Through Children's Eyes: I Was a CollectorAuthor(s): Vivian VasquezSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 47, No. 2, Children's Choices Favorite Books for 1993 (Oct.,1993), p. 161Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20201216 .

Accessed: 25/06/2014 10:24

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Wiley and International Reading Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The Reading Teacher.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.121 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 10:24:39 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Through children's eyes

I was a collector Vivian Vasquez

"The beach was covered with beautiful shells, and I could not let one go by unnoticed. I couldn't even walk head up

looking out to sea, for fear of missing something precious at my feet. The collector walks with blinders on; he sees

nothing but the prize" (Gift from the Sea, Lindbergh, 1975, pp. 113-114). When I first started teaching, I was the collector, walking through the classroom with blinders on looking at so

many things but not seeing anything?waiting for that perfect something to jump out at me. What it was I still do not know.

A brief encounter with a 6-year-old boy first opened my eyes to the beauty and value of everyday happenings when framed by inquiry as a tool for my own teaching and learning. During writing time one day, I noticed that Kevin was drawing. This would have been fine had he been at the art centre. However, since he was at the writing centre, I expected that he would write.

"Why are you drawing, Kevin?"

"Well, Miss Vasquez, if I don't draw, then I won't know what I'm writing about." Until this exchange with Kevin, I had not realized that drawing was his way of seeing his ideas on paper, of rep

resenting the world around him. This brief exchange with Kevin was a lesson in allowing a child's voice to be heard. I might have insisted that

Kevin write rather than draw. I could have silenced him. Instead, as a result of our brief exchange, I became con

sciously aware of the need to recognize learning as it makes itself visible through alternate sign systems and the need to support learning in an environment that allows all voices to be heard.

When I first started teaching, I was a collector, walking with blinders on seeing nothing but the prize. I have

grown since then, through incidents such as the one I shared with Kevin. The blinders are off, the prize is no longer important, and now more than ever, "even small and casual things have taken on significance" (Lindbergh, 1975, p. 115).

Vasquez is a classroom teacher at All Saints School in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Call for papers for a 1995 RT issue on family literacy

An open call for new articles on family literacy in families with younger children is being issued by the International Reading Association for its preschool and elementary school journal? The Reading Teacher. The themed issue is scheduled for April 1995 and will be developed during the 1994 Year of the Family proclaimed by the United Nations. The issue will be guest edited by Lesley Mandel Morrow of Rutgers University, New

Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.

Papers may deal with any aspect of family literacy in any country or the related role of preschools or elemen

tary schools and teachers in promoting family literacy. Sample topic areas might include:

types of literacies that occur within families

literacy in families of diverse backgrounds home, school, or community programs that enhance family literacy enhancing literacy for both the parent and the child

involving parents as partners with schools in developing literacy in their children It is hoped that the issue can provide a variety of perspectives. Send 4 copies of the manuscript and a self-addressed envelope for return correspondence to: Lesley M.

Morrow, 15 Heritage Lane, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076, USA. Authors outside North America may submit a single copy plus a self-addressed envelope. Papers should concern families with younger children (preschool through age 11-12), should be typed double spaced throughout, and should not exceed 5,000-6,000 words. Manuscripts must be received no later than April 1,1994?

161

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.121 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 10:24:39 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions