Alex Kuck
4/25/12
English 3029
Dr. Chandler
Final Paper
Parental
Influence on Education
Parents and
even caregivers are the most influential part of a child’s life. One of the other most important aspects of a
child’s life is education. It is
important to express to a child an
education is one of the most important parts of life. Being a mother myself I have the desire to
express to my son that when you have an education you have the whole world at
your hands. In my daily life and
throughout my many years of caring for children I have had numerous opportunities
to observe how parents influence specifically a child’s literacy education. There are many different ways to work with a
child when it comes to academic aspects.
The focus of my paper will centralize on what role the parents play when
it comes to literacy education. I
wanted to specifically see what influence that parents have on children, how
much they are involved and practices that their parents did with them when they
were younger, and how these practices influence how they address education with
their children.
For my paper
I decided to interview two women. One of
my subjects was Dr. Sally Chandler, mother of 4 grown children, who is an
English professor at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. My second subject was Lorraine Savoy, mother
of 2 school age children, who is an honors English teacher at Scotch Plains
Fanwood High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. I found both of the
interviews that I conducted to be interesting because while both of the women
were English teachers they both had different insights to offer as their
children were of different ages.
As follows
is my transcript for both of my subjects.
Transcript
#1- Mrs. Lorraine Savoy
Alex: I am going to start with background
information. What is your name?
Lorraine:
Lorraine Savoy
A: Where do
you live?
L: 720 Warfield Road, North Plainfield, New
Jersey
A: Where do you work?
L: Scotch Plains Fanwood High School
A: What is
your position in the school?
L: I am an
11th grade honors English teacher
A: Can you
describe to me your family structure? As far as how many kids you have and what
their ages are?
L: We have two children. Meg is 9 years old, and
Catherine is 6 years old.
A: What is your level of education?
L: College degree, Bachelors of Arts, not yet my
masters
Parent’s
preschool experience:
A: Now we are going to talk about your
experiences before formal education. What was your earliest experience with
reading?
L: I never remember not knowing how to
read. I always just knew. The story in
my family is that my sister who is two years older than me would come home from
school, and I would sit down next to her while she worked on school work and
reading and I would try to read what she was reading after she was done. There is another story in my family is when
we would go on outings when I was young, that I would try to read different
billboards and I would memorize them.
Since I was so young no one really believed that I could read them the
way that I did. I also remember at the
end of Kindergarten when the school year was almost done that I was allowed to
go into one of the first grade classrooms and take books off the shelf and read
them because I had successfully finished all the books in the two Kindergarten
classrooms. I felt so special, I felt
like the world smiled on me.
A: Wow, that’s amazing… Ok, did your parents read to you when you
were growing up? Mom? Dad? Other?
L: I actually have no memory of them reading to
me specifically because I started when I was so young. We definitely had books all over the house,
and we would take weekly trips to the library.
Oh one thing that I remember clearly was that we had a book mobile that
would come through town. IT WAS
AMAZINGG!! It came to the street that I
lived on and it was so cool to walk onto a bus that was completely filled with
books! It was a book borrowing system and it was really neat! It was like the ice cream man! It was a teeny
tiny space but I loved it because it was completely filled with books! So all of my memories of reading revolved
around me reading to myself, and for myself because it was something that I
really enjoyed!
A: Great!
So did you have a favorite story or book growing up?
L: Yes, I loved the Boxcar Children series, the
Bobbsey Twins series, and the All of a Kind Family series. I liked stories and books that had lots of
children in them, I thought that they were very cool.
A: Did you learn nursery rhymes growing up?
L: Oh yes!
The Rolly Polly Puppy. That one
was my absolute favorite! I loved all of
the nursery rhymes, I loved to sing them.
That’s what me and my sister would do,
we would sing them. Not just the
words, but the songs as well.
A: Did you memorize or read along to your
favorite books?
L: Yes, most memorably The Rolly Polly
Puppy! I also clearly remember
memorizing The Monster at The end of this book.
Which is also a book that I love reading to my kids to this day! Now that I think about it both of those were
ones that my sister and I must have read with my mom because I have a strong
emotion attached to both of them. The
three little kittens that lost their mittens was another big one that we
loved. We even use to act that one out!
