Chapter 14

This was a relatively short chapter, that discussed two different incidents.

The first incident had to do with Lori, whom Torey thought was acting differently lately. She wasn't quite able to figure out exactly what was different, but she knew that Lori wasn't as jolly as she usually was. They had begun playing a card game with letters, which Lori had grown addicted to (it was basically "Go Fish" with different letters of the alphabet). Torey realized that as time had gone on, she was scared of letting Lori lose, so she had been purposely throwing the games for a long time. One day she was thinking about this, and Lori tried to match a card that wasn't actually a match. When Torey told her this, it made her very upset. Torey ended up winning, and Lori threw a huge fit, saying that the game was the only thing she was ever able to win at, and that Torey basically took that away from her.

I think sometimes it is difficult to find a balance between offering help and giving too much help, to the point where it really isn't helping the child but just a way for the teacher to deny that things aren't really getting much better. Torey talked about how she was in denial about Lori because she only wanted her to be happy, and deep down she knew that things were always going to be difficult for her.

Torey met with Claudia's parents to talk about her academic plan, and Claudia's father seemed very concerned about the classroom and the students Claudia is interacting with. He makes a comment about how Boo is a colored-boy, another about how Tomaso is a migrant child, and also makes negative comments about how sometimes Claudia helps with the other children. Torey realizes that she must be very careful in dealing with this situation. She does not want Claudia's father to pull her out of school and get a tutor because she feels that the last thing she needs is even more isolation, but she is also afraid that Claudia's father will find a reason to sue her.

This brings about another issue all teachers should be aware of, which is the communication with parents and the fact that not all parents are going to think everything the teacher does is the perfect choice. We must learn to make compromises when it comes to the family's belief system, and to deal with things in a mature way. I know that sometimes it will be hard for me when I disagree with some parents' opinions, but I have to continue to try and work with them and come up with the best plan for their child.