“When I first envisioned myself on
the island, a noble creature enshrined among the illiterate masses working in primitive
conditions that would have warmed the cockles of Henry Thoreau’s heart, I did
not consider my compulsive need for friends and good conversation.” I chose
this sentence because I felt that I could really get a sense of how Conroy felt
on Yamacraw Island. I think all readers are able to get a sense of his loneliness,
but at the same time are able to realize how dedicated he was to his students, because
no matter how bad, depressed, or lonely he felt, he never left his students.
In chapter
three, Conroy explains about the school “library”. None of the books found in
the school library had any information that the students could relate to. Since
most of the children couldn’t read to begin with, Conroy brought in encyclopedias
and a sears catalog which turned out to be a favorite among all the students. Their
reading time turned out to be a question and answer session. The students would
ask questions dealing with the pictures they found throughout their books and
Conroy would give an answer. Along with the daily readings, Conroy would always
listen to the daily news with his students. Whenever the class learned about
something from the news, Conroy would point to the specific location on the map
where the incident took place and tell the students a quick fact about that
location. Conroy began what he called a
pep rally, where he would ask the students a series of questions and the all
the students would call out the answers. Most students seemed to be doing very
well memorizing the answers to Conroy’s questions. There were five, however,
that would sit back and call out the answers only after the others called them
out first. Upon questioning these students Conroy found out they couldn’t count
to five or even say their ABC’s. Conroy began to work with these students
individually by creating games that would be able to help get them up the level
of their classmates.
In
chapter four, Conroy begins to explain about what he did with his time on the
island when he wasn’t working with his students. He took daily walks to the
beach where he would swim and visit Bloody Point, and would also swim off Mr. Stone’s
dock which, unfortunately was surrounded by sharks. Conroy begins a friendship
with Zeke Skimberry, and his cussing, but loving wife Lou. It’s during this
chapter where we can begin to see Conroy’s loneliness and need for companionship.
Fortunately for Conroy, he finds love and companionship in Barbara Bolling
Jones, his neighbor in Beaufort. Shortly after meeting Barbara, Conroy finds
out that her husband was killed in the Vietnam War and is pregnant with her
second child. Overtime Conroy began to fall in love with Barbara and they
married on October 10th, and honeymooned on Yamacraw Island. It was
decided that Barbara would stay in Beaufort with the children and Conroy would
stay on the island and commute home every weekend. The separation from Barbara
only made Conroy more depressed and lonely on Yamacraw Island, which eventually led to his daily commutes from Beaufort to Yamacraw Island.
You summarized the story very well. I really loved how Conroy uses in his teaching what we know as Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. He doesn't understand it as that, but he uses various avenues to teach his students. Just as you had previously stated, he uses music, film, radio to listen to the news, games to quiz on newly learned information, and he uses a map, sharing facts and historical events to teach geography and history at the same time. According to Conroy, "The teacher must always be on attack, looking for new ideas, changing worn-out tactics, and never, ever falling into patterns that lead to student ennui." Just as Conroy had concluded, we as teachers must always adapt our lesson plans and teaching styles to keep our students engaged and learning.
ReplyDeleteKelsey,
ReplyDeleteI liked the sentence that you chose to explain. I agree that it shows Conroy’s loneliness on the island. Like you pointed out he is a very dedicated teacher/principal. For him to be that lonely and separated from everyone and everything he essentially knew, he had to be a dedicated person or he would have left. I also thought you summarized the chapters very well, pointing out the key details that were mentioned. I found it so sad that those five students could not even count the fingers on their hand. Yet, on the bright side the little progress shown in chapter 3 that Conroy made with the students gives me expectations of more progress throughout the rest of the story.
Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed you blog today, I felt the same way when I read the sentence you picked. It really showed me how determined Conroy was when it came to the students on Yacacraw Island. I could not believe that they felt they had to have the library and then did not bother to help the children learn to read. I felt like no one on the island cares about what happens to these children except for Conroy. You can get that sense when you see him bring in his own materials to help the children. I really enjoyed chapter four he brought into the mix some really "crazy" people. I also loved the part where he had been swimming in the ocean where alot of sharks are at and he did not even know it. (giggles) I really loved the fact that he found love with Barbara, but I did not like that she would not go back to the island with him. I understood why she wouldn't but I would love to see her make the sarfice for her husband.