A: Ok now
how about your T.V. habits? What
influence did T.V. have on you when you were growing up?
L: We had a T.V., and now that I am thinking
about it, it was smaller than the piece of paper you are writing on right
now. It was a black and white T.V. and
we got it when I was 6. We didn’t have a
T.V. before then because we lived in the Philippines. So the first time that I really watched T.V.
was when we came back to the states.
When I was about 9 or 10 we got a bigger color T.V. which was
amazing. My sister and I always watched
Saturday morning cartoons until our eyes fell out! During the week we watched very little T.V.,
maybe a bit before bed, and then it was off to bed. It was more restricted during the week! We played a lot outside growing up!
A: Did you attend preschool?
L: I honestly don’t remember. We lived in the Phiipines, so there may have
been nursery school, it probably wasn’t full time though. Like one or two morning a week but I really
don’t remember. I did go to Kindergarten
though.
Formal
school experience:
A: Ok, now I am going to talk with you about
your more formal school experience. Can
you rate the priority of education when you were growing up? As far, was it very important, somewhat
important, or not important?
L: It was VERY important! Not so much as bringing home grades, but if
we didn’t do what we were suppose to do, If we didn’t show effort and work hard
the world would crash and fall.
A: So you had the expectation then? You knew what you had to do in the eyes of
your parents?
L: Oh yea!
Absolutely!
A: Ok, were good grades rewarded in your
home? Were you ever pressured to get
good grades?
L: It wasn’t an option to not get good grades,
so we weren’t rewarded because there was no need because we knew what we had to
do! We never got a physical reward, but
we always got “oh that’s great”, “good job, keep up the good work!” which was
good enough for me. There was no if you
do, if you don’t, we knew what we had to do.
There was no talking about rewards because it wasn’t necessary. We didn’t get an award for breathing because
it was something that we just did, so getting good grades was important, so we
just did it! I also do remember that good grades or projects or whatever was
hung on the refrigerator which was very important to me and was a good feeling
as well!
A: Ok, how were your parents involved in your
education growing up? Did they help you
with homework? To what extent?
L: We didn’t really have homework back then, if
we did it was very minimal. In the early
70’s little kids didn’t come home with homework. When I came home my mom would ask me how my
day was, what did I do in school, did I learn anything new, those kinds of
things. She was genuinely
interested. When my dad came home from
work he would do the same as well. I do
remember my mom coming into the school to be a classroom mom, reading to the
class and spending time and volunteering in the school. She always came to school and saw all the
different things that I had hanging in the halls, those types of things. We just didn’t have homework. That was more of a grown up thing. It was more something that you did when you
got older. My parents were always involved.
A: Ok, you said earlier that you always just
kind of knew how to read. So your
parents didn’t really read to then?
L: Not regularly. I mean there were certain stories that we
would gather around and read together.
There were a few that we would always read as a family. Not every day,
and not before bedtime or anything like that.
My sister and I were always just kind of reading on our own.
A: Did you
own books growing up? Have them in the
house?
L: I clearly remember getting my first book
shelf, which was my own piece of furniture.
To this day it in still in my room at my parents’ house. I felt so special to have that. And boy did I fill that sucker up! When the book flyer would come home from
school, I would just pick out as many as I could to buy. There was never any mention that we couldn’t
afford books. There were some ways that
I felt we couldn’t afford but books were never one of them. And we went to the library every week so
there were always lots of books around me growing up!
A: Ok so you
did mention that you had an older sister.
Did she influence how you read growing up?
L: Yes, my sister was two years older than me,
so she would come home from school, and practice with me. It made me feel very grown up.
A: Ok, so now
what I am going to do is go back and apply the same questions that I just asked
you to your own children and how you influence their literacy education.
Children’s
preschool experience
A: What can you remember as your childs’
earliest experience with reading.
L: I read with them before they even knew what
reading was really. I would listen to
books on tape when I nursed and stuff like that. I read all of the time when I was with them,
so it was something that I just saw. So
that made it an easy transition to giving them a picture book and having them
read it. That was part of our cuddle
time, our together time. It was
something that I enjoyed. When they were
very young infants I tried to engage them with my voice and tried to get them
comfortable with me and books were a way to do that. So basically I have read to them
forever.
A: So with your children, who was it that
primarily read to them?
L: It was me, due to the fact that I am the
major reader.
A: ok, would
you say that reading is a part of their bedtime routine?
L: It has now fallen out of the wayside now that
they are older. When they were little
there was no questions asked that we would read every night. They always begged for one more book! Now that they are older they are more
independent with the way that they read.
They read on their own more, even Catherine. All three of us together are actually reading
Little Women in small sections which they are enjoying to do. We finished it a few nights ago and it was
lovely! That’s what I try to do, read a
longer work like that. Something that
will be more sustained. I still read to
them to, and they love that. I don’t do
it as much as I use to but when I get it to do it, I cherish the moment!
A: Do either one of them have a favorite book?
L: I think that it changes quickly because they
have so many books, but I do see Meg going back to the book that has the 50
childhood tales and she dips in and out of that. There must be stories that she has read
millions of times but she truly enjoys reading them! I think that she likes the variety of
them. She really likes a whole range of
books. Catherine on the other hand, just
wants to read whatever Meg reads. There
are certain books that she gravitates more too.
There are certain books she likes because she like the different voices
that we would do and stuff like that.
A: Ok how about nursery rhymes?
L: Yes we had a whole book that we would read, I
would say ok you can each pick three, and they would say no mommy no, 5! And we would read them, and memorize them, I
came across some that I didn’t even know existed! I loved the patterns and the rhymes, there were
so many fun ones!
A: Ok can you tell me about their T.V. habits?
L: It’s really more then I like them to watch
and I try to limit them to an hour week nights. If they get up early in the
morning they are allowed to watch T.V. which I don’t agree with but I do it
because I am trying to get ready and get out the door. And on Saturdays they watch T.V. until their
eyeballs fall out which I can’t really argue with because I use to do the same
thing! I will say that they are playing
more wii now which is better I guess because there is at least some activity
involved!
A: Ok, did they go to preschool?
L: Yes, they both went to a very good preschool,
the same one. And yes they were both
reading at least a limited level before they entered preschool.
A: Ok, now
we are going to talk about their formal school experience. How do you rate the priority and value of
education with your children? Very
important, somewhat important, or not important at all?
L: I rate it as very important simply because it
provides them with every opportunity. I
want them to have choices, and I think that education equals choices. I don’t so much care about an individual
grade, if they are really working, if they are trying, if they are doing what
they can do, and I also want them to learn how to handle hard things, big
things, things they have to persist in, like what their strengths are build on them, and what their weaknesses
are and work around them. It’s an
ongoing process, and I think that education in its own right is important and I
also think that lessons about learning, about tackling certain issues is
important too. It is also a good way to
teach life lessons as well. School gives
them something new to think about every day, keeps their brain ripe!
A: Do you
reward good grades?
L: I
actually just decided to do something about that. A friend of mine told me that whenever she
did well in school, like when they got outstanding or satisfactory, they got
books as rewards. Outstanding was 3
books that they could pick out, and a satisfactory was 1 book. And I thought huh, I don’t want to pay for
them to get good grades, but I know they love books. So I figured that I would take them to the
thrift store and pick out some books when they performed well in school. Like 5 or 6 books or so, because I figure
it’s a reward, not a bribe. It’s
connected, it’s organic, and it’s something that I know they would love, and
something that they would know that I’m proud of them but not paying them to
get good grades.
A: Yea so
you are promoting higher learning, not just saying here is 20 bucks, go buy
something, and they could really buy anything with that, like candy, you eat
it, it’s gone, while a book lasts forever!
L: It just feels right and I’m excited by the
whole thing!
A: Are you involved in their school activities?
L: As much as I can, being that I am a working
mother. I am able to pick them up every
day after school which is great because I get to see their teachers. I’m also on the PTA, and I do the school
fairs, and basket auctions, support the school, send money in for everything,
and when I can I take off for important events that they take part in.
Catherine had a Thanksgiving play and it was only 12 minutes long but I did it
because I knew it was important to her to have us both there. And Meg got an award at an assembly one year
and I went to that and I was just so proud of her.
A: my next
question was if you still read to them. I now know that you do, you read
together, but it’s harder now that they are older because they are independent
readers.
A: My next question would be then how much
reading did the girls see you do, as they’ve been growing up?
L: YES!
All the time consistently it was mommy put the book down, mommy put the
book down, mommy put the book down and look at me, accompanied by me saying one
second sweetie, ok what do you need?
They always know where my latest book is. Ill say go upstairs and get my
book, and they’ll say oh is that the red one, or the green cover or
whatever. They know what I am reading,
they have always been aware of that. I
like that a lot!
A: I’ve also
noticed that when I sit down with them when I’m with them Monday nights for
dinner they always want to read and have a book I their hand! I get worried that they will get the book
messy but I think that it’s great that they love to read at all times!
L: My rule is that we don’t eat while we eat
supper, but when it’s lunchtime, and dads not here, and it’s just us girls, we
are going to read! Mostly because I
wanna read to!!
A: Ok now this is a silly question, but, can you
tell me about the books they own?
L: They own a gazillion books and that is one of
the caveots of going to the thrift
store, was that they have to make room, that they have to clear off some of
their shelves, and they kind of feel good about it. We have gone through, made room with the
books that are two young for them. They
kind of say oh can I keep this one or that one? And I say ok yea hold on to
that one for a little longer.
A: Do the
girls read to each other?
L: Yes being
that they are such independent readers, they read to each other, back and
forth. When they were younger Meg would
read to Catherine and I think that I one of the reasons that Catherine has
developed into such a reader because she wants to impress and be like her older
sister. She thinks that reading is
something that big people do, so I’m going to do it to!
A: Do they do any kind of writing?
L: Yes when Meg was 6 she asked for a
diary. Just the fact that it locked she
loved! I was actually amazed about how
much writing they did in preschool. I
didn’t know that was how things went at the time. They actually wrote before they could really
read. They both see themselves as
writers both in school and out. They
love to write quite a bit, they love to write stories, and tales. Funny story actually Catherine’s teacher
showed me a piece that she had written and she ran out of room on the page so
she wrote in the margins so it went in consistent circles around and around, I
thought it was hysterical, wonderful.
They really do a lot of writing.
A: how about
when you were younger? Did you write?
L: I must have done some, but nowhere near what
they do now. And I don’t remember
writing for myself, until I was like 10 or 12 maybe. They both have little things they write, they
pick up journals write in them, and then not again for months, and go back to
them, but I don’t remember doing that. When
I was 10 or 12 I did do some journal writing that mostly talked about my
emotions like I’m so mad because of this or that, that kind of thing. That’s something that I’ve come back to now
as far as writing goes. I wrote letters
to them when I was pregnant, like my dear baby and stuff like that.
A: When you were growing up was reading more
important than writing? Or was it the
same?
L: For me personally reading was more
important. I also feel like reading was
more stressed in my home then writing.
And in school as well. With the girls however they love both. In the classroom there is more of an emphasis
on writing, and they are becoming great writers. I personally value the reading a lot more
though. The writing is great though and
they do go through phases where they would rather read then write or vice
versa. It’s a great cycle.
A: Ok the final thing that I would like to talk
about is how do you feel your influences in general as a parent influence the
way that your children perceive education?
L: One of the reasons why I love reading and
became so into it was because I moved around a lot as a child. School was a place for me to excel. Find where I was, and reading was a friend
that I always had. Reading for me was a
way to stay off of loneliness. It kept
me sheltered, it was a very protected activity.
What I think is interesting is that my children are more interactive
with their reading. Both with each other
and their friends. They talk about books
with each other, they share books, and experiences. It’s just constant interaction. I hope that because I am trying to give them
a positive world and a joyful world that they are finding all these different
experiences through writing. I cant help
it, I try to educate them all the time!
( I still have to finish up this transcript and type up yours because i decided that i wanted to type them myself so that I can be more familiar with the material!) However even without tying up your interivew i am making several connections between parents and the influence they have on their children ans education no matter what age they are. I am planning on drawing more connections bewteen the 2 transcripts and adding in my input. While my paper will inlcude points from both interviews the transcritps in their entirety will not be included. I am picking out the points that best highlight what my my central foucs! Please let me know what you think if this!)
