"Singing is a waster of time, Mr. Conroy. Just a waste of good school time. Those children love to sing. Lord, they'd sing all day if you'd let them. They need readin', writin', and arithmetic."
Chapter 5 was really enlightening to me as a reader. In chapter 4, I read all about the different people on the island and how they were reacting to Mr. Conroy coming to teach on the island. In chapter 5, Conroy the writer begins to shed light on many of the students in his classroom. I also felt that I was shown a side of Mrs. Brown that was even more ridiculous than I had originally thought. Mrs. Brown is against anything and everything that Conroy is doing in his classroom. It seems that no matter what he does, it cannot please Mrs. Brown at all. The films were too risky and took up valuable classroom time...the singing wasn't appropriate...and then in the later part of chapter 5 and into chapter 6, Conroy wants to take his students into Beaufort for Halloween. Mrs. brown is very opposed to this, as are many of the parents of his students. But Conroy is able to reach out to those parents/grandparents that were unsure at first, and gain their trust so that their children could go on the trip. To me, it showed that not only does Conroy have a connection with those children in his classroom, but he wants to show them life outside of the island. I think that he wants the children to see that life exists outside of Yamacraw and that they can live that life if they really wanted to. I'm really excited to see how the rest of chapter 6 goes and the book as well. I can't even imagine what type of connection Conroy will have with his students by the end of the book!
I feel that if a student feels like singing, it expresses their true feelings and how they are feeling at the time. Telling them they are not allowed and that it is a waste of good school time, really bugs me. Singing can be a way to help students remember different things for tests and important things they may need later on in life. I know that for math equations, I have used methods such as singing songs and they have helped me remember how to set up the formula. This has helped me become a stronger student because of using this method to help me study for tests.
ReplyDeleteEverything that Mrs. Brown really seems to bug me! I can relate to your example about using songs for remembering math equations. The only way I ever learned the quadratic equation formula was because of a song that my algebra teacher taught us in 8th grade!
ReplyDelete