Analytic+Memo

Cluster of data: The data I chose to look at closely were one class discussion excerpt (Chapter 19 +20 Class Discussion), one reader response, and one class activity from the unit on Lyddie in a fifth grade classroom. I selected one student to look at: Goldie.

Background: Students in this fifth grade classroom are reading a historical fiction novel Lyddie which is about a young girl who goes to work in a factory in Lowell, Mass. during the American Industrial Revolution. The students are simultaneously learning about this time period in social studies. The data are from the end of the novel, Chapters 19 through 21, but before students have done a final performance assessment. Lyddie Chapters 19 + 20 Class Discussion

Students read the chapters independently, and had the chance to respond to one or more inquiry questions in their reader response journals when they finish with the reading. One such question was opened up for class discussion when every student had finished reading: “Why doesn't Lyddie respond to Luke Stevens' letter?” (Background: After seeing her family fall apart because of poverty, Lyddie desperately tries to get everything back to the way it was by working to pay off the family debt. But her uncle is selling the family farm to pay the debt. Her former neighbor, the Quaker Luke Stevens, has bought the farm and is hoping for Lyddie to marry him, which he writes in a letter. Lyddie, in all her stubbornness, shes this as him trying to “buy” her, and she insists that she will never be the slave of a man like that.  Goldie comments: “In Lyddie's mind, Luke Stevens has 'taken away' her farm. He bought it, therefore he owns it, and now she has no hope of ever getting it back together. And to top it all off, she feels like Luke Stevens is trying to 'buy' her like bought the farm.”  Increasingly throughout the novel, Goldie showed great understanding of and empathy toward the Lyddie character. This response shows both. She spoke enthusiastically, leaning forward in her seat, and using good volume and tone.  Brandon responded to Goldie's comment with a strongly opposing viewpoint. “No,” he said, “Luke is actually getting the farm back for her—he's trying to keep the farm, whereas Uncle Judah would have sold it to anyone with no regard for keeping it in the family.”  Brandon also showed good understanding of the story and plot throughout the novel, but did not understand a recurring metaphor used in the book. This student did show understanding of the perspective of one of the characters—Luke Stevens, a male protagonist.  I'm wondering if this exchange says something about the approachability of the characters based on gender. Do these two students identify more readily with a character of their own gender? Does the second student show misunderstanding of deeper or more complex statements and metaphors in the book? I did not see understanding of the ironic juxtaposition of the offer of marriage next to Lyddie's hard work (which has just come undone with her dismissal). <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Lyddie Chapter 21 Reader Response <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">The reader response question for this chapter asked students to respond to the following prompt: Mr. Marsden accuses Lyddie of “moral turpitude,” but Lyddie could not respond because she did not know what it meant. Rewrite the passage as if Lyddie did know the meaning. What would she say? (Remember how children and workers were expected to behave in front of their elders/supervisors.) (Lyddie tried to protect her coworker from inappropriate advances from their supervisor, and Lyddie reacts by throwing a bucket at him, which results in her firing from the factory in a meeting with her overseer, Mr. Marsden, and the agent.) <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Goldie's response included Lyddie defiantly denying any such accusation, saying “I've helped the new girls, I've done my work. I'm not the one who has done something bad.” She describes that the overseer then persists, saying, “She is a bad influence on these girls and I want her dismissed.” Goldie writes as the character, “I have done nothing wrong.” The agent responds, “ Lyddie, now Mr. Marsden thinks otherwise.” Lyddie responds, “Fine. I don't think that I have showed any moral turpitude and I don't deserve to leave. But fine.” <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Goldie's response showed empathy, understanding, and even a sober realism on the situation. Interestingly, she does not create a dialogue in which Lyddie triumphs. Instead she described a situation that was likely true to each of the characters. Her wording of the agent's response, “Lyddie, now, Mr. Marsden thinks otherwise.” sounds very genuine to the tone of the book and in particular of the agent and how adults mights have talked to children. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">The nuances Goldie picked up on are amazing. In there story, there was some indication that the factory community, and operators especially, were concerned with the appearance of the factory girls and how the girls influenced one another. In fact, the girls that Lyddie bunked with in the novel discourage her from spending time with one girl who might be a bad influence on Lyddie. This showed that Goldie picked up on this concern expressed in the story and transferred it to a completely hypothetical situation. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Lyddie Chapter 22 Classroom Improv <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">In the drama lesson, Goldie participated in an improv activity. She had a misunderstanding about the plot, which she showed when she said, “Did you get Brigid dismissed?” It was interesting that this student showed a deep understanding of the emotions and motivations of Lyddie, yet showed a lack of factual accuracy. (It is fairly typical of this student to show some comprehension weakness in reading.) In the improvisation skit, she threatened the overseer that if he did anything bad to Brigid in any way, she would tell his wife about how he had acted inappropriately with the workers. (This was based on the text, where Lyddie wrote a letter, went to Brigid's house and instructed her to mail the letter if she were ever to get fired, but never explicitly said what Lyddie's plan was.) She was well spoken, showing a clear train of thought which was vocalized with tone and emotion. This student showed her knowledge of the character's demeanor, motivation, emotions in a classroom activity where she was asked to act out what she thought was going to happen.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Overall, this cluster of data showed me that this student showed understanding of the character's motivations and emotions through class discussion, reader response and class drama. Looking more closely at the data showed me that she picked up on some nuances in the book about how a certain character spoke, and kept a realistic perspective even when making up a happy ending would have been more gratifying. The data also showed me that this student had some comprehension weaknesses when it came to remembering relevant facts in the novel, but this didn't impact her overall understanding of the underlying themes.