In Chapters 15-17 of In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier, the protagonist April Raintree is forced to face her lifetime filled with traumatic experiences.
Below are my connections for these chapters:
Text to Self
In Search of April Raintree is challenging to read because of its close relationship to reality. When reading April Raintree I was reminded of many hardships that I have faced in my life and the hardships that those I love have faced as well.
I drew this picture to represent what April is going through in the final chapters of novel. The purple squiggles are to represent Cheryl’s suicide, the red squiggles are to represent when April was raped, and the yellow squiggles are to represent her traumatic childhood. When we experience trauma, those experiences stay with us and continue to cause us pain. Trauma also shapes individuals because of its significant impact.
Text to Text
The beginning of a series of traumatic events for April and Cheryl Raintree begin with their parents as their parents are residential school survivors. According to the “Neurodevelopment Reading” provided to ECE 200 by Dr. Christine Massing, trauma has generational effects “Trauma not only influences the development of those who experience it, but also has been found to have residual effects passed from generation to generation. When traumatic events or historic oppression are not adequately addressed, it can have long-term implications for future generations.” In the novel, April and Cheryl are exposed to trauma from the moment of conception simply because their parents experienced horrific events themselves. Throughout the novel, April and Cheryl are not given the chance to address the existence of this trauma which increases their stress.
The reading also states, “If parents experience abuse or other forms of trauma in childhood, for example, they may find it difficult to form secure, healthy attachments with their own children,” this circumstance is true for Cheryl. Due to the complex trauma Cheryl experienced as a child and in her adult life, she found it difficult to form a secure attachment with her son. This made her believe that she was not worthy of her son. Thankfully, for April knowing Cheryl’s son helps her heal from her own trauma because it allows her to address the existence of Cheryl and Cheryl’s death.
Text to Others
After discussing with others about their connections to the final chapters of In Search of April Raintree, I found that once again everyone interpreted the story differently because of the individualism among us.
Depending on our individual circumstances we interpreted the final chapters of the novel differently. Where I chose to focus on the effects of the trauma that April and Cheryl faced, others chose to focus on the sociocultural impacts that led to the trauma April and Cheryl faced.
In Chapters 8-14 of In Search of April Raintreeby Beatrice Mosionier, the protagonist April Raintree experiences adulthood and searches for her identity.
Below are my connections for these chapters:
Text to Self
When reading Chapters 8-14 of In Search of April Raintree, I was reminded of the struggles of young adulthood. As a young adult myself, I know how complicated it can be trying to figure out your identity. Personally, trying to understand who I am and what I want in life is a goal of mine at the moment. One of the largest struggles April faces in these chapters is her search for her sense of self and her search for purpose.
I drew this picture to represent my own search for identity and April’s. In my journey of learning who I am I have found that the most important thing in understanding your self is to first love who you are. After you learn to love yourself, you begin to understand how other influences in your life make up who you are.
Text to Text
In Chapters 8-14 of In Search of April Raintree, April struggles with her sense of self and development/understanding of her identity. She is torn between her cultural identity and her social identity that she has created.
When April becomes an adult, she hides that she is Metis from those around her. This is because as she was growing up she was taught that being Indigenous was something to be shameful of. Cheryl’s experience growing up with the McAdams contrasts April’s experiences because the McAdam’s taught Cheryl to take pride in her Metis identity and educated her. Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) write about the influence adults have on the formation of identity in children, “The significant adults in children’s lives play a major role in helping children feel either proud, shamed, or conflicted about their identities and about their attitudes toward human differences,” (p. 26). The people in April’s life taught her to be ashamed of her Metis identity so that when she became an adult she chose to hide it. In contrast, the adults in Cheryl’s life taught her to be proud of being Metis so that when Cheryl became an adult she worked to help other people like her.
Similarly, due to the prejudices April has towards Indigenous people because of her upbringing she is distinctly aware of racialized identities. Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) write about racial identity and how it influences an individual’s life, “Race is not the same thing as ethnicity or culture or nationality…Yet, in modern society, everyone is presumed to be a member of a racial group, so everyone’s identity becomes racialized. Individuals do not choose their racialized identity. However, they can choose how to live their identity,” (p. 34). This idea of choosing how to live your racial identity is represented in the novel.
April refuses her Metis identity and therefore chooses to live like a white person, ignoring the hardships of indigenous people and adopting prejudices. Since April spends her time not accepting who she is she feels unhappy.
Cheryl has connected with her racial identity and takes pride in who she is. She lives in a way that honors her racial identity and as long as she works toward her goals she feels happiness. However, when Cheryl’s sense of self is disrupted during the period that Cheryl and April lose connection, she feels unhappy because what she thought to be true affects her view of herself and her culture.
Text to Others
Once again, In search of April Raintree can be interpreted in many different ways. After discussing the novel with my peers, I came to the conclusion that self-exploration is a common theme in life. For chapters 8-14 of the novel my self and my peers connected with this portion of the novel by relating our personal self-exploration to April Raintree’s self-exploration.
References
Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J.O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. St Paul: Redleaf. (chapter 2).
In Chapters 1-7 of In Search of April Raintree, the reader experiences childhood and adolescence from the viewpoint of the protagonist April Raintree.
Below are my connections to In Search of April Raintree:
Text to Self
When reading In Search of April Raintree, I found myself admiring April and Cheryl’s relationship. Their relationship reminded me a lot of my relationship with my sisters. As the oldest sibling, I find my self assuming a protector role and it is often a joke in my family that I am my sisters’ second Mom. In this way, I identified a lot with April’s instincts to protect and care for Cheryl and this ability to identify with the protagonist made reading the novel more impactful for me.
I drew this picture to symbolize the relationship between Cheryl and April and highlight the protective role April assumes.
Text to Text
In the first seven chapters of In Search of April Raintree, the reader gets to experience April and Cheryl’s childhood from April’s perspective. Consequentially, the reader also experiences the learning experiences Cheryl and April go through.
The following are some learning experiences that Cheryl and April experience that connect with the content of this course:
Learning to Write Letters
In the novel, during the time that Cheryl and April are separated their main form of communication is via letter. For this reason they need Guided Participation from adults to complete the task.
Guided Participation: Active engagement in adult activities, initially with considerable direction from an adult or other more advanced individual and subsequently with opportunities for increasing responsibility and independence (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2014, p. 242).
When April and Cheryl first begin writing letters to each other, they are very young and are still learning how to read and write. In Cheryl’s first few letters to April, she writes that she asked for help with the spelling of words and how to write the letter in general. This indicated to the reader that Cheryl is participating in guided participation. As Cheryl grows older, she is able to write her letters with more independence and less guidance. The adults in Cheryl’s life at this time may also provide different forms of Scaffolding to help Cheryl learn to write.
Scaffolding: Support mechanism, provided by a more competent individual, that helps a child successfully perform a task within his or her zone of proximal development (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2014, p. 241)
The types of scaffolding someone may have provided to Cheryl could be giving her feedback on her letter or instructing her on how a word is spelled. The adults that helped Cheryl write her letters would have provided Cheryl with forms of Scaffolding in order for her to perform the task (writing the letter) within her Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): Range of tasks that one cannot yet perform independently but can perform with the help and guidance of others (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2014, p. 237).
By providing Cheryl with Scaffolding, the adults that helped Cheryl assisted her in the learning process by minimizing her ZPD, that being the gap between tasks she can successfully complete without assistance and tasks that she cannot complete without a considerable amount of assistance. As Cheryl learned and grew, her ZPD changed until she was able to write a letter completely independently.
2. Learning Social Expectations and Moral Obligations
In the novel, April experiences many circumstances that help to develop her personal identity and sense of morality. By the time April reaches the end of her childhood it is apparent that she has reached Conventional Morality.
Conventional Morality: Acceptance of society’s conventions regarding right and wrong; behaving to please others or to live up to society’s expectations for appropriate behaviour (Ormond et al., 2010, p. 75).
By the end of April’s childhood she understands how to live up to society’s expectations. This means being a respectable young lady that does not draw attention to herself and allows the adults and men in her life to have control over her. Many of April’s decisions are based on this idea.
When April is living on the farm she seems to be in Kohlberg’s first stage of moral reasoning: Punishment-Avoidance and Obedience.
Punishment-Avoidance and Obedience: Individuals make decisions based on what is best for themselves, without regard for others’ needs or feelings. They obey rules only if established by more powerful individuals; they disobey when they can do so without getting caught. The only “wrong” behaviours are ones that will be punished (Ormond et al., 2010, p. 75).
When April lives on the farm, her actions are guided based on whether she will face punishment for it or not. She knows that she has to complete her chores otherwise she will be punished and she knows that she is supposed to not talk to the other foster children for the same reason.
Text to Others
After discussing the first seven chapters with my group members, I learned that everyone experienced this novel differently and chose to focus on different aspects.
In my reflection, I chose to focus on the relationship between Cheryl and April and discuss specific situations that highlighted Cheryl and April’s development in the beginning of the novel.
From the differences among my group, I understand that there is a vastness in the way Cheryl and April grew up and experienced the world around them. Cheryl and April’s experiences can serve as a reflection to our own personal experiences.
From reading the first seven chapters of this novel I understand the multiple ways in which childhood and adolescence can be experienced. I also now know that these experiences are all opportunities for development. Although Cheryl and April experienced a tremendous amount of hardship, these hardships are the things that determined the type of people they are in the rest of the novel.
References
McDevitt, T.M., & Ormrod, J.E. (2014). Child development and education. Harlow, U.K.: Pearson. (chapter 7, pages 237-262).
Ormod, J.E., Saklofske, D.H., & Schwean, V.L. (2010). Principles of educational psychology. Toronto, ON: Pearson (pages 72-83)
We all make mistakes, and as we age and gain more experiences we learn how to make morally guided decisions. Two major contributors to the theories on how we develop morality are Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan.
Kohlbergcontributed to moral development theory by:
Proposing three levels and six stages of moral development. These levels and stages are the following:
Level I:Preconventional Morality
Stage I: Punishment-Avoidance and Obedience
Stage II: Exchange of Favours
Level II:Conventional Morality
Stage III: Good Boy/Good Girl
Stage IV: Law and Order
Level III:Postconventional Morality
Stage V: Social Contract
Stage VI: Universal Ethical Principle
(Ormod et al., 2010, p. 75)
Gilligan contributed to moral development theory by:
Proposing that there are differences in moral development based on an individual’s sex and “moral development based on relation and response,” (Hsing-Chiung, 2015, p. 122). Gilligan elaborated on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development by discussing moral development from a sociological viewpoint that takes into account the differences in gender roles.
Story Time
When I was in high school, I once took my Mom’s credit card without asking to buy some clothes for myself. I intended on paying her back the same week because I had the money to go shopping, I just did not have a way to access the money at the time. The money I saved up was in a savings account that I needed my Mom to come with me in order to take the money out. From what I remember, I did not have a good reason for not asking my mom if I could use her card. I think I just decided that since I was paying her back right away it was fine to do what I did.
How would Kohlberg view my decision?
Kohlberg would say that my decision would be a decision made by someone in the first stage of moral development, punishment avoidance and obedience. According to Ormond, Saklofske, and Schwean, Kohlberg’s first stage of moral development can be described as:
Individuals make decisions based on what is best for themselves, without regard for others’ needs or feelings. They obey rules only if established by more powerful individuals; they disobey when they can do so without getting caught. The only “wrong” behaviours are ones that will be punished.
(2010, p. 75)
My decision is reflective of the first stage because I knew that the decision was wrong and my goal was only to avoid punishment by paying my Mom back right away. My decision is also reflective of the first stage because the rule that I should not take money without asking was established by a more powerful individual than myself; this person being my Mom.
How would Gilligan view my decision?
In “Theories of Morality in Early Childhood”, Hