Let's start thinking about the message Friday communicates to teachers. Mentioned so far:
- you can lead the horse to the water, but you can't make him drink
- silence as defiance/protest against repression
- silence as a way to preserve one's identity
Friday, October 3, 2008
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8 comments:
Vera, something else to add to your list. It was mentioned in one of the discussions. Friday as Susan's muse. What do you think?
Hm!Interesting.
I had commented somewhere in the very beginning that I felt that Susan's eloquence grows with Friday's silence. The farther into the book, the more she talks and the more reflective she becomes as a writer, at least. That is my perception.
How did you mean it?
"Don't let the lion tell the giraffe's story". This is an African proverb that i heard one of these days and seem to be perfect for all this thing between Friday and Susan...
I guess the right way to analyze this quote was thinkins of the lion as the opressor and the giraffe as the oppressed. But in this case was the opposite. Susan was the one trying to tell what have happened about the island, the boat..and since Friday decided no to communicate he optioned to saty out of this and not tell what he saw. This was, there would be just one person telling the story from her point of view, in this case, the "giraffe".
Well, yes, but then again, she was the only one WILLING to tell a story. The men couldn't care less about making their stories heard. So how can we blame Susan for wanting her story to be heard?
I think Susan is incredible. How many women would have persevered in her situation?
I wonder about her relationships with men. She seems so "emancipated", so at ease in these situations...I'll ask the Susan group.
Another idea to add to your list would be, silence as a means of controlling one's environment. I'm specifically thinking of children who become selectively mute in social situations.
Yes Liz, that is something that I have right now. I teach a child who will only talk to four people in the school. In barely a whisper. I think it is how she controls her life, since this is the one aspect she can control. What is Friday's message to teachers? I think it can still be about patience and not being judgemental. I don't really think Susan tries to teach him, she forced it on him, in a brutish way. I think learning has to be coaxed, with a give and take. We are all students, while we are all teachers. Right?
Rowena, I agree with you...In general, teachers need to have a huge inner-resource of patience. Children cannot be dominated and made to do (or speak) anything that they are not ready to. We just have to have hope that if we guide them in the right direction, they will eventually arrive at that place where they are ready to do it for THEMSELVES.
Yes Liz, you are definetely right! We should be very patient to understand children's behaviors and personalitie, especially if they are from a different cultural background. There are other issues that teacher have to consider, such as the fact the child needs to learn another language, knows forms of behavior, and so on.
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