This outstanding book is about the teachers that teach children from low socioeconomic homes and how these students require so much more from their teachers than an average child. The author explains the process in which the children must earn their trust and feel respected and accepted before learning can take place. She describes the environment that is created to provide a safe haven for the students to express themselves through writing. She brings alive the voices of these children and helps us to see how very special they are, and helps us to better understand the techniques required to teach the less fortunate. In the final chapter of our book, the author discusses the special assessment methods that are required to properly evaluate the learning of these disadvantaged students. The teachers at the schools of poverty recognize that these very special children have a different thought process that varies from that of children from a middle class home. The author states "Teachers wander and wonder as children constantly reveal themselves through their writing, their speech, and their interactions with others"(91). The teachers wander around the classroom and take note of the students' oral language as they work and play. The teachers wander around the room and observe the creative writing that is taking place and evaluate the knowledge these children have obtained. The teachers wonder about the happenings in the lives of the students and they wonder about how to focus on the strengths each child has rather than his weaknesses. These wonderful teachers wander and wonder because they care. This is what makes them great teachers. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
