Family Ethnography & Reading Comprehension
By: Lamont Jack Pearley
We are aware that many standardized tests use vocabulary rarely used in Black homes, or at the least the Black homes of students that attend schools that thrive from standardized tests and special ed programs. Students learn to remember and regurgitate, rather than how to apply what they learn. I remember when my son was having issues with reading comprehension, somewhere around fourth or fifth grade. It blew me back. I knew he read at a high level. My mother was a children’s education specialist who made sure my children were equipped for learning. I read a book with him when he was about six years old, and I later found out it was a fourth or fifth-grade level reader. He always spoke well and clearly, so I couldn’t comprehend why he had such a difficult time testing for reading comprehension. My wife and I investigated, picked my mother’s brain, and drilled the teacher whenever we got a chance.
Ironically, I worked for an online video news publication. One of my co-workers assumed that my son might be dyslectic. I knew that wasn’t the case. Not just because he was my little guy, but because I read with him often. Low and behold, one day, he and I were reading together. Or, he was reading, and I was listening. He got to a word, paused, chuckled, read the word, chuckled again, then continued to read. I found this very odd. The word didn’t mean nor sound like something a child would find funny. However, he said the word correctly and continued reading somewhat effortlessly. I could not for the life of me let this go, so I stopped him and said, “what’s so funny?” I wanted to be in on the joke. He then laughs louder and says, “I don’t know, dad.” I was puzzled. He attempted to continue to read, but I just couldn’t let it go. I continued to ask what was so funny as he laughed harder. At my wit’s end, it finally hit me. I said, “LJ, do you know what that word means?” He said no, and laughed again. And that’s when I figured out the issue when being tested with reading comprehension at the time. Somehow, he had no problems figuring out and understanding how to pronounce and read words aloud, but not knowing the meaning prevented him from having a genuine understanding of what he was reading. Am I blaming the School, his teachers, myself, and my wife? No! I was happy to get to the root of the issue, and my role as an ethnographer and folklorist that raises cultural and ethnic awareness of the Blues People and the Black Experience, this allowed me to help my children with vocabulary, reading comprehension, language arts and the most important, the history, culture, and traditions of our family. Furthermore, since my youngest daughter is a grade below, my wife and I were immediately able to identify and look for these same traits learned from the School they attended, and add her to the fun.
Sammie Interviewing Grandma about the Game Hide The Belt
Speaking of my little lady, she revered a book series by the great Mildred D. Taylor, introduced to her by my mother. She blew through those books, and had no real issue explaining to the best of her ability at the time what she thought was going on. However, already armed with the information that there may be words in the book she may not readily know the meaning, this was the moment to implement the exercise I’m introducing to you all. “Family Ethnography and Reading Comprehension” is an exercise that assists in discussing and understanding the Book, the characters, story, and how your family can identify with the books ensemble and their experiences as African Americans in the Jim Crow south. There are many ways to approach this, and it’s not just for the education of children, it’s a way to bond with the many generations of your family that are still with us. I’m extremely surprised when I meet people that don’t know much of their family history or traditions. It may be for many reasons. However, this exercise allows families to have those conversations all while helping the youngest generation of the family excel in a space most don’t think we find important. Furthermore, it’s a great way to introduce the concept of folklore, ethnography and the preserving of heritage to family, which may culminate in the documenting of family history and tree.
The first is to pick a book that you feel reflects your family’s experience. As the assigned person reads aloud, write quotes from the book, and refer back to them during the discussion. This galvanizes memories from all involved that could be written down or recorded. It also allows for those strengthening their reading to have a full understanding of what’s being conveyed. Of course, the main fundamental is to identify the characters and their names. This may sound extremely basic, but the same way we identify with songs or characters from movies, reading together and discussing the book moves all involved to begin sharing stories and asking questions about family and family history. It’s also helpful to see if and how your family story coincides with the story you’re reading. This exercise aims to practice reading comprehension while identifying your family’s generational history, where the characters and their exploits inspire the memories. Again, one of the goals of this exercise is to show that an African American child will engage more with stories that reflect them and their family history. We believe that reading and family time are equally essential. Family ethnography and reading comprehension create enjoyable reading, bridges generational, and possibly introduces the family to document the story of your people. How would this exercise do that you say? Well here is the fun part. Considering that most mobile phones have everything, it would be pretty easy to press record on your phone and document the reading and discussion. Email it to yourself, then archive it on your computer or hard drive. I’d suggest creating a filing system on a hard drive, that way you can name folders after the particular books that are being read, or by the name of a particular family member that is being focused on based on the reading, or any other naming system that works for you. Documenting and archiving it has many rewards. You hear the progression of your child/children and their reading, you’ve successfully documented the story of your family, you can always listen to it at holidays or family functions to remember a family member that’s transcended.
LJ Interviewing Grandma about the Game Smut, and migrating from Chicago
I added excerpts below because they sparked a conversation between three generations of my family that partook in this exercise. It’s important to note that this exercise may cause the book’s reading to take longer, considering the many pauses in the story by engaged family members, which is ok! The main point is to get as much out of the experience as possible. Most parents, adults, and teachers who read with kids have to stop anyway, or well, they should. Why? Because if the child doesn’t know what the word means, even if they can sound it out and pronounce it correctly, they still wouldn’t have a clue what the sentence, let alone the paragraph means. I find it very helpful to stop, look the meaning up, share it with the child, then have them reread the sentence. Then, ask them to explain what the sentence is saying and what the word means in that instance. If you feel that part of the exercise is taking too long, you can write down and list vocabulary words per chapter. We’ve utilized that strategy with this project. We posted the word list on the wall in the kitchen in our old apartment, and every day the kids would have to pick three words, look them up, and write a sentence around the vocabulary words. Many people do this. We also make sure they use the words in daily conversations. We also recorded the conversations, and my kids interviewed my mother. It was difficult because she wasn’t well at all, but she used her strength to participate as much as she could.
Along with the sample excerpts and vocabulary words, the recordings are below.
Below are just some examples you can pull from. For us, we read with my mother and these were excerpts that reminded her of Mississippi as a child. The kids also related to behaviors and character exploits, which made them engage and ask questions. From there you can tailor it to your family’s personal story.
The Logan Family (grandpa) bought land that was part of the Granger Plantation in 1887, when it was for sale (Sharecropping) p6
I asked him once why he had to go away, why the land was so important. He took….p7
Of Course we knew that Big Ma had gone to a sick house last night. She was good at medicines and people often called her instead of a doctor when they were sick. p9
We were nearing the second crossroads, where deep gullies lined both sides of the road…..p12
Jeremy Kicked the dust briskly and looked toward the north……p14
Jefferson Davis County School, (The White School) With the Mississippi Flag smack in the middle….p15
The Great Faith Elementary and Secondary School, one of the largest black schools in the county, (last part of pg 15) Majority of pg 16
Never owning a book, our protagonist was very excited to receive her first book in class. The only thing she was excited about when it came to school. Yet, her and her brother were in for a big surprise. pg 21-27
Our protagonist (Cassie) teacher went to speak to Cassie’s mother(whom also was a teacher) their dynamic and stance about the thought of hand me down books and the response of the students…p28-31
Vocabulary Words from The Book “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” Ch1
We hung this on the wall, the kids learned two words a day, and used
them in multiple sentences. Two written, the rest as we spoke to
make sure they understood the meaning and not just memorized the
definition.
1) Meticulously
2) Exasperation
3) Concession
4) Intriguing
5) Admonished
6) Irritatingly
7) Raucous
8) Trudged
9) Emaciated
10) Amiably
11) Disdainfully
12) Tormentor
13) Dismal
14) Ferociously
15) Tarpaulin
16) Dubious
17) Gasped
18) Monotonously
19) Quivered
Watch the podcast discussing this topic here
In this episode, I discuss how we should think about removing the word obscure from the vocabulary for ethnography, folklore, and ethnomusicology! The people we document from these cultures are pillars of their community! They are not obscure! Also, Family Ethnography and Reading Comprehension is a great way to connect with your family history as well as encouraging reading and strong language arts!
Ethnography,Family,Folklore,Mildred D Taylor,Reading Comprehension
