ physical, emotional, and social development. These elements are
supported by Maslow’s (1943) classic hierarchy of needs that provides a theory of
personality and human motivation. The five levels of basic needs are:
t: Physiological needs: food, water, oxygen, sleep, and a relatively constant body
temperature;
C] Safety needs: security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health,
and property;
D Social needs: love, affection, and a sense of belonging in supportive relationships;
0 Needs for esteem: self-esteem, confidence, achievement, and respect of and by
others; and
CI The need for self-actualization, which is the need to find self-fulfillment and
realization of one’s potential: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem-solving,
lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts.
In this taxonomy, often presented as a pyramid, the more primitive needs are grouped at
the bottom of the pyramid; a person does not feel the higher need until the lower need has
been fulfilled. Beyond the five levels of basic needs, higher levels exist that include the

need for understanding, aesthetic appreciation, and Spiritual needs. However, Alderfer’s

l4

(1969) revision of Maslow’s theory (e.g., ERG theory- Existence, Relatedness, and
Growth) claims that more than one need may motivate someone simultaneously and that
access to the higher level need does not require complete satisfaction in the lower level
need; the frustration-regression principle of the ERG theory states that if a higher level
need remains unsatisfied, the person may regress to lower level needs that appear easier
to fulfill. Others argue that human needs are non-hierarchical (Wahba and Bridgewell,
1976; Max-Neef, M.A., Elizalde, A., & Hopenhayn, M., 1991).
Character Education

The US. Department of Education and the National Education Association agree that
schools have the dual responsibility of contributing to students’ academic performance
and character education (Benninga et al., 2006). The No Child Left Behind legislation
has expanded firnding for character education grants from $8 million to $24 million. In
fact, the US. Secretary of Education announced in July 2006 that 13 states, including
Michigan where this study was conducted, and the District of Columbia would share
$15.5 million in grants to implement character education programs that not only train
educators how to teach students core ethical concepts, like responsibility and respect for
others, but involved the parents and community. Secretary Spellings said, “Lessons in
responsibility and respect are just as integral to a well-rounded education as lessons in
reading, math, and science” (US. Department of Education, Public Affairs, July 26,
2006)

The multiple definitions of character often problematize the implementation of
character education programs. The word, character, is one of those terms used in

education, like facilitator, partnership, or curriculum, that has different meanings in

15

different contexts. In this study, I prefer to embrace a comprehensive definition of
character and character development that seeks to build students’ cognitive, emotional,
and behavioral aspects. I adopted the basic principles of the Character Education
Partnership (Lickona, Schaps, & Lewis, 2007), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian
coalition of people and organizations committed to develop effective character education
in K-12 schools. Core ethical values (e.g., caring, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and
respect for self and others) and performance values (e.g., diligence, a strong work ethic,
and perseverance) form the basis of good character. These may be referred to as virtues
or character traits. The authors explain:
A school committed to character development stands for these values...
defines them in terms of behaviors that can be observed in the life of the
school, models these values, studies and discusses them, uses them as the
basis of human relations in the school, celebrates their manifestations in
the school and community, and holds all school members accountable to
standards of conduct consistent with the core values.
They affirrn human dignity and meet the classic test of reversibility (i.e., Would you want
to be treated this way?). Educators look at themselves through a moral lens to assess how
everything that goes on in the school environment affects the character of students. They
foster caring relationships among students within and across grade levels, among staff,
between students and staff, and between staff and families. There is a climate of concern
and respect for others. Educators find “natural intersections between the academic
content they wish to teach and the character qualities they wish to develop” (Lickona,
Schaps, & Lewis, 2007, p. 3). They foster students’ intrinsic motivation without
excessive emphasis on extrinsic incentives or threats of punishment, and students are

socially recognized for prosocial actions (e.g., “Thank you for waiting on me. That was a

thoughtful thing to do.”). The same values that govern the students also govern the adult

16

members of the school community. Finally, educators foster shared moral leadership,
engage families and community members in character-building efforts, and assess the
character of the school, as needed.

Many schools are hesitant to embrace additional initiatives that may detract from the
increased attention on standards-based accountability and academic achievement. There
is not a definite causal relationship between character education programs and academic
achievement; however, a growing body of research, supports the idea that a high quality
character education can promote academic achievement (Benninga et al., 2006;
Berkowitz & Bier, 2005; Chang & Munoz, 2006,).

Character education and academic achievement are not mutually exclusive goals.
Benninga and his colleagues (2006) found that the good schools infused character
education throughout the school, as well as, across the curriculum. Staff modeled and
promoted the values they wanted the students to embrace, such as fairness, equity, caring,
and respect. Another study found teacher strategies that helped raise student
consciousness, such as listening, genuinely praising signs of improvement and mastery,
and acknowledging student perspectives, but did not detract time from curricular
components (Reeve & Hyungshim, 2006).

Poverty and At-Risk Children
The link between poverty and poor physical, emotional, social, and intellectual
development is well documented. Since Lyndon Johnson declared his “War on Poverty,”
in his first State of the Union address in 1964, subsequent legislation created federal,
state, and local programs to help the economically disadvantaged, such as Medicare,

Medicaid, food stamps, and Head Start. However, the poverty rate has continued to

17

remain steady since the 19705. Today nearly 13 million children in America, or 1 out of
every 6 children, live in poverty, and this number has increased over one million since
2000 (Children’s Defense Fund, 2008). According to the Children’s Defense Fund
(2008), “Every year that we keep children in poverty costs our nation half a trillion
dollars in lost productivity, poorer health and increased crime.”

Poverty is one characteristic that may identify a child as being “at risk,” but how is
“at-risk” specifically defined and what conditions, circumstances, and characteristics
place a child in the at-risk status? Donmoyer and K05 (1993), who investigated policies,
programs, and practices of at-risk students, describe these students as those who are more
likely, or are at risk, of not completing high school or of completing high school “without
the academic, social, and emotional skills to firnction as productive citizens and workers”
(p. 8). In the early 19705, these students were labeled “disadvantaged,” a problematic
term that encompassed diverse students with different types of problems and different
kinds of problem-solving skills. At-risk students have been defined by their familial and
personal characteristics, such as membership in an ethnic or racial minority, low
economic status, a single parent in the home, and low educational attainment by one or
both parents (Pallas, Natriello, & McDill (1989) as cited in Donmoyer and Kos , 1993).

Summary
From the literature on rural schools, effective schools, literacy development and
instruction, and a comprehensive view of learning, we can conclude that:

I There has been sporadic, limited interest in rural education research.

I Despite the challenges of rural schools, effective school characteristics have been

discovered and identified.

18

I Methodologically, studies about rural schools and literacy rely on interview and
survey data, along with limited observations.

I My recent study on effective literacy instruction in a rural school district supports
traditional research on effective schools and teachers, except the factor of
administrative leadership (Reffitt & Pressley, 2007).

I Learning encompasses a student’s physical, cognitive, and affective development
and is influenced by the at-risk factors of poverty, familial characteristics, and
parental education.

There are a variety of factors affecting a child’s literacy development. This detailed
study aims to contribute to the paucity of rural education research in two ways:
theoretically, by using a sociocultural definition of literacy and learning while drawing on
traditional research on effective schools, effective literacy instruction, and rural schools
research; and methodologically, by applying grounded theory in combination with social
linguistics to understand literacy practices and events in the rural community.

I employed a sociocultural lens by adopting the social theory of literacy. This
theory emphasizes the embedded nature of literacy in social relationships and institutions
(Street, 1984; Gee, 1992; Barton & Hamilton, 1998) and is part of the New Literacy
Studies (as in Gee, 1996; Street, 1995, Barton, 1994). Simply put, New Literacy Studies
(N LS) are based on the belief that reading and writing only make sense when studied in
the context of social and cultural practices (Gee, 2000). Unlike many NLS, I included
traditional research on effective schools and teachers. Therefore, this investigation makes

connections between traditional research on effective schools, teachers, and literacy

19

instruction, along with empirical data and social theory to explain students’ literacy
achievement.

I utilized qualitative grounded theory methodology that is supported by
connecting data from observations and document/arti fact analyses until no new
conclusions are entering the data (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Researchers enter their
studies with background knowledge that influences their viewpoints. For example, I grew
up in small community. I have experience as an elementary classroom teacher and
possess some prior knowledge about instruction and school environments. In addition,
during the 2005-06 academic year, a colleague and I conducted a study on effective
literacy instruction in another rural school district.

Research Questions
Less is known about literacy achievement in rural schools with an emphasis on
observations, while employing a sociocultural lens. Therefore, I focused on the
following research questions:
I Why are the students in a rural elementary school performing so well on the state
language arts assessment?
I What factors support high student achievement?
I How does the school community define the cultural models of schools, literacy,
and learning?
The school community included personnel, students, parents, and other members of the

community who participate in events and activities at the school.

20

METHODS
Determining Rurality

Rurality had to be determined in order to identify rural schools in the state with
exemplary reading and writing test scores. Census statistics have historically been
divided into urban and rural categories and areas that were not categorized as urban
became classified as rural areas. The definition of urban has changed over time due to
changes in settlement patterns, data needs, and technology (US. Census Bureau, 2008).
A rural area is “any incorporated place or CDP [census designated place] with fewer than
2,500 inhabitants that is located outside of a UA [urbanized area]. A place is either
entirely urban or entirely rural, except for those designated as an extended city” (U .8.
Census Bureau, 1994, chap. 12,”Geographic Area Reference Manual). The US. Office
of Management and Budget identified rural and non-rural counties in the state based on
the 2000 US. Census. New Era Elementary is located in Oceana County, an identified
ruralcounty. It should be noted that the definitions of urban and rural are the Census
Bureau’s terms and other agencies or groups may use these terms to classify areas based
on different criteria (US. Census Bureau , 1994, chap. 12,”Geographic Area Reference
Manual”).

Identifying a Hi gh-Achieving Rural School

In order to identify a rural, public elementary school with high achievement in
literacy, I reviewed the state’s rural schools’ English Language Arts (ELA) Michigan
Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) results for the past few years (Michigan
Department of Education, 2008, MEAP Test Results). Based on this data, I established a

list of Michigan’s top twenty rural public schools and New Era Elementary consistently

21

appeared on these lists. Their test scores from the ELA portions of the winter 2004, fall
2005, and winter 2005 state assessments were used to establish literacy achievement
among rural schools. Subsequent scores corroborate their achievement in language arts
(see Appendix A). State averages are included in the table. In 2007, the state changed the
labels for each achievement level, so that Exceeded Standards became Advanced; Met
Standards became Proficient; Basic Performance became Partially Proficient; and
Apprentice became Not Proficient. However, I maintained the same labels for

consistency.

I targeted high-achieving rural schools but did not identify them as high-needs,
that is, schools whose percentage of free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) was higher than
the state’s F RPL mean (Barley and Beesley, 2007). However, New Era’s percentage of
FRPL exceeded the state’s average FRPL in both years. The principal reported that the
school’s FRPL averages were 47% and 55% respectively for the 2006-07 and 2007-08
academic years; the state’s averages were 35% and 37% respectively (State of Michigan,

2008)

Participants
This is the story of New Era Elementary, located in New Era, Michigan and part
of Shelby Public Schools.l The small community is situated on the western side of
Michigan in Oceana County near picturesque Lake Michigan. According to the 2000 US.
Census, New Era has a population of approximately 460 people. About 37% obtained a

high school diploma (or equivalency), 26% had some college with no degree, about 6%

 

’ I have permission to use the real names of the school and school personnel. All names of students and
parents have been changed to protect participants’ anonymity and confidentiality. Initials have been used
on student poetry.

22

received an associate’s degree, and slightly over 15% received a Bachelor’s degree.
About 96% of the population is White with almost half the population having Dutch or
German ancestry. The median household income is about $46,000. Approximately 44%
of the school’s students were economically disadvantaged (Standard & Poor’ S, 2007). In
the fall of 2006, the school enrolled 147 students in grades K-5 with only one class per
grade. During the 2007-08 school year, kindergarten had been moved to another
building, so the student population decreased to 120 students in grades 1-5 (Table 1).

In addition to the classroom teachers, the school also employed a special
education teacher, three instructional assistants, a migrant/bilingual assistant, a
computer/media specialist, a family advocate, an administrative assistant in the school
office, and a principal (Table 2). Music, art, and physical education teachers, in addition
to the speech therapist, rotated to different elementary buildings and did not participate in
this study. The cafeteria workers and custodian also did not participate in this study.
Therefore, they are not included in the demographic summary of school faculty and staff.

During the 2000 — 2001 school year, New Era Elementary won the state of
Michigan’s Golden Apple Award as the highest scoring Class C elementary school in the
state based on their state standardized test scores, netting them a $50,000 award. The
school was awarded the Golden Apple Award again in the 2002-2003 school year for a
second place ranking and gained $25,000. Award funds were used to purchase books,
technology equipment, and computer software. The award program was then phased out
when the state of Michigan encountered financial problems. However, in September of
2007, the Michigan Business Leaders for Education Excellence (MBLEE) chose New Era

as one of the five high-performing elementary schools in the state and was chosen to

23

participate in the Michigan Best Practice Study conducted by the MBLEE and the
National Center for Educational Accountability, a non-profit research organization and
sponsor of Just for Kids. The school identification process was based on state assessment
data and identified schools that consistently outperformed other schools with similar
demographics in mathematics, English Language Arts, science, and social studies for
grades three through six (National Center for Educational Accountability, 2007).
MBLEE’S executive director presented a banner to New Era during a school-wide
assembly. He said, “We walked in this school today, and within 30 seconds, we knew we
were in the right place... This school and the educators who lead it have refused to accept
excuses and have worked hard to provide their students with a quality education.” A
featured story and colored photograph of the ceremony appeared on the front page of the
local newspaper.

I made initial contact with the district superintendent and school principal in
August 2006. At that time, I obtained verbal consent from both school officials to
conduct the study during the 2006-07 school year and subsequent year, if necessary. In
October 2006, I received written consent from the principal, and approval was granted on
January 23, 2007, from the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). A one-year
renewal was approved from the IRB on January 21, 2008.

Data Collection

I used data triangulation (Denzin, 1970) to enhance the persuasiveness and
credibility of findings from the following data sources: 1) observations of classroom
instruction and school activities/events, 2) ethnographic field notes, 3) audio recordings

of interviews, conversations, and classroom observations, 4) video recordings of

24

observations, 5) faculty survey results on student achievement, and 6) a collection of
artifacts, such as student work samples.
Observations and Field Notes

During the spring of the 2006-07 school year, I visited the school two days,
mainly consisting of informal conversations with the principal, a tour of the school, and
introductions to faculty and staff. I attended the Michigan Best Practice Study in Traverse
City, Michigan, on June 19, 2007, along with the principal, superintendent, and
curriculum director. The teachers preferred that I began classroom observations in the fall
of 2007. Therefore, during the 2007-08 academic year, I observed each class in grades 1-
5 for l ‘/2 -3 hours and recorded field notes on my observations. Also, I observed and
recorded the principal’s interactions with students, teachers, and parents during the both
academic years. I accompanied the family advocate on a home visit in December 2007
that was documented with field notes, photographs, and an audio recording. In sum, I
observed 46 hours over 14 days from March 2007 to March 2008.

Because of the distance from my residence to the elementary school, I planned
half-day or whole-day visits. I was sensitive to and attempted to record any aspect of
teaching and learning that could have an impact on student achievement. So, I attended
some non-classroom and special events, such as library and computer time, a school-wide
assembly, a Science Family Fun Night, and a school board meeting.

Interviews and Conversations
I conducted informal interviews with teachers immediately following classroom
observations, if possible. Typically, these conversations centered on the lesson or other

classroom activities, procedures, and materials. Similar informal conversations occurred

25

in the office, the teacher’s lounge, and even on the playground. In the Spring of 2008, I
conducted more formal, 30-45 minute interviews with the principal and teachers.
Questions were generated based on previous observations and conversations (see
Appendix B for teacher interview questions and Appendix C for principal interview
questions). All interviews were audio-recorded, except for one teacher interview due to a
mechanical difficulty, and I also took notes during the interviews. Two girls who
participated in the Girls on the Run program and one parent volunteering in the school
were informally interviewed; the interviews were audio-recorded and notes about their
perceptions were recorded. In addition, in the spring of 2008, I recorded field notes from
telephone conversations with a counselor from an outside agency who worked at the
school and a former principal in the district who initiated the family advocacy program.
Audio and Video Recordings

I found that participants seemed at case when I audio-recorded conversations and
classroom interactions, as compared to videotaping events. Also, I was able to easily
move from one speaker to another or one location to another with the audio recorder. I
audio-recorded nearly 12 hours of conversations with faculty and staff, their interactions
with students and each other, a conversation with a parent (Table 3). Time has been
rounded to the nearest minute.

Audio recordings were stored on my laptop computer and copies were backed up
on a disc and thumb drive. These recordings were organized into folders by speakers with
some speakers having multiple recordings. I listened to each speaker’s audio recording(s)
multiple times and maintained a log of the principal’s and family advocate’s recordings

because of their extended lengths. I documented the speaker’s name, date, number, time

26

recorded, and notes about the recording, like 12-10-07, Principal #4 (4:17): Todd talking
to 3rd graders about old radio Show; focus iS on kids’ imaginations. This time-saving
resource proved beneficial when I searched for specific topics or quotations to use in the
dissertation. It also allowed me to link the data from my field notes by applying the same
codes to the audio recordings. Portions were transcribed using Sony’s Vision and Voice
Editor computer software.

I video-recorded 45 minutes of school activities. Videotaped events consisted of a
Math Blasters award ceremony in the third-grade classroom, recognition and award.
ceremony to third graders who excelled in the Walking Club, tour of the building, school-
wide assembly, and student interactions with the principal. Videotaped observations were
used to support the results.

Surveys

I administered a modified version of the Beliefs about School Achievement
(BASA) survey (Georgiou , Stavrinides, & Panaoura , 2002) to teachers
and the principal (see Appendix D for entire measure). This questionnaire was based on
earlier research (Hauser-Cram, Sirin, & Stipek, 2003; Tiedemann, 2000) about
stereotypical thinking, such as socio-economic bias, and characteristics of student
achievement (Georgiou , Stavrinides, & Panaoura , 2002). The original 20-item
instrument produced five reliable factors (using Cronbach’s alpha) about teacher
attributions and student achievement: student ability (.72), student effort (.70), family,
teachers (.79), and gender (.91). The term, gender, referred to a student’s sex. Some
examples of the statements on the BASA scale include: ‘Children from rich families

perform better at school than children from poor families’; School achievement is an

27

inherited talent’; and ‘A child’s achievement depends on the qualities of his/her teacher.’
The questions on gender are related to mathematics, and I changed them to ones about
literacy for the purposes of this study (Table 4). Other survey questions remained
identical to the original survey. Answers included five-point Likert items: 1 = Absolutely
Agree, 2 = Agree, 3 = Ambivalent, 4= Disagree, 5 = Absolutely Disagree.

Teachers completed the surveys anonymously in April 2008. I intended for the
principal’s survey to be completed anonymously, but his survey was accidentally omitted
from the mailing. Therefore, he completed his survey in early May 2008 and mailed it to
me. Simple statistical data analysis was performed on survey results using Excel®
computer software (Table 5). The means and standard deviations were calculated for
teachers’ responses about each statement in order to make comparisons and contrasts
with the principal’s responses. Standard deviations are noted in parentheses. Factor
means on student ability, student effort, family, teachers, and gender were calculated
using the teachers’ and principal’s responses.

Artifacts

I analyzed multiple information published by the school and/or school district
(e. g., assessment data, newsletters, school website), any reading and writing artifacts
present in the common areas, hallways, and classrooms, and documents created by
students and teachers. Photographs of various school events, artifacts, and the
community were taken, such as the principal assisting students sledding at recess, a
teacher reading to students, and students learning on the computer. Students in grades 3-5
and the principal wrote poetry based on my direction, which was to write a poem about

where they are from to include descriptions about themselves, their families, and their

28

communities. The purpose of the poetry was to convey a sense of place about the rural
community and its citizens.
Procedures for Analysis

The analysis was based on Strauss and Corbin’s (1998) procedures for open
coding and method of constant comparison. Case study and grounded theory approaches
recognize that a researcher comes to a study with background knowledge that can
influence her point of view toward the object of study. I grew up in a small town and
have taught in a small community. Also, I entered the study with disCiplinary knowledge
in education expected to heighten my sensitivity to school, curricular, and teaching
variables that might account for literacy achievement in the school. However, every
general conclusion was supported by multiple pieces of data.

Data analysis began after the first observation, and data was coded as it was
collected. Categories were developed until no new major conclusions emerged. Field
notes were coded with the abbreviations of the following categories: Sense of Place (SP),
Educational Leadership (EL), Effective Teaching (ET) as part of students’ cognitive
domain, Home-School Connections (HSC), Technology (T), Poverty (P), Emotional
Health (EH), and Physical Health (PH). Table 6 provides definitions and examples of
categories that eventually led to the overall themes and conclusions of the study (e.g.,
educating the whole child and meeting students’ physical, social, emotional, and
cognitive needs). I later incorporated the code of technology into effective literacy
instruction. Also, home-school connections was later changed to home-school
relationships in order to better explain interactions between school personnel and

families.

29

Discourse Analysis

I transcribed a 40-minute audio recording of a home visit with the family
advocate, a grandmother, and her three year-old granddaughter (see Appendix E for
complete transcript) I used Gee’s (1991) linguistic approach to narrative text to explain
the structure with idea units, lines, stanzas, strophes, and parts, but I also used this
structure to explain how it contributes to the meaning of the text. Transcriptions are
structured into the hierarchically related bits of information Gee (1991) refers to as Level
1, line and stanza structure. Syntax and cohesion make up Level 2 and mark how they
work together to tie to the interpretation (p. 28). I used Gee’s (1991) Level 3, main
line/off main line of plot to answer the questions: ‘30 what?’ and ‘What’s the point or
significance of this plot?’ (p. 29). Level 4, psychological subjects, or main clause
subjects, represent the narrator’s point of view, whereas Level 5, the focusing system,
uses the focused portions of the stanzas to generate themes or images and helps “build an
overall interpretation of the narrative” (Gee, 1991, p. 33).

The transcription served two purposes for my data analysis: to discover elements
that contribute to literacy achievement; and to help define the school community’s terms
of school, literacy, and learning, by using cultural models theory (D’Andrade & Strauss,
1992; Holland & Quinn, 1987). Cultural models are prototypical events in a simplified
world that are ideological and involve one’s values and beliefs about society but often go
unrecognized and appear natural (Gee, 1996). In other words, cultural models “explain
why and how things happen as they do and what they mean. These ‘theories’ (which are
embedded not just in heads, but in social practices, texts, and other media) guide action,

inform judgments of self and others, and shape ways of talking and writing” (Gee, 2000,

30

p. 181). The models vary across cultural groups, but more interestingly relevant to this
study, they also vary within cultural groups who Speak the same language (Gee, 1996).
After the results were analyzed, a draft was sent to the principal, family advocate,

library/computer specialist, and teachers as a member check.

31

PART TWO

RESULTS
We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say, “It's

not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are
those who see the need and respond.T consider those people my heroes.

-- Mr. Fred Rogers
I studied New Era Elementary, a hi gh-achieving rural school, to answer the following
questions:
I Why are the students in a rural elementary school performing so well on the state
language arts assessment?
I What factors support high student achievement?
I How does the school community define the cultural models of school, literacy,
and learning?
These questions can be answered by taking a closer look at the themes that emerged from
this study: the school’s sense of place, educating the whole child, effective literacy
instruction, administrative leadership, and relationships with families. Together, these
elements contributed to the cultural models of school, literacy, and learning. The
principal and his staff showed how to effectively educate the whole child — cognitively,
physically, emotionally, and socially - in a school where some children grapple with very
serious family situations.
This school maintained high student achievement in literacy, but how did this
happen? The diagram in Figure 1 represents a synopsis of what I learned at New Era
Elementary and how the school contributed to students’ academic success in literacy,

good citizenship skills, like responsibility and patience, and positive school experiences.

32

The first box is Positive Relationships. This appeared to be key in fostering motivation
and academic achievement. As Ruby Payne (1988) wrote in The Framework of Poverty,
“The key to achievement for students from poverty is in creating relationships with
them,” (p. 34). At New Era, it was important to create positive relationships with all
students, and I would argue that it included creating positive relationships with their
families, too. In subsequent figures and chapters, I explain how the teachers, support
staff, principal and family advocate all created positive relationships with students and
their families. The second box of the diagram is increased student motivation where
cognitive needs were satisfied with effective literacy instruction; positive relationships
were maintained. The third box is the final result that shows students’ academic
achievement in literacy, good citizenship, and positive school experiences. I use the
diagram in Figure 1 as a template to show how students’ needs were met within each
theme.

A brief overview of the school’s sense of place provides an introduction to the
detailed aspects of how school personnel educated children with a holistic perspective
and created positive school experiences. The reader will notice an asymmetry in the
results provided for each theme. The heavy proportion of information about the principal
and family advocate is intentional. We know a great deal about effective schools,
classrooms, and teachers. Contributing factors have been well documented in a variety of
settings. Therefore, I am documenting key features of effective instruction in order to

emphasize the unique positions of the principal and family advocate. In fact, this is the

first study to illuminate the family advocate’s role and discourse analysis of a home visit.

33

Chapter 1: Sense of Place

When I drove up to the school, I can’t say that it looked much different than other
small school buildings. The one-story brick building located in town was conveniently
positioned just off the main highway. A few cars were parked in front of the building.
When I entered the school, I quickly saw the small front office to the left and walked in,
glad I made the long trek from the other side of the state to begin my data collection.

The School Secretary

By the spring of 2007, I had already talked to the principal, Todd Kraai, on the
telephone to discuss the elements of the study and he had given me an overview of the
school and his beliefs about leadership. He had explained that his son, Trav, or Mr. T as
the students called him, worked as his administrative assistant and school secretary. Trav
called me by name and warmly welcomed me to the school. I soon learned that the
school secretary greeted visitors by name with sincere friendliness and was an integral
part of the school community. Trav monitored students at lunch, often helping young
children open their milk cartons. He ran errands, assisted with school technology needs
and projects, and worked closely with Todd to readily and happily serve staff, students,
and their families. In addition to his father, Trav was another positive male role model in
the building. On several occasions, I noticed an older gentleman sitting in the office
chatting with Trav, usually about the most recent sports news, and later learned it was his
grandfather who stopped by after morning coffee to Spend a few minutes with his
grandson.

Trav regularly read the mail for Susan, a local resident with cognitive disabilities,

whose sons attended New Era and were currently in college. “I’m not sure what’s

34

garbage and what to send to ...Carl. He always checks my mail,” Susan told Trav.
Susan’s father, a multi-millionaire, did not financially support her. She told me, “My dad
don’t give me money. Mailing stuff out is like, no.” So Trav often gave her stamps to
mail important materials to her son at college.

Trav perused her mail and opened one envelope. “This is the one you want to
keep,” he said. “This is your new one right here. ..You have to call and register this card.
Do you want to do that? Do you want to keep the same pin number?” He called the credit
card company to activate her new card. At other times, he completed forms for her to get
food stamps. Todd later explained:

If it wasn’t for her school, she wouldn’t function. She wouldn’t know what to do

anymore. She’s at a loss because her sons are away. . .Her son’s grandparents on

her husband’s [ex-husband] side lived in Petoskey. They knew who was helping
the kids, and they would stop to see us, even though they never had kids

here. . .every year at Christrnastime, and we would talk with them, Grandma and

Grandpa Purcell. They would bring us gifts. I have them at home. She was an

antique plate collector... and just would always say, “You don’t know how much

we appreciate the fact that you work with the kids and work with Susan to try and
have a normal home for'those kids.” And. . .it’s pretty neat.
The Principal’s School Tour

The principal was unavailable when I arrived and was down the hallway talking
to a student. I discovered as time passed that that was a common practice. The principal
gave his time to children whenever there was a need, whether a child needed a band-aid,
breakfast to eat, or a pat on the back for finally learning his multiplication facts. If a child
needed him, he stopped what he was doing, even in the middle of a conversation with an
adult, and remedied a child’s problem or fulfilled a request.

On my initial tour of the building on March 16, 2007, we walked past the gym

that doubled as the cafeteria during lunch. I noticed a large aquarium and a poster, Career

35

of the Month: Respiratory Therapist, as the principal guided me down the main hallway.
We stopped to talk to a child and Todd said, “Hey, Scott, what are you working on?” The
young boy explained he was conducting some research, and Todd thanked the young man
for the snack he brought him at school around 6:30 the previous night.

We saw another student in the hallway who asked, “Mr. Kraai?”

Todd answered, “What Patrick?”

“Can I throw the Frisbee during recess?” the young student asked.

Todd replied, “Yes, we can do it together.”

Continuing the tour, the principal explained how he conducted formal classroom
observations that were required by contract every 3 years for tenured teachers. He quickly
transitioned to help another student:

Principal: Yes, Alysse?

Student: I need a band-aid.

Principal: Did you cut your fingernails recently or have you been chewing

your fingernails? [Laughing] Do you chew your fingernails,
Alysse? Do you? I think you do, don’t you?
Student: I was bored —

Principal: [Chuckled] You were bored?

Student: -- in the classroom and then when the bell rang, I saw it.
Principal: Yep, I’ll be down that way. Are you in Girl Scouts right now?
Student: No.

Principal: Why not?

Student: I don’t know.

36

’ Principal:

Student:

Principal:

Student:

Principal:

Student:

Principal:

Student:

Principal :

Student:

Principal:

Why not?

Because... I don’t know.

Okay, I’m going to come down that way in just a minute, and
when I come down, I’ll get a band-aid and I’ll put some first aid
cream on it, okay? I’ll make it feel better. Are you eating lunch
right now?

Na, I’m done.

Alright, I’ll be down there.

We’re playing basketball.

Use the life skill of patience—

Okay—

-- and I’ll be with you in just a couple of minutes.

Okay, thank you [as she walked away, happy, with a smile on her
face].

Yep, you’re welcome.

He then resumed the tour and started talking about their playground, never missing a

beat, until he encountered another student on the playground, “Hey, Jeff, what’s 3 x 3?”

The Stories about Hardship

Stories told by the principal and teachers revealed a school community where

some students faced severe hardships. At New Era Elementary, some children were living

in poverty and wresting with issues of abandonment, abuse, neglect, and hunger. Some

parents neither valued education nor practiced literacy skills at home with their children.

Others did not possess the skills to help their children much at all. It was difficult for

37

students to concentrate on school when family situations burdened them. I heard this
story from a teacher:

These children they way they come to us. They have such painful

childhoods. . .I had a little boy in my classroom and every morning he’d be late for
class... and I’d say, “Why are you so late?” He goes, “I was in the bathroom
running my hands under the water.” I said, “Why? You’re late.” Here was my
thought --you’re late, you’re tardy, you’re not getting your work done. He’s like,
“Our pipes froze and that warm water just felt so good. I just left my hands under
the water.” You want to cry because that’s where they come to me from.

And I heard another story:
This one little guy brought his toothbrush in one day. “Can I brush my teeth?”
“Sure” [the teacher said] and then later [she asked], “Why did you bring your
toothbrush? Are you seeing the dentist today? Do I need to have a note? Are you
leaving me?” He’s like, “No, our pipes froze. I didn’t have any water and I really
wanted to brush my teeth, so I waited until I got to school to do it.” To have the
wherewithal as a third grader to bring the toothbrush, I thought that was pretty
cool.
I heard several stories about incarcerated parents or siblings. One teacher
reported:
You get kids whose parents are in prison. And here we are making Christmas
presents and one of my little girls... said, “I don’t know who to make this for. I
said, “Oh, why?” “My dad’s in jail, and they won’t let him keep it anyway.” It
was a beautiful little ornament she was making, and I said, “Well, you can save it
for him another time.”
Another teacher expressed her concern and frustration over children’s Situations,
“Kids hear too much, when you have kids tell you... ‘The prosecuting attorney won’t let
my dad out of jail.’ One parent is in jail and another left the state to avoid jail.” These
stories, and ones like them, represented some of the children of New Era, not all the
children, of course. Some students came from loving, nurturing, stable families where

parents met their needs.

