The Glass Castle was a memoir was written by Jeannette Walls and published in 2005. Jeanette takes us back to her tumultuous childhood as she recounts the most insane things that her and her siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen, had endured with their dysfunctional parents. Their dad, Rex, was an extremely intelligent man with dreams of getting rich and building a glass castle for his family that was efficient and sustainable. He was a mathematician who could have accomplished his dreams if his alcoholism wouldn't have gotten in the way. He could never seem to hold a job and always tries to move from town to town running from the “FEDS” (bill collectors) and trying to find gold. He could never offer his family a stable home and on many days Janette and her siblings went without eating or a roof under their heads. Their mother, Rose, also could not provide that stability the kids needed. She would follow her husband to the ends of the earth and could never hold a job either. Rose was smart, loved painting, but was never a nurturing mother. She would teach her children plants and things they could and could not eat when she was not able to provide them with food. She always talked about how much better it was to live the way they do, surviving on close to nothing, because people are too wasteful and surviving the elements makes you stronger. Rose was strangely distant to her children. When her daughter Mary died, she didn’t get sad, instead she claimed that Mary was a mistake God created and had to take back.  When Jeanette was badly burned when she was 3 years old, Rose was strangely calm and did not show much concern. She let her children do whatever they wanted and introduced them to things that was not age appropriate when they were extremely young. When Jeanette was 3, cooked by herself even after she was burned. By the age of 4, she was able to shoot her father's gun and shown to throw a knife. Her parents  educated about life but never hustled to keep a roof over their children's head or provide them with a daily meal. Every time they owed anyone money they would just run away “Rex style”. Jeanette’s parents had a dysfunctional relationship that was toxic for their kids. Rex would become violent and fight every time he was drunk and Mary was never truly present, caught up in her art. They seem to put each other over the kids and it really showed when Lori, Jeanette, Brian, and the newborn Maureen was locked up for hours in the back of a U-haul. Rode thinks that the children need to learn how to be sulf officiate and only cares about her dreams of becoming an artist.  Skipping back to the present in the memoir, Rex is dying after so many years of drinking and Jeanette feels guilty that she avoids trying to run into her parents when going to a party. She eventually ends her marriage and is finally able to find peace after moving. 

 

            Jeannette Walls was born in 1960. She grew up in the era of the Vietnam War, the Civil RIghts Movement, and the death of John F Kennedy. During the radical 60’s,  their this huge increase in a counterculture of young people dropping out of the political life and moving to communes to get away from the craziness like the televised war of Vietnam. Towards the end of the 60’s everything seemed to be getting worse in the US. These events seem to match up to what could have influenced the actions of Jeanette's parents. We knew that Rex was in the Army and he decided to leave around the same time as the Vietnam war was beginning. Mary met and married her husband a few months later which was very common at the time. When Jeanette was only 3 years old, her parents decided to pack up and leave the trailer they lived in. Since they left the trailer they bounced around from city to city looking to escape city life and teach their kids how bad the government is and how important it was to be self sufficient and live off of the little they have and anything they can find. I can see the connection of the era she grew up in with the actions of her parents in the memoir and I recommend students in high school read this book.

 

 

 

Positionality 

The biggest takeaway from the positionality article is the idea of how our experiences shape what we know to be true in the world. These unique experiences that each of us go through shape our understanding of the world. That is why it is important to explore our own biases to help us understand each other and the way that we think. I also think it is super important that we are able to share about our own experiences and encourage our students to do the same. This way we can help each other understand our thought processes so that it can  help lower barriers. One example that stood out the most to me was, the Mexican student who firmly believes that greed, ambition, power or money can bring the world to an end over time. She could not understand why, in so many cases, materialistic things outweigh the value of life to some people. Some students who come from a more affluent community could have disagreed with her but if they understood why she thinks that way they could potentially agree with some of what she said and come to a consensus on this issue. She felt so strongly about this because she grew up in a poor family in Mexico where more educated communities would abuse poorer communities like hers’. Communities like hers were left were left alone with no hope of ever improving. Her story is important not only for her to recognize that her experiences shaped how she saw the world but would also help others who would normally clash with what she said, understand another person's perspective and not be so quick to judge. 

The book I read is called The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida and translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell. The book is about a young boy named Naoki Higashida who was born with autism. He wrote this book at the young age of 13. The book is written in a question and answer format where Higashida answers questions commonly asked about people living with autism. He has trouble communicating with others because words simply escape him in social situations so he uses a special grid his mom and his teacher, Ms. Suzuki showed him how to use. He also learned how to type directly on a computer but prefers communicating with the  the less modern method of communication, the grid. He describes that feeling of what it was like when he was first learning how to use the grid. With his mother's hand over his, he knew his life was about to change.  Naoki Higashida wrote this book to help people understand what is is like living with autism and to clear up any misconceptions people had about autism and how it affects people. He hoped that with his book, people would be inspired to become a better friend to someone with autism. 

In the book higoshida says that a lot of people have assumed that just because he is quiet that he prefers working alone.on the contrary he explains that sometimes he just has difficulty expressing himself in front of others. It concerns him that people think that he wants to be left alone when in reality he enjoys the company of other people. He does admit that out of frustration he can have random outbursts but it’s not due to him being angry at people it’s because when he is not able to properly communicate what he feels. This was an eye-opener for me because I have a student with autism in my self-contained class. When his assigned group members sit next to him, they too assume that he wants to be left alone and shy away from wanting to be his partner in other group projects. To prevent him from being alone during any group projects I made it mandatory that once I assign groups students are required to get into their groups in one minute or they lose points for that assignment. Surprisingly this actually works in my classroom and even though the students were initially resistant to the new rule. Once they are in their group, each member is to participate or further points with be deducted. Since implementing this change I’ve seen that students are getting more comfortable with each other and thus allowing them collaborate and finish their assignments.

Another problem that Higoshida faces is that he constantly needs to ask himself the same questions over and over again. This is not because he didn’t understand the question but rather he needs more time to process the question and to come up with an answer. He explains that people without autism only take a few milliseconds to a second to reply to a question or think of their next sentence. In my classroom all of my scholars require more student-processing time. It does not mean that they are not mentally capable of understanding the problem it’s just that they need to time to come up with a response. I’ve built in more student-processing time in my curriculum by giving students time to write down answers to my question. I even include more student-processing time into my everyday lesson plans. 

The Reason I Jump is an amazing little book that I think everyone should read. It talks about a person's struggle to communicate with others around them and his journey to self discovery. Higashida amazes with his unique understanding of the world and his insight into the realm of autism. It goes to show that although a person may have a communication barrier, they are able to do extraordinary things in life. 

Reference 

Higashida, N., & Higashida, N. (2013). The reason I jump: The inner voice of a 

thirteen-year-old boy with autism.