Evidence of Children 's Stability and Happiness

38

Not all New Era students suffered from negative family situations. Some New Era
students came from homes --middle- and working-class homes, single-parent and two-
parent homes -- where parents read with their children and participated in their education.
I observed one first grader reading a mystery story. I asked her what a mystery was and
she provided a very clear and correct explanation. She said her mother read mysteries to
her at home. Students’ poetry revealed that children had positive experiences at home and
at school. Spellings and line breaks were not altered from original work. A fourth grader
wrote:

I am from a pool in the summer times
That everyone enjoys.

I am from friends all around me.

I am from animals surrunding me.

I am from tin play houses in my
Backyard.

I am from lovely trees & bushes that
Grow so tall.

I am from lovely flowers evry where
Around my backyard.

I am from movies evry where around
My house.

I am from sports equipment.

I am from a family who loves to
Watch sports.

I am from eating together evry
Night.

I am from a family who travels
Almost evry holiday to see relatives
Far away.

I am from a mom named Natile

Who works so much and so hard.

I am from a dad named Mark

Who works with seeds.

I am from a loving sister names
Brittany who’s in collage.

I am from two brothers named
Christopher and Dougles who are both
Very active.

I am from four cats who eat and

39

Sleep all day. There names are, Jeanie,
J imill, Tiger, and little Spoty.

I am from reading and playing on
My free time.

I am from loving computers and
Michigan History.

I am from dreaming of becoming
A teacher.

I am from a family who had our
Special blanky’s.

I am from a house that looks like a
Barn.

By E.K.
A fifth grade student wrote:

I am from working hard, to having firn with my
family, I am from riding my bike in the summer,
spring, and also fall, to having snowball fights in
the winter,

I am from jokes and laughs, I am also from hard
times, I am from healthy meals, and reading

great books

By P.

40

Chapter 2: Educating the Whole Child

The school embraced a comprehensive approach to learning that enhanced
students’ physical, emotional, social, and academic development. As Figure 2 shows, the
school responded to students’ physical needs through food programs for children,
clothing and shoes to needy families, and making sure children took their medicine.
They enhanced physical development through recess, the Walking Club, and a program
called “Girls on the Run.” Of course, there is an overlapping of domains with these
elements. For example, with the school providing breakfast and lunch, physical needs
were met, but students’ emotional needs (e.g., sense of safety and belonging) were also
satisfied. I placed the component in the category that appeared most obvious to me, so
in the case of providing meals, I placed that need in the category of Physical Needs and
Development. The only exception to this pattern is Girls on the Run. I felt like this
program significantly enhanced students’ physical, social, and emotional development;
young girls were taught lessons about self-esteem and cooperation, in addition to the
physical exercise. Also, the 5k culmination of Girls on the Run enhanced the girls’ self-
confidence.

Physical Needs and Development

Poverty was a constant challenge and each day the school faculty and staff knew
children arrived at school who may not have been fed nutritious meals at home, may not
have the appropriate clothing to withstand Michigan’s harsh winter climate, and may
reside in deplorable living situations. In fact, when I asked the principal to identify New
Era’s biggest challenge, without hesitation, he replied, “Poverty.” The Census Bureau

(2000) estimated that just over 20% of the county’s children under the age of 18 lived in

41

 

poverty in 2003. It was an issue that he wanted to remind teachers, so he distributed The
New York Times article, “Poverty is Poison,” (Krugman, 2008) to faculty and staff prior
to a monthly staff meeting. The article outlined the negative effects of poverty over an
individual’s entire lifetime.
Providing Food
At school, they fed children breakfast and lunch everyday and provided additional
food and clothing to families. The high school’s National Honor Society conducted a
fund drive to make food baskets for local families near Thanksgiving. Students bought
the food and organized the baskets with non-perishable items, like canned green beans
and uncooked boxes of rice. They also provided families with gift certificates to a local
butcher so that parents could purchase their own turkey or other meat for the holiday. The
organization’s sponsor collaborated with the school’s family advocate and teachers to
determine the families with the highest need in order to decide who received the baskets.
Most families accepted the food baskets and none felt offended by the offering, as the
family advocate explained:
We never bring a basket without asking a family first, which was kinda, felt
awkward at first. I mean, how do you call someone up and say, do you need food
for Thanksgiving? I mean, you have to find a way to do that in a respectful way.
And I’ve never had a family who — I’ve had families who have said no, we don’t
need that help, but I’ve never had anybody who acted offended by that. And I’m
always carefiil to say, if somebody says, No, I think we’re okay. And I say, I
wasn’t, I didn’t want to offend you in any way, or I wasn’t trying to be offensive
by asking, and people have always been understanding about that. But we never
want to take the risk of just bringing something to someone when they don’t know
it’s coming.

In addition to the food baskets, all the district’s elementary schools implemented food

drives to donate to local food pantries.

42

In another situation, Carol, the family advocate, made an emergency trip to a
church’s food pantry to get some essentials for a family. Todd told the story about how
the little girl seemed happy the next day because she could bring a snack to school.
“People don’t understand what little ones are facing in some of those at-risk homes. I
mean not even having money to get a snack for a child, not having milk in the
refiigerator,” he explained.

The principal made sure a student had breakfast before he entered his classroom
for the day. “That morning, one young boy, not on free and reduced lunch, came in and
said he was hungry,” the principal told me. Todd asked if he had been in a hurry and the
boy said no, so the principal took him to the cafeteria and got him a hot breakfast. “Well
he’ll have a good day today. .. What started as not being real good was turned around
quickly just by something, by what a lot of people would say that’s insignificant, but yet
that’s probably what got him into his classroom so he could get started with his daily
routine.” This was an isolated incident and the student did not qualify for free and
reduced lunch.

Getting a Child ’s Medication

A fourth grade student forgot her seizure medicine and her class was practicing
for a school performance in which she would be needed. The school secretary called the
mom, who was a teacher at the middle school, and she gave her permission for Todd to
take her daughter home for the medication. He stayed in the vehicle while she retrieved
her medicine and then locked the house door when she left. They returned to school and

were getting out of the Todd’s truck. She turned to him and said, “You know what? I

43

forgot to tell you. I really appreciate you,” and away she went. He reflected on that
experience:
But you know, all of those things will make you cry sometimes when they do that,
but yet, you think, wow, what would those kids 0 if they didn’t have someone to

fill in the gaps for them? They would go without, wouldn’t feel well, wouldn’t
have a good day, maybe would be criticized for not remembering the medication.

He added, “You just think thank goodness, you can do those things.” I asked him if he
ever worried about liabilities, especially taking a child home in his vehicle. He affirmed
that he was concerned at times but in that in that particular situation, the mother had
given her permission. She called him later, thanked him, and explained that they had been
running late that morning and forgot the child’s medication. He added, “If someone
criticized me, I would have to say, ‘Well, I did it for a kid. That was in their best interest
at that point and time. Would you rather have them have a seizure or me drive them home
to get their medication?”’
A Family Needs Heat
During one of our many conversations, the principal described his frustration
with some of the parents and their use of money for their own purposes, like purchasing
alcohol and cigarettes, when they could not afford heat or food for their children:
We had an incident this year where I had a. . .father come in and wonder if he
could borrow $50 so he could have the money for a minimum amount of propane
to put in their fuel tank at home. I agreed to do that and ran to my truck and got a
$50 bill and I gave it to him. Later that evening, I was coming back from a school
board meeting, and I noticed my truck needed gas, so I stopped at the Wesco gas
station, and as I walked in, I noticed that parent. And when he saw me come
through the door, he sort of went down and didn’t want anyone else to see him.
And I thought, dog-gone-it, he better be making good choices, so I walked around
the aisle and there he was. And in one hand he some alcohol. In another, he had
cigarettes. And I said, “Listen, I went to bat for kids. Gave you $50 to use for heat
for your home, and it looks to me like you aren’t doing that.” And I thought either

the guy’s going to hit me or he’s going to maybe make a change in his life. And
he said, “You know what, you’re absolutely right. I shouldn’t be doing this right

44

now.” And I said, “No, not if it’s taking things away from your kids.” And he put
the beer back. He put the cigarettes back on the counter, and then he came back
over to me and he said, “I apologize for what I’ve done. . .I hope in the future you
really would help me if I had the need. . .I think you started me on the path to
making good financial choices.” And I said, “Well, I hope that’s true. . .Sometimes
you have to learn from a mistake. . .Come and see me again if you need help.” He
said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be getting your $50 back to you. . .This won’t happen
again.” He’s come back to me about every week to report what he’s doing with
his money, and I think, Okay, that was a learning opportunity with that parent that
hopefully... will benefit his children.

The school combated the ill effects of families’ poverty by connecting them with
local agencies that provided basic needs, links to employment, and high quality child care
or preschool opportunities for their children. In fact, the school partnered with nearly
every agency in the county to help meet families’ needs. Moreover, they worked with the
middle school counselor to provide children with winter coats, snow pants, and boots.
Faculty and staff ofien gave their own money to help families. The principal estimated
that he gave about $3,000 annually of his personal financial resources to different needy
families.

A Student Needs Shoes

The principal’s care and concern even extended beyond students’ elementary
school years. He described how he supported one young man:

He [the counselor] had another little boy [in counseling] who didn’t have shoes to

go out for the basketball team, a freshman in high school. And he was telling me

that and he said, “Maybe an old pair I have will fit him.” I said, “Well, what size
shoe does he wear” He said, “Well, twelve.” I said, “Wow, he’s grown a lot since

he went through our building.” He said, “Yeah he has.” And I said, “Give me 20

minutes,” so I called [a local storeowner] and I said, “[Don], I have a young man

who won’t be able to go out for the basketball team, even for try-outs, because he
doesn’t have a pair of shoes. He said, “You know what, Todd? You do an awful
lot of business for us with Girls on the Run for running shoes. Don’t worry

about.” He said, “Tell Kevin to go to the store in Whitehall and the shoes will be
there. I said, “What do I owe you?” He said, “Nothing.”

45

 

But that young man probably never would have tried out for basketball, and if he

gets in basketball, it will be great for him, because he needs structure, he needs

activity and involvement beyond just the school day, and he needs recognition

from other kids in ways that he’s never gotten recognition before.
And what if the young man either decided not to play basketball or he did not make the
team? “Well, if it doesn’t work, hey, at least he has a good pair of shoes,” Todd
answered.

Physical Fitness

An avid tennis player, the principal emphasized the importance of students’
physical fitness. He believed that “a healthy body makes a healthy min ” and encouraged
physical activity with all students. Todd not only worked with staff members to create an
appealing outdoor environment on the school campus, but he participated in physical
activities with them. Other activities occurred in the building after school. Students
participated in extracurricular activities like karate, basketball, and dance classes. There
was even an adult aerobic class that met at the school in the morning.
School Campus

The school campus, nestled on 15 acres, had a large open playground with a
walking trail and was adjacent to an apple orchard. Playground equipment sprinkled near
the school and a blacktop surrounding the building for playing 4-square or basketball
kept the students engaged during their three daily recess periods (i.e., 15 minutes in the
morning and afiemoon and a 20—minute recess prior to or following lunch). Various balls
and playground equipment were stored in the school’s front office and I often saw
students dropping by to politely retrieve or return equipment. The property’s large hill

provided the perfect backdrop for students to go tubing, that is, being pushed, usually by

the principal, to start the rapid descent sliding down the snow-covered hill individually or

46

with friends on over-sized innertubes. In fact, the district’s other elementary schools took
winter field trips to New Era to use their hill for tubing at the New Era Ski Resort, as they
jokingly called it.

Walking Club

The school constructed a lAt-mile walking path to engage students in physical
activity and to develop healthy nutritional habits from subsequent conversations and
mini-lessons on nutrition. The walking path was maintained by community members and
students. Students used shovels to clear paths, and parents with other community
members added topsoil to the track one Saturday morning.

Students walked during their recess periods. In the event of inclement weather,
students walked up and down the hallways and still received credit for walking their laps.
I observed first graders holding hands with their teacher walking up and down the
hallway. The children seemed exuberant to reach the instructional assistant, indicating a
completed lap. During the 2006-07 school year, students walked 6,700 miles.

Students set their own goals and were rewarded with prizes (e.g., a Frisbee, a
puzzle, dinner with the principal and his wife at their home for walking 1,200 laps). The
library/computer specialist helped facilitate the program and wrote a grant to petition
local businesses for donations to purchase prizes. For instance, the nearby Wal-Mart had
agreed to donate $25 but gave $300 instead. Pizza Hut gave students free personal pan
pizza coupons. Other tangible rewards, such as posters and books, were purchased by
school store revenue. Students also had the opportunity to earn ‘/2 hour additional
computer time, a real motivator since many did not own computers at home. Because

students reached their school goal, they were able to take a free trip to a local indoor

47

water park, a business partner with the school. The admission price to the water park was
usually $24-29 per child and $29-34 per adult, and the principal knew that many families
would not be able to afford the admission fee. The park waived the admission fees for
students and their families.
Social/Emotional Needs and Development

The school satisfied students’ emotional needs by making them feel valued,
implementing a positive approach to citizenship and discipline and having a principal
who served as a positive male role model and father figure. In addition, they offered
counseling services to those students and families with the greatest needs. School
personnel created and implemented a cross-age mentoring program that expanded to the
entire district. They also engaged all students in fundraising efforts to support St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital.
Feeling Valued

The principal set the tone for a positive learning environment that supported
students’ emotional development. “The key to learning,” he said, “is to make every child
think that they’re special and valued. Those students will to go to the nth degree,
achievement will rise, [and] teachers will be happy.” The school’s opportunity to create
positive interactions with children began as soon as the students arrived in morning. Todd
stood at the door greeting them with smiles, high-fives, and hugs; he told them he was
glad to see them and they would have a good day at school. Later, he told me:

We have kids, you can tell, that when they get off the bus, their chins are just

dragging. By the time they hit the door and all of a sudden they know, that

you start to talk with them about things and put things in perspective, or tell them

that it’s okay and that we can take care of that. .. the smile’s back, they feel like
they’re still okay and they’re special, and away they go, ready to learn. But I’ve

48

often thought that, boy, if they didn’t have that initially for some of the kids, how
horrible that would be.

One of Todd’s greatest attributes was the desire and ability to meet students’ needs so
that their focus in the classroom was on learning. He was a problem—solver who
alleviated some of the students’ pressures and worries throughout the day:
I often have a difficult time with people even in Lansing [state capital] where I
feel like they don’t understand the environmental baggage that kids have today
that they bring with them to school, and how, if you don’t have an accepting,
warm, caring environment for kids, that I don’t care what you’re doing in the
classroom, you’re probably never going to get the academic success that they say
is necessary or that you have to reach... You really have to have both parts for
kids to be successful. I spend an awful lot of my day trying to make sure that all
of those emotional feeling type of things don’t get in the. way of learning, so that
teachers can teach.
I try to do my utmost to make sure that all of the concerns that a child has, that
you can talk with them, talk care of those before they go into the classroom or at
some point in the day, so they can focus on learning.
Life Skills and Discipline
Another way that the principal and staff supported students’ emotional
development was the implementation of LifeSkills (Kovalik, 2008) and Love and Logic
discipline (Fay, 2008). New Era Elementary was the first building in Shelby Public
Schools to implement the life skills program to support character education. This
program is a component of the Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) curriculum and
focuses on 18 social and personal skills, such as patience, flexibility, and caring, that
develop students’ self-discipline and responsible citizenship. It also provides a common
language for all staff and students to use. New Era faculty spent instructional time
modeling, discussing, and implementing life skills into their daily classroom activities.

Every other week, the principal conducted a fun, school—wide assembly on a particular

life skill, complete with music, role playing, or demonstrations. Teachers referred to the

49

life skills when they explained procedures at the beginning of the year and continued to
integrate them into their daily activities. For instance, during a writing lesson, a teacher
asked, “Who has the life skill of courage and would like to try this one?” Also, the skills
were posted in each classroom and in the principal’s office, and students were expected
to use life skills at all times (e.g., on the playground, on the bus, sharpening their pencils,
or in the bathroom).

School personnel have implemented some of the other ideas of brain compatible
education to create optimal learning environments for students, like using lamps in the
classrooms, choosing a more neutral paint color, and eliminating clutter in the building.
In fact, one teacher had a small waterfall in her classroom. Also, the desks were grouped
together into tables and the teacher placed a plant on each group’s table. They had an
aquarium displayed in the main hallway that was maintained by the second grade teacher.
The school was the first one in Michigan to use full spectrum lighting, not fluorescent, in
the classrooms, to provide more natural lighting and create a calm environment.

Teachers employed Love and Logic disciplinary strategies into their classroom
management. The goal of Love and Logic is to reduce behavior problems, increase
motivation, and build skills that contribute to life-long responsibility and resiliency (Fay,
2008). The practical approach is grounded in five basic principles (Fay, 2008):

1. Preserve and enhance the child’s self-concept.

2. ‘ Teach children how to own and solve the problems they create.
3. Share the control and decision-making.

4. Combine consequences with high levels of empathy and warmth.

5. Build the adult-child relationship.

50

In the midst of instruction, I observed a teacher saying, “Chad, choose to participate.
Make good choices,” instead of addressing his off-task behavior with criticism, threats, or
embarrassment. Teachers did not display behavior charts on the classroom walls nor did
they buy candy or other treats as incentives for good behavior. One experienced teacher
explained that over the years, she had tried various classroom management strategies, like
maintaining behavior charts or having students flip index cards to a certain color that
represented their behavior. She found that Love and Logic strategies worked well in her
classroom. In addition, she sent students’ planners home each week to communicate with
parents about their children’s academic progress and behavior. In rare instances, she
reported calling parents at home to discuss a behavioral incident.

Todd used life skills along with Love and Logic discipline to discuss behavior
issues with the whole class before he addressed the individual student. For instance, a
first grader “made a choice,” as Todd called it, at snack time to take another student’s
snack. Todd visited the classroom and read aloud a book about friendship that he was
given when he was four years old. Then they discussed fiiendship and the same first
grader gave his account of taking the snack as an example of what a friend should not do.

Todd’s method to discipline was to separate the behavior fi'om the child by
saying, “You made a bad choice, but you are a good person. Tell me what happened.
What life skills were not used?” He further explained that mistakes were meant for
improvement. He and the student would work on a plan orally and older students would
write the plan. He often hugged students at the end of the conversation and reported to

have few discipline problems and few irate parents.

51

The principal’s discipline approach worked well for another student, as Todd
reported this story of a young boy who needed guidance from a positive male role model:

Trevor is a young man who happens to be in fifth grade here. He lost his dad
two years ago. He never got to know his dad, even who he was, until a year before
his death. He came to this system from Muskegon and was last year at another
elementary and this year was suddenly here. He lives with his mom in a very
small apartment right in New Era. And he’s had his moments in terms of not
being able to follow the expectations, the procedures we have at school. I’ve
gotten him involved with counseling to help with his real anger issues and also
with feelings of almost depression at times. In fact, he doesn’t think he’ll have
much of a life, because he has a brother who attempted to commit suicide. He has
another brother who is incarcerated right now, and he has a history, in terms of
their family too, of real medical issues and high needs. He has a lot of ability, so
I’ve gotten them involved in counseling, and his mom, too. I’ve gotten them
involved in two different church programs.

And every day at the end of the school day, he will check to see if I have
meetings. And if I don’t have any meetings, his first question is always, Mr.
Kraai, will you help me look at my homework? So we’ll sit for 20 minutes to a
half hour and basically, I’ll tutor him. It’s usually been in math or science. Then
the moment he’s always been waiting for, all of a sudden, he’ll say, “Okay, I have
my homework finished. Now can we go in the gym and play Horse?” So we’ll
leave for the gym. We’ll actually play several games of horse.

And I think part of that, he relishes being with an adult male who is very
appropriate in terms of how he reacts to things. He needs somebody just talk with
and unburden himself. It’s been a real good give and take for Trevor and myself.
And I think if it hadn’t been for that time we share, he probably wouldn’t be in the
home he’s in right now any longer. And I’ve had to even go to Hart, to the
prosecuting attorney with him and his mom. I’ve arranged for mom to be in a
Love and Logic parenting class, which starts the middle of next week. And I’ve
established goals with Trevor and his mother and actually the sheriff’s department
and probate court. He knows what he really has to work on to become a
successful young man. I went to bat for him on Friday. He hasn’t had medication
for ADHD difficulty, which he has, and he’s missing school today because mom,
after a phone call from me, did get a doctor’s appointment today. And they’re
reinvestigating that attention and focus difficulty that Trent has, and I’m sure he’ll
come back again being on medication. We also made sure that he now has his
insurance card, which his mom let lapse, so we got him enrolled in the My Child
program through the state of Michigan. And that paperwork we did online. In fact,
Trav did on line with mom. We called her in and took care of it, so he’ll now be
able to get the medication that he truly needs. I don’t think he feels like he needs
to take that medication, and I’m sure, tomorrow morning, I’ll have my allergy
pills in my pocket. I won’t take those at home before I come, but instead I’ll wait

52

for Trevor and his mom. I know she’ll have his medication and he’ll say I don’t
think I need it. And then Trevor and I, from that day on, we’ll probably be taking
our medication together in the morning before school starts.

It’s one of those things where everyday, if I come back from a meeting late, and I
know last week one night I was filling my truck up at the Wesco station and all of
a sudden I heard someone yell, “Mr. Kraai!” And here came Trevor, didn’t have
any shirt on but he put his winter jacket on, ran over in a pair of sweatpants, and
he said, “I just happen to see you there and thought I’d come and talk for a
minute.” And he lives in an apartment that looks right toward the gas station. I
know he needs time with an adult, and I try to do that as much as possible. In fact,
I know this spring, I probably will have my bike. I’ll ride to school, and if things
work out well for him during the day, he and I will take a ride on the rail trail. I’ll
probably hire him at home this fall or even the spring yet and let him help me
plant Christmas trees. And again, all because I think he’s a neat kid, and if he has
that big brother, big sister relationship with an adult male, it rrright be that one
thing that really helps him be successful now and hopefully after he leaves this
school, too.

So we go to the n‘h degree to try and get the kids to understand what behaviors
they have to have to be successful both inside school and out, and we definitely
share our time with parents and their kids. And once again, here’s a kid that in
some places I think people would write off and say he’s never going to amount to
anything...We won’t give up on anyone. And I’ve seen some great gains with him
already this year. And I know that I’ll probably get a call from him after school
today letting me know what happened at the doctor’s office. He just got a new
basket at home. His mom bought it for him, and I’ve already been invited to stop
after school to play Horse with him in the alley behind the apartment as soon as
the snow has left.

By using the life skills and Love and Logic approach to discipline, there were not a lot of
rules for students to remember and the emphasis was placed on choice. Todd explained:

And we have schools who will come to us and say, how do you handle things, in
terms of procedures and rules? And I’ll tell them that we basically have four
[Fay’s principles 2 and 3 were combined] and everything fits within those
guidelines. Kids know what they are. There are no questions. They admit when
they’ve made choices that aren’t good choices, but it also allows us to make a real
distinction between the person and the behavior. And we always stress the fact
that behavior can be changed, that the person that made the choice of the bad
behavior is still a good person, and that we love you just as much as we always
have. In fact, I did that this afternoon with a young man who wasn’t following
directions and who wasn’t telling the truth. And when they leave they still feel
good about themselves and also know they have a behavior choice to change and
then we hold them accountable and responsible for their actions and their choices.

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We have natural consequences for the kids. In fact, the one that I did today, that

individual is going to spend some time after school tomorrow and also on

Wednesday doing things with Mrs. Meade and myself showing that he can follow

directions and he can be honest. And the point will be made and he’ll know we

still care about him as a great young man, but I bet it’s the last time he makes

those behavior choices.
A Positive Male Role Model

The principal also supported students’ emotional development and sense of
security as a positive male role model often acting as a father figure. Todd played the
game with another young boy who needed some extra attention and was really maturing
in the time he had been at the school. His father did not spend much time with him except
hunting and fishing together; Todd thought the family poached for food. His father was
unemployed and the mother was paid minimum wage at a medical care facility, and there
was very little money coming in to the home. Todd had visited their rundown apartment.
He reported that the little boy said:

“I know it’s getting colder ‘cause I can hear the mice overhead now in the

apartment.” And I said, ‘Well, if they get to the point where you figure they’re

coming down into the house, you tell me. I’ll stop and have some little traps or

sticky things that we can put up in the attic.” He said, “I told dad you probably

would have something like that.” I said, “We’ll see. If really needed, I’ll come.”
Once, he waited two hours after school playing games with a couple of children who
were waiting to be picked up by a parent. Eventually, the kids went home with Todd to
eat dinner with him and his wife; finally, the parents picked up the children later that
evening.
Counseling

The district did not employ a full-time counselor in the school and the principal

saw a real need for these services, after talking to the children, their families, and their

teachers. A conservative organization from a nearby city wanted to fund grassroots

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efforts without a lot of administrative costs or government intervention. According to the
principal, the organization provided the school with a list of donors who supported
programs that benefit youth to help the district’s most at-risk students and families, and a
local church’s outreach committee funded $6,000 to provide counseling for New Era’s at-
risk students.

The school partnered with a non-profit counseling center that was created by a
local church over 30 years ago and whose main mission was to provide counseling
services for the congregation and surrounding community. Kevin, a therapist with a
Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and Community Counseling, began counseling
New Era students each Tuesday morning, beginning in October 2007. He worked at the
school for 4 hours per week and met with students in 20-minute interval but never
counseled more than 10 students at any given time. Kevin met with the children on an
individual or small group basis, and from time to time, immediate and extended family
members participated in the counseling sessions. The principal explained:

I have found if you can do that in the school setting, because the people have so

much trust in the school, that if we would have therapy here, too, for them and

their family, they’re much more willing to do it here than they would be if you
said, ‘We’re gonna go to community mental health or we’re going to go to

Catholic Social Services. That they shy away from. If it’s here, they know that

it’s okay, it’s alright.

In addition, the school accepted any payments by insurance companies and partial
payments from families without insurance but who could afford to pay some of the fee;
the service was free to indigent families.

These young children were wrestling with some very serious issues. The principal

described some of their heartbreaking situations:

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Cl one boy lived with his mother; there was no father in the home and his two
brothers were in prison.

D another young boy never saw his parents and lived with his grandparents.

D a girl was sexually abused early in life and lived with her mother and
grandmother.

D one had Attention Deficit —Hyperactivity Disorder combined with Oppositional
Defiant Disorder and had been treated at a mental health facility. He had two very
different homes, his biological mother provided no structure and his biological
father provided much structure for him.

0 a first grader had supervised visits with her father due to molestation, although, as
of the middle of December, 2007, she had not seen him in three months, “which is
a good thing,” the principal added.

D an adopted boy from Romania who had an attachment deficit struggled forming
relationships with adults.

Kevin was committed to helping these young boys and girls. He drove 1 '/2 hours
one-way to New Era each week and, when the first grant was depleted and the principal
was making efforts to obtain a second grant, Kevin worked for three months at the school
without pay.

The principal told the story about Kevin’s commitment to working with New Era
students:

He was working with one of our kids and a family outside of school. Last

Thursday, he was at the church and he called over, and he said, “Todd, I know

ou have music or dance classes after school, ri t?,” and I said, “Yeah.”
y

“Is there something I can do with Scott for a few minutes just when I’m talking
with him?”

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“Yeah, I said. “I have two hoops, a small basketball game, in one of the
classrooms, in Betsy’s room. So I said, ‘You can just pull that down and shoot
hoops with him. So he did his whole session here in the room.
Kevin explained that traditional therapy, where the client sat on the couch talking to the
counselor, was not developmentally appropriate for this student, since he had tried that
approach at the church. However, when Kevin began tossing the basketball back and
forth with Scott, the young boy “lowered his guard,” as Kevin described, and began
talking more about his personal problems.

Kevin adhered to the notion that building relationships with children would help
them view themselves, others, and the world differently. Their behavior and outlooks
would change. He credited the principal with building positive relationships with
children. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. He described Todd as masterful in
building positive relationships with children and their families with encouragement like
hugs and high-fives. Todd had an “unrelenting pursuit” to get counselors in the building
to help the children in need and “pulls together as many resources as possible.”

In the counselor’s opinion, the school district had every reason to fail on paper—
unemployment, a large percentage of students on free/reduced meals, the drug abuse
among high school students. Kevin claimed that the isolation of the district fostered
generational problems, like drug abuse and unemployment. These problems began in
large families, stayed there and festered. Obviously, family systems were affected, and
Kevin believed that half of the male students he counseled was affected by parental

abandonment, usually by the father.

It Takes Two Program

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Staff developed a mentoring program called It Takes Two that partners second
and tenth graders to develop social relationships and support the second grade
curriculum. This program was adopted by the entire district and shared by the Big
Brothers Big Sisters program with other school districts in western Michigan.

Math-A -T hon

New Era students participated in Math-A-Thon, a fundraising program for St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital (http://mathathon.org) that helped satisfy, students’
social and emotional needs, along with cognitive development. Students obtained
sponsorships from families and friends to complete math problems in a fun book. For
instance, a sponsor pledged a nickel per completed problem. Students raised $1,400 for
the children’s hospital and felt especially connected to this cause since four area children
were receiving treatment at St. Jude’s. Also, their increased confidence motivated them in
other subjects, like reading and writing.

Physical and Emotional Health

Some programs at the school supported students’ physical and emotional
development, like the Girls on the Run program and Girl Scouts. Todd discovered that
many girls could not participate in Girl Scouts because it met after school and the
students lacked transportation. He coordinated with troop leaders to conduct meetings at
school during the day to give the highest number of girls in grades 3-5 the opportunity to
participate. Lessons centered on science learning objectives, like pollution. Girls Scouts
is a well-known organization to many, but less is known about Girls on the Run.

Girls on the RunO

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Six years ago, the school piloted Girls on the Run©, a non-profit prevention program
that promotes preteen girls’ physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual
development. According to the organization’s website (Girls on the Run, 2008), the 12-
week character building program teaches social and personal skills and culminates in a
non-competitive 5k run/walk that gives the girls the opportunities to celebrate their
accomplishments. The curriculum encompasses three main concepts:

0 All About Me: Getting to Know Who I am and What I Stand For!

Cl Building My Team: Understanding the Importance of Cooperation

Cl Community Begins with Me: Learning About Community and Designing Our

Own Community Project
The young girls “complete the program with a stronger sense of identity, a greater
acceptance of themselves, a healthier body image and an understanding of what it means
to be part of a team” (Girls on the Run, 2008). In 2002 and 2005 at New Era Elementary,
participants completed pre-tests and post-tests to measure attitudinal changes. The
evaluation, implemented by an associate professor in the School of Community and
Environmental Health at Old Dominion University, “showed statistically significant
improvements in the girls’ self-esteem, body size satisfaction, and eating
attitudes/behaviors” (Girls on the Run, 2008). The research also found positive changes
in attitudes towards physical activity, health behaviors, and empowerment.

Each session begins with a warm-up activity that focuses on the day’s topic
followed by a physical stretching routine that enables the girls to ask questions on the
topic. The girls then participate in a variety of running activities focusing on cooperation.

Finally, the cool-down combines stretching with another question-and-answer period.

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The coach ends each session with compliments and encouragement on individual or
group behaviors (Girls on the Run, 2008).

In the spring of 2005, the principal used federal and state fimds from a $10k drug-
free program grant to pilot Girls on the Run at New Era Elementary, the first school to
implement the program in the entire county. Six adults received the training to be
coaches, including Todd, Travis (his administrative assistant/son), and Teresa, the
computer/media specialist. Todd and Teresa, organizers of the school’s new program,
decided to offer it to fifth grade girls for only 7-8 week sessions due to the possibility of
harsh weather. Girls on the Run was so successful that the program expanded to grades 3
and 4 at New Era, the district’s other elementary schools, and the middle school. In May
of 2007, about 100 girls participated in the program; twenty-eight were from New Era.

Participants paid a $35 registration fee that covered the costs of a new pair of
running shoes retailed at $60 and nutritious snacks offered before each session. Todd
collaborated with a local shoe store owner to sell the shoes at a discounted price.
Scholarships were offered to those who could not afford the registration fee so that no
one was ever refused participation. Transportation was also provided, if necessary, and
the grant also paid the coach’s training that was $300 per coach.

Todd and Teresa moved the program to the fall during the 2007-08 school year,
so that girls had more opportunities at school to use the life lessons they learned in the
program. On a crisp and sunny October afternoon, about 125 people (e.g., parents,
grandparents, siblings, friends, and walkers) attended the run/walk, including 28 girls
from New Era. Todd boasted:

Every one of them successfully completed the 5K. There wasn’t anyone who
stopped short, including a couple of girls who really did not believe yet, even after

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training for 8 weeks, that they would be able to walk and rim that distance, they
all did.

Todd grilled hotdogs and parents donated other dishes for the potluck dinner in the school
gymnasium. One girl’s grandfather took photographs of each runner/walker and gave
them to the girls at the end of the race. In the future, the school will pictorially display a
Hall of Fame of Girls on the Run participates. The principal reminisced:

It was nice to actually see families gathered together, laughing and talking, and

really congratulating each other when they had accomplished this particular goal,

and I know all of them have learned some life lessons and skills that they’ll take
with them the rest of their lives, too.

The coaches realized for themselves that the program had a positive impact on the
pre-teens. Teresa, New Era’s computer/media specialist, explained how girls confided
personal information to her while walking, like if their parents had been fighting at home.
She retold how one overweight teacher formed a close relationship with an overweight
student. Teresa discovered that another young girl, who sold her pig to participate in the
program, had been withdrawn at school since her mother’s death but seemed to be more
talkative and happier as the program continued. The principal told me that within a
couple weeks following the 5K run/walk that he had already used lessons from Girls on
the Run with a couple of students. In addition, pre- and post—tests from the Office of
National Drug Control Policy showed positive attitudinal change about drugs and alcohol
in the girls, so the district met the grant requirements.

A couple of months after the race, a fourth grade student, Rebecca, talked to me
about her first year participating in Girls on the Run (informal interview, January 15,

zoosy

It’s fun. We play lots of games and we run a lot. We played, like, we played a
game, like this game where you run and you have to tell a healthy habit at the end.

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It’s like Red Light, Green Light, and you have to yell out a healthy habit when
you stop, like avoid tobacco and stuff and eat healthy fruits and vegetables. You
should eat three servings of fruit everyday, vegetables, or stuff like that.

She was the first to finish the 5k race, and her dad, a construction worker, ran
with her in his work boots. “It’s fun to have someone running with you encouraging
you,” she remembered. Rebecca smiled and told me that her father made her sprint the
last lap. Her mother also ran a couple of laps with her. She planned to participate again
because “it’s fun and it gets you active and people encourage you and stuff like that.” The
fourth grader remembered a lesson on drug awareness and “how you shouldn’t do
alcohol.”

Jan, a fifth grader, participated in the race for three years. When asked why she
continued to participate, she answered, “It helps me not be mean to other people, and
when I get mad at someone, I’ll just go to my room and read a book and do something,
and it calms me down.” Jan’s favorite part of the program was sharing her thoughts
during the sessions. She explained (informal interview, January 15, 2008):

I like talking in the meeting so you get a chance to say your feelings and what

the meeting is about. And you can say if that happened to you or not happened to

you. And then it goes around the circle and all the girls say their feelings or if it
happened to them.
She hoped to spread the word to other girls about the benefits of the program and wanted
to participate in track in middle school.

It should be noted that Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts are offered after school. The
boys are so enthusiastic about the girl’s achievements in Girls on the Run that they want a
similar school-based program for them. In the 2007-08, the principal and staff will

brainstorm and make plans to implement a similar program for the young boys.

Social and Cognitive Development

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In addition to providing effective literacy instruction, Todd and his staff worked
hard to provide experiences for their students that they otherwise might not encounter.
For example, the principal obtained local grant funding and arranged for a saxophone
quartet to perform at school, an experience he described as one that most families would
not provide or could not afford for their children. The Parent-Teacher Organization
(PTO) and the principal’s building budget funded field trips, called study trips, for
students to attend an art museum, the state capital, and an historical museum. In addition,
the principal rewarded students who met their reading goals with free trips to the local

water park.

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Chapter 3: Effective Literacy Teachers

Teachers and support staff educated the whole child to create conditions for
literacy achievement, good citizenship, and positive school experiences (as shown in
Figure 3). They satisfied students’ cognitive needs in literacy by providing effective
instruction that included integrating technology and literacy skills practice, differentiating
instruction, and scaffolding student learning. There was a school-wide emphasis on
reading and students were expected to read at home each day. Also, teachers fostered
emotional and social development by celebrating academic achievement and showing
empathy to students experiencing family hardships. They also participated in students’
physical activities, like the Walking Club and the Girls on the Run 5k run/walk.

Instruction

I observed the characteristics and strategies of effective literacy instruction
supported by numerous studies. For example, I observed teachers employing a balanced
literacy approach and using such strategies as explicit teaching of skills, reteaching when
necessary, reading high quality literature, and practicing literacy skills across content
areas. Teachers modeled skills and provided many opportunities for guided practice.
They assessed students’ literacy skills in a variety of ways, such as reading and writing
state assessments, DIBELS, decoding skills as part of the Michigan Literacy Profile
Program, and other teacher-created literacy assessments. Teachers sought and received
additional training to improve their strategies. For example, state assessment data
revealed students’ areas of weakness in writing, so the principal and teachers
brainstormed strategies and sought professional development on the new Lucy Calkins

writing program. However, I want to focus on aspects of effective literacy instruction

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that are context-specific and provide evidence for cultural models of literacy, learning,
and school.
Reading
Staff, especially the principal, placed a high value on reading. Todd read to upper

elementary students before school started (e.g., Fearless by Tim Lott , The Invention of
Hugo Cabret by Brain Selznick, and Tunnels by R. Gordon and Brian Williams).
Occasionally, Morning Meetings for older students were cancelled because the principal
was pulled away to talk to a parent or child but he found other times throughout the day
to read to students in class. I frequently observed him asking children, “Hey, what are
you reading?” and students even asked him for book recommendations. Todd also read
stories during school-wide assemblies. In fact, when the school was awarded the banner
for high achievement from the MBLEE, Todd began the assembly by reading a story
about perseverance. He read poetry to a group of students to reward them for walking
laps, and he also visited classrooms to hear students read, whether it was in Reader’s
Theatre or stories they had written. Furthermore, he challenged students with an
ambitious school reading goal for the month (or months) during the year that staff and
students celebrated reading and their achievements. Also, he and other staff planned
school events, like a family fun night, in conjunction with book fairs to encourage parents
to purchase books for home.

Reading was emphasized from the time the students arrived at school and
extended throughout the entire day. They began their school days, after breakfast was
served to some, with the principal and other staff members reading to them for 10-15

minutes in an empty classroom. Adults modeled fluency and asked comprehension

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questions. Also, students were given opportunities throughout the day to read silently,
with a partner, or to the class. All the teachers, including the computer/media specialist,
read to students every day, unless students were away on a study trip. Students across
grade levels had daily silent reading time. Also, students were expected to read at home.
For example, first graders took home a book and reading log every night for parents to
document their time spent reading. The first grade teacher and a parent told me how
excited children were to return their books and get new ones to read at home. The teacher
posted reading logs in the class to celebrate students’ achievement. And these students
read high quality literature. For instance, fifth graders read The Cay by Theodore Taylor,
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, and Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry. Basal
readers were used to reinforce certain skills, like author’s purpose. Overall, students
seemed excited about reading. I overheard one student talking to a friend in the hallway,
“You know what I got for Christmas? From Santa? The whole first set of Magic
Treehouse! And I bet he made them, too!”
Technology

Technology supported students’ acquisition of literacy skills, particularly in
reading. Teachers worked with the media/computer specialist to tailor computer activities
to support grade-level curriculum objectives. As a result, teachers used students’
performances in the lab as formative practice to modify and differentiate instruction. In
addition, students, especially first- and second-graders, practiced basic keyboarding
skills. Students typed and illustrated stories, reports, and poetry. Older students

conducted research using the Internet and reference software.

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The school instituted the Reading Counts program, similar to Accelerated Reader,
in which a student read a book and took a computer-based comprehension quiz on the
story. The media/computer specialist ordered quizzes from the company but teachers had
the flexibility of creating their own quizzes if the company did not have a quiz for a
particular story. Before purchasing Reading Counts, the media/computer specialist
evaluated different programs and felt as though Reading Counts provided higher-level
comprehension questions compared to similar programs. Students earned points based on
the reading level of the book and number of correct test items from the quiz. The teacher
set reading goals based on Reading Counts points but this was fashioned in a non-
competitive approach; no one displayed class charts with students’ point values. First
grade students were able to review their books when they took the quizzes which
encouraged rereading for understanding. The computer specialist reported that the
school’s library housed about 7,000 books and they had over 3,800 Reading Counts
comprehension quizzes.

The school implemented the Classworks program (Curriculum Advantage, 2008)
to reinforce what students learned in the classroom and to tailor instruction to students’
needs. According to the web, Classworks helps schools individualize standards based
instruction:

Classworks by Curriculum Advantage, Inc. is an innovative K-12 solution that

truly inspires students. The award-winning Classworks solution is comprehensive,

standards-based, managed instruction, all aligned to local, state, and national
standards. Based on your results, it individualizes each lesson, according to each
students’ unique needs. Classworks is used for on-grade level instruction,
remediation, acceleration, or as a Response to Intervention. This research-based

solution is proven to increase student achievement
(http.:www.curriculumadvantage.coml).

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About ten years ago, the principal flew to a “Blue Ribbon” school in Pittsburgh
that had used the Classworks program. He was so impressed with it that he returned and
convinced the Board of Education to purchase the math and language arts components of
Classworks. They planned to add the science component at a cost of $8,000 when funds
were available. The computer specialist customized the program to align with the
curriculum.

A student would access the Classworks program and select the unit that was
decided in advance by the teacher (e.g., subject-verb agreement, using quotation marks,
inferencing, learning how to predict outcomes). The student would complete the unit
assessment and receive a benchmark score. If she received a 75-100% benchmark score
on a unit, the student was considered proficient and did not complete the unit activities.
Otherwise, she would use a portion of her computer lab time to practice unit activities;
each unit was scored. Once she completed unit activities, she would be reassessed on the
unit at a later date. Teachers reported reviewing the program’s student progress reports
every couple of weeks to modify whole class instruction and to differentiate individual
and small group instruction. For example, if the teacher assigned units for
comprehension of short stories, such as drawing conclusions and understanding plot, she
would review the report showing students’ benchmark and/or unit scores. This would
enable her to choose students who needed extra practice with these specific skills. She
would spend time with individuals or small groups during the class’s silent reading time,

literacy stations, recess, and before or after school.

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New Era was the first building in the district to utilize the Classroom Performance
System (CPS). The system consisted of a main unit and remote devices, often called
clickers, for each student that enabled the teacher to display teacher-generated questions
on any topic on a large screen or white board. Students then used the remotes to click on
the right answers. Student names were not publicly displayed but teachers received
immediate feedback. The CPS units were available in the fourth- and fifth-grade
classrooms, in addition to the computer lab.

Teresa, the school’s computer/media specialist was an invaluable resource for
students, teachers, and the principal. She was the only one in the district with a combined
position of media specialist and technology coordinator. She served students by first
reading a story to them in the library and then having them transition to the lab to take a
Reading Counts quiz on that story and on any other stories they read individually or as a
class. Also, she and the classroom teacher monitored and assisted students who checked
out books from the library, took assessments and practiced skills with Classworks,
practiced keyboarding skills, typed and illustrated final copies, and conducted research.

Teresa trained not only the New Era staff how to effectively use Classworks but
also the entire district. She conducted professional development workshops and faculty
meetings to show teachers how to use various technologies, she helped organize and
served as coach for the Girls on the Run program, and assisted the principal with the
positive incentive programs. She arranged for student volunteers to help her run the

school store, added quizzes on Reading Counts, and ordered books for the library
based on teacher and student recommendations. Also, she collaborated with teachers to

schedule 2 31/2 hours of computer lab time and 1/2 hour in the library weekly for each class.

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Differentiated Instruction

The staff supported literacy skills by providing differentiated instruction. In first
grade, the school implemented the Early Intervention Program in which instructional
assistants worked with small groups of students in first and second grades for 45 minutes
to an hour each day to improve reading skills. Students were grouped based on specific
reading skills in need of improvement rather than reading abilities. According to the
principal, the school’s reading scores had increased and the number of special education
placements had decreased since instituting the intervention program. In addition, the
. Reading Counts program allowed for differentiation since students chose their own books
to read and took related quizzes. Also, the Classworks program allowed students to
practice skills at their own proficiency levels. It also provided teachers detailed
information on students’ specific skills, enabling them to work with small groups and
individuals as needed. Finally, teachers spent time working individually with students to
improve skills, in addition to working in small. For example, the second grade teacher
worked with a student for 20 minutes while the rest of the class read silently. Teachers
worked with individuals during students’ morning and afternoon recesses.
Scaffolding

One of the most impressive techniques that teachers employed across grade levels
was scaffolding. Instead of giving students a lot of information to process at once, they
divided the skills and knowledge into smaller, developmentally appropriate increments
for easier understanding. For example, the third grade teacher conducted a lesson on
fluency and began by telling a personal story to interest the students:

When I was your age, I have to tell you. I was a very poor reader... I went

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to a Catholic school, and the nun, she was teacher that I had, would make us stand

up by our seat and read out loud like a page or a paragraph. I was always scared to

read when it came my turn. I had friends in my class who could read really fast. I

had friends in my class who could read really well, but when I got up to read, I

was very nervous, and I stumbled a lot, and I didn’t have fluent reading. And I

learned from my friends that if I stop at the periods just a little bit and I pause at

the commas just a little bit, my reading started to make sense to me. And I cared

less and less how I sounded, and I focused more and more on what my reading

was trying to tell me.
Students sat completely engaged as she proceeded with the lesson. The class practiced
“reading” the alphabet with different punctuation marks (e. g., abcd? fghi! jk.). Students
took turns reading sections, then the teacher had students pretend they were talking on the
telephone, so that the listener could only hear their side of the conversation. She modeled
this first and then students participated in a choral reading of the passage as guided
practice, stopping and repeating when necessary. The teacher purposely did not use
words at this point of the lesson, because she wanted students to focus on the
punctuation, chunking the words or phrases together. Next, they read short sentences
with different punctuation:

Dogs bark!

Dogs bark?

Dogs bark.
Then, she wrote a short sentence with stress on different words to point out to students
that stressing different words in the sentence may change the meaning:

I am tired.

I am tired.

I am tired.

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She linked the activities to a similar lesson in the computer lab from the previous day.
Then the teacher distributed a one-page passage about Christopher Columbus that related
to their social studies curriculum and provided guided practice of students reading aloud
and chunking together words into phrases by drawing slash marks at pauses. She
explained how good readers reread, if necessary, and the class did a choral reading of the
passage. The teacher encouraged students throughout different phases of the lesson,
“Very good. I could hear you were trying to yell but you were so good about not
disturbing anybody that you didn’t shout really loud... I could tell you were paying
attention to that sign,” she said to a student who frequently rnisbehaved in class. This
example showed that she did not begin the lesson with the longer Christopher Columbus
passage, instead she started with something familiar to students that everyone, regardless
of reading ability, could read. The teacher transitioned to something somewhat harder
with the short sentences and finally to longer text.
Celebrated Achievement

Teachers supported students’ emotional and social development by celebrating
achievement. I observed celebrations across grade levels and in various ways that
fostered intrinsic motivation and self—efficacy. For instance, fifth graders honored each
other as writers by reading their personal narratives in the classroom’s Author’s Chair.
All the students appeared engaged and clapped after each reading. In the first grade
classroom, student reading logs were posted to celebrate the young readers’
accomplishments. Students were also honored for achievements in other academic
subject areas and physical education, like reaching Walking Club goals. Tangible

rewards, like books, were sometimes awarded to students.

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Showed Empathy to Students
Teachers understood that some students experienced family hardships that
interfered with their school performances and abilities to concentrate on academic tasks.
For example, a teacher explained:
I had a little girl in my class last year who had been molested as a very young
child by the mother’s boyfriend. And she used to just raise her hand say, “I need,
just need to go out in the hall and talk to you.” And she would talk about things,
and she wouldn’t be very specific. And she goes, “I’m thinking about those things
again and it’s very scary. Help me take my mind of it. What should I think
about?” And so I’d be chatting with her. She can’t do math right now. She’s got
something in her mind that we talked about that triggered something.
Some students were allowed to take time out of the classroom to talk to other staff
members or take brief walks in the hallway. Teachers arranged for students to act as
assistants in the office or other classrooms. Their compassion for these young children did
not cause them to make excuses for students’ misbehaviors, lack of effort, or poor
performance. Instead, it created more positive relationships between the teachers and
students by enhancing students’ sense of security.
Survey Results
Analysis from the modified Beliefs about School Achievement (BASA) survey
revealed similarities and differences between the belief factors contributing to child
achievement (student ability, teacher, family socio-economic status, student effort, and
gender) between the teachers and principal (see Table 5 for survey results). I found that
the teachers believed more than the principal that biologically determined characteristics,
like intelligence, play important roles in student achievement, are uncontrollable by the

student, and remain stable over time (X of teachers = 3.53, X of principal = 5). Also, the

teachers were more ambivalent than the principal that family socio-economic status is a

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determining factor in school achievement (X of teachers = 2.95, X of principal = 5).
Teachers placed an emphasis on themselves, and agreed, to some extent, that a child’s

achievement depended on the qualities of his/her teacher.

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Chapter 4: The Principal’s Leadership

New Era’s principal helped educate the whole child. As Figure 4 shows, he
supported children’s social, emotional, and physical needs. Socially, he modeled life
skills, celebrated student achievement in front of their peers and adults, and implemented
programs like Girl Scouts and It Takes Two during the school day and Girls on the Run
and Family Fun Nights after school to provide positive social interactions between
students, faculty, staff, and families. He supported students’ emotional needs by such
actions as calling each student by name, celebrating achievement to raise self—esteem,
using Love and Logic discipline, giving extra attention to struggling students, and being a
child advocate in custody cases. Also, the principal helped satisfy students’ physical
needs and development by providing meals and clothing, playing with students during
their 3 recess periods, initiating the Walking Club on the school’s walking trail and the
Girls on the Run program, and providing his own personal finances to support families.
In addition, the principal fostered students’ cognitive needs by teaching and participating
in lessons, frequently reading to children, purchasing computer software to differentiate
students’ learning in language arts and mathematics, and using his office as an extended
classroom.

Unquestionably, the principal was the ever-present teacher and patriarch of a
school where he called students and staff his family. Todd said, “I look at every one of
the kids in this building as my kids when they’re here, as I would hope that a parent
would, as a dad would.” I did not quiz him on it, but he proudly claimed that he knew
every child’s name in the building, all 120 students. I discovered that he knew more than

their names, because he told me about specific students’ academic struggles and

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achievements, family situations, and behavioral issues. He knew who was on medication
and its related diagnosis, who liked to play 4-square at recess, who ate breakfast at school
in the morning, and who was a proficient reader. It reminded me of the way an effective
teacher could describe her students at the end of the school year after she had spent nine
months getting to know them or the way a proud father bragged about his children.
The Principal ’s Background

Todd revealed events from his childhood that helped shape his disposition and

eventual leadership qualities as principal:

When I grew up, I was small. I didn’t grow until I got in college. And I’ll never
forget as I went through school, sometimes people saying, “Well, you can’t do
that. You’re too small to do that.” And instead of having that “Defeat me”, I
decided early on, “Okay, I’ll show you. I can do that.” I can remember in
basketball, I was short, and people would say, “Oh, you’ll never play very well. It
just won’t happen.” And it made me more determined than ever that quickness
and agility and shooting ability — it didn’t matter if you were 6’8” or 5’4”. .. you
could play well. The same with tennis, the same thing with reading, with writing,
with math. It just made me decide, “Okay, I’m going to be as good as, if not better
than anybody else.” Part of that was my dad who was an educator but he always,
always encouraged you. He always made sure you had a very good work ethic. I
can remember being told early on, “Todd, there is no free lunch. You get out of
things what you put into it. Never run short on effort.” And I can still see him
saying those things even though he died two years ago. I still vowed to when I
saw people mistreating people, that if I ever got into a position where I was
involved with young people or adults... I would always encourage and find the
positive before I would stress the negative. If I think there’s something we have to
do, I’ll never accept someone saying to me, “Well, we can’t do that.” Instead we
turn it around and it’s always been, “How are we going to do it? How will we
accomplish that?”

His childhood experiences created resilience and steadfast optimism that he modeled for
students.
Todd had been the principal for 27 years and clearly remembered what New Era

was like when he began his tenure there, a school with too man negatively worded rules:

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But I can remember when I came in the first day and they had a building secretary
who -- I walked into the office and she said, “Oh, hello.” “Here, this is probably
the first thing I should give you. This is our list of rules.” And it was three pages
long, and it was, You may not, you may not, you may not... and I said, “Let me
see that,” and I took it from her and I ripped it into about 7 pieces and I threw it in
the wastebasket. And there was just shock on her face when I did that and she
said, “What are you doing?” and I said, “Well, I’m going to tell you right now
that we won’t have that many rules.” I said, “We’ll basically have probably four
rules outside,” and I said. . .”the biggest rule is that everyone is going to treat
everyone with caring and concern and respect.” And I condensed all of the rules
into four basic procedures for the playground and they have been that way ever
srnce.

It was a school with all of these rules and people seemed to think they were only
responsible for their classroom and it wasn’t an environment where you came in
the building and you felt like, Wow! It’s okay to be there. And I indicated to the
staff on day one that if there was one expectation I had for all of them, it was that
they would give their time to all children, that they would show by their actions
and their comments every day that every child they came in contact with was
unique, was special, and that they cared about them. And they all followed suit...
I vowed in education that I would make every child feel that they were
worthwhile and of value, because I know there’s a real connection between how
you feel about yourself and the ability to do things people ask you to do, either
behaviorally or academically. And I really believe that the high expectations in
terms of behavior and academics and that caring part are what leads to success,
both in terms of social success and academic success.

The Principal’s Job Description
In March of 2008, I asked Todd to describe his position as principal, and he
replied:

There isn’t a job description for a principal in my mind. That’s something that
evolves every day. The bottom line is still anything that involves kids, you do... If
someone vomits on the floor and I’m the first one there, I clean it up. If a book is
torn and I can’t find Mrs. Meade, I’ll fix the binding. If we’re unloading food
stuff for the kitchen and I see it come in, I’ll be the first one to help unload the
truck. If someone needed word lists cut up in a classroom or needed to have
another additional person there for whatever reason, I’d be the first one there... If
someone doesn’t have breakfast and it’s 10:00 in the morning when they come
and our cook isn’t here anymore, I’ll get them breakfast. . .I hope I can make
people smile everyday... I have very few irate people.

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He modeled this work ethic for this staff to emphasize that “you’re not limited by what a
teacher’s supposed to do, or what an instructional assistant is supposed to do.” In fact, I
observed the custodian in the office making a copy of a paper for a student. I concluded
that the principal was also a teacher, a child advocate, and a fundraiser, and as the study
unfolds, the reader will discover that he was the patriarch, a counselor, instructional
leader, and encourager.
Survey Results

The results of modified Beliefs about School Achievement (BASA) survey show
that the principal and teachers adhered to slightly different beliefs about what causes
student achievement. The principal’s results do not exhibit a socio-economic bias and
perhaps form his ideology. In fact, the principal absolutely disagreed that uncontrollable
factors, like a child’s inherited ability and family socio-economic status, were major
influences in child achievement. He believed that a child from a poor family with less
educated parents will be successful in school if the student has an effective teacher and
puts forth sufficient effort in school. Interestingly, the principal believed that gender
played a more important role in student achievement, especially in language arts. The
mean scores of the principal and teachers were 2 and 3.55, respectively. Specifically, the
principal believed that girls are better at language arts skills, like writing, and boys are
better at mathematics. Many studies about gender bias in schools, especially gender
differences in mathematics, report teachers’ beliefs, strategies, behaviors, and emotional
cues (Li, 1999; Garrahy, 2001; Graham, 1990; Lightbody, Siann, Stocks, & Walsh, 1996;
Fang, 1996). Less is known about the principal’s gender bias.

The Principal as a Teacher

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Todd was an involved and engaging teacher and frequently visited classrooms to
conduct mini-lessons, read to the children, celebrate achievement with students, and
participate in curriculum activities, like being a science lab partner. I observed a lesson he
taught in a third grade class about the power of your imagination. He played a 193 Os
radio program about a Martian invasion and explained how families would gather around
the radio after dinner to listen to the latest episode. Todd remembered listening to the
Lone Ranger with his grandfather when he was young. He and his brother drew pictures
of what they thought the characters looked like; the boys reached their own conclusions.
Similarly, when the radio show had concluded, he challenged students to imagine what
the setting and characters looked like. The principal engaged them in a discussion about
using their imaginations, like the radio listeners, and not relying on a television or movie
screen to provide those images. I noticed that students appeared relaxed around him and a
couple of boys even sat on the floor close to his chair. Several students asked questions
and the classroom teacher interjected additional comments into the conversation.

The principal supported students’ academic achievement, especially in math and
language arts. Third grade students participated in Math Blasters, a fun motivating
strategy used by the teacher to encourage students to learn their multiplication facts.
When the teacher felt confident that the student knew the math facts, the principal
inducted the student into the Math Blasters Club where membership was honored and
appeared to me to be better than a trophy. Once inducted to the club, members then
became peer tutors in math. Students did not compete against one another for
membership; it was open to all students who successfully learned their multiplication

facts, and all but a couple third graders reached the goal by the end of academic year. On

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the morning of my visit, the principal inducted Samantha into the Math Blasters Club.
Todd provided a brief testimony of how she recited her multiplication facts to him at
lunch before her induction to the club. He fastened a Math Blasters Club pin onto the
student’s shirt as she beamed with pride. Samantha said she learned her facts by
practicing with her father and grandfather. Another inductee explained that he practiced
in the car and even at dinner — exactly what Todd wanted the other students to hear. The
short ceremony concluded with the principal leading all third graders in a chant and
parade around the classroom and across the hall into the media center and computer lab,
“Multiplication means adding over and over and over. . .”Although this is an example
relating to math achievement, it shows how the principal participated in students’
learning and academic achievement. Students, teachers, and the principal celebrated
literacy achievement, too.

The principal’s office was an extended classroom where he may be found
proctoring a state assessment for a child who had been absent during the scheduled
testing period or playing a game with a student who needed some extra attention from a
positive male role model. I overheard this conversation (September 20, 2007):

Student: Mr. Kraai?

Principal: Yes, Richard.

Student: I was looking for someone to get permission to get the ball. I

didn’t find anybody. I looked in your office and saw it was filled

with a bunch of Lincoln Logs.

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those programs. Dad was very beside himself because his children don’t want to
move 9 hours away which would mean they then would never see dad once a
week and every other weekend but only on significant vacations from school. No
one was willing to listen to those little girls, and I talked with both of them last
week, Wednesday. They both indicated to me that they... didn’t want to move
with mother’s new boyfriend. They still wanted to see their dad. They’ve been
through a lot with their dad being in jail for an extended period of time last year.
Dad is sincere in terms of trying to make some change, so I went to bat for them,
because sometimes kids don’t get advocacy in the courts. And I actually have
friend [wealthy community member] who, if I call, will allow me to arrange for
an attorney and pay the legal fees. And I called on Thursday, had the attorney
appointment on Friday with the kids. The check was in my hand already Thursday
evening from a friend, and the attorney then went with that fiiend and was with a
friend of the court with the dad and the mother. And the end result was that in
court this past Monday, the judge asked the friend of the court if Mr. Kraai had
talked with the girls at school. Our friend of the court indicated, yes, that I had,
and he wondered what my recommendation was, and the recommendation was
that the girls would not have a change in their custodial parenting arrangement
right now because they’ve gone through a lot of trauma and change in the last
year and I didn’t think. . .they were at a point where they should have additional
stress placed upon them. And, as soon as the judge heard that, he said that I agree
with Mr. Kraai’s recommendation [and the father retained shared custody].

And the reason it happens here is because we’ve made a lifetime of pushing
decisions and making choices that are just what’s in the best interests of children
and that is respected in the county and by our parents as well. And here was a
situation where kids finally had their own voice, someone listened to them in the
courts, and they actually made a decision that at this point and time is really the
best one for the kids who are involved.

And I have their father coming in for an early morning meeting Wednesday and I
have some things to share with him about how he better be sincere in the changes
he’s making and follow through with some choices. And he’s even going to be,
uh, told by myself that he better stop smoking, too, because he’s doing that in the
presence of his kids and I want that stopped, and I think 1 can get him on the road
to doing that, as well.
I noticed in different situations that he reported confronting parents about their choices
and subsequent negative impacts on their children.
The Principal as a Fundraiser

Since Todd had been the principal for 27 years, he had become very well

connected to resources in the county and, over time, had gained the trust of parents and

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Principal: Yes, you did. You saw them on the floor? You wondered why I
was building with Lincoln Logs, didn’t you? Yep, Robert and I
built with those yesterday. They were pretty neat.
I found out that Robert needed some extra attention because he was struggling in class.
Another student had recently spent 10 minutes in Todd’s office playing marbles with
him. Todd indicated that these children -- and their teachers — would reap the rewards in
the classroom when these children returned feeling happier and ready to learn. In addition
to the Lincoln logs, marbles, and other games, blocks, and toys, the principal had a
collection of children’s books he read aloud to students in the morning in an extra
classroom before students went to their own classrooms. Mini-posters of LifeSkills were
displayed on the wall. His office door was always open when I visited the school unless
he needed to talk to a parent or child about a private, more serious matter. Todd spent his
time with children and completed paperwork after the students went home, sometimes
staying a few hours after school. On occasion, he took the work home with him to
complete.
The Principal as a Child Advocate

Todd served as a child advocate to meet the physical, social, and emotional needs
of students. He related one story about a hostile and painful custody battle between two
parents:

Just last week, we had another situation with two little girls. One was a third

grader and one was a first grader, and they were going through a really pretty

bitter custody battle between their mother and their dad. Their mom wanted to

change their custodial parenting agreement so that it would allow her to move to

the Upper Peninsula with a boyfriend and dad was very fi'ustrated. He’s been in

jail. for drinking under the influence of alcohol. I have helped that individual by

getting him involved in AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] classes and also by getting
him involved with the First Reformed Church and getting his kids involved in

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community members. He admitted to being “a real salesman” for the school and found
ways to generate additional revenue to purchase various school materials, like books and
computer software. He also worked closely with community churches and businesses that
donated items for children, like shoes and counseling services.

At the time of this study, the state of Michigan was experiencing financial
hardships and per-pupil aid and other programs were being reduced by the state
government. Many school districts were forced to eliminate programs and services for
children, reduce the number of school faculty by offering early retirement incentives, and
even close their doors. Todd remained focused on his students, and less on state politics;
he stayed confident that he would find additional funds to help meet their cognitive,
physical, social, and emotional needs (Table 7). Students also participated in fundraising
efforts by selling candy and flowers in the community.

Every other year for the last 14 years, the school has sponsored a community
auction, complete with a professional auctioneer, to raise money for the school. Todd
worried that many people would not attend the 2007 auction because of the state’s
declining economy and other auctions being held by local churches. He explained:

I really wondered if we wouldn’t have many people attend just because the

economy is really down. I hear a lot of people not having work, or not having a

job, and people moving, and I thought that we may not even have people come.

So we get all of these items from businesses and had it all set up, and we did our

publicity, and there are certain individuals that I always invite every year who are

retired people who come just because they’re always looking for certain things for
grandchildren for Christmas. And up until, well, 6:00 that Saturday... I just was
very anxious and we had ordered doughnuts and cider and these sheet cakes,
really sheet pies from the bakery in Pentwater, because it’s a grandpa of one of
our kids. . .and we had all this stuff there. And then all of a sudden, the people
started coming and by 6:30, we probably had 100 in seats in the gym. We

auctioned off, I think, 98 different items just in a regular auction procedure and
then another 60 were just silent auction on tables. And when the dust cleared

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about 9:00 and all the pe0ple had paid for their items, we made $5,800. So it was
really good.

Local business donated items or services (e.g., free oil changes, a $25 gift card to a local
grocery store, a reciprocating saw, 2 boxes of apples, 18 holes of golf) and each class
created a theme basket (e. g., chocolate, gardening, movie). TOdd and his son created five
baskets with a sports theme that included different kinds of balls, a bat, and bean bags in
a large duffle bag. Todd and his staff wanted to purchase the science software for their
Classworks program with a total cost of about $8,800. The district may or may not
support the remainder, but local grants were a possibility.
Support for the Principal
The principal was well-respected by staff, students, and parents, who recognized
his commitment to children’s education and happiness. One faculty member who had
worked with Todd for over 10 years said:
He may not make meetings on time .. but he is a principal who is always there for
kids and he’s always there for parents. He puts a high value and priority on being
available to parents and to kids. And he personally will go the extra mile to do
what needs to be done, or he’ll go beyond in either giving sometimes of his
money and sometimes of his time to families. He’s just a real approachable guy.
And that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t know how to say, “You need to do this.
You’re the parent, you need to” — he knows how to have those kinds of
conversations but he also knows how to be supportive and understanding of
parents who are in different situations than the middle class.
Another teacher concurred:
I like how he encourages and challenges students and his staff to do things
without making us feel like we’re forced to do things. That’s why we like
volunteering. We like to do things for him because the way he respects us. People
like to be around him because he is pleasant, and respectful, and honest and

wholesome. He sets a good example and is very visible in the building. These
kids need a male leader.

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He analyzed state assessment data and problem-solved with teachers on how to
improve in areas of weakness, but he also helped teachers solve more practical kinds of
problems. One teacher reported how he allowed her to print extra copies of spelling
words so students could practice words at home:

If it doesn’t work, we bring it to Todd’s attention, and he will say, “If it’s not
working best for kids, we need to think of a way that works best.” I mean, little
changes, tiny little subtle things that I’ve gone to him, and I’ve said, “This isn’t
working for me”... When I had these children, for instance, with their Word
Sorts. I had them take these Word Sorts home and they have to bring them back
the next day because we use them in class. They were losing them. They were
forgetting them at home. And I said, “Do you mind if I just run extra paper and
give them a Word Sorts sheet for home and a Word Sorts to keep here? Is that
alright?” I mean, it’s extra paper and everybody is looking at the budget. He’s
like, “If you know what works, that’s what we need to do.” So now the children
have their Sorts at home, and they don’t even have to worry about bringing them
and leaving them — they’ve got other things to worry about —it just makes life
easier for them, but I don’t think they notice these little things... We go through
our spelling for two weeks. To me, two pieces of paper for a spelling series every
two weeks is not excessive. Other principals, I know because I’ve worked for
them, would say, “We have a paper shortage. . .We have issues with the copier.
We’re saving, we are cutting comers everywhere. My sons go to a different
district and they get worksheets to take home but they cannot write on them.”

In the first few months of my school observations, a fifth grader asked me why I
was there frequently, “Are you studying us because New Era’s been doing so good?” I
told him yes, he was absolutely correct. He responded, “I think it’s because of Mr. Kraai.
He’s not fast to punish you. He keeps working with you. He’s a good person, and he’s the
nicest man. He encourages you” (informal conversation, November 15, 2007).

New Era’s principal believed it was his purpose in life to help children and their
families. After 27 years as principal, he remarked, “I still enjoy everything I do. I still feel
like there’s a purpose for what I do. And above all, I love kids. And they keep me feeling

pretty young, even though I’m now 150.” We both laughed.

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The following transcription from an interview I conducted with a parent revealed

her confidence in Todd as a principal, and she also contributed to the school’s sense of

place in creating a positive learning environment. The interview was conducted on

January 24, 2008, in a small room adjacent to the front office where she was organizing

materials for the upcoming science Family Fun Night. Carla was a former New Era

student whose son attended the school. She said, “Todd always has time for the parents,

for any concerns that we may have. He can be running back and forth, up and down the

halls, and if the parents need to just a moment with Todd, he has it... He’s never too busy

for the parents, ever.” We continued our conversation:

Researcher:

Parent:

Researcher:

Parent:

Researcher:

Parent:

Have you had a situation like that that needed to make an
appointment to talk to him?

Oh, of course.

How did he come across to you?

Very caring, very helpful. He’s been very helpful. We had some
family situations last year. Chris was in kindergarten and just had
some behavioral issues with Chris. And Todd was nice enough,
along with Carol, to sit down and have a meeting and discuss some
different options with us to do with Chris as to bedtime issues and
stuff. Not just involving school, you know, involving home life as
well. To help us out with home.

Did something happen right away?

Oh, yes! Right away. He actually, between him and Carol [the
family advocate], helped me find an outside therapist/counselor,
for Chris to see, just to get a little bit of help maybe on some
behavioral issues. Found me a great book to read on some
parenting issues from home, being a new mom so young, it was
kind of hard for me. The teachers have all been wonderful, as well.
Anything that you need—anything—- if you have any questions at
all, they’re always available. Call them at home. They’re always
available to call at home, which a lot. . .of teachers. .. school time is
school time, home time is home time. All of them always put their

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home number on every letter that goes home, their home number if

you need help. “If you have any questions, feel free to call me at

home. I’m awake until 9:30 at night.”

Carla appreciated the purple folder with weekly newsletter, completed papers, homework

sheets for the weekend, and book Order forms that were sent with her first-grade son.

Every night, he also brought home a plastic bag with a book and reading log that

motivated him to read with his parents. The interview continued:

Researcher:

Parent:

What do you expect for your son to learn here?

[Pause] To be honest, to be trustworthy. Of course, all the
democratic core values, but just, here -— not that I want to put all the
other schools down — but this is a smaller school and it’s more
close-knit. It’s not just a class that he comes to everyday. It’s more
of a family. He has a lot of great friends. .. We’re real close with
Todd. Anytime we need anything at all, we can go to him and I
really think that him learning here... he’s going to take a lot more
out of here than anywhere else.

The parents moved to a nearby school district but still drive their son to and from New

Era. “It’s worth it, it’s well worth it. We want to keep him here as long as we can.”

She was amazed with the math skills he was learning, although at times the expectations

seemed overwhelming. I continued my conversation with the mother:

Researcher:

What would you say to someone who didn’t know anything about
New Era Elementary and they thought of transferring here, moving
here and having their child go here. . .? What would you say to that
parent?

Parent: It’s wonderful. It’s a good school... It’s a good learning
place. It’s not just a school environment, it’s like a family. It’s like
a second family. They treat your children very, very well. They
treat them like their own. And that’s what you want. You don’t
want your child to go to school everyday, and “Here you go, this is
what you need to learn.” You want your child treated well. You
want your child treated fairly. If there’s ever a problem on the
playground, it’s nothing. You go to Todd. You say, “Hey, Todd.
Chris said there was an issue today.” Todd says, “Okay, I’ll have a
talk tomorrow,” and it’s taken care of. It’s a small school, it’s not a

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Researcher:

Parent:

Researcher:

Parent:

Researcher:

Parent:

city school, but it’s a wonderful school. It’s a very wonderful
school. I will send my kids here, both of them, and I would
recommend it to anybody.

And your son is happy?

He’s happy. He loves it here.

He comes home happy?

He does.

He wakes up ready to go?

He does. Well, first year in kindergarten, of course, he didn’t. “I

don’t like school. I don’t want to go.” But now he gets mad if he
can’t come. Like if he’s sick, he’s like “I want to go to school.”

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Chapter 5: Home-School Relationships

School personnel worked hard to create positive relationships with families of
current and former students. Home-school connections is another phrase often used in
education that varies in meaning and is context-specific. Effective schools maintaining
positive home-school connections may mean teachers sending home newsletters,
participating in parent-teacher conferences, and fostering parent volunteer programs in
the school. At New Era, I found that school personnel created meaningful relationships
with families, ones that reached beyond superficial greetings and polite exchanges at
award ceremonies or on Field Day. One of those staff members was the family advocate
(Figure 5).

Family Advocate

The district employed three family advocates to serve primarily preschool and
kindergarten students from at-risk families. The advocate conducted monthly home visits
to teach or reinforce emergent literacy skills, beginning math skills, and other
developmentally appropriate skills, like learning to use scissors. She helped families in
crisis who needed assistance from local agencies or organizations, acted as a positive
liaison between the family and school, and provided parenting resources. Carol was the
family advocate for New Era Elementary and had been an advocate since the inception of
the program 15 years ago.
History of the Program

The program, Together We Can, was created by one of the district’s former
elementary principals, Ms. Tobin. According to Ms. Tobin, she had been a building

principal of Thomas Reade Elementary for 12 years when she initiated this program,

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based on the needs of at-risk children and their families, established research about
parents’ critical roles in their children’s academic development, and a strong belief
system to help children. The concept began with the realization that the school’s at-risk
students had parents who weren’t supportive of their child’s education, either because the
parents had prior negative school experiences, a lack of education, or both. Ms. Tobin
saw smart students who weren’t achieving their potential, and she thought that the
missing factor was home. She thought that if staff worked with children before they
entered school and offered a parental support system, they could make positive, long-
lasting impacts on the children’s education and their families’ perceptions about school.
But it needed to be more than just getting parents involved with school activities. Ms.
Tobin had experienced parents who were antagonistic and defensive about working with
school faculty and staff. She remarked, “School wasn’t a good place for them and they let
you know it.” Instead, school represented an adversarial place and parents’ negative
perceptions influenced their children’s ideas about school, so that it became a
generational problem. Simply put, Ms. Tobin and the staff needed to change the parents’
beliefs about school. “You’re working with parents to see the school as a partner rather
than that oppositional institution that treated them so badly maybe when they were in
school,” Carol explained. Ms. Tobin believed that these parents valued their children, but
they just didn’t value education, as shown by their behaviors, such as failing to talk to
teachers about their child’s school performance.

How did she implement the program? As building principal, Ms. Tobin originally
allocated Title I funds and later added funds for at-risk students to support the program,

such as paying salaries, buying materials, travel expenses, and conference registration

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fees. She consulted a reading teacher who was in charge of a school-wide reading
intervention program for at-risk students. They discussed home visits, family events, and
behavior management procedures to share with parents, like getting on the child’ eye
level and making eye contact when the parent disciplined the youngster. Ms. Tobin hired
Carol to direct and initiate the program under her guidance. An instructional assistant,
Brenda, was transferred to the program to work side by side with Carol.

Initially, they targeted a small caseload of 18-20 families with the highest needs
from Ms. Tobin’s building, the largest elementary school in the district. They consulted
district preschool and kindergarten teachers on student recommendations, lessons, and
home visit packets of student materials. They created language arts, math, and science
packets but discovered, under Ms. Tobin’s guidance, they needed to stress literacy skills
with ESL students. They began giving each child a book on every home visit and
emphasizing emergent reading skills.

Early on, the family advocates began home visits with Carol talking to parents
about how to work with their children and Brenda working with children on skills. The
women planned gatherings for the at-risk families, like Christmas parties and a workshop
about self-esteem. They discovered that they both were interested in planning lessons,
working with parents, and teaching children, so they divided their caseload to be more
efficient. However, if an advocate became concerned about a safety issue on a home visit,
they agreed that they would go together. To create a sense of equity between the women,
Carol took a pay cut and was no longer paid a director’s salary.

“Support grew as the program was implemented and other principals called Ms.

Tobin to request Together We Can advocates for their at-risk students and families. The

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following year, advocates were present in each elementary school, although two of the
smaller buildings shared an advocate. The advocates then worked with each building
principal to select families. Years later when an independent K-8 school annexed into the
district, another advocate was hired.

Ms. Tobin provided much leadership in the beginning stages of the program. She
and the advocates met most Friday mornings for about an hour to discuss families’
progress and challenges. According to Carol, the meetings were a priority for the
principal. Ms. Tobin also sent the advocates to conferences related to their
responsibilities and kept the caseload to a manageable number for each advocate.

Ms. Tobin explained how they invented the program as they went along. For example,
the principal and advocates wanted to plan a gathering for families to model positive
interaction. They knew to plan it at the end of the month and provide a meal, since most
families received food stamps and would not have many, if any, left at that time. On the
other hand, Ms. Tobin frequently repeated their goal and role to keep them focused; they
were not in the school to relieve the principal of responsibilities to families.

“They needed to believe in the program,” Ms. Tobin emphasized. She encouraged the
advocates to withhold judgment based on numbers (e. g., student pre- and post-tests,
parent surveys about the program’s impact on attitudes and values on education, number
of families served) and short-term goals; they had to learn to take great satisfaction in
families’ small improvements.

The job of family advocate has evolved over time. At one point, Carol worked
with local hospitals to get child development information into parents’ hands, but now

that is routinely handled by other organizations. The job expanded to include other

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responsibilities, like facilitating volunteer programs and family nights, and helping
organize the new counseling program at the school. A couple of years ago, Carol and the
principal planned a family health fair night with various individuals, groups, and
agencies, like hospital staff and a dentist, who set up informational booths. A local dairy
distributed milk samples. Since the school had just added their walking path on the
playground, they invited families to walk and help support school fundraising. The
success of this event prompted future family nights with different themes.
Family Advocate Qualifications

I was curious to discover more about the qualifications of a family advocate for
this district. Ms. Tobin described an advocate as someone who had passion and a sense of
mission in helping people, especially children. She looked at the potential advocate’s
character traits, not just educational background. In fact, only 1 out of 3 advocates has a
Bachelor’s degree and it’s in an unrelated field. Ms. Tobin explained that the advocate
needed to be at ease in what may be considered an uncomfortable home, one that was
filthy or one where the advocate got cigarette smoke blown in her face. She needed to be
able to build rapport with children and parents and be creative. The family advocate
needed to be able to withhold judgment against families, for example, when a family had
no crayons or paper but had a large collection of videos, or when the children had no
winter boots but parents smoked 3 packs of cigarettes per day. Advocates needed to
appear less “professional” like teachers and dress more casually, wearing jeans,
sweatshirts, and sneakers. Dressing like a professional teacher may intimidate parents and
threaten the positive relationship between the advocate and parents.

Family Advocate Training

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Family advocates received no formal training but consulted classroom teachers
and attended conferences related to their field. Carol remembered:

Earlier on in our job, we would be sent to different conferences that might have

pieces of information that would be helpful to us. Inevitably, when they’re talking

about, you know, introduce yourself and what is your job. We are the only people
there who do what we do in a school district.

One of the most influential conferences was Parents as Teachers (Parents as
Teachers National Center, 2005) training, a concept developed in the 19705 when
Missouri educators noticed that beginning kindergarteners had various levels of school
readiness. Early childhood professionals initiated a research-based program that helped
parents understand their critical role in their child’s development beginning from birth
that could better prepare students for school and life success. They (Parents as Teachers
National Center, 2005) contend, “Such a program, available to all families, would help
level the playing field for all children,” and their mission is

to provide the information, support and encouragement parents need to help their

children develop optimally during the crucial early years of life by: increase

parent knowledge of early childhood development and improve parenting
practices, provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues,
prevent child abuse and neglect, and increase children's school readiness and
school success.
The Parents as Teachers National Center has been awarded numerous national and
international distinctions, including recognition from the National Mental Health
Association, Center for Disease Control, the Teachers College of Columbia University,
the Better Business Bureau, and other agencies and magazines. Family advocates

incorporated their own materials and ideas with those from Parents as Teachers; the

programs are not identical.

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Family advocates were also trained on the issues of poverty using Ruby Payne’s
(1998) book, The Framework of Poverty. In this practitioner’s guide, the author defines
poverty as “the extent to which an individual does without resources” (p. 16). Resources
are not just financial ones but also encompass financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, and
physical resources, in addition to support systems, relationships/role models, and
knowledge of the hidden rules. Payne (1998) differentiates the behaviors and values of
the different economic classes to illuminate the hidden rules, or unspoken cues and
habits, of the poverty class that may go unnoticed by those in the middle class. So ask
yourself, could you survive in poverty? Do you know how to keep your clothes from
being stolen at a Laundromat? Do you know how to get a gun even if you have a police
record? Do you know how to manage without a car, electricity, or a phone? On the other
hand, middle class tasks include getting a library card, setting the table, and decorating
the house for the holidays.

The advocates, who were not college-educated teachers or counselors, received
on-the-job training in order to assist families. One of the advocate’s duties was to act as a
liaison between parents and other school personnel. For instance, a child qualified to
receive special education services and school personnel (i.e., special education teacher,
regular classroom teacher, counselor, speech pathologist, and administrator) requested an
IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting with parents to review the students’
assessment results and recommendations for service. Carol would ask the parent, “Are
you comfortable going to this meeting alone or would you rather me go with you?” If the
parent preferred to go alone, Carol would call the parent to remind her of the meeting and

offer to provide transportation to the school. Based on parental consent, the advocate may

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attend the meeting in place of or with the parent, but Carol always strongly encouraged
parent participation. If the parent chose not to attend the official meeting, school
personnel would conduct the meeting and “walk through” the student results and
recommendations with the advocate. Staff discovered that parents didn’t always return
documents that were mailed or sent home with students; the parents may not understand
the IEP’s terminology or be able to read it. Instead, the advocate and parent would meet
at the family’s home to sign official documents in accordance with federal guidelines.
Carol met at least once per month with the other family advocates for emotional
support to share the triumphs, fi'ustrations, and worries associated with her role. These
meetings were very informal and occurred on an as needed basis, too. They also
telephoned each other with questions and concerns about families.
Job Description
“How do you define your job?” I asked the family advocate, and Carol replied:
It’s like a gap-filling position. It’s like there’s a gap between what the kids should
be coming into school with and what they are coming into school with. There’s a
gap in being able to communicate with the family because there’s no phone out
there and the teacher can never contact them, and they don’t send back notes and
they don’t read the newsletter, so you’re that gap for communication.
What they were looking for were people who. . .had some pretty basic skills and
values, and just basic knowledge of just life and living, and raising kids and that
kind of thing. And they were looking for people who were not the professionals,
who were not the teachers, to “coming in to tell me what to do.” They were
looking for #1 someone who could relate and gain the trust of parents and then
build on that with them... The joke has been, they’ve got three social workers for
the price of about one -- for what we do, but we all just have a heart for kids.
I asked her to categorize her responsibilities and frequencies of her responsibilities as

Often, Sometimes, and Rarely. Carol found this task problematic since duties and

frequencies varied with different families. The following list is a partial job description,

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as Carol called it, of the Together We Can family advocate. Once I received the job
description from her, I asked her to be more specific about her responsibilities, so the
paragraphs following the descriptors summarize my conversation with Carol.
D Makes monthly home visits with families on her caseload (share book,
activities, input from classroom teacher)
A risk checklist aided her in determining if the family needed her support.
Teacher and principal input, in addition to the family’s prior situations,
greatly impacted her decision to pursue service. A student’s permanent
record may help, although there usually wasn’t much information. After
approximately one month into the school year, she met with the principal
to discuss her potential caseload for the school year. There was fluidity in
her caseload. She explained that transiency was a problem with at-risk
students, especially due to the failing state economy.
0 Contacts other families as needed (facilitates communication between home
and school, address areas of concern, etc.)
For example, if the teacher cannot reach parents by telephone, Carol would
make a home visit. She approximated that 90% of contacts were positive,
although some parents felt suspicious of her involvement in the early stages of
their relationship. Carol admitted to feeling hesitant about initiating contact at
the beginning of her career. She sent parents welcoming letters to introduce
herself and notes about donated food baskets.

Cl Connects families to community resources as needed

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The family advocate helped families obtain services by local, state, and
federal agencies or groups, such as the Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) federal grant program that supplies nutritious food, nutrition
education and counseling, and various referrals to other agencies
(http://www.firsusda.gov/wic/aboutMc/wicataglance.htm). She provided
transportation to these agencies, such as to the Department of Human
Services, as needed.

El Extends modified services to families beyond child’s kindergarten year as .

needed.

Carol attended parent-teacher conferences and Individualized Education
Plan (IEP) meetings and acted as a liaison between the parents and the
school officials. She offered additional mini-lessons at the student’s home.
Carol offered assistance to middle and high school students and their
families, but this was rare.

Cl Facilitates two playgroups a week for children 0-5 and parent(s).
The family advocate planned and implemented group activities with
another family advocate. The same activities were planned for both
locations with minor exceptions. The schedule was as follows: free play
(crafts, floor activities to build fine and gross motor skills), snack, clean-
up time, and a story, song, or fingerplay at the end of the session. At the
other location, young children had time to ride bikes and trikes at the end
of the session. Carol monitored children and parents and implemented

activities that were similar to those conducted during home visits.

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D

Conducts Parents as Teacher Visits with some children 0 — 3 years of age.
She provided developmental information to families who were interested.
The family advocate provided instruction and a positive connection to the
school.

Offers to complete Ages and Stages Questionnaire (developmental screening

tool) with children before they enter school.

Visits classrooms of students on her caseload and consults with teachers.
Topics of discussion included student progress, areas of concern, student
improvements, and suggestions for materials to provide to parents.

Helps plan and staff Family Fun Nights for Early Childhood Center and New

Era Elementary
Typically, there were 3 per year at the Early Childhood Center and 2 at New
Era Elementary. Staff support was needed.

Attends staff meetings at the Early Childhood Center and New Era
Elementary, as applicable to her duties.

Contributes articles to the school’s monthly newsletter
She and the principal wrote articles on parenting, such as the Love and Logic®
approach to discipline.

Oversees volunteer program at New Era Elementary

Recruited and facilitated community members to volunteer (listen to kids read)

Attends some of the parent meetings at New Era Elementary and Early

Childhood Center, including PTO meetings and parent-teacher conferences.

Carol explained:

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We often will sit in on parent-teacher conferences with our families. I
have families who still want me to do that when their child is in fourth
grade. . .which there is a plus and minus to that. You want them to get to
the point where — many of them we don’t do, but occasionally, there’s a
family for whom that comfort level of having a person there on their side,
so to speak, if they’re insecure about then we do that, too.
D Assists with student registrations for preschool and kindergarten
This included 5 days of registration from March to May. Parents set
appointrnentsand the family advocate was assigned a session, forexample
3-7 pm. She sent notices to parents who had older children receiving
services by the family advocate.
D Assists high school National Honor Society with Thanksgiving Basket service
project by identifying families in need and delivering food baskets.

High school students raised the money, bought the food, and created food
baskets, and then family advocates delivered or parents picked up food
baskets. Food baskets included turkey in tin containers or meat
certificates, stuffing, canned food, Jell-o, pie crust, and juice. Carol
admitted that asking permission could be a delicate situation.

Carol described wondering about parents’ view of her role in their children’s education.

She related how she would often ask herself, “What are they interpreting from what I’m

saying? Who do they think that I really am?” Parents often called her their child’s

teacher, and she was careful to define her job by saying to them, “Well, you know I’m

not in the classroom. I’m not teaching him.” She thought that parents had difficulty

describing her job.

Caseloads

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Ms. Tobin and Carol both stressed to me that one of the main criteria in family
selection was to choose a family with children just entering school or younger with whom
they could be effective. Carol explained:

We’re looking for children coming into school, whether it’s preschool or

kindergarten, who come in and there are some red flags there. And it’s not like a

red flag that this child might need special ed services. ..We’re trying to find those

kids who if they got a boost, they won’t be tempted to be placed in that category
for one thing. So you’re looking for families that your kids are low skilled,
parents may or may not be alienated from school, and they’re families that you’re
hoping you can get in there and make a difference.
Typically, families were selected based on teacher recommendations and the advocate’s
prior experience with a family. Sometimes the principal specified certain families in need
of assistance. At other times, the advocate used a risk checklist that included criteria such
as low parental education, value of education, and family problems. Carol explained that
when using the risk checklist, she did not just count the number of checkmarks to
determine eligibility. It was much more intangible than that since she often relied on prior
family situations, too. She consulted students’ permanent records, but usually they did
not provide her much familial information. Once the list was made, she discussed the
family selections with the principal.

During the 2007-08 school year, Carol reported to have a low caseload of 7
families, 9-10 children. As of December 2007, two families had moved and Carol was in
the process of adding two more new families to her caseload. Also during that year, the
three family advocates divided their caseloads differently due to the changed school
structure and the inequity in size of school populations. Even though Carol only worked

with a small number of families per year, it was important to the school that the families’

cognitive, social, emotional, and physical needs were addressed.

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The advocates considered their official caseloads to be those families with
preschoolers and kindergarteners. However, they had families who had been serviced in
the past whose children were beyond that range who still provided assistance, such as a
parent with a financial crisis or ateacher who needed a facilitator in a meeting. Another
family advocate recently received a call from middle school personnel to help with a
child who was serviced while the child was in elementary school.

The advocates did not work with just any troubled family. Early in the program,
Ms Tobin suggested which families to discontinue family advocate services, but later,
family advocates teamed up with building principals to make those decisions. According
to Carol:

[Ms. Tobin] said, “You know what, you need to drop that family,”. . .or “Don’t

pick up that family. I know enough about that family and the history there that it

is not an efficient use of your time.” And, that’s been a hard call for us to make
without somebody making that call for us. We have that mentality that, you

know, there’s got to be something, some way we can impact this family. It was
almost easier when somebody would say, “No, you’re not picking that one up,”

[Ms. Tobin] would say, “You’re not picking them up. Better off that you pick up

this person.” We, because we kind of viewed it as a, it was like a ‘giving up

before you even tried’ kind of thing. But she was always correct when she made
those kind of calls.

How did she decide to discontinue services, “drop a family,” as she called it?
Carol reported that there was no set of criteria, instead it was a judgment call based on
her experience with the family. “It’s unusual for us to give up on a family and to drop a
family,” she stated. The most common reason she dropped a family, which was rare, was
because she was consistently blocked from having meaningful contact with the family,
such as scheduling an appointment and the family would not be home when she arrived.

“That’s a pretty clear message there,” she realized. Over the course of 15 years, the

district’s family advocates had only dropped 2 or 3 families. That is a small number given

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the fact that they have worked with over 125 families over the 15 years. On occasion,
Carol was forced to realize that she was not making progress with the family:

That’s not an easy thing to admit, because you want to be able to feel like you can
make a difference for kids. It’s a hard call to make, and I’d say that we go the
extra miles before we’re willing to say it’s not going to work. I mean, I’ve kept
people on my caseload before where I look back at the end of the year, and I
thought, You know... I really don’t think I made much of an impact here, but on
the other hand, you say... I tried.” So you know for the following year, if they’re
still in that age group that maybe you’re not going to pick them up the following
year or something. But usually there’s that feeling that you want to, to try. You
want to try if you can make some sort of impact.

She admitted that the family selection process was not 100% accurate, not an exact

science. Ms. Tobin explained that although family selection was one of their greatest

obstacles, since many families did not want to forfeit the advocate’s assistance once their

children got older, it was also one of their greatest successes.

Working with Parents
Carol worked with a variety of parents. She explained that some parents valued

her assistance:
Probably one of the neatest experiences I had, there was a family that we visited
for many years because they had 4 daughters and several of them had learning —
ended up being in special education but we were very involved with that family,
nonetheless. And she could pull out from the drawer, when we did a visit with the
second child, that we had brought that similar activity with the older child. I
mean, she saved all the stuff in the drawer. She said, “Yeah, we can pull it out and
use it.” You know, that was really, that was really unique to me that somebody
saved it. As different children came through, she would pull out such and such,
and say, “Oh I’ve still got that such and such that you brought to Christie when
you visited her.” And it was like “Wow. That was pretty unusual.”

Carol perceived that other parents did not value her assistance, “Then you have the

other ones that by the time you go the next month, ‘Oh, they ripped that up. We don’t

have that anymore.’”

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Carol had an ethical and professional obligation to report any abuse to protective
services. She and Todd worked together and maintained positive working relationships
with family services. Carol reported that the agency actually welcomed calls to check if a
formal report should be made.

When she began the job 15 years ago, she had been a stay-at-home mom and
admitted to living a “fairly sheltered life,” as she called it. She thought that the idea of
someone losing parental rights and children being taken away from parents was
abhorrent. At that time, all the parents she saw and knew seemed like good, caring
parents. Her job, unfortunately, made her realize, “Why isn’t somebody doing something
about this situation? Why can’t we give these children something better?”

Carol also worked with parents who developed a dependence on her for help. For
instance, one mother sent her daughter to school and told her to go directly to the
principal’s office to see if he thought she had pink eye. The little girl awoke that morning
with a crusted eye but the mother was unsure it was pink eye. She had been previously
reprimanded for truancy from social services and wanted her daughter to attend school, if
possible. The mother was at home with no transportation because her husband left for
Iowa for work in their only car. Eventually, the principal did think the student had pink
eye, so Carol returned her home, advising the mother that the daughter could return to
school the following the day if she began using eye drops specifically for the ailment.
The mother explained to Carol that she could have the doctor phone in a prescription for
eye drops to the local pharmacy, but she had no transportation to pick up the prescription.
Carol detailed the plan:

If push comes to shove, Todd [the principal] or I will go to Shelby and pick up the
prescription and bring it there. Because this is one of those unusual cases where

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it’s so important that we do as much as we can to get that child in school. She’s
missed way too much already. There are enough legitimate barriers there that we
feel like, and that’s a Todd call. Maybe another principal wouldn’t say that, you
know. I don’t know, people will have, fall in different places in what they’re
going to call, bending over too far backwards, or whatever. But he and I are pretty
close on the same page with how we feel about some of that stuff.

Another time, Carol went to her church’s food pantry when it was closed to get food for
this family.
I went to see Tina and I said, “How ya doing?” Her husband went out of state
again for a week and a half to work. She said she had $30 in food stamps. It
bought food but no diapers. She didn’t have diapers for the baby. I said, “ I will
find you diapers.” I’m not going to get to the point of where I’m going to buy her
diapers, because she’s also someone who, once I started to do some stuff, she was
coming to me first seeking. And I had to start to draw some lines there a little bit
so she wouldn’t just call to me up and say she needed dish soap... She was
moving in that direction that’s why I moved it back to the food pantry and said,
“Okay. Who do you have who has a vehicle that can take you?” We had to
problem—solve how she was going to be doing that kind of stuff... What I said
was, “You know, Tina, I just had to buy these. You know I can’t do this on a
regular basis. I bought these for you, but you need to be thinking about how you
can get —“
This mother refused help from the Women, Infants, and Child (WIC) program because
she had a prior incident. They wanted to know too much information, she claimed. Carol
was not able to make any progess with her and found out that Tina found a way to get
what she needed for herself and her children. Tina said, “I’m almost out of laundry
soap,” and Carol replied, “Aw man, so where do you think you could get some of that?
Do you have a friend?” She was trying to find the boundaries and limitations of Carol’s
generosity.
Carol had even given her home number to parents on occasion if she needed to
hear from a family, especially about scheduling an appointment. She only remembered

one mother abusing the privilege by calling her at 5:30 am. one morning. After a firm

conversation, the problem never resurfaced.

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Teachers and Family Advocate
Teachers, especially kindergarten teachers, occasionally accompanied Carol on.
home visits. “There’s a potential for the teacher and the advocate to be coming at this
student problem if you want to call it that, or situation, from such different perspectives,
and I think both perspectives have to be respected,” she explained. Carol empathized and
realized the curriculum pressures that teachers felt from the impacts of current legislation,
while, at the same time, she saw value in helping a teacher understand a child’s current
home situation that may help explain the child’s classroom performance. She expressed
great respect for classroom teachers and said, “They still need to see on behalf of that
child that this is what’s going on at home, or this is what’s happening with mom, or this
is what morn cares about and doesn’t care about. Because that emotion that sometimes
goes along with some of that frustration can sometimes be directed at the child, and a lot
of times we know that it’s not the child’s — they don’t have the power to do anything
about it.”
The family advocate provided teachers information that may impact a child’s
performance or teacher’s expectations:
Especially when they’re first coming in to school and sometimes the temptation
for a teacher might be,. . .to throw up your hands with, ‘Holy cow, this kid doesn’t
know this and this and this and this!’ And then you’ve done a couple of home
visits and this is what is going on and this is what. . .the living situation is. These
are some of the parent dynamics. And then that’s when they [teachers] may say,
“Holy cow, how do they know what they know?” Given. . .now what little bit you
can share about what’s going on at home. . .they have a different viewpoint of that
and I think that’s valuable, not that it changes what that expectation is from the
state and what those kids need to be doing. Somebody needs to know. If it’s not
going to be the state, somebody needs to know that there’s a whole lot more to the

story of what makes up this child’s person and capabilities other than, I’m six and
I need to be able to read this many red words, or whatever the case may be.

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A teacher described Carol as intervening for her by talking to the parents when school
papers weren’t being returned and talking to protective services about a truant student.
The teacher had another student who may need to be retained, so Carol mentioned this
possibility to the parents during a home visit and later participated in their parent-teacher
conference. “I’m not sure who would take that role if she wasn’t here,” the teacher said.
Carol sent emergency food baskets twice to a family. The first grade teacher never heard
any negative comments. “I don’t think they know they’re a special needs family. They
may think she does that with everybody,” one teacher said.
Typical Home Visit

I wanted to know what the family advocate did on the first home visit. I found
out that maybe there was no such thing as a typical, initial home visit, because it varied
with the individual family based on the family’s needs and the child’s academic needs. If
the advocate did not know a family and felt some uncertainty about initially contacting
them, she would talk to the teacher about attending the first parent teacher conference in
October. “We err on the side of caution with some of our families,” she said. The teacher
would introduce the family advocate thus allowing Carol time to explain her role. Often,
when the teacher described the child’s academic challenges (i.e., not knowing colors or
recognizing numbers), Carol had the opportunity to informally explain that she would
gather some materials together for the parents and child to practice and at home. “In a
sense, you’re putting the parents on the spot,” she explained, “because not too many of
them are going to say, ‘No, I don’t want to do that,” in front of the teacher. It’s kind of a
win situation for you, and then you’re feeling your way as you go as to how much they

will do. No one has ever, ever said no to that.” During the initial parent-teacher

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conference, she wouldn’t mention to the parent whether it would be a home visit or a
meeting at school. Later, she would make a call to the parents, and say something like,
“You know that stuff that we talked about at parent-teacher conferences. I’ve put some
things together I think might be able to help Eric with the skills so you could do some
practicing at home. Would it be easier for me to drop them off to you at the house or
would you rather pick them up at the school?” She reported that most people don’t object
to the advocate visiting the house. She hoped to use her interpersonal skills and
experience to make families feel the advocate is non—threatening and was willing to help
their child. Once, a parent didn’t want to meet at school because she was embarrassed
about the condition of her home. Later, Carol gained the mother’s trust and was able to
visit the family at home. “You know, I don’t come to see your house. I come to see you
and Eric,” she would say. Another mother felt uncomfortable with Carol’s home visits,
but the advocate maintained contact with her:

There’s a family that I have this year... I’m not sure I’ll be welcomed as a home
visitor, but it’s a family that we still want contact with. So far, I’ve met the mom
at school and now Mom has started a job, so I’m reverting to sending materials
home with a note of my own... just to keep the relationship going, even though I
don’t think she wants me to come at night. She works 7-5. And she wasn’t that
open to my involvement initially. I went with the kindergarten teacher on a
parent-teacher conference at the beginning of the year. And I actually was asked
to go initially because there was a concern whether or not there was a safety issue
and they didn’t want the teacher going alone. . .and it turned out not [to be] an
issue we could tell at all. When the teacher was the one who brought up me doing
home visits, there was reluctance there. And I said. . .”I can at least begin to
provide you with some materials,” and there wasn’t much of a response one way
or the other. I just went ahead on my own, I took the next step. I hung around the
classroom door when she was going to be picking up her child from school and
then I just said you, “I’ve got this packet for Joey. I just want to show it to you
minute.” That’s what you call a 5- to 10- minute visit, standing up in the hallway
at school. It’s tailored to make that contact and maintain a contact with a family
you think that’s important to do that with.

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Rarely, an uncooperative family may be unsure of the advocate and would not be at home
when she visited. “More often than not, if I can meet a parent at school once, then we’re
okayf’

Typically, regular monthly visits begin with her packets, consisting of plastic
Ziplock bags with lesson materials and additional books. Home visit packets were
adapted and tailored depending on the child’s capabilities and needs. For example, a three
year-old preschooler in Head Start is different than a kindergartener or a child who is
repeating kindergarten.

Some visits lasted only 20 minutes and some continued for 45-50 minutes and
occasionally longer if they discussed some other family crisis, or parents had questions or
concerns. She tried to keep visits between 30-45 minutes, “but a lot of times I don’t know
what I’m walking into necessarily either.” She usually doesn’t feel threatened and
explained:

There have been times where there might be a particular person in the family, and

unfortunately it’s often a male figure that sometimes just feels threatening.

Several years ago, many years ago, when we first started this program, there was

a family that we just felt uneasy about. There were two of them, actually. And, as

it turned out, unfortunately later on down the road, we found out that those dads

were molesting those daughters or stepdaughters in the family. So sometimes you
just kind of pick up on some of that.

Initially, advocates maintained narrative documentation and another sheet for
notes on the “regular” monthly home visits. That turned out to be too labor intensive so
the other advocate created more concise documentation. A personal visit record was an
open-ended form that provided the advocate space to write information about the

upcoming visit (e. g., Do I need to get teacher input before the visit? Do I want to

preview the previous visit? Are there comments I need to make?) She wote down

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activities, handouts, and other materials provided in the home visit bag. Some comments
were made after the visit, such as the participants’ names and parent comments, questions
and concerns, She included family strengths and admitted to struggling with this. She
said that she continually wrote the same strength because “sometimes I have a hard time
in seeing a multitude of strengths.”

For the particular home visit that I went on with the family advocate, Carol noted
that Grandma interacted really positively with Sarah, the child, but she said, “That’s not
always the case, since sometimes the mother’s reaction had been a bit hostile.” Finally,
advocates kept communication logs that included items such as phone calls to and from
parents, phone calls to agencies on behalf of families, additional home visits other than
the monthly visits, and conversations with family members at school. The other advocate
referred to these for court situations with families. The advocates kept short and concise
notes on the communication logs, such as, Delivered food baskets or Visited house
because kids were absent from school.

A Diflerent Role Than the Head Start Advocate

The local Head Start program began a few years ago and employed two family
advocates with slightly different roles. Every Head Start classroom had an advocate who
served each student in the class. Carol explained that Head Start advocates connected
with families, did some troubleshooting, and helped the teacher reach the required
number of visits. However, they did not conduct home visits with students and their
families to practice developmental skills, partly due to their large caseloads. “Although

we’ve sometimes felt pressed into the same mold, we don’t really feel like we are, and

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we’ve kinda fought and worked to maintain that sort of separate identities of what we do
with families,” Carol said.

If the New Era advocate were already servicing a family and a younger child was
placed into Head Start, Carol shared relevant information with the Head Start teachers.
For example, Carol shared information from a monthly home visit and the activities she
completed with the child. Carol believed that the school district’s advocates had much
less documentation than the Head Start advocates, since Head Start advocates had to
submit extensive paperwork to federal agencies for accountability purposes.

Before Head Start’s presence in the area, Carol and her colleagues did not refer to
their job titles as family advocates; they didn’t give themselves job titles and just called
their program Together We Can. Since the local Head Start program was initiated, the
administrator began referring to the Together We Can staff as family advocates, an
identical title in Head Start. Carol and her colleagues still referred to themselves as
Together We Can.

The Head Start administrator gave Carol a pamphlet describing the role of the
family advocate, and the family advocates, including the ones from Head Start, were
encouraged to give them to families. Carol had never given anybody a pamphlet because
he felt like it did not adequately describe her position. Also, it seemed too formal and
may intimidate some families, creating social distance between the parents and the
school. She had business cards, too, although she used them infrequently. Although her
business card was colorful with a school theme and included important contact
information, she often would write her telephone number on a sticky note for parents.

The formality of a business card may intimidate families and “it makes you seem more

111

like a professional, and that’s not the image we’re trying to go with.” Most parents had an
interest in keeping the school number within easy reach so the sticky note sufficed or
parents used the phonebook.

Researcher on a Home Visit

Carol told me, “I can tell you about my home visits, but until you go to one, it’s
like anything else. . .. You can talk about how they have a tough home life, but, you
know, you’re sitting in the middle of it, and you’re coming out with smoke all over your
clothes... Experiencing it is totally different.” And so I went with her.

On a cold and cloudy day in December 2007, I accompanied Carol on a home
visit of a single mother with three daughters, two children in New Era Elementary and
one three year-old daughter, Sarah. One daughter received special education services.
The mother worked full-time at a family-owned food processing facility, a large local
employer that had many minimum-wage jobs. Carol had been working with this family
for 2 years with initial visits conducted at school. It had taken some time for her to gain
the mother’s trust and meet at the family’s home. The family advocate reported that the
child’s grandmother babysat Sarah during the week at the mother’s home, so Carol’s
scheduled visits were often with the grandmother and Sarah.

On the last visit two weeks prior, Carol worked with Sarah on patterning and
color recognition. She wanted to revisit the topics and materials to see if they had
practiced the skills in Carol’s absence. She drew on her Parents as Teachers training and
used their information, hand—outs, and home-visit activities in combination with what the
advocates created. “A lot of the key”, Carol later described:

is developmental information for parents and having them realize that they not
only need to observe what their children are doing, once they know what

112

developmentally is appropriate. . .You want them to be looking at those markers.

Are they doing those things on time and that sort of thing. It’s getting them

involved in their child’s development.

The day’s topic was fine motor development. Carol planned to complete a few activities
at the home and leave other activities Sarah could practice later with her mother,
grandmother, or older sisters.

On the morning of the visit, the grandmother was at home with Sarah since the
mother had taken off a day of work to register for Toys for Tots. She wanted her children
to wake up to presents on Christmas morning. The grandmother greeted us warmly at the
front door. Once inside the small yet warm 2-bedroom home, I met Sarah, who appeared
very excited to see Carol. She called her by name and ran up to her the way a young child
may greet a visiting relative she’s happy to see. Carol related the story to Grandma about
the mother dropping off the girls late to school. She told me:

They arrived late to school this morning, the two girls. I was worried that they

weren’t going to make it. It was 8:30 and they weren’t at school. And so I called

the house and the grandma said, “They just left. They overslept. They’re on their

way.” So I met them when they got here and I walked the first grader down. She’s

taking off her winter stuff. She’s got three coats on. I said, “You’re wearing three

jackets.” She said, “Yep, I’m wearing threejackets today and I’ve got two hats.”
Carol assumed that her mother was concerned that one thin jacket would not be warm
enough. “How much do you help and how much do you wait and see how much the
family is going to do?” Carol later told me. The grandmother, who stayed there during
the week to babysit Sarah, said she wanted to buy all three girls winter coats for
Christmas.

I noticed that Carol used her first name with the child, and the child referred to

her as her teacher. Carol later explained, “The flip side of that is that I may see a child at

school and the child will say, ‘Hi, Carol!’ The parents set the precedent for that by

113

saying, ‘Oh Carol’s coming over today.”’ It did not bother Carol to be called by her first
name and seemed to help parents relax by viewing her in a less authoritative position.
Discourse Analysis of Home Visit

What follows is an analysis of the home visit. There are a number of important
points I wantto make about the conversation between the family advocate, the
grandmother, and the child during the home visit that contribute to the cultural models of
school, literacy, and learning. The transcript includes just over 40 minutes of
conversation between the three participants (with a few researcher comments) and
encompasses a majority of the visit (see Appendix F for entire transcript). The initial
welcome with introductions and concluding remarks were not audio-recorded. My hope
is to analyze discourse patterns, or Discourse, and Carol’s bi-Discoursal role, someone
who has or is mastering two conflicting or contesting Discourses (Gee, 1996), to see how
Carol used school-based literacy to reinforce emergent literacy, counting, and fine motor
skills, in addition to providing parenting advice. Also, the entire transcript can serve as a
model for those schools interested in employing a family advocate. I employed Gee’s
(1991) linguistic approach to narrative text to explain the structure with idea units, lines,
and stanzas, but I also used this structure to explain how it contributes to the meaning of
the text. Each line in the transcript is numbered, and idea units are separated from each
other within the same line by a slash. Words that are focused (i.e., said with prominent
pitch) are capitalized and main line parts that contribute to the overall plot are underlined
that contributes to the overall theme of the text.

The home visit transcript is structured into the hierarchically related bits of

information Gee (1991) refers to as Level 1, line and stanza structure. Syntax and

114

cohesion make up Level 2 and mark how they work together to tie to the interpretation
(p. 28). For example, Carol used school vernacular, much like a teacher would, with
words like color recognition (line 1), pattern practicing (line 4), and fine motor
development (line 43) when talking to the grandmother. Also, she discussed a

preschooler’s progression of cutting skills and color recognition:

13 Because we talked about the fact that THE FIRST STEP in learning
colors is being able to say/ you know/ if you say WHAT’S THE SAME
COLOR AS THIS?/

14 she would be able to find it

15 G: Yeah/she can DO THAT

16 C: And then THE SECOND STEP would be YOU NAMING the color

17 and her being ABLE TO PICK IT OUT

18 And then THE THIRD STEP would be/you pointing and saying/WHAT

COLOR IS THIS?/and her being able to tell you WHAT IT IS

Carol emphasized the word, school, when talking to young Sarah:

102 Here/let me SHOW YOU how we do it AT SCHOOL
103 We keep THIS FINGER OUT and we put THESE FINGERS IN
104 and that helps us kind of STEER the scissors

In Stanza 24, the family advocate said:

632 C: IT WOULD BE FUN

633 I would come and VISIT YOU AT YOUR SCHOOL sometimes/ and
SEE YOU AND YOUR TEACHER

and again in line 589, “I have to take mine [books] back to school but these are to leave

here.” At the conclusion of the home visit, Carol remarked to Sarah, I have to go back to

school, but thank you for letting me come and play (line 774). Carol also emphasized

school when speaking to the grandmother:

536 That’s often why parents say/I don’t understand why everybody at school
says my child behaves and they WON’T BEHAVE AT HOME
537 And a lot of times when you start to pick everything apart/it’s because AT

- SCHOOL THERE’S A ROUTINE/There ARE RULES and the teachers
are pretty STRAIGHTFORWARD AND BASIC AND CONSISTENT
with what they expect the KIDS TO DO AND NOT DO

115

In these examples, Carol implied that students and teachers have specific processes to
learn essential skills, school is an enjoyable place to attend, and it represents authority
and high behavioral expectations.

Carol consistently called the grandmother, Grandma, throughout the visit to
maintain positive and respectful relationships with Sarah and her grandmother. She could
have referred to the grandmother as “your grandmother” or by her first or last name when
talking to the granddaughter. There are 23 examples of the family advocate referring to

the grandmother as Grandma. In stanza 8, Carol said to Sarah:

134 You know what?/ We’re goin to have GRANDMA MAKE a puzzle too
135 Here GRANDMA/can you MAKE A PUZZLE, like 4 or 6 PIECES?
136 Oh MY GOODNESS/look at that/GRANDMA CAN DO IT TOO

She even asked permission or approval from the grandmother to do certain activities,
such as in stanza 15 (lines 351-3 52), Carol said, We’re gonna look at this. We’re gonna
look at this and then after we ’re all done you ’11 have to wait until Grandma says it’s

okay to play with it/okay? and again in line 499, Did Grandma say it was okay if we took

 

a little play dough out? Near the end of the visit, she said to Sarah, Let’s ask Grandma if
she knows what it is (line 701). Even when Sarah wanted Carol, and not the grandmother,
to read the book aloud, Carol still wanted to recognize the grandmother’s participation:

665 C: I ALWAYS BRING A BOOK/don’t I?/Should WE READ THIS BOOK

before I go?

666 S: Yeah

667 C: Would you like to?/Do we WANT GRANDMA TO READ it or do you
want me to read it?

668 S: You read it

669 C: I’ll read it/Okay

670 GRANDMA GETS TO READ you books during the day/doesn’t she?

116

This type of interaction validated the grandmother’s participation and encouraged her to
engage with the child during the lesson.

The family advocate wanted to teach and encourage parents to practice
developmentally appropriate skills at home with their children. Even though the mother
wasn’t present for the home visit, she referred to the mother, and even a sibling, and how
they could work together at home. In the following lines, Carol encouraged the child to
show her mother the completed activities and invite the mother’s participation:

151 C: You have to SHOW YOUR MOM what we did

when she comes home--
152 G: — Your momma’s goin to be home pretty soon
153 C: ---and she can do some practicing too
Here, again, she wanted Sarah to show her mother the puzzle pieces and help her put the
pieces together, I think you should keep these and show Mom and see if Mom can do a
puzzle. You think she can?(line 189). In these last examples, Carol included the
grandmother and sibling in the activity, You could read it with Grandma or with your
mom (line 302), and then in line 417, You know what I did is I put two Clothespins in here
in case you and your mom want to do this together or you and Grandma or you and
Anne. Carol reinforced the notion of practicing skills at home by leaving the materials
with the family and referring to the mother’s participation, in hopes that the child would
be enthusiastic about showing her mother the materials and explaining the activities.

Carol frequently used questioning techniques to seek information, give directions,
clarify her thinking, and remain engaged in the conversation without passing judgment on
the family, especially when the grandmother initiated off-topic discourse. In fact, Carol

asked Sarah 175 questions during the visit with approximately 85 questions seeking

117

information, such as in line 419, What do you think that is for? and then again in stanza

15:

336 C: You want to look at it?

337 WHAT COLOR do you think it might be?

338 Here/let ME HELP yOu

339 Can you tell me WHAT COLOR THE LID is?

Other questions were clarifying information, usually with Carol making a statement and
affirming it with a question. For instance, in line 164, she asked, This looks like Santa
needs to go this way/ right? When Sarah was cutting the cards, Carol asked her, Oh, you
took your fingers right out of the holes, didn ’t you? (line 127).

Over one third of Carol’s questions to Sarah involved Carol giving the child
directions but phrasing them in questions. She used the politeness strategy (Brown &
Levinson, 1987) of positive politeness in order to save her “positive face” (Goffrnan,
1967) — the desire to be seen as a good person, liked, and appreciated -- and maintain her
self-esteem in the situation. Carol wanted to avoid making Sarah feel uncomfortable and
confirm that the relationship was friendly. In this example, she asked some clarifying
questions with some directives phrased as questions:

68 S: You CAN’T yell
69 C: You can’t yell?

70 It doesn’t make us FEEL VERY GOOD does it/when we get yelled out?
71 S: ‘Cause/you know what?

72 When I got yelled/my mom [incomprehensible] my books

73 C: Yeah/so she told you that you shouldn’t yell?

74 Was she trying to tell you not to yell?

75 S: Yeah/yeah

76 C: So the GROWN-UPS shouldn’t yell and the KIDS shouldn’t yell/right?
77 SAME RULES for everybody?

78 THAT would be NICE/ wouldn’t it?

In another example, Carol used the same compliance strategy:

118 Can you MAKE LITTLE CUTS all along the edge?

118

119 You can do BIG CUTS

 

 

120 Okay/why don’t we do this then? Why don’t you cut this into like FOUR
BIG PIECES?
121 Can you DO THAT?

In line 118, she really didn’t want to know if Sarah could indeed make the cuts, but she
was indirectly telling her to cut the card along the edge. Similarly, when Carol asked if
the child could cut the card into four big pieces, she was indirectly telling her to cut the
card in four big pieces. I observed that Sarah recognized these social cues and proceeded
with the cutting as Carol directed. Any difficulties Sarah had resulted from her lack of
experience in using the tools, like the scissors or hole punch.

There were a couple of instances in which Carol used the positive politeness
strategy (Brown & Levinson, 1987) to prevent Sarah from feeling embarrassed by a
situation. Here in stanza 12, the grandmother reprimanded Sarah for lacing in what she
termed as “the wrong hole.” Carol quickly saved face for Sarah to prevent embarrassment

and to create a sense of security, so that Sarah would feel comfortable in taking risks and

trying new skills.

255 Oops/WHICH SIDE is the lace on/honey?/Which SIDE is the LACE ON?

256 S: It’s on this side

257 C: It’s on this side so you’ll have to go this way

258 Actually/you could probably go the other way/We’ll see

259 If you DO THAT AGAIN/we’ll see what it looks like

260 Are you DONE for now?

261 Do you see how you can lace it ALL THE WAY AROUND?/And it puts
white ALL THE WAY AROUND your picture

262 That is REALL GOOD PRACTICE for —

263 G: You’re goin in the WRONG HOLE

264 C: Gonna EXPERIMENT?

265 S: [Inaudible]

266 C: Okay/The MOST IMPORTANT SKILL is pulling it IN THROUGH the
hole and pulling it through/so--

277 G: - --Yeah

278 C: --if she doesn’t do it in order/she’s still GETTING THE PRACTICE that
she needs

119

In another instance, the grandmother retold the story of Sarah cutting her pajamas and

Carol used the positive politeness strategy to quickly aid Sarah in saving face in a

potentially negative situation:

719

720

721
722
723
724

725
726
727
728

729
730

I’m glad that YOU WERE EXCITED about cutting today/Look at you go
to town

Should YOU EVER CUT something that GRANDMA SAYS/”DON’T
CUT THAT?”

[Laughs] Tell her ABOUT THE PAJAMAS/Sarah

DID YOU CUT PAJAMAS?/ Oh no

BRAND NEW PAIR of pajamas

You know what?/If YOU WANT GRANDMA AND MOM to let you
practice with scissors/you have to BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT ONLY
CUTTING what they say is okay

Tell Carol you MADE SOME PRETTY CIRCLES

Ohh/NOT IN PAJAMAS THOUGH/You WON’T DO THAT again/will
you?/Okay/ good

My mother bought them someJuh/PRINCESS PAJAMAS/those SILKY
SHIRTS/and she cut em

You GOT TO BE REALLY CAREFUL about scissors

It’s okay to CUT MY CHRISTMAS CARDS

and then you have to ask Mom and Grandma WHAT YOU CAN
CUT/“What can I cut today?”/Okay?

Carol asked the grandmother fewer questions but they were the same types of

questions (i.e., giving directions, seeking clarification or information, and engagement).

Interestingly, Carol used the positive politeness strategy to remain engaged in the

conversation, show concern for the grandmother, and to save the grandmother’s “face.”

"When the visit began, Carol reviewed the previous lesson and inquired about the family

practicing patterning and color recognition with Sarah:

\OOO\IO\

G:

Did you do ANY PATTERN PRACTICIN G or do you know if Kim did?
We were/what we do was/ I AND HER mainly/ WHEN WE SEE
SOMETHING/we point out the color

and she tells me what it is

, Okay

And sh --
Okay/okay/So she’s doing more of THE MATCHING the colors THAT

120

ARE THE SAME rather than saying/YOU SAYING/where’s THE RED
ONE or where’s THE GREEN ONE?
10 She’s not to that point yet really/where you can say/ like which one is the
RED LEAF or which one is the GREEN LEAF?
1 1 G: Some of it
12 C: SOME OF IT?/okay
The grandmother’s initial hesitation probably indicated to Carol that they had not
practiced the skills as much as she had hoped, but she remained respectful toward the
grandmother and prevented a negative situation. Carol did not reprimand the
grandmother, but smoothly transitioned to the steps of learning color recognition,
Because we talked about the fact that the first step in learning colors is being able to say,
you know, if you sa, y what’s the same color as this?, she would be able to find it (lines
13 and 14).
The family advocate used the positive politeness strategy when the grandmother
initiated off-topic discussions. For example, in stanza 5, Carol explained child

development to the grandmother, she quickly switched topics:

49 C: and they GOTTA have THOSE EXPERIENCES/you know to make those

connections
50 just like WE ALL needed that/every/ EVERYBODY DOES/when they’re-
51 G: --I got ‘em to STOP F IGHTIN the other day/the other night
52 C: You’re right/in the brain
53 C: You did? [Chuckles]
54 G: They were ARGUING
55 C: You weren’t FIGHTING with your sisters?

In lines 53 and 55, Carol affirmed the grandmother’s statements to maintain the flow of
conversation. She did not reprimand the grandmother for interrupting nor did she
criticize her for not embracing the information on child development.

In stanza 17, Sarah was practicing fine motor skills by stringing letters on a pipe

cleaner, but in stanza 18, the grandmother interrupted with a different discussion topic:

121

439
440
441

442
443
444
445

446
447

448

449

.V.’

C:

90 9090 909

«You know Kim GOT ME YELLED AT Friday/THE BRAT

KIM GOT YOU yelled at?

YES/she never told me WHERE I HAD TO PARK for the kids AT THE
BUS

Oh/AT THE SCHOOL/WHO YELLED at you?

No/ THE BUS DRIVER

Oh/we’re you PULLED UP ——-

--‘Cause I was pulled up ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD instead of ON
88/1 didn’t know

Oh/you meant up at THE BUS STOP?/I thought you meant at the school
And I DIDN’T KNOW and the bus driver told me to park over on the
other side

[simultaneous talk] I’m just done with this/I’m DONE with this/I’m JUST
DONE with this/I’m done with this

That’s just the kind of thing nobody’s told you/You wouldn’t know

Carol asked affirming questions (e.g., Kim got you yelled at? and Oh, you meant at the

bus stop?) that enabled her to withhold judgment on the grandmother while still

maintaining the flow of conversation. Again, Carol made the grandmother feel more

comfortable when she said, That ’s just the kind of thing noboay ’s told you. You wouldn ’t

know (line 449).

Later in the conversation, Carol was trying to keep the grandmother focused on

Sarah’s cutting skills, but the grandmother interjected an irrelevant story:

748
749
750
751

752
753
754
755
756

757
758

90

9999 0W0

Now I’m going to have another grandbaby

Oh/YOU ARE?

IT’S ME

That’s NOT GOOD?/You’re NOT HAPPY?/You don’t think that’s a
GOOD THING?

No/they’re BOTH BIPOLAR

IT’S ME

With how many /do they HAVE KIDS ALREADY?

Noll“ HIS IS THE FIRST

He JUST MARRIED last summer and he just RUSHED INTO THIS
marriage

Okay/so YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT THAT BABY.

Yeah/ because of the bipolar/HE’S BIPOLAR/SHE’S BIPOLAR and—

122

Again, using positive politeness strategies, she asked the grandmother affirming
questions in lines 749 and 751. She followed up by affirming, Okay, so you’re worried
about that baby (line 75 8) to comfort the grandmother and show empathy.

I used Gee’s (1991) Level 3: Main Line/Off Main Line of Plot to answer the
questions: ‘So what? ’ and ‘What ’5 the point or significance of this plot? ’ (p.29).
Underlined portions of the transcript represent the main line plot. Again, using politeness
theory, some the main line plot material are expressed in questions, like in line 4, Did
you do any pattern practicing or do you know if Kim did? Clearly, Carol used this
technique to initiate topics and sustain the conversation, thus contributing to the plot.

The organized stanzas show the intended activities that Carol planned, labeled as Main
Lot Plot Material, and the additional unplanned events that transpired during the visit,
categorized as Off Main Line Plot material (Table 8).

I realize that entire stanzas are usually not labeled as Main Line/Off Main Line of
Plot material, however, this pattern clearly shows how the family advocate used these
unplanned events to benefit the family and advise the grandmother on parenting issues.
They are highlighted in light gray for emphasis in the entire transcript (see Appendix E).
I argue that for the family, the off main line of plot material, while it may be extraneous
in other narratives, became very important in the relational dynamics of the family and
the advocate. They provided opportunities for the advocate to offer parenting advice that
was less intrusive to the conversation, since topics were initiated by the grandmother. The
only exception to this pattern was stanza 24 in which the grandmother mentioned a brief
conversation about snow; Carol redirected the conversation to stay on topic and complete

the home visit within her designated time frame.

123

For Level 4: Psychological Subjects (Gee, 1991), the family advocate used the
pronoun, we, to represent her point of view in the stanza and align herself with the
family. In an earlier conversation I had with Carol, she explained the program’s
philosophy of rejecting the “professional teacher” persona and their adoption of a
liaison’s role that could easily and comfortably interact with families without making
them feel intimidated. In line 32, she assured the grandmother that as a team, they would
continue practicing color recognition,

32 C: So we’re going to work on that and keep practicing --
33 G: «Yeah/work on the colors with her

One of the most revealing portions of the transcript occurred shortly after the previous
comments. Carol wanted to inform the grandmother about expert advice on a child’s

brain development:

43 With the fine motor development/A CHILD’S BRAIN HAS the BASIC
STUFF that it needs/those basic connections
44 I don’t know if you have ever heard people talk about that there’s brain/

there’s CONNECTIONS IN THE BRAIN/that HAVE TO BE MADE in
order for children/or people/to learn to do things and to have it stick

45 So there’s a A BASIC LEVEL of that ABILITY in a child’s BRAIN

46 but they REALLY NEED to have a chances to PRACTICE IT/ in order
for those connections like to develop and grow and STAY STRONG

46 so that they HAVE THE ABILITY to do those things

47 That’s why DOING STUFF with your kids/he kids AT HOME/it’s so
IMPORTANT

48 ‘cause this is the time of their life when their BRAIN is REALLY
DEVELOPING

49 and they GOTTA HAVE THOSE EXPERIENCES/you know to make
those connections

50 just like WE ALL needed that/every/ EVERYBODY DOES/when
they’re-

In line 44, she referred to the experts as people, outsiders, and then in line 50, she again
used the pronoun we to emphasize the solidarity between the family and herself, even

between the family and others outside their social group. I briefly part from Gee’s (1991)

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notion of pscychological subjects to emphasize an important point about this selected
material. Carol’s informal word choice, like stufl in lines 43 and 47, things in lines 44 and
46, have it stick in line 44, ‘cause instead of because in line 48, and gotta in line 49
signifies a more casual style and marks her membership and solidarity with the family’s
working-class social group.

The focused text for Level 5 is the information that the speaker wants the hearer
to focus on and represent the key images and themes that help create an overall
interpretation of the narrative (Gee, 1991). Again, I use stanza 4 as a typical example of
what was emphasized throughout the visit. The family advocate’s focus words are as
follows with material from different lines marked by the space mark, # (Gee, 1991, p.
33):

a child’s brain has, basic stuff, those basic connections # connections in the brain

# have to be made # a basic level, ability, brain # really need # practice it # stay

strong # have the ability # doing stuff, at home, important # brain, really

developing # gotta have those experiences # we all, everybody does
The focused text of this selection affirms what Carol wanted the at-risk family to know;
that is, Sarah’s brain is developing and she must practice developmentally appropriate
skills at home to make her smarter. On that day in December, Carol practiced some of
these skills with Sarah, such as learning to use her fingers to cut with scissors, weave a
string in and out of holes in a card, string letters on a pipe cleaner, and squeeze a
Clothespin to pick up a cotton ball. Carol also reviewed primary colors and helped Sarah

count items. She modeled fluency by reading aloud and asked the three year-old

comprehension questions.

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The focused information from stanza 10 shows how Carol worked with the child
to use a paper punch and involved the grandmother as an active participant in her
granddaughter’s education:

done a paper punch # you have? some holes # gotta squeeze # need help, help you

# squeeze down here # turn it around # squeeze # there’s one! # squeeze # wow!

strong fingers, whole idea # strong fingers # squeeze, okay # squeeze # you’re

good, squeezing my hands # all the way # what we’re making? what this is
Carol began by assessing Sarah’s background knowledge and skills on using a paper
punch. She provided guided practice and offered her help, if needed. She encouraged
Sarah and complimented her on her effort. Finally, Carol cheered on Sarah to persevere,
even though it was difficult for her at times to squeeze the paper punch. By modeling
these strategies and behaviors for the grandmother, Carol hoped she would replicate them
at home in her absence.

In another example, the focused text of stanza 13 highlights Carol giving a book
to Sarah to:

what else I brought # pack up the stuff, all of those # what else, practice fine

motor # bag for you to keep, see what that is # let’s see #so many different

compartments # never remember # messed up, confused # oh my goodness #
come without bringing, some kind of book, I made a book, look # alphabet book,
got all the letters # read it, Grandma or with your mom # myself # be fim too,
sometimes it’s fun # that’s for you
This selection is pivotal in fostering Sarah’s motivation to enjoy books and eventually
learn to read. The text doesn’t accurately demonstrate the excitement that Carol
exhibited when she presented this book to Sarah. It was as though Carol had saved the
best for last and her words filled the small kitchen with infectious joy. The book was a

gift that Carol made at school and that Sarah could look at alone or read with her family.

Making the book a gift elevated its status; school was a place her sisters went and she

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was eager to know more about what happened there. F inally. the moment when Carol
couldn’t find the book in her bag showed her human. imperfect nature — a relief to
Grandma that those members of another social group struggled too.

Each level makes its own donation to the meaning of the text by amalgamating its
contribution and those of all levels below it (Gee. 1991 . p. 27). My interpretation uses all
five levels to emphasize the cultural model of school. literacy. and learning. Gee (1996)
describes cultural models as prototypical events in a simplified world -- an idealized.
normal reality. They involve hidden, subtle exclusions, which are ideological and involve
one’s values and beliefs about society but often go unrecognized and appear natural.
Cultural models vary across cultural groups and even within different cultural groups
speaking the same language (pgs. 78-79).

The family advocate helped define New Era’s cultural model of school, literacy.
and learning. First, she extended the boundaries of the school. Instead of school only
being a place where children attended and learned knowledge and skills, Carol did the
opposite. She left the campus with her school-based discourse and participated in
alternate discourse patterns with members from a different social group with potentially
diverse values and beliefs about education. Next, she promoted literacy, specifically
reading, as an enjoyable event alone or with family members. By giving Sarah a book on
every visit, she put books in this child’s hands. It may be the only, or one of the few
times, that this young girl had that experience. Finally, she made explicit that learning
involved the child and the family member. Carol found that she not only taught the
children, but she taught the parents and other caregivers how to teach the children at

home. She satisfied some of Sarah’s cognitive needs, like cutting and counting, along

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with the family’s other social and emotional needs (e. g. listening to the grandmother
discuss her bi-polar son, assisting the mother with registering Sarah for preschool). Also,
she learned about the family’s living situations and could subsequently provide school
personnel with additional insights into contributing factors about the child’s school
performance and progress.

This interpretation may give a deceptively simple picture of Carol as the “model
person” (Brown & Levinson, 1987) who strategically used her language choices to
positively interact and save “face” for both of the family members. Creating and
maintaining positive relationships, teaching preschoolers from high-needs families, and
meeting families’ physical, social, and emotional needs is anything but simple. I offer one
reading of this transcript and realize that several other readings and interpretations are
possible.

Debriefing after the home visit

Driving back to the school, I asked Carol, How do you walk out of there and not
cry? She said sometimes she did cry or wanted to:

I think that part of it is — gosh, this makes me sound hardened-- part of is having

to constantly struggle with, what’s my job — really — and what can I really

effectively do? And Todd and I have had many conversations about what you
need to do when... you don’t really feel like there’s a way for you effectively to
make a lot of changes at home, then what you need to do, what we as a school

need to do the best that we can for those kids when they’re in our care and he’s a

great one for chicken soup stories and he has many stories of his own where kids

will come back 10 to 15 years after they’ve left New Era school.

I noticed that Carol discussed parenting skills with the grandmother, such as
behavior management, in addition to the lessons on motor skills. She explained how she

offered parenting advice “when there’s an opening for that and somebody is receptive. I

felt the longer I talked about that, I was losing her. She was like, looking away. She was

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like fiddling with something else. . .You have to dole that out in doses. . .”She stressed the
need for consistency of behavioral expectations between the mother and grandmother,
since the grandmother is with the child all day at home. “I’ve had parents tell me, ‘I’ve
tried time out. I’ve tried’ —- whatever, and when you pick it apart, they’ve tried it once
and when they feel like it didn’t work, they said it didn’t work. And like anything, it takes
consistency.” The grandmother distracted the girls’ attention in the car when they were
arguing by telling them to look at the Christmas lights. She said it only worked once.
Carol had seen small cognitive improvements in the three girls, but it was not
always easy for her to detect how much of that was from their school contacts:
There’s more going on at home than when I started. Let’s say that. I don’t know
that there’s always as much as I would have liked, or that you or I would probably
do with our own kids. . .. but I do think that taking stuff into the home does
help.. . .I think that [Kim] or her mom is using some of the stuff. I don’t know that
they keep it very long... like lacing cards. Those lacing cards aren’t probably
going to last. But I don’t bring them in to last. I bring them in to show them, you
know what, this is a really easy thing to do. You could do it with stuff you have
around your house. In other words... you can do things simply and inexpensively
at home that will really benefit your kids.
In other situations, parents threw away crayons because children wrote on the walls or
scissors because they cut their sister’s hair. Carol repeated the directions that she gave
parents and I quickly got the feeling she had repeated them many times:
That’s when you have the conversation about, “You know what, stick them back
in that upper cabinet. When you’re ready to do them, pull them down and just sit
with her for just ten minutes. . .Just sit with her for ten minutes and help her do
some cutting, and when you’re all done, just stick them back in that cabinet and
pull them out occasionally. So the idea is that you just don’t get rid of it because
they used it inappropriately. They have to be taught, you know like anything else.

You have to teach them how to do things appropriately, and you do that by sitting
with them.”

She described how parents were tempted to give the materials to their children and then

they walk away from the table. “It’s that trying to instill in the parents that this is

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something that you do with your child — together,” Carol said. “This is fun and it’s
bonding, and it develops that relationship between you and your child.”
Family Challenges
Carol perceived families tohave a variety of challenges that often interfered with
their children’s school attendance. For example:
If a parent has to run an errand, that errand might take priority over school. If they
have to go somewhere in the afternoon and they might not be back when the bus
comes, then the child just doesn’t go to school so that they can do their errand.
The district’s advocates urged parents to be consistent with attendance and see school as
important. Their efforts were met with varying degrees of success, depending on the
family. She would often think to herself, does your family history prepare you to
prioritize education?
One of Carol’s biggest fi'ustrations was the continuous series of barriers for some
families. For instance, she described a family whose daughter had frequent absences:
Last year, their daughter missed a week of school because they didn’t have any
propane. They didn’t have any heat. They got turned down from DHS. . .80 their
support person is the dad’s parents who live in Hisperia, so he took the kids and
the mom to Hisperia to stay until they could get heat. And the mom has some
developmental limitations of her own, so she called the school the first day and
wanted to know if somebody could come pick up her kids from Hesperia,
some 20-25 minutes away. In that particular situation, the mom’s cognitive ability level
proved to be an additional barrier when Carol attempted to problem solve a solution with
her. With other parents, they clearly understood Carol’s lessons and parenting advice, but
would pick and choose what they wanted to implement. “There’s a problem for every

potential solution sometimes, and that can get really frustrating, and you just really get so

concerned about the kids, you know, because that’s the priority... those children,” she

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admitted. Carol told me how Ms. Tobin encouraged the advocates by often reminding

them:

You have to be a person who can take great satisfaction in small gains’ because
she understood that that was very true with families. Families are not going to
look at what you’re bringing, whether that’s materials and say, “Oh, my gosh,
you’re right. We’re just going to just completely change everything around.” It’s
going to be small things, because the life they live is what they knew, what they
knew growing up. And to make changes takes time, and it takes — and sometimes
we’re just not patient enough. We don’t want to be patient enough.

Some situations challenged Carol’s patience:

One mother is an animal lover and she bought horses when she had trouble paying
for [living expenses]. She’s had an infestation of mice, because they have an
opening in the side of their double-wide underneath so that they can get in. But
her solution to catching the mice, because she doesn’t want to kill them, is to put
sticky paper out to catch the mice. And when I went to do a contact there, on the
top of the table, the dining room table, there was a big plastic container where she
was putting all these mice into so she could take them over to somewhere else and
drop them off She didn’t want to kill them. She said they have a right to live as
much as we do, kind of thing.

Carol struggled with the mother’s dichotomous behavior:

There’s this container with all these little mice in it and then when she gets a
chance or is able to, she knows, I think it was some abandoned house or trailer
somewhere, she’d just take them over and let them loose, because the thought of
killing them --- while I’m thinking, here’s a person with this much empathy and
caring for animals, and yet, you know, I can’t put that together with -- I don’t
think she’s an abusive parent. She’s not, but the fact that she, the things she does
rely on with the yelling, and she’s, she’s a very coarse person with a lot of what I
consider swearing — maybe people don’t consider some of those things swearing
anymore. I don’t know. But I mean it’s peppered all through her language and it’s
in front of the kids, and she’s -- and I just have a hard time putting all that
together.

Employment was not always consistent with this family, like other at-risk

families. The mother had a child attending the Head Start program and they required a

family action plan, setting a goal to move toward independence. Carol helped her

complete the form and she said one of her goals was to work with animals. Perhaps she

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could work as a guide at a local horse ranch or veterinarian’s office. The mother’s goal
sounded great but when Carol analyzed it, she asked herself, how was she doing to do
that? Her husband worked out of town, they had one vehicle, she had a mental disability,
and she had four young children. If she got the job, how would she keep it? Who would
care for her children? Carol feared for the children with the mother’s suggested
babysitters. Carol said, “They need money, but I just don’t know a solution. . .Sometimes,
you don’t know what to hope for. I don’t necessarily hope she gets a job. I don’t know if
that would be the best thing for the kids.”

In this rural area, as in other rural areas, employment options were limited. In the
Shelby area, the kinds of jobs, if one were not qualified to work in hospitals or schools,
were farm labor jobs, employment at the packing plant, or clerical and retail positions at
some smaller stores and offices in town. The lack of higher-paying jobs made it
especially difficult for single mothers, like little Sarah’s mom who received little or no
child support, to obtain higher—paying jobs.
Impact on Literacy Achievement

Carol worked with young preschoolers on literacy skills that would hopefully
lead to school readiness. I asked her, “What is your impact on literacy?” She described
leaving books with families but admitted that she could not measure her impact. She
could quantitatively measure the number of visits and the number of books read aloud to
children and given to families, but that did not provide a direct causal relationship
between her duties and the child’s emergent literacy skills.

From my perspective, she provided emergent literacy skills practice for

preschool-aged children who may or may not be enrolled in an established preschool

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program. For example, she modeled fluency for the children and those parents who may
not be proficient readers. She modeled and taught parents questioning techniques to
improve the child’s reading comprehension. Also, she taught parents what was
developmentally appropriate for the child to learn, such as using picture cues to aid
comprehension. Carol boosted children’s motivation to read by giving each child a book
at every monthly home visit. This was particularly important since some of the families
could not afford to purchase books or did not visit the library often to check out books.
Finally, she emphasized to the child and parents that reading with family members was
fun and an important preparation for elementary school.
Job Security

With budget cuts in school funding, the advocates worried that their positions
would be eliminated. Carol lamented:

Logic would tell you, this is a program most schools don’t even have. Wouldn’t

you think that you would be considered maybe one of the first things that could

go? That hasn’t happened so far, but the last two years in particular, we’ve kind of

wondered at the end of the year, will we be back next year and what will that look

like?
The principal felt confident their positions were secure.

Family Fun Night

The principal and family advocate also organized family fun nights as another
way to engage parents in positive school experiences and to involve them in their
children’s education. These events were usually theme-based (e.g., health fair, math,
science). Items were usually donated or purchased at a discount by the school. I attended

the IV: -hour Science Family Night in which a dozen high school students accompanied

their science teacher, wearing his tie-dyed lab coat, to demonstrate a series of science

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experiments in the gymnasium for parents and children. The event began with the
principal leading the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to the high school teacher
and the teacher followed with demonstrations on gravity, sound, color, states of matter,
and force that connected to the fifth grade curriculum. A couple of experiments involved
fire so the lights were turned off; parents and children gasped with excitement but only a
few young children screamed with fear. Attendees were very engaged throughout the
entire demonstration.

Participants then ventured to individual classrooms to participate in three 20-
minute activities lead by high school students. Todd reminded everyone, especially the
children, “Make sure these are activities you go to as a family.” Parents and children
studied sound by making a bumblebee that swirled in the air. In the Mystery Architecture
activity, they used various supplies to build the tallest structure possible and in another
classroom, they concocted slime to learn about matter.

At the conclusion of the evening, families reassembled into the gymnasium for
prizes for those top families who built the tallest structures in the Mystery Architecture
activity. The family advocate distributed booklets to parents as they walked out the door.
She created the booklets that had 10 different at-home science activities with recipes for
things like bubbles and play dough.

I asked Carol, “What do you hope to get out of this?” She answered, “In general,
when we do family events, we want to show parents and families that they can have firn
doing things together and sometimes they’ll be educationally based. And also to get
parents into the school and see the building and see the staff and see that school is a good

place to be.” The principal agreed with Carol and added:

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It’s all about making the parents a part of what’s going on at school and feeling
like they’re part of it and they’re valued and it’s important for them to be a part of
it. What’s goes on at school is not just about the teachers. It’s a family thing.
You’re child’s education is a family thing. It’s not just sending them to school
and not being anymore involved than that.

Teachers were not required by contract to attend family fim nights but were
invited. Many attended to show support to students and families, and on other occasions,
they lead the classroom activities. Todd explained, “Parents get to see them in a different
way. They’re not talking about assessments or achievement or concerns, but they’re
watching them have fun.” I saw three of the teachers there and one teacher even had her
young son participating in the science activities. Usually, about 150 people participated in
the event but on that particular night, it coincided with two high school activities, so
attendance dropped to approximately 100 people.

The school connected the family fun night to reading by opening the book fair, so
parents would be encouraged to purchase books for their children to read at home.
Reading was an entire family event. If the event were scheduled at the end of the school’s
reading month, it was a celebration for students’ reaching the school’s reading goal that
the principal set. He performed events like riding an elephant, milking a cow, kissing a
pig, and working on the roof all day to motivate students to read.

Before I left the school that evening, I stopped by Carol’s office to find out about
her perceptions of the night’s event. Carol allowed a child to use her phone to call home
for a ride, because it was raining and the student had walked to school. Carol offered to
take her home since she only lived 2 blocks away. Carol knew the girl’s mother who had

volunteered in the library a few times. Principals had set policies for staff allowing

children to ride with them in their cars, among other issues. In fact, Todd had taken

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children home and usually took another adult with him as a safety precaution. Carol
planned to ask Todd about it and maybe the two of them together would take the child
home. I was surprised that the mother had allowed her to attend the family night without
her parents. Carol wanted to address the situation by talking to the mother, but at the
same time, she knew that the principal would not refuse a child from attending just
because she did not have parents there. Carol made clear that the school wanted to be
more inclusive than exclusive. She remarked, “Todd wouldn’t say, ‘You didn’t come
with your mom. You can’t stay.’ Instead, he would probably say, ‘Come on, I’ll be your

dad tonight.”’

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DISCUSSION

I identified New Era Elementary as a high-achieving rural school, specifically in
literacy. I did not consider socio-economic status in the site selection process. However, I
discovered how a high-achieving, yet high-needs, school not only reached academic
achievement in literacy but also fostered good citizenship and created positive, educative
school experiences for students and their families. In this section, I summarize major
points of this study, draw conclusions, identify implications for teacher education and
leadership, analyze my role as the researcher, and provide limitations and directions for
future research.

Summary

The results of this study provide an understanding of the complexities involved in
educating the whole child in a high-needs rural elementary school. School personnel met
students’ physical, social, and emotional needs, as supported by Maslow’s (1943)
hierarchy of needs, but as other research indicates, these needs may not be structured
hierarchically. Faculty and staff, especially the principal and family advocate, met
students’ physical needs by providing nutritious lunches and breakfast, connecting
families with local food pantries, and assisting parents with forms to receive food from
government agencies. School personnel supported students’ physical development by
instituting Girls on the Run, the Walking Club, and providing three different recess
periods throughout the day. In addition, students’ social needs were satisfied with
programs like Love and Logic discipline, LifeSkills, and family ftm nights. Girls on the
Run and Girl Scouts also contributed to students’ social development. School personnel

met students’ emotional needs by creating a positive learning environment with praise

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and encouragement; this school celebrated achievement that motivated students to work
even harder. Also, the school provided counseling services for those students with the
highest needs and fostered a desire to help others.

Positive relationships created conditions for students’ increased motivation, self-
esteem, and resiliency. From here, school personnel supported students’ cognitive needs
with effective instruction, including differentiated instruction and scaffolding. The
principal and staff emphasized reading and technology was seamlessly integrated into the
curriculum. Literacy, specifically reading, became a natural part of learning.

Overall, by educating the whole child, school personnel helped students achieve
academic success and learn and use good citizenship skills that fostered positive school
experiences. This notion supports the claim that school has a dual responsibility to satisfy
students’ academic needs and support character education (Benninga et al., 2006).

The principal and teachers expected their students to behave well and put forth a great
deal of effort to learn. The principal did not accept the notion that the district’s financial
hardships would prevent his students from receiving an excellent education so he
collaborated with local businesses, churches, and civic groups to fund school needs, like
books and computer software. Likewise, the principal’s survey results, indicating a lack
of socio-economic bias, also supported the ideas that students from low-income homes
with unsupportive parents could be academically and behaviorally successful in school.
Conclusions

Documenting what this school accomplished makes educating the whole child

sound so simple. It is obvious that children need physical needs met. They need a

nutritious breakfast to eat, a warm coat in the winter, and loving encouragement from

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their parents and other caregivers, including teachers and principals. Children need a
principal, teachers, and other positive role models —- male and female — who help them set
goals, enable them to reach their goals with a great deal of effort and effective
instruction, and then celebrate their accomplishments. Students need moral leadership
that models and practices the values they want students to use. It is very complex and
involves many participants.

Broffenbrenner’s (1986) ecological model of human development identifies the
family, school, and local commrmity, including peers, as the most immediate influences
on a child, including a child’s literacy development. It answers questions such as, is
someone reading to and with the child? Is an adult talking with the child to build
vocabulary? What learning materials are being provided to the child? Is someone
modeling for the child how to appropriately behave? At New Era, some parents did not
provide optimal learning experiences to boost their children’s literacy development.
School faculty and staff understood this reality; thus, the need to address student’s
cognitive, emotional, social, and physical needs became more pronounced.

I am not advocating a direct causal relationship between the school’s participation
and students’ academic achievement. That is too narrow, of course, just as trying to
define a school by cognitive achievement or deficiencies. On the other hand, I have
identified school conditions that fostered students’ cognitive, physical, social, and
emotional development. Parents’ and community members’ participation varied widely
between children and was not the focus of this study.

Findings from this analysis support the numerous studies on effective schools,

especially those in areas of poverty (Hoffinan, 1991; Reynolds et al., 2002; Shavelson &

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Berliner, 1988; Teddlie & Reynolds, 2000; Pressley et al., 2004). The body of research
identified effective schools characteristics that focus on strong administrative leadership,
high expectations, safe and orderly learning environments, frequent assessment, and
excellent school and classroom management. Effective schools also provide supportive
environments with positive home-school relationships. In my previous study (Reftitt &
Pressley, 2007), positive home-school relationships meant that teachers provided
immediate feedback on graded papers, sent newsletters and other notes home to parents,
and interacted with families at special events, like PTO meetings. These were home-
school connections, acquaintances, and associations -- not relationships. On the other
hand, this study of New Era Elementary helps broaden the definition of positive home-
school relationships with the family advocate’s involvement with at-risk preschoolers
and their families and the principal’s altruistic behavior toward current and former
students and their families. Relationships mean more than a one-way communication or
connection. These relationships were interactive and personal.

In addition, faculty and staff created positive relationships with students, an
implied, not explicit, relationship in effective schools research. One reason why school
employees were able to create positive relationships with families and children was the
number of years that faculty and staff worked at the school. There was little mobility on
the part of the principal, teachers, and support staff. Todd had been the principal for 27
years at the time of this study and had previously worked in another capacity in the
district. Carol had been the family advocate for 15 years, and most of the teachers had
worked at New Era for many years. Two experienced teachers joined the faculty in 2007

after two other teachers retired. Support staff were hired and stayed at New Era, and

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many, including the principal and family advocate, lived in the community. However,
experience alone did not create positive relationships with children and their families. It
was the holistic approach to learning, coupled with years of experience, that enabled
school faculty and staff to create positive relationships with families.

Strong administrative leadership with a focus on curriculum is another component
of effective schools. This is one of the missing characteristics from my previous study
(Reffitt & Pressley, 2007) that lead me to studying New Era Elementary. New Era’s
principal had many roles, such as fundraiser, teacher, counselor, and instructional leader.
There is no lack of research to show how effective principals act as teacher, but this study
provides a new perspective on effective leadership. Todd tried to meet students’ needs
before they walked into the classrooms so children could focus on learning. In addition,
he aided families and hired a family advocate to support disadvantaged families by
helping alleviate their hardships and educating their preschoolers before those children
entered New Era Elementary.

I have identified teacher-level characteristics supporting literacy achievement,
like scaffolding and differentiation of instruction that aligns with similar research
(Pressley et al., 2001; Taylor et al., 2000; Pressley et al., 2005; Duffy, 2003; Knapp,
1995). What stood out at New Era was the way teachers used technology to assess
students but more importantly to inform their practice. The Classworks progarn was
chosen because it enabled teachers to differentiate instruction. Time spent in the
computer lab was not totally devoted to drill and practice or computer games. Granted,
students did have opportunities to practice literacy skills and take multiple-choice

comprehension quizzes that also improved their test-taking skills. They also had

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opportunities to practice keyboarding skills, type and illustrate stories, and conduct
research. The more salient use of technology was how teachers used the assessment data
in language arts to inform them of students’ literacy strengths and weaknesses. It initiated
changes in their daily lesson plans, students groupings, and reteaching to small groups or
individuals.

Other teacher- and school-level characteristics of effective instruction do not
include seamless integration of technology that transforms instruction. For exarnple,
effective schools tend to have frequent assessment of student progress and effective
teachers reteach, when necessary, but technology use is not mentioned as key features in
effective schools research. Even in my previous study in Manistique (Reffitt & Pressley,
2007), we discovered that teachers fiequently monitored student progress in reading
comprehension through Accelerated Reader and the accompanying assessment called
STAR, but technology was not used to inform teacher practice. Also, Accelerated Reader
and STAR only tested students’ in reading comprehension, whereas the Classworks
program assessed and provided student practice in multiple areas of reading and writing.
Teacher reports documented specific literacy skills.

A growing body of research claims that a high quality character education
program can promote academic achievement (Benninga et al., 2006; Berkowitz & Bier,
2005; Chang & Munoz, 2006). Researchers must be cautious in making a direct causal
relationship between these two components without considering other influences, such as
effective instruction or meeting students’ physical needs like food. By examining the

different domains of educating the whole child (e.g., physical, cognitive, social,

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emotional), this study shows that character education impacted all domains but that it did
not exist alone to propel students to academic success in literacy.

Finally, the cultural model of school for New Era Elementary was based on a
family metaphor. The small size allowed for everyone to know each other. Teachers
taught siblings over time and became closely acquainted with families. The principal’s
dedication to service in providing for, protecting, and educating his students can be
equated with a nurturing patriarch of a large family. Even when I entered the school one
day, he smiled and called, “Welcome home.” In J imerson’s (2006) review of literature
on small schools, she discovered elements that are associated with small schools and
academic, social, and emotional benefits for children (e. g., higher percentage of students
participating in extra-curricular activities, sense of belonging and resiliency, greater
academic success). I contend that it is not just the size that helped create this metaphor
and benefit students but it was also because the school housed grades 1-5 and previously
housed kindergarten through fifth grade before the kindergarten class was moved to a
different building. The range of grades in one building allowed school personnel more
time to build relationships with families and provided teachers more opportunities for
curriculum planning and group decision-making. In addition, children attended school in
the same building for several years so they had a certain comfort level, a real sense of
belonging to a school community. However, in my previous work (Reffitt & Pressley,
2007), the school structure had been redesigned so that each building housed one or two
grade levels. Instead of grades 1-5 being together in one building, schools were arranged
by grade levels; kindergarten and first graders were housed in one building, second and

third graders were in another building, and fourth and fifth graders were located in a

143

separate wing of the middle/high school. Many teachers expressed disappointment and
frustration over the loss of their family metaphor of school, a metaphor that they felt was
optimal for student grth and teacher collaboration.

Implications for Teacher Education and Educational Leadership

This study provides implications for teacher education and educational leadership.
Teacher educators need to examine how they are preparing firture teachers to educate
students with a holistic approach to learning. The aim has been to equip interns with the
best pedagogical tools in literacy instruction, but students, especially at-risk students,
wrestle with serious issues that impact their learning. How are pre-service teachers
learning how to work with these students and their families? By failing to discover or
empathize with students’ harsh family situations, novice teachers may not recognize
barriers that limit a child’s potential.

Also, we need to show pre-service teachers how to use technology to guide and
transform instruction. I have noticed in different teacher preparation programs and
professional development workshops that beginning and experienced teachers are shown
how to integrate technology into the classroom. They learn how to use equipment and
programs that enhance what they are doing in the classroom, which has merit, but it
seems to be more of an add-on component to their daily practices instead using
technology to frequently modify and differentiate instruction.

In addition, teacher preparation programs need to work with social workers to
create more positions like New Era’s family advocate. She aided families and taught
preschoolers emergent literacy and math skills without the burdensome paperwork

sometimes associated with governmental agencies. The family advocate worked with

144

children and families in their homes giving her valuable insights about their family
dynamics and living situations. If teachers across grade levels conducted home visits,
they would gain important information that would transform their perceptions about
students and impact their instruction. This study is the first to examine the discourse
between the family advocate (as defined in this study), family member, and child during a
home visit that will hopefully provide guidance on home visit protocols.
Researcher in the Middle

Even though a researcher enters a study with contextual background knowledge, it
is her moral and ethical obligation to report the findings and draw conclusions based on
collected data, qualitative or quantitative. When I walked through the front door of New
Era Elementary and began talking to Trav, the school secretary, and then Todd, the
principal, I felt very welcomed into the school. I could sense Todd’s appreciation and
enthusiasm about having a Michigan State University doctoral student study his school as
he introduced me to faculty and students. I began to hear his stories about students and
their relatives, and we shared information about our career paths and families. We shed a
few tears sometimes when he retold a heartbreaking family situation that a child was
enduring. We laughed at those unexpected events, the funny ones that could only happen
in the school context. And as I heard more of these stories, and as I talked to people there
— teachers, children, a parent — I was enveloped with this sense of quiet peace. I was
content to visit the school and collect my data and I was happy to witness the nurturing
care of the children. The faculty and staff were what we as educators strive to be, change
agents who make positive differences in the lives of children. Even though I have been

positively affected by this study, I remained as objective as possible. My feelings about

' 145

the school are not limitations of the study. I realized the school faced challenges and had
areas of weakness in need of improvement. What I have documented in this study
reflects the complexities of their strengths and abilities to combat serious challenges and
to do what is best for the children.
Study Limitations

I want to recognize the methodological and theoretical choices I made in order to
inform other researchers. The major limitation of this study was the self-reporting of
information. The principal, advocate, and teachers shared detailed accounts of students’
personal situations that I did not have firsthand knowledge of at the time of this study.
Also, the principal and teachers completed questionnaires about their beliefs on school
achievement. I realize that self-reporting does not always correspond to actual behaviors.
In addition, there may be various interpretations of the home visit narrative. Finally,
causal relationships cannot be established since the variables cannot be isolated
(Donmoyer & Kos, 1993) and parents’ and community members’ participation was
unknown.

Future Research

Based on this study of a high-achieving rural elementary school, I propose five
directions for future research. First, we need to further investigate principals’ training and
how a counseling component could effectively be integrated into their preparation, so that
principals explicitly learn how to support students’ affective development and needs.
Second, we need to educate and employ more family advocates like Carol in high-needs
schools -- urban, suburban, and rural. We need to see if and how that role adapts in

various settings in order to help meet children’s and their families’ needs. She brought

146

books into the home and modeled literacy skills, like prediction and fluency, to build the
child’s literacy knowledge and skills and to educate the parent on developmentally
appropriate strategies and activities to practice at home. A longitudinal study would help
identify her impact on students’ literacy skills acquisition for beginning kindergarteners.
Also, the district’s family advocates were all Caucasian females and in their 505. We
need to investigate if and how their race, sex and age influenced their positions.

Third, we need to study effective ways to implement home visits made by all
teachers. Oftentimes, the kindergarten teacher may be the only one who conducts home
visits. We need to investigate ways to accommodate teachers’ schedules and not
compromise their contractual agreements or financially overburden them with additional
expenses, like child care and fuel costs. New Era’s family advocate has shown that
insights gained from home visits greatly contribute to an educator’s perception of a
student that could change the way teachers teach. Fourth, we need to study the various
counseling services that are provided to students, especially at-risk students. Some
children are overwhelmed with family crisis situations and need short-term and long-term
counseling interventions that are currently under-funded or completely absent. Federal,
state, and local accountability requirements burden districts because the focus is on
academic achievement, not a holistic perspective on learning.

Finally, we need to research effective ways that pre-service teachers can be
instructed to educate the whole child with an emphasis on cognitive, affective, and
psychomotor domains. The Holistic Child Program of Mercer University is one school

that is preparing their candidates to teach from a holistic perspective, but we need more

147

colleges and universities to embrace this philosophy and educate interns with that goal in

mind.

148

Table 1

Student Population by Grade Level

 

.-,§§a<19_L__¢.Ysl_s.,___. ..200§:2_QQ.7___-__-_.2_99_7_:2.QQ§--_.

K
lSI

2nd

25

21

17

28

29

27

147

24

20

18

30

28

120

 

149

Table 2

Demographic Summary of School Faculty and Staff

 

Grade/ Teaching/Administrative Highest Degree Earned

Assignment Experience

lst 21 years BA

2nd 22 years BA

3rd 23 years BA

4‘h 20 years BA + 38 hrs toward Masters degree

5th 14 years BA

Special 27 years BA

Education

Instructional 17 years AA + 20 hrs. in reading

Assistant

Instructional 17 years AA

Assistant

Migrant/Bilingual 7 years AA

Assistant

Computer/Media 9 years AA - Technology

Specialist

Family Advocate 15 years AA

Administrative 12 years BA - Technology

Assistant

Principal 36 years MA-Counseling & Educational
Leadership

 

150

Table 3

 

 

 

Audio Recordings
Person(s) Length of Audio Event(s)
________ ,_ Recording
Principal 3 hours, 47 mins. Informal conversations and formal

Family Advocate

Teachers

2 Girls on the Run

Participants

3rd and 4th Grade
Students

Parent

4 hours, 9 mins.

3 hours, 20 mins.

8 minutes

17 minutes

14 minutes

interviews about his perceptions of school
and role; classroom lesson with students

Home visit; informal conversations and
formal interviews about her role

Observations, conversations, and formal
interviews

Interviews
Reading poetry (for researcher’s
presentation purposes) and conversations

at lunch on their perceptions of the school

Informal interview on her perceptions of
the school and principal

 

‘0 ......

151

_. -_....-

Table 4

Original and Modified BASA Survey Questions on Gender

 

Original BASA Survey Questions
on Gender

Modified BASA Survey Questions
on Gender

 

 

 

’ B‘c‘iyé'élé'téit’ér in mathematics .thafiflgirls.

Girls are better than boys in language
subjects.

Unlike girls, boys are good with numbers.

Solving mathematics problems is
something boys do well.

Girls arch—better in language arts than boys.

Boys are better in mathematics than girls.

Unlike boys, girls are good writers.

Comprehending narrative and expository
text is something girls do well.

 

152

Table 5

Results of the Modified Beliefs about School Achievement Survey

 

BELIEF
FACTORS

Factor 1: Ability

Factor 2:

Teacher

Factor 3: Family
Socio-economic

Status

Factor 4: Effort

ABLl:

ABL2:

ABL3:

ABL4:

TEAI:

TEA2:

TEA3:

TEA4

SE81

SE82

8ES3

SE84

EFF]

EFF2

EFF3

EFF4

s u . ““-.M~q--L~‘--—

FACTOR COMPONENTS

School achievement is an

inherited talent.

A child’s school achievement
is caused by biologically
determined characteristics.
School achievement is a
matter of intelligence.

A weak student at first grade
will be a weak student at
twelfth grade.

A good teacher can improve
the achievement level of all
students, even those who are
very weak.

Teachers can make the
difference with difficult
students.

Teachers are effective in
helping students learn.

A child’s achievement
depends on the qualities of
his/ her teacher.

Children of well-educated
parents do better at school
than children of less educated
parents.

Children from rich families
perform better at school than
children from poor families.
Parents’ own education is
responsible for their child’s
success or failure at school.
Family social status affects
child school performance.
Even students who are not
very smart can have high
achievement, if they try.
When a child performs badly
at school, this is because of
inadequate effort.

High grades at school are due
to hard work.

Any child can do well at
school if he or she tries hard
€Q9UEP-

153

Principal Factor
iComponents

m :

LII

jPrincipal Only

 

29

5 ,, 1%

t’.’ g a
21:) r: .35 E

o 1.. o o a.

8 ,9 ‘3‘ 8 '5
I— t“) g E— .g
.>_<u. U K on
3.8 (.84) 4

3 (.82) 3.4
3.2 (1.1) 3.50
4(1) 4.17
1.4 (.55) 1.33
1.6 (.55) 1.50
1.4 (.55) 1.33
2.6 (.89) 2.33
2.4 (.89) 2.83
3.2 (1.1) 3.50
3.4 3.67
(1.14)

2.8 (1.1) 3.17
2.2 (1.1) 2.00
3.4 (.55) 3.67
2.4 (.8) 2.17
3(1) 2.67

--w.- -.n 4m“ "Hm m_--ru-—

U’ X of Factors

1

3f of Factors
‘” {Teachers Only

1.75

2.95

2.75

~_ W»... "‘I'H

Table 5 Cont.

 

Factor 5: GEN 1 Girls are better in language
Gender arts than boys.
GEN 2 Boys are better in
mathematics than girls.
GEN3 Unlike beys, girls are good
writers.
GEN4 Comprehending narrative and
expository text is something
Aids do well.

154

3.6 (.55)
3.6 (.55)
3.6 (.55)

3.4 (.55)

3.33

3.33

3.33

3.17

3.55

Table 6

Coding of Field Notes/Themes with Definitions and Examples

 

Coding of Field
‘N9tsslIhsmes

Definition

 

- Sense of Place

Administrative
Leadership

Effective teaching

Home-School
Connections

Technology

Poverty

Emotional Health

Descriptions and anecdotal

evidence that provide the reader
with the setting and emotional
tone of the school.

Principal’s leadership and
personality traits that support
students’ physical, social,
emotional, and cognitive needs.

Characteristics supported by
well-established research on
effective literacy instruction and
effective schools/classrooms.

Interactions between parents and
school personnel that lead to

positive working relationships to
support the children’s education.

Use of computers and other
electronic devices to practice
and improve literacy skills.

Living in harsh conditions where
basic needs, like food, clothing,
and shelter, are not being met.

A state of psychological well-
being in which a student is able

to use his or her capabilities to

Examples

 

TStudent poetry; researcher’s’ __

school tour; school secretary’s
interaction with mentally
disabled community member

Taught mini-lesson in third
grade classroom; generated
additional funds to support
student programs and
activities; spending time after
school with a young man who
needs guidance from a positive
male role model

Scaffolding during a third
grade lesson on fluency;
differentiated instruction in the
Early Intervention Program

Family advocate’s home visits;
family fun nights

Use of Classworks and
Reading Counts programs to
support literacy achievement;
amount of instructional time
spent in the computer lab

Large percentages of students
on free and reduced lunch
programs; food baskets
delivered to families at
Thanksgiving; winter coats
provided for those in need

Counseling services from an
outside agency;
implementation of LifeSkills

 

155

Table 6 Cont.

 

Emotional Health A state of psychological well- Counseling services from an
being in which a student is able outside agency;
to use his or her capabilities to implementation of LifeSkills
express emotions appropriately and discipline with Love and

and adapt to the demands of Logic
everyday life.
Physical Health Meeting students’ physical Walking Club; Girls on the

and Development needs, such as food and clothing, Run; 3 recess periods
and supporting physical fitness throughout the day
for a healthy body.

 

156

Table 7

School’s Additional. Funding Sources for 2007-08

 

Source

' ' SEHSSI Auction

Local church

Store purchases

Empty ink cartridges
and cell phones

General Mills box tops
& Tyson’s food labels

Campbell’s Soup Labels

Flower Sales

Candy sales

PTO funds

School store

TOTAL:

Generated Revenue

 

”$5,800

$6,000
Target - $45/year
Meijer - $185/year

Issued credit to order school
items from catalog

$400

Redeemed for classroom

materials ordered from catalog

$1,500

$2,500

$1,500

Approximately $300-$435

$18,230 - $18,665 plus credit

to order from catalogs

157

1 Purpose

 

Classworks computer
software to support
individualized science
education and library
books

Counseling and parenting
classes

Library books

Computer software
(keyboarding tutorial,
math, reading, Pilgrim’s

Quest)

Library books

Overhead projector,
playground equipment,
library books, art supplies

Classworks computer
software and positive
recognition programs for
students

School assemblies and
positive recognition
programs

Assemblies, books, and
classroom materials

Walking club program and
books

 

wry-‘- , ' . Fo-w mm "W

Table 8

Main Line/Off Main Line of Plot Material from the Home Visit

 

’ Stanza

l .

k)

10

ll

12

13

14

15

l6

17

18

. .-vw---,w‘w- ... rw‘

Main Line Plot Material

 

Review of previous lesson on color
recognition

Color recognition (extended review)
Fine motor skills
Fine motor development
Sisters arguing

Selecting a favorite Christmas card (for
cutting and practicing fine motor skills)

Sarah using the scissors
Making a puzzle

Counting the puzzle pieces
Using a paper punch
Cutting the shoelace
Lacing

A book for Sarah

More lacing cards

Play dough

Picking up the cotton balls
Stringing letters on the pipe cleaner

Grandma’s story

Off Main Line Plot Material

 

158

Table 8 Cont.

 

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

Poem

Cutting sheets

More information on child development
(including brain development and social
emotional development)

Carol reads to Sarah

Conclusion of home visit

About Kim, Sarah’s mother
Dina (Sarah’s sister) and discipline

Snow

Sarah likes to cut

Expecting a new grandchild

 

159

      
 

Social Needs , ,
Cogmtive

Needs

 

l

( ACADEMIC \

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POSITIVE INCREASED ACHIEVEMENT,
STUDENT GOOD CITIZENS,
RELATIONSHIPS ll:> MOTIVATION AND POSITIVE
\ SCHOOL
/ k EXPERIENCES j

 
   
 
   
 

 
   
   
 

Physical

Emotional
Needs

Needs

Figure 1. How the School Contributed to Students ’ Academic Success in Literacy

160

 
  

  
       
   
   

Social Needs: Brain
compatible educational
features, life skills, It
Takes Two, St. Jude
Math-A-Thon, Girl
Scouts, Family Fun Nights

 

   
     

 

N
POSITIVE INCREASED
RELATIONSHIPS I_—_(> STUDENT
MOTIVATION
J

 

Cognitive Needs:

  

 

 

Effective instruction,
field trips, engaged
principal, home visits

 

 

   
   
   
  

  

Emotional Needs:
Feeling valued, Love
and Logic discipline,
counseling, positive
male role model, Girls
on the Run, celebrating
achievement

  
   
  
 
   
   

Physical Needs: Breakfast,
lunch, food baskets to
families, shoes, retrieval of
student’s medication
misical Development: 3
daily recesses with various
activities, Walking Club,
Girls on the Run

 

 

( ACADEMIC \

ACHIEVEMENT,
GOOD CITIZENS,
AND POSITIVE
SCHOOL

 

 

EXPERIENCES J

K

  
  
  
   
 
 
 

 
 
 
  
    

Figure 2. How the School Educated the Whole Child That Contributed to Students’

Academic Success in Literacy

161

   
        

Cognitive Needs: Emphasis
on reading, integration of
technology, differentiated
instruction. scaffolding

  
 

Social Needs: Life
skills, brain compatible
education features

   
      

 
   
 

 

( ACADEMIC \

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

j r W
INCREASED ACHIEVEMENT,
POSITIVE m STUDENT 1:1) GOOD
RELATIONSHIPS MOTIVATION CITIZENS, AND
L 1 L ) POSITIVE
SCHOOL
K J

 

 
  

/

Emotional Needs:
Celebrated
achievement, Love
and Logic discipline,
showed empathy

   

Physical Needs:
Scheduled 3 recesses,
participated in recess
activities with students

         
           
     
 

Figure 3. How the Teachers and Support Sta/5f Contributed to Students ’ Academic
Success in Literacy

162

    
   

   

Cognitive Needs: Conducted
mini-lessons; participated in
classroom activities; read to
children and asked
comprehension questions;
raised funds to buy computer
software and other learning

materials; It Takes Two;
nffiee was extended

  

Social Needs: Modeled life
skills; celebrated student
achievement; implemented
Girls on the Run and Girl
Scouts during school day;
planned Family Fun Nights;
implemented It Takes Two
program

\.

   

 

   
   
        
 

 
 
           
         
 
     

 

 

 

F V f 1 r ACADEMIC \
POSITIVE INCREASED gggggfg‘zl‘gg
RELATIONSHIPS ":> STUDENT ":9 ’
MOTIVATION AND POSITIVE
SCHOOL
k J k J EXPERIENCES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

l k 1

     
 

Emotional Needs:
Called each child by
name; celebrated
achievement; used Love
and Logic discipline;
spent time with students
who needed extra
attention; arranged for
student counseling from
outside agency;
participated in custody
cases

 
   

  

Physical Needs: Provided
meals at school; provided
clothing; played with
students on playground;
created walking trail;
iniated Walking Club and
Girls on the Run;
scheduled 3 recesses per
day; participated in court
cases; gave personal funds
to families (e.g. heating a
home)

 
   
        
         
   
   
         
       
       
           
     

Figure 4. How the Principal Contributed to Students ’ Academic Success in Literacy

163

 
 
 

 
 
    
    

Social Needs:
Organized Family Fun
Nights; participated with

 

 

 

 

 

  
    
    
   
 

  

Emotional Needs:
Provided

parenting advice;
attended meetings
with parents

parents in school meetings

 
 
   
     
   
 

 

 

F N f
POSITIVE INCREASED
RELATION SHIPS Ir_-_’,> STUDENT
MOTIVATION
L L L L

 

 

 
 
     
   
   
   

Physical Needs:
Provided food baskets;
connected families to
community services for
food and clothing

Cognitive Needs:
Conducted literacy
activities during home
visits; organized
Family Fun Nights

 
 

 

r ACADEMIC W

ACHIEVEMENT,
GOOD CITIZENS,
AND POSITIVE
SCHOOL

 

 

L EXPERIENCES

 

Figure 5. How the Family Advocate Contributed to Students ’ Academic Success in

164

Literacy

Appendix A

MEAP Test Results from English Language Arts State Assessments 2004-07

Fall 2007:

Performance Level
Exceeded Standards

Met Standards (Proficient)
Basic Performance

Apprentice (Not Proficient)

Fall 2006:

Performance Level
Exceeded Standards

Met Standards (Proficient)
Basic Performance

Apprentice (Not Proficient)

Fall 2005:

Performance Level
Exceeded Standards

Met Standards (Proficient)
Basic Performance

Apprentice (Not Proficient)

Winter 2005:
Performance Level
Exceeded Standards

Met Standards (Proficient)
Basic Performance

Apprentice (Not Proficient)

 

New Era Elementary2

Grade 3
75 (22)
25 (59)
0 (16)

0 (3)

Grade 3
29 (20)
54 (59)
17 (16)
0 (4)

Grade 3
26 (13)
74 (65)
O (19)

0 (3)

Grade 4
12 (6)
80 (63)
8 (28)

0 (3)

Grade 4
23 (16)
73 (60)
4 (21)
0(3)

Grade 4
7 (13)
83 (65)
10 (20)
0(2)

Grade 4
40 (8)
60 (68)
0 (22)

0 (3)

Grade 5
30 (22)
52 (56)
19 (17)
0 (5)

Grade 5
58 (15)
42 (62)
0 (18)

0 (4)

Grade 5
42 (10)
54 (65)
4 (21)

0 (4)

2 All numbers are percentages that have been rounded to whole numbers. State averages are in parentheses.

165

Winter 2004:

Pertormance Level
Exceeded Standards

Met Standards (Proficient)
Basic Performance

Apprentice (Not Proficient)

Grade 4
0 (3)

77 (61)
23 (32)
0 (5)

166

Appendix B
Teacher Interview Questions
1. How do you define literacy? learning? school?

2. If you were on an elevator with someone you didn’t know and were going up a few
floors, how would you describe your school to that person?

3. What do you think about Todd as a leader?

4. What are his strengths?

5. What are his weaknesses?

6. How does Todd support literacy instruction and student achievement?

7. How do you use the data from Classworks?

8. The fifth grade teacher had training in Lucy Calkins’ new writing program. Has she
shared this program with you? If so, how? When? Are you implementing these ideas into

your writing instruction? If so, when did that begin?

To the 5th grade teacher: Are you sharing Lucy Calkins’ new writing program with other
teachers? If so, how? When?

9. What challenges do you face at New Era? How do you combat them?
10. What is your perception of your students’ parents?
11. What is your perception of the school community?

12. What else would you like to add about your school?

167

Appendix C
Principal Interview Questions
. What was New Era like when you became the principal? Prior to?
. What was the turning point in student achievement on the MEAP?
. Describe the school to a new teacher.
. Explain your job description as principal.
. How do you define literacy? Learning? School?
. How do you see yourself supporting literacy instruction and school achievement?

. What challenges do you face at New Era? What do you do to combat these
challenges?

. What changes do you want to make at New Era Elementary in the next few years?

168

Appendix D

Beliefs About School Achievement Survey (Modified)3

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of these statements by circling the

corresponding number:

 

Absolutely
agree

Agree

Ambivalent

Disagree

Absolutely
disagree

 

School achievement is an
inherited talent.

I

5

 

A child’s school
achievement is caused by
biologically determined
characteristics.

 

School achievement is a
matter of intelligence.

 

A weak student at first
grade will be a weak
student at twelfth grade.

 

A good teacher can

improve the achievement
level of all students, even
those who are very weak.

 

Teachers can make the
difference with difficult
students.

 

Teachers are effective in
helping students learn.

 

A child’s achievement
depends on the qualities of
his/her teacher.

 

Children of well-educated
parents do better at school
than children of less
educatgparents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 This is a modified version of the BASA scale produced by Georgiou, 8., Stavrinides, P., & Panaoura, G.

(2002). School failure: Teacher attributions and behavior. Educational Review, 33, 115-136.

169

 

 

 

Absolutely Agree Ambivalent Disagree Absolutely
agree disagree

 

Children from rich 1 2 3 4 5
families perform better at
school than children fiom
poor families.

 

Parents’ own education is l 2 3 4 5
responsible for their
child’s success or failure
at school.

 

Family social status affects l 2 3 4 5
child school performance.

 

Even students who are not 1 2 3 4 5
very smart can have high
achievement, if they try.

 

When a child performs 1 2 3 4 5
badly at school, this is
because of inadequate
effort.

 

High grades at school are 1 2 3 4 5
due to hard work.

 

Any child can do well at 1 2 3 4 5
school if he or she tries
hard enough.

 

Girls are better in 1 2 3 4 5
language arts than boys.

 

Boys are better in l 2 3 4 5
mathematics than girls.

 

Unlike boys, girls are good 1 2 3 4 5
writers.

 

Comprehending narrative 1 2 3 4 5
and expository text is
something girls do well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your participation.

170

Appendix E
Transcript of Home Visit

Participants:

Carol, family advocate
Grandmother

Sarah, 3 year-old child
Researcher

 

Fm???

Stanza 1 (Review of Previous Lesson on Color Recognition)

C: I mean we talked again about like COLOR RECOGNITION

and I think I LEFT A RING with the little color things on it for you

How how did that go?

Did you do ANY PATTERN PRACTICING or do you know if Kim did?
G: We were/what we do was/ I AND HER mainly/ WHEN WE SEE
SOMETHING/we point out the color
and she tells me what it is
Okay
And she--

Okay/okay/So she’s doing more of THE MATCHING the colors THAT
ARE THE SAME rather than saying/YOU SAYING/where’s THE RED
ONE or where’s THE GREEN ONE?

10 She’s not to that point yet really/where you can say/like which one is the
RED LEAF or which one is the GREEN LEAF?

1 1 Some of it

12 SOME OF IT?/okay

13 Because we talked about the fact that THE FIRST STEP in learning colors
is being able to say/ you know/ if you say what’s the same color as this?/

14 she would be able to find it

15 G: Yeah/she can do that

16 C: And then THE SECOND STEP would be YOU NAMING the color

MAWNH

\OOO\)O\

17 and her being ABLE TO PICK IT OUT

18 And then THE THIRD STEP would be/you pointing and saying/what
color is this?/and her being able to tell you what it is

19 So she’s just/you just/you’re going to have to keep doing --

20 S: LIKE THAT

21 C: Which one?

22 S: Umm

Stanza 2 (Color Recognition)
23 C: Do you know what color THE BANANA is? [Pause]

 

24 Do you know?

25 8: It’s/ um

26 C: YOU SHOW ME

27 What would you like to tell me?

28 IT’S THE SAME as that/ They’re both YELLOW

29 G: Watch YOUR FINGERS

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They’re both yellow

You knew they were the SAME COLOR/right/ But they’re both
YELLOW

So we’re going to work on that and keep practicing --
«Yeah/work on the colors with her

Stanza 3 (Fine Motor Skills)

80 today what we’re going to do is focus a little more on like FINE
MOTOR SKILLS

Now/I was TRYING TO REMEMBER when I was here last time/did you
DO SOME CUTTING?

Yeah

I think/that maybe She had a pair of scissors?

Did we have a pair of scissors or something?

I can’t remember

You were making snowflakes

Did we have a pair of scissors?

OH THAT’S RIGHT/You were MAKING SNOWFLAKES
because I was working WITH BETHANY THAT DAY on all that
homework She missed/right?/Okay

Stanza 4 (Fine Motor Development)

With the fine motor development/A CHILD’S BRAIN HAS the BASIC
STUFF that it needs/those basic connections

I don’t know if you have ever heard people talk about that there’s brain/
there’s CONNECTIONS IN THE BRAIN/that HAVE TO BE MADE in
order for children/or people/to learn to do things and to have it stick

So there’s a A BASIC LEVEL of that ABILITY in a child’s BRAIN

but they REALLY NEED to have a chances to PRACTICE IT/ in order
for those connections like to develop and grow and stay STRONG

so that they HAVE THE ABILITY to do those things

That’s why DOING STUFF with your kids/he kids at HOME/it’s so
IMPORTANT

‘cause this is the time of their life when their brain is REALLY
DEVELOPING

and they GOTTA have THOSE EXPERIENCES/you know to make those
connections

just like WE ALL needed that/every/ EVERYBODY DOES/when they’re-

Stanza 5 (Sisters arguing)

--I got ‘em to STOP FIGHTIN the other day/the other night
You’re right/in the brain

You did? [Chuckles]

They were ARGUING

You weren’t FIGHTING with your sisters?

We were goin to HART

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0.50

0W

and they were ARGUING about [inaudible]

OH WOW/Look at those BEAUTIFUL LIGHTS

Gettin’ them to the lights--

--Distraction

--And they started to turn around and lookin’ at the lights

And I said/OVER on your side/ Sarah

And it’s MUCH NICER than YELLING [whispers the word yelling]--
--Oh, it is

If you can DISTRACT THEM to SOMETHING ELSE

It only worked once/ though

Oh yeah/then you always have to be finding--

[Everybody speaking at once]

You CAN’T yell

You can’t yell?

It doesn’t make us FEEL VERY GOOD does it/when we get yelled out?
‘Cause/you know what?

When I got yelled/my mom [incomprehensible] my books

Yeah/so she told you that you shouldn’t yell?

Was she trying to tell you not to yell?

Yeah/yeah

So the GROWN-UPS shouldn’t yell and the KIDS shouldn’t yell/right?
SAME RULES for everybody?

THAT would be NICE/ wouldn’t it?

Stanza 6 (Picking out a favorite Christmas card)
Look WHAT I BROUGHT today
And I want to Show you THESE CARDS I BROUGHT
I think I just CLOSED MY BAG instead of OPENED IT
Look at these
Do you want to look at THE PICTURES on there?
Mm hm
SEE IF you find one THAT YOU LIKE in there
Aah/THERE’S A LOT of them
Should we LAY EM OUT a little bit so you CAN SEE/ SOME OF THE
PICTURES?
OH/do you like THAT ONE?
Mm hm
You like THAT ONE?
Which one maybe/do you NOT LIKE as well?
THAT ONE? --
--I like
You all like ALL OF THEM/ don’t you?
They are NICE
Let’s TAKE/we need to PICK ONE that we CAN CUT
And I LIKE -- ,
--Which one do you THINK?

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THAT one?

Stanza 7 (Sarah using the scissors)
I wanted to give you some SCISSORS to give you a chance to do some
cutting along the edge
Do you know how to put your FINGERS IN?
Here/let me SHOW YOU how we do it AT SCHOOL
We keep THIS FINGER OUT and we put THESE FINGERS IN
and that helps us kind of STEER the scissors
Can you OPEN AND CLOSE IT?
Let me see your HAND
That’s TRICKY isn’t it?
Sometimes you NEED HELP until you USED TO DOING it
Sarah/where’s MOMMA’S?
Oh/ do you LIKE THESE better?
She can use these pretty good
She can use these better?
You want to TRY MINE?
NO
You want Momma’s?
You want to TRY MINE?
Okay/Oh LOOK at that!
Can you MAKE LITTLE CUTS all along the edge?
You can do BIG CUTS
Okay/why don’t we do this then? Why don’t you cut this into like FOUR
BIG PIECES?
Can you DO THAT?
Oh/ GOOD JOB
[INCOMPREHENSIBLE]
Sometimes it’s IMPORTANT when they’re FIRST LEARNING HOW to
go get very good at cutting
YOU might need to be the one who HOLDS THE PAPER
Um hm
Oh/you took your FINGERS RIGHT OUT of the holes/didn’t you?
That’s A PROBLEM when it comes time to OPEN IT then
Okay/you HOLD IT YOUR WAY for now since that’s what you’ve been
used to doing
THERE’S A PIECE/Let’s put THAT ONE down
Do you want to finish CUTTING THAT ONE?
Let’s make some BIG PIECES

Stanza 8 (Making a puzzle)

Can you cut that one ALL THE WAY ACROSS?/ ‘Cause we’re going to
make a PUZZLE

You know what?/ We’re goin to have GRANDMA MAKE a puzzle too
Here Grandma/can you MAKE A PUZZLE, like 4 or 6 PIECES?

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QF’JQF’?

.0

Oh my goodness/look at that/Grandma can do it too
There’s 2/Two go this way
See if you can FIND THIS SPOT
Can you CONNECT it?
LOOK AT THAT/You did it
Just about there/ YAY
And now you want to cut ONE MORE OF THESE in half
They’re in TWO PIECES
I shouldn’t say half cause it WON’T BE HALF
That LOOKS GOOD/Okay/now we’re goin to take your puzzle pieces
Put your SCISSORS for a minute ‘cause you’re goin to need TWO
HANDS/I think
Mix em all up
Grandma needs to MIX HERS all up
We’re goin to make GRANDMA WORK today too
Your mom should’ve BEEN HERE
[All laughed]
You have to SHOW YOUR MOM what we did
when she comes home--
— Your momma’s goin to be home pretty soon
---and she can do some practicing too
Okay/now turn your PIECES OVER
and see if you can put YOUR PICTURE together/Oh, they’re---
Can you BEAT ME?/[Pause]/Huh?
Hmm/you cut YOUR PIECES TRICKY didn’t you?
Let’s SEE ALL OF EM so we can see —
So did GRANDMA
«how the might GO TOGETHER
It’s not always AS EASY as WE THINK it’s going to be
I’m goin’ to BEAT YOU
[Chuckled] No/it’s not
BEAT YOU
This looks like Santa needs to go this way/ right?
Is this the top?
I think I’m goin’ to beat you
Oh/look at this/These two together--
[At same time] I think you are too ‘cause you know what?
I was putting them UPSIDE DOWN [Laughs]
[Laughs]Here/which way does THIS MAN NEED to go?
He needs to GO THIS WAY/ right?
Where does he go/I SEE the ribbon
Can you ATTACH the ribbon? Put THIS RIBBON by THAT RIBBON

Stanza 9 (Counting the pieces)
Okay/now you have HOW MANY PIECES left? How many PIECES
LEFT here?

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THESE two/Can you COUNT EM?

One [whispers]

One/ one/What comes AFTER ONE? One/TWO/ One/ TWO

Now where do THESE PIECES go?

They go right

Oh/YOU LIKE THEM together like this

Okay/well/I’M GOIN TO SHOW you what I’m gonna do /I’m gonna
MATCH THIS BAG together look/Look--

--I’m goin to CUT THIS ONE too

See how THE STARS go?

You’re going to CUT THAT ONE TOO?

I was thinking that maybe we could do SOMETHING DIFFERENT with
the card

Would you like to see WHAT ELSE I brought?

I’m gonna leave you the EXTRA CARDS okay/so you can PLAY with
these

I ’11 make these the extra cards that you get to keep

I think you should KEEP THESE and SHOW MOM and SEE IF MOM
can do a puzzle/You THINK SHE CAN?

NO WAY

Stanza 10 (Using a paper punch)
Have you ever DONE A PAPER PUNCH before?
Yeah
YOU HAVE?/Can you put SOME HOLES around this card?
Yeah
You GOTTA SQUEEZE it
If you NEED HELP/I can HELP YOU
You gotta SQUEEZE DOWN HERE on the handles
Let’s TURN IT AROUND like this so we can see
GRANDMA MESSED UP the first time
SQUEEZE it
THERE’S ONE! Where do you want to put the next one?
Right here
Right here? /Okay/ SQUEEZE
WOW/It takes STRONG FINGERS doesn’t it/which is the WHOLE
IDEA
We want to make STRONG FINGERS
SQUEEZE my hand/ OKAY
Her EYES BLINK
SQUEEZE/Oh/ YOU’RE GOOD at SQUEEZING MY HAND/Squeeze
again/
Okay/ keep goin/We’re almost ALL THE WAY around
Do you know WHAT WE’RE MAKING? Do you know WHAT THIS 18/
going to be?
A check

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A check?

Stanza 11 (Cutting the shoelace)

Let me Show you what else I brought

You’re goin to NEED SCISSORS for ONE LITTLE THING cause L’re
goin to see if you can CUT MY SHOELACE in half

Do you think you CAN DO that?

Ah/YEAH

Okay/LET’S FIND OUT here

Okay/BETWEEN MY TWO FINGERS

No/no/ no/no

No/BETWEEN my two fingers

and CUT THIS and I’ll SHOW YOU what we’re going to do

Between my two fingers/though/Can you cut that?/Between my fingers
Try it again/OPEN it up

OH BOY/I wonder if we need GRANDMA’S SCISSORS?

Should we let GRANDMA TRY it?See if GRANDMA’S SCISSORS cut
it?

DON’T CUT that card again/DON’T CUT my FINGERS

Now I’M SHAKIN

Grandma’s startin to GET NERVOUS

Stanza 12 (Lacing)
Okay/ look what we’re going to do
I’m gonna TAKE YOUR CARD
Uh oh
I know what She’s GONNA DO
Does GRANDMA KNOW?
Have you ever SEEN ONE OF THESE before?
[Participants talking at once) I’ve seen that in school
I’m gonna TIE THIS and we’re gonna LACE
Have you ever DONE LACIN G BEFORE?/ YOU HAVE?/Do you
remember ---
--I TRIED
You TRIED?
But/I couldn’t
Honey/ don’t cut/DON’T CUT it
Was it hard?
I’m gonna leave/I’m gonna leave you my EXTRA CARDS and you can
PRACTICE CUTTING
AND I have ANOTHER BAG with LOTS OF SURPRISES in it
Okay/take the END OF THE SHOELACE down here/where the little
PLASTIC THING IS/and then you PUT IT in this hole
Can you go up FROM THE BOTTOM and go on the top?
Put it through and PULL it ALL THE WAY TIGHT/ALL THE WAY
TIGHT

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Okay/now THIS TIME you’re have to COME FROM THE BACK

Can you put it in this hole?/Oh/LOOK AT THAT/And then THIS WAY
It’s LIKE SEWING/isn’ t it?

Oh/come FROM THE TOP this time if your/if your/if your STRING IS
ON THE TOP then you have to GO BACK THROUGH the top

And then this/your string is ON THIS SIDE/ so you have to GO IN THIS
WAY .

Oh my goodness/LOOK AT YOU G0

I think your mom is GOING TO BE SURPRISED when she sees what
we’ve did today/Okay

Oops/WHICH SIDE is the lace on/honey?/Which SIDE is the LACE
ONE?

It’s on this Side

It’s on this Side so you’ll have to go this way

Actually/you could probably go the other way/We’ll see

If you DO THAT AGAIN/we’ll see what it looks like

Are you DONE for now?

Do you see how you can lace it ALL THE WAY AROUND?/And it puts
white ALL THE WAY AROUND your picture

That is REALL GOOD PRACTICE for —

You’re goin in the WRONG HOLE

Gonna EXPERIMENT?

[Inaudible]

Okay/T he MOST IMPORTANT SKILL is pulling it IN THROUGH the
hole and pulling it through/so--

«Yeah

-—if she doesn’t do it in order/She’s still GETTING THE PRACTICE that
she needs

Oh/We RAN OUT of string

If you pull it TOO HARD it will BREAK

We RAN OUT of string/Do you KNOW WHY?

Look/because you went ALL THE WAY DOWN here and USED ALL
this string

If you go all the way around in order/then you SHOULD HAVE
ENOUGH string to go ALL THE WAY THROUGH

Do you think you’d like/would you LIKE TO PRACTICE doing some of
those sometimes?

No

NO/It’s NOT FUN?

You know what? I bet your sister/ANNE/would like to

Maybe you can SHOW THOSE TO ANNE and say/Oh Anne/WOULD
YOU like to do some stringing?

I think SHE WOULD

I think I WOULD TOO

You think YOU WOULD TOO?

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Stanza 13 (A book for Sarah)

Now would you like to see WHAT ELSE I BROUGHT today?

Let me PACK UP THE STUFF I need to take with me/ ‘cause you get to
keep ALL OF THOSE

and let me Show you WHAT ELSE ‘cause we want you to PRACTICE
FINE MOTOR

I have a BAG FOR YOU TO KEEP/Do you want to SEE WHAT THAT
IS?

Um hm

LET’S SEE/where did I put it?

Remember my bag that has SO MANY DIFFERENT COMPARTMENTS
in it/I can NEVER REMEMBER where I put my stuff?

Yeah

Yeah/I get MESSED UP/I get CONFUSED/don’t I?

OH MY GOODNESS/gracious/what could be in here?/Let’s see

This isn’t fine motor/but I couldn’t COME WITHOUT BRINGING you
SOME KIND OF A BOOK/so I MADE A BOOK this time/LOOK at this
one

It’s called My Christmas ALPHABET BOOK and it’s GOT ALL THE
LETTERS and Christmas pictures

Wow!

You could READ IT with GRANDMA OR WITH YOUR MOM/And if
you-

--I want to read MYSELF

And read it by yourself?

That would BE FUN TOO/SOMETIMES IT’S FUN to just look at a book
by ourself/isn’t it?/

So THAT’S FOR YOU to keep

Stanza 14 (More lacing cards)

And look/I MADE A BUNCH of these/but maybe I SHOULDN’T if you
DON’T LIKE THEM maybe I should take them back

I DO like them

Oh, YOU DO LIKE them/Okay/good

SEE HOW MANY I brought for you/Can you COUNT THEM?
Uh huh/One

One

Two

Two

Three

Three

Four

Four/four

Look/how many of them ARE BEARS?/I CAN’T BELIEVE that I
brought you TWO BEARS/TWO SNOWMEN—

--One

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CUE/309’.)

--and two birds

One

And do you know WHY I BROUGHT YOU FOUR of these?

‘Cause

What do you think I brought you FOUR OF THEM?

I do want

Because YOU LIKE them/and what else?

Is there ANYBODY ELSE at your house that might like to DO LACING
CARDS? Aah/ you don’t THINK 80?

Well/ JUST IN CASE Anne or Bethany look at you HAVING ALL THIS
FUN/I brought you EXTRA ONES

And you KNOW WHAT?

Stanza 15 (Play dough)

And you know WHAT ELSE I brought?

We’re not/we’re not going to DO THIS ONE RIGHT NOW/but YOU
KNOW WHAT this is/don’t you?

Mm hmm

What is it?

I want to look at it

You want to look at it

WHAT COLOR do you think it might be?

Here/let ME HELP you

Can you tell me WHAT COLOR THE LID is?

It’s

1 think it’s SOMEBODY’S FAVORITE color/It’s THE SAME as
that/ You’re right--

Isn’t it—

Do you know WHAT IT’S CALLED?/Guh/it starts with guh/gr
Green

Green/ You’re right

Whose FAVORITE COLOR was green?/YOURS?/And who else?
Was it your MOM’S OR GRANDMA’S?/No Grandma’s WAS PURPLE/I
think

I can’t do that with one hand

Yeah/ mine was purple

Mine and Grandma’s

We’re gonna LOOK AT THIS/We’re gonna look at this

and then after we’re all done you’ll HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL
GRANDMA SAYS it’s okay to PLAY WITH IT/okay?

Gosh/I got you stuff THAT’S HARD TO GET OPEN

Just STICK YOUR FINGER in it/Is it SOFT ENOUGH to play with?
Yeah

Yeah/I think IT WILL BE

It’s soft

Is it COLD?

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own?)

I think it will be/It’s a LITTLE BIT CHILLY because it’s been IN MY
CAR and sitting IN MY ROOM

My room is NOT VERY WARM

Do you think you might have FUN WITH PLAY DOUGH?

It’s COLD

--might HAVE FUN with play dough?

Play dough is actually/ I know sometimes parents VIEW IT AS MESSY/
but it’s ONE OF THE BEST THINGS for building those muscles in their
little fingers/which is WHAT THEY REALLY NEED/along with
PRACTICING SCRIBBLIN G AND COLORING AND DRAWING/
and I brought you another thing for your—

--Hey/Did you tell Carol WE PLAY 1 SPY?

GOOD FOR YOU/That’s a GREAT GAME

Stanza 16 (Picking up the cotton balls)

Look WHAT ELSE I brought? [Inaudible] Can you kind of/do you know
what THESE ARE CALLED?

Cotton

What are they?

Cotton

Cotton balls/Let’s take em

What we want to do is FIND THE DIFFERENT little cotton balls

Can you kind of SPACE EM OUT/make them so they’re not stuck
together a little bit

Then I want to SHOW YOU WHAT I BROUGHT to PICK THEM UP
with

What’s this?/WHAT IS THAT?/Does YOUR MOM EVER USE these?
It’s a CLOTHES PIN/And you use it BY PINCHING THE END

Have you done these before?

So you need to PINCH THE END so it OPENS

PICK UP THE COTTON BALL and DROP IT in the cut)

You want to try?/ See if you can pick that up

Oooh/it takes MUSCLES/doesn’t it?

Uh/oh/we DROPPED IT/Where did it go?

It went RIGHT THERE

In the bag or on the floor?

In the bag/IN THE BAG

In the bag

Okay/I’m CAUGHT ON THE CHAIR here

Let me see IF I CAN FIND it/I need MORE HANDS

Let’s PICK THIS UP/Cause I DIDN’T HEAR IT hit the floor/Oh THERE
IT IS/Can you GRAB IT?

Yeah

Oh/you have GOOD EYES /You knew right where it went/Okay

You don’t think SHE WATCHES? [Chuckles]

SHE DOES

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See if you CAN PINCH lT/That’s gonna be a tricky one/Pinch it as hard
as you can to open it

I’ll help/Okay/PINCH IT AGAIN so it comes out

This is gonna be A GREAT THING for her practice/if she can practice
just/Obvioust/YOU DON’T WANT her--

--Oh, yeah

«if you can pick up the cotton balls with it

I think you should LET YOUR MOM TRY

That is GOOD PRACTICE FOR YOUR FINGERS

Let/go

[Laughing] Let go/It will let go if YOU SQUEEZE THE END

80 that will be A GOOD THING TO PRACTICE '

It will MAKE YOUR FINGERS TIRED/I think

No

No?/ You think IT WON’T?/Good

Oowh/ [incomprehensible]

You will have STRONG FINGER MUSCLES

I do

You do/And they’re goin to GET STRONGER EVERY DAY if you
practice/won’t they?

[Incomprehensible]

Look at that

There/I did it!

YOU DID IT! You know what else?

You know what I did/is I put TWO CLOTHESPINS in here in case YOU
AND YOUR MOM want to DO THS TOGETHER/or you and
Grandma/or you and Anne

I’m goin to put it BACK IN THE BAG

Stanza I 7 (The Pipe Cleaner)

0.”?

What do you think THAT IS FOR?

For ME

FOR YOU?/ You’re right/It’s FOR YOU

You’re GOOD AT IT

You’re GOOD AT lT?/What did I DO?

These are LETTERS/I just put em/I’M STRINGING onto the/This is
called THE PIPE CLEANER and I’M STRINGING IT ON THERE
through the little holes

Can you see WHERE THE LITTLE HOLE IS in the
letter?/Okay/YAY/You put the F ON/And --

[Incomprehnsible]

I didn’t have the RIGHT KIND OF LETTERS to spell out a word/It’s just
a COMBINATION OF DIFFERENT LETTERS for her to have more
practice

Are you okay just sitting on one of my legs or is it TOO TIPPY?
NOT too tippy

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Not too tippy?/ Okay/Which/which letter would you LIKE TO

PICK NEXT?

D

Let me see/IT’S A V/it’s upside down/It’s a V/MY NAME starts with A
V

You’re going to LOOK AT ALL of them?/YOU HAVE A LOT OF VS
in there/How DID THAT HAPPEN?

She took YOUR PICTURE?

[Laugh]

Who wouldn’t want to take a picture of a CUTE GIRL LIKE YOU?

I know it/She’s A DOLL

[Laughs]

So you’re goin to LAY ALL THE LETTERS OUT/ and then you want to
show me how you can put one on a---

Stanza 18 (Grandma ’s Story)

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447 S:

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450 C:
451

--You know Kim GOT ME YELLED AT F riday/THE BRAT

KIM GOT YOU yelled at?

YES/she never told me WHERE I HAD TO PARK for the kids AT THE
BUS

Oh/AT THE SCHOOL/WHO YELLED at you?

No/ THE BUS DRIVER

Oh/we’re you PULLED UP —

—-‘Cause I was pulled up ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD instead of ON
88/1 didn’t know

Oh/you meant up at THE BUS STOP?/I thought you meant at the school
And I DIDN’T KNOW and the bus driver told me to park over on the
other side

[simultaneous talk] I’m just done with this/I’m DONE with this/I’m JUST
DONE with this/I’m done with this

That’s just the kind of thing nobody’s told you/You wouldn’t know

I told Kim the bus driver yelled at me and I TOLD HER WHY and She
said/Oh/ I forgot to tell you Mom--

--You DON’T HAVE TO DO this right now/

I’ve made all these things FOR YOU TO KEEP so you can use them for
later on/okay? So/boy/you’re going to have so much stuff TO SHOW
YOUR MOM

[Break — photos taken]

Stanza 19 (Information for Mother)

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I WANT TO SHOW YOU so you can pass this along to Kim too

I BROUGHT A LOT OF PAPERS this time/but A LOT OF THEM are
practice papers for her with cutting

First of all/this one is some INFORMATION ON JUST FINE MOTOR
DEVELOPMENT in children and DIFFERENT THINGS that can BE

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DONE AT HOME that SHE PROBABLY ALREADY DOES some of
these

but A LOT of the things I brought/ like THE STRINGING AND THE
PLAY DOUGH/so that Kim can see that AND KNOW that these are
IMPORTANT things to do AND WHY and how the HELP FINE
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT/And so there are so of them on the back
And I also had a handout for the GROSS MOTOR
DEVELOPMENT/which I didn’t really talk about gross motor today but
they kinda GO HAND IN HAND

Stanza 20 (Poem)

OF’.’

And THEN I brought you A LITTLE POEM

Can you open this?

I will/Have you ever heard/Where is THUMBKIN?/Do you have two
thumbs?

Where is PUMPKIN?

SHOW ME YOUR THUMBS like this/It goes

Where is THUMBKIN?/Where is Thumbkin?

Here I AM/Here I AM

HOW ARE YOU this morning?

VERY WELL/I THANK YOU

Run away/ run away

I think I was supposed to START WITH MY HANDS HIDDEN
Have you EVER SEEN THAT before?

Yep/I’ve saw

Good/good

We sang/What was THAT ONE THAT WE SANG/Sarah?/THE ANTS?
Oh no

What was THE ONE about the ants? [whispers] The ants go marching one
by one

Is that one?/Oh/I LOVE that song/It goes forever/doesn’t it?

1 _

«And This Old Man

Would you like to open this?

And This Old Man/those are GREAT/those are GREAT

Stanza 21 (Cutting Sheets)

This one is um just talking about the progression of cutting skills/what
children are ABLE TO DO FIRST and how they develop into HOW
THEY CAN CUT

So I included in here SOME CUTTING SHEETS FOR HER because
obviously once THEY CAN CUT ACROSS A PAPER/a straight line is
going to be the easiest one

so she can practice iust CUTTING ON THE LINE AS BEST SHE CAN—
This is hard

«80 then you can see if she’s able to CUT WITH A LITTLE ANGLE

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OFF?

.0“ .CPQF’.’

And she doesn’t have to do all of these at one sitting obviously just LET
HER DO PRACTICE/And this is like--

It looks like a w--

--a couple of angles/IT DOES/And this ONE IS A SPIRAL so that’s a
little trickier

It’s a [incomprehensible]

It’s to see if she can CUT ON THE DOTTED LINE and She has to be able
to --

The reason this is toward the end is she has NOT ONLY CUT but she has
to be able to TURN THE PAPER at the same time

It might BE REALLY HARD for a three year-old to do/So if you decide
SAVING THIS ONE for her/not doing it right away/And after she——
[simultaneous talk]--Can YOU OPEN it?

--can kinda do the turning then She gets to the point where she can actually
CUT OUT THE OBJECT—

--Can YOU OPEN this?

«and shapes

Oh

tanza 22 (A bout Kim, Sarah’s mother)

Do you want SOME OF THIS OUT?/Is that what WE’ RE

TRYING TO DO?

Did GRANDMA SAY IT WAS OKAY if we took a little play dough out?
It’s fine/I let the girls PLAY WITH A LOT OF STUFF their Momma
don’t

Kim’s NOT SO EXCITED about/maybe? AWESOME

But it don’t matter because I do [incomprehensible]

I LOVE PLAY DOUG/I just LIKE SQUEEZING it with my fingers
Okay/ I’m trying to think if/it seems like there was one more--

--The only reason I DO MORE is because KIM WORKS

Oh/I see/So YOU’RE HERE with them a lot

Generally/she generally /she WORKS LIKE A 7 TO 5 shift right now/so
those are LONG DAYS

But today SHE DIDN’T WORK

And they were working SIX DAYS A WEEK/right?/ She said they got
SATURDAYS OFF NOW

That’s A LOT/That’s a lot

But WE ARGUE a lot/We’ve been AROUND EACH OTHER SO MUCH
And that’s why I LIKE TO GET AWAY on the weekends

All talking —[ incomprehensible]

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Stanza 23 (Dina and Discipline)

G:
C:

And ME AND DINA/She’s the oldest
She/is she/Kim said she kinda came in with what Kim called was AN
ATTITUDE or something this moming/

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I don’t know exactly what that meant when she came in this morning

She WASN’T REAL EAGER TO GO/Because they GOT THERE
LATE/She had to go right to P.E./

And she WASN’T REAL EXCITED about going to PE. /and I DON’T
KNOW what the reasoning is behind that or whatever but--

--I don’t know--

--So she was a little bit grumpy about that---

--she was a little bit MAD AT ME anyways because they were playing
with the computer and they got Solitary on it and I SHUT IT DOWN on
her

cause IF I DON’T/SHE WON’T GET UP and do anything and SHE’LL
YELL AT ME that I did it. That’s her fault/whatever.

you GET IN TROUBLE when your mom gets here ‘cause you’re not
ready/that’s YOUR PROBLEM

Yep/yep/Well you just NEED SOME GUIDELINES and you just HAVE
TO STAY WITH THOSE

If you HAVE A RULE that either you can’t use the computer before
school or you only get five minutes/you just have to calmly say/“You
know THAT’S THE RULE”

If you LAY IT OUT FOR HER/if you TELL HER AHEAD OF
TIME/“This is what we EXPECT YOU TO DO and this is the way the
rules are”

and TRY NOT TO GET CAUGHT UP in that ESCALATIN G
EMOTIONAL — like if SHE STARTS TO YELL and then YOU START
TO YELL/she’s just gonna want to YELL MORE OR LOUDER

You just have to say/“Oh, sorry, BUT THAT’S THE RULE”

It’s just like I told her this moming/I said,/HEY DINA/you know I LOVE
YOU A LOT/I says/my heart is real for you kids/

but we GOTTA MAKE A DEAL

I says you got to QUIT YELLING AT ME/I says “Because I DON’T
LIKE IT/And I know you don’t like me yelling at you

And I love you

Let’s make a deal and TRY NOT TO FIGHT/you know

She said, okay Grandma

I said let’s shake on it/We shook on it and that LASTED FOR ABOUT 10
MINUTES and she started yelling at me and I thought--

What you need to do/you and Kim need to talk about/YOU NEED TO
MAKE A PLAN/ really

It sounds kind of OFFICIAL but you NEED TO MAKE A PLAN between
the two of you/WHAT SHOULD WE DO when/WHEN DINA YELLS/or
one of the kids yells?

You need to have something that YOU EITHER SAY or you’re gonna do
every time SO THAT IT’S CONSISTENT

That’s often why parents say/ I don’t understand why everybody at school
says my child behaves and they WON’T BEHAVE AT HOME

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9090”

QQQQQWQQWOW

And a lot of times when you start to pick everything apart/it’s because AT
SCHOOL THERE’S A ROUTINE/There ARE RULES and the teachers
are pretty STRAIGHTFORWARD AND BASIC AND CONSISTENT
with what they expect the KIDS TO DO AND NOT DO
Well/see/Dina/SHE KNOWS SHE GOING TO GET GROUNDED from
the computer/I mean/it seems like it’s ONE THING SHE GETS
GROUNDED FROM is that computer you know

Okay
And IT’S NOT FAIR
--Okay/okay/Well/then/the other thing to look at then is HOW ARE YOU
ENFORCING or how are you talking about the rules or guidelines?
Because IF YOU GET SUCKED IN or Kim gets sucked into THE
YELLING THING/all it does is escalate and IT JUST BECOMES ALL
ABOUT YELLING

Yeah

One of the things that a lot of the parenting things say that one of the
things YOU AS THE ADULT need to have in your head is YOU’RE
LIKE THE BROKEN RECORD/Okay

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO SAY and HOW YOU’RE
GONNA REACT/and YOU DO THAT every time
And that’s REALLY REALLY HARD SOMETIMES/because kids know
HOW TO PUSH OUR BUTTONS/to STAY IN A CALM STATE that
you’re not helping them escalate--

[whispers] Grandma?
«and if they know eventually

[whispers a little louder] GRANDMA?

--that they’re going to hear the same thing from you every time—

What do you want?

[Inaudible]
--they’re NOT GOING TO HAVE A REASON to keep arguing

What do you want?

You want to CUT THIS CARD? How about—
Nooo

--I left you these that you can have for cutting. I LEFT YOU EXTRA
CARDS for cutting/okay?
This one

And YOU CAN KEEP the lacing ones —

I don’t like this one

You can cut it if you want to/That’s yours to do with whatever you
want/as long as Grandma says it’s okay

I want to CUT THIS

Does that MAKE SENSE now to you?

Yeah, you—

--Because—

You tell her to go to her room sometimes/You tell her/you
know/Dina/YOU NEED A TIME OUT/ GO TO YOUR ROOM

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Uh huh

And she’ll say/“I DON’T CARE”/and SHE’LL GO TO HER ROOM/And
she’ll do it

Yeah/but DON’T SAY ANYTHING BACK to that

«Nope

«Just LET HER GO—

No/I just turn and talk to Anne and Anne starts giggling at me

and she says/Grandma/SHE JUST DID what you told her and I
said/“Yeah, I know/first time

It’s that BEING CONSISTENT

How about if 1 put it in your bag?/Would you like to keep the
playdough?/This one was your bag so let’s put it in this one.

[To Grandma] So, does THAT MAKE SENSE though? Because IT’S
HARD

Kids know how to get us angry/but you know what/we’re GIVING THEM
THE POWER to do that

You know what?

«THEY’VE WON/because they were able--

«You know what?/ You know what?

«to manipulate

Because I noticed when she told me/ “I HATE YOU, GRANDMA”/ SHE
WON because it REALLY MADE ME MAD

And I just told her, “No, that was really mean”

[to Sarah] You do what? This is yours

Simultaneous with Grandma and Researcher:

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OFF???

OF’.’

How old is she?

She’s EIGHT

Eight

Oh/ SCISSORS/How about these because my scissors are in my bag for
school?

I have to TAKE MINE BACK TO SCHOOL/but these are to leave here
[to researcher] We have a seven year-old/eight year-old/and a three year-
old

Mine/and I got my other one

And we CAN TALK IN MORE DETAIL sometime if Kim can if she
FEELS LIKE SHE IS FRUSTRATED about handling some of that
stuff/We can talk at another time about tha «

«Where’s my other one?

-- in more detail/Todd is REALLY REALLY GOOD AT THAT

We sometimes have parents come in and we’ll sit down/the three of us
and WE’LL JUST BRAINSTORM and talk about/what are you’re
HAVING TROUBLE WITH?/And how, how can we —you know?

And then WE TALK A WEEK LATER and say/you know/DID IT
WORK?/DID IT HELP?/ 80

And I got my other one

We’ll I told Kim WHAT THE PRINCIPAL SAID the other day

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[incomprehensible]/we’re GOING TO GET SNOW again

She told me to tell him that said the next time he says that! QUIT
SWEARING/ You’re not supposed to SWEAR IN SCHOOL
She DOESN’T LIKE THE WORD/snow?

Well/LET ME LEAVE THIS one for Kim too/or Kim too

And this Side is basically/these are the kinds of things YOU CAN LOOK
FOR A THREE YEAR-OLD/from the time they turn three to the time
they turn four/to do in the area of motor development/JUST A FEW
BASIC THINGS

And if she SEES ANY OF THESE that she doesn’t think maybe Sarah
isn’t doing yet/there are some things in this column on the side of ideas of
how you can

And THIS IS THE BRAIN INFORMATION we talked JUST A LITTLE
BIT about at the beginning

but IT’S WRITTEN DOWN HERE so that Kim would have a chance to
look at that over too

And then ON THE OTHER SIDE/the reason I’m giving you this is
because IT’S ALL ON THE SAME SHEET

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT is on here too

So she can LOOK THESE THINGS OVER/But have her let me know if
SHE HAS ANY QUESTIONS about it

You know/as a parent/if you have an idea of WHAT YOUR CHILDREN
SHOULD BE DOING/

Then you can look at them and say/“Oh yeah/She can do that/She can do
that and that

You have a little bit of sense or feeling/Okay/that SHE’S ABOUT
WHERE WE WANT HER TO BE

[Inaudible to child] _

And if there are THINGS THAT SHE’S NOT DOING YET/you DON’T
HAVE TO PANIC or get worried

You can just kind of look here and say/Okay/so HOW CAN WE WORK
ON THAT and you know?

And that’s what we want/ WE WANT HER TO BE DEVELOPING to the
level that we want to her to be at A8 A THREE YEAR-OLD right now so

Stanza 24 (Sarah to school)

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One other thing that you can mention to Kim/ I HEARD from our Head
Start/one of our Head Start staff administrators at Shelby/ that
MONTAGUE’S HEAD START 18 FULL right now

So/if KIM WOULD LIKE to try to GET SARA ON A WAITING LIST to
get into A PRESCHOOL CLASS yet this year/

HAVE HER LET ME KNOW THAT

because I‘ve got all the registration stuff/And WE COULD TURN THAT
IN

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and then she would be/IF THERE’S AN OPENING/she might be able to
get in/and if she’s not/ she could be on a waiting list

WE’VE HAD A LOT OF KIDS in [incomprehensible] of Head Start this
year—

Oh, wow

«leaving and placing other kids

So/if she wants to/like after the first of the year/look at maybe GETTING

’ HER INTO PRESCHOOL--

I’M SURE she does

«HAVE HER CONTACT ME and we/because we’ll have to DO ALL
THE PAPERWORK

and she’ll have to HAVE THE PHYSICAL FORM and all that stuff filled
out before they can put her on a list/but let her know that we were told --
[to child] «Do you want to go to school?

That’s the ONLY WAY SHE COULD COME TO SHELBY

You DON’T WANT TO GO to school?

[Inaudible]

I wish I COULD GO BACK TO SCHOOL

IT WOULD BE FUN

I would come and VISIT YOU AT YOUR SCHOOL sometimes/ and SEE
YOU AND YOUR TEACHER

This is going to be AN INTERESTING PUZZLE/I think maybe THIS
ONE SHOULD JUST BE FOR CUTTING for fun

She REALLY DIDN’T WANT TO SEND HER to Whitehall

Yeah/yeah/I kind of sense that/

[To researcher] See/they live in the MONTAGUE SCHOOL DISTRICT
but THEY CAN DO SCHOOLS OF CHOICE once children hit
kindergarten

but for Head Start and preschool/THE RULES ARE that you have to
attend in your home district/unless THEIR PROGRAM 18 FULL

then YOU CAN APPLY at a different district

Oh/okay

So if she were signing up for Head Start/she would really HAVE TO
SIGN UP in either Montague or Whitehall

I’m not sure where their program is/but they’re in the Montague school
district so

And Kim JUST DON’T WANT THAT

And SHE’S TRYING TO MOVE INTO THE NEW ERA SCHOOL
DISTRICT with just LOOKING FOR A HOUSE/right?/Or at least in THE
SHELBY DISTRICT somewhere so

Is there ANY WORD ON THE PLACE over that she told you about?
There’s supposed to be ANOTHER GUY THAT HAS A PLACE

too

well/HE WANTS TO BUY IT/ and he wants KIM TO RENT IT from him
Okay/oh/ okay/WHERE IS THAT one located?

It’s UP HERE somewhere

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Oh/so it’s STILL IN MONTAGUE then?
Yeah
Okay

Stanza 25 (Carol reads to Sarah)

0.030.”?

[to child] Oops/I think YOU AND GRANDMA are going to HAVE
SOME WORK TO DO

That’s okay/We DO IT ALL THE TIME/don’t we Sarah baby?

Boy/you are PRETTY GOOD WITH THOSE SCISSORS from your
house

You cut the ones YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO CUT

But you know what?/ We’ve GOT SOME EXTRA ones in the/ in the bag
[Heavy sighs]

That’s hard/Uh/I have ONE MORE QUICK THING before I go,/ if you’re
NOT TOO BUSY CUTTING/

What did I bring?

A BOOK

I ALWAYS BRING A BOOK/don’t I?/Should WE READ THIS BOOK
before I go?

Yeah

Would you like to?/Do we WANT GRANDMA TO READ it or do you
want me to read it?

You read it

I’ll read it/Okay

GRANDMA GETS TO READ you books during the day/doesn’t she?
Can we SEE THE PICTURES?

When the WIND BLOWS COLD and the SNOW FLIES ALL AROUND

It’s a/I KNOW WHAT it is

What is it?

It’s a BIRD

It’s A BIRD/It’s the kind of bird that’s called a CARDINAL/It’s a pretty
red bird/Oh look/

Winter fiiends COME TO SA Y HELLO

WHO’S THAT?/Do you know what that one is?

It’s a rabbit

Look at his tail/though/HE’S A SQUIRREL and he CAME TO SAY
HELLO TO?

[incomprehensible]

SNOWMAN

SNOWMAN

Look at him/WHO ELSE is coming to see the snowman?/LANDING ON
H18?

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Nose

Nose made out of a what?/DO YOU KNOW what that is?
Bird

It’s SOMETHING YOU EAT

TWEETY BIRD

Mm mm

What’s this thing?

Carrot

A carrot/A CARROT NOSE

A F URRY FRIEND may drop in and WARM YOUR HEART
He’s sitting on his hat/oh/HE’S STANDING ON HIS NOSE/That is funny

Cool
That is cool

Some will come TO SIT AND TALK

[whispers] That’s beautiful/T hat S good

G:

C:

WATCH your finger

Let’s ASK GRANDMA if She knows what that is
I BET SHE KNOWS

[whispers] A DEER

A deer

A deer running after her

Oh no/WHAT’S HE DOING?/What did the deer do?
He eating it

He’s EATING WHAT?

His nose

His CARROT NOSE

This snowman has a gift of SEEDS AND CARROTS TO SHARE

THAT’S WHY all the birds were coming
Somebody PUT SEEDS ALL OVER IT so the birds would come and eat

the seeds
and NOW THE DEER IS COMING to eat the carrot

Bringing winter friends together again

OH LOOK/there’s A BIG SNOWMAN and?

And a BABY

And A BABY SNOWMAN or a LITTLE SNOWMAN/That is cute
I LOVE THAT BOOK/It has beautiful pictures

Stanza 26 (Sarah likes to cut)

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I’m glad that YOU WERE EXCITED about cutting today/Look at you go
to town

Should YOU EVER CUT something that GRANDMA SAYS/”DON’T
CUT THAT”

[Laughs] Tell her ABOUT THE PAJAMAS/Sarah

DID YOU CUT PAJAMAS?/ Oh no

BRAND NEW PAIR of pajamas

You know what?/If YOU WANT GRANDMA AND MOM to let you
practice with scissors/you have to BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT ONLY
CUTTING what they say is okay

Tell Carol you MADE SOME PRETTY CIRCLES

Ohh/NOT IN PAJAMAS THOUGH/You WON’T DO THAT again/will
you?/Okay/ good

My mother bought them some,/uh/PRINCESS PAJAMAS/those SILKY
SHIRTS/and she cut em

You GOT TO BE REALLY CAREFUL about scissors

It’s okay to CUT MY CHRISTMAS CARDS

and then you have to ask Mom and Grandma WHAT YOU CAN
CUT/“What can I cut today?”/Okay?

So will you DO SOME PRACTICING? WHAT DID WE SAY to practice
with/ PLAY DOUGH--

And NOT YOUR HAIR either

«and STRINGING/AND THE CLOTHESPIN?/That was a tricky one
Remember/ ‘cause MOMMA TOOK YOUR SCISSORS AWAY because
YOU CUT YOUR PONYTAIL that time

Oh, no

I went /and I CUT MY HAIR TOO

They put a straighten—

Oh no

«they did/THEY PUT A STRAIGHTENER in her hair/That’s why he
hair is NOT SO CURLY TODAY

Okay

But uh/she HAD A REALLY CURLY PONYTAIL in her hair and She cut
Unfortunately [whispers] LOTS OF KIDS --

«You know MY SON AND MY DAUGHTER DID THE SAME THING
But MY DAUGHTER/she WENT LIKE THIS TO MY SON/and then he
just CUT A LITTLE BIT because he knew

because her hair was way down here and it was red

and he knew I wouldn’t hurt him

But I told Kim/why did you do that?

Stanza 27 (A new grandchild on the way)

C:
S:
C:

Now I’m going to have another grandbaby

Oh/YOU ARE?

IT’S ME

That’s NOT GOOD?/You’re NOT HAPPY?/You don’t think that’s a

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099 0

tanza 28 (Conclusion of home visit)

GOOD THING?
No/they’re BOTH BIPOLAR
IT’S ME
With how many /do they HAVE KIDS ALREADY?
No/THIS IS THE FIRST
He JUST MARRIED last summer and he just RUSHED INTO THIS
marriage
Okay/so YOU’ RE WORRIED ABOUT THAT BABY
Yeah/ because of the bipolar/HE’ S BIPOLAR/SHE’ S BIPOLAR and--
«Do they TAKE THEIR MEDICATION?/Do they have medication?
He DID/He quit/That’s WHAT BOTHERS ME«
«See/THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS often
«Because he gets mad and SAYS IT DON’T HELP/ WHICH IT DOES
WE NOTICE when he’s on his medication and IT HELPS/When he don’t
take it/WE KNOW
Yeah
And it just--
«KEEP A CLOSE EYE on that Situation
Yeah/but I got to [inaudible] He won’t go to Hart when [inaudible]
His wife told him/“Tim/YOU NEED SOME MEDICATION/You’re
really OUT OF IT”
Because she TAKES HER MEDICATION/so she knows that HE’S OUT
OF IT AND SHE’S NOT cause she takes her meds
Yeah
But I’m JUST WORRIED about em
She had/She’s BEEN PREGNANT BEFORE because she lost a set of
tw1ns
But now she’s pregnant again and I was hoping that [inaudible]
It was BAD FOR ME TO THINK THAT but/I just don’t want to see the
baby [inaudible]
[to child] You’re her baby?/Grandma/She’s your baby
Yep/ Her’s my baby

I have to GO BACK TO SCHOOL/ but thank you for letting me COME
AND PLAY

She’s my Sarah baby

And THANK YOU for letting me watch you/You did a GREAT JOB
Was that FINE THAT MISS KELLY CAME?/Yeah/She’s a nice lady
Sometimes, YOU MIGHT SEE HER at our school

I don’t know about THAT TONGUE OF YOURS/That tongue is just
OUT OF CONTROL

I have to TAKE MY BOOK BACK because this one is from the school
The ONE 1 BROUGHT FOR YOU TO KEEP is in there

and the NEXT TIME I COME/I’LLHAVE ANOTHER BOOK for you
that you can keep

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787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794

795
796

EVERY TIME I COME/I usually bring a book FOR YOU TO
KEEP/right?

Yeah/but this one is FROM MY LIBRARY AT SCHOOL/ I have to take
this one back

So I hope you HAVE FUN WITH THESE THINGS/okay?

Sarah/what was the book that Grandma brought?/Do you remember?/ That
GRANDMA GOT YOU?/A DICTIONARY and what else?

Oh/what else? Do you know what the other one was? [Pause] Not sure

It was A DRESS

No/ it was about a —

IT WAS a dress/[unintelligible] dress

I think it was ABOUT ANIMALS

[Inaudible] «under you/You want this chair?

Yeah/but —

«We moved this around SO YOU CAN BE CLOSER to the table

I think it was the FIRST ANIMAL BOOKS WITH THE ANIMALS and
stuff/I don’t remember

There we go

I don’t remember

195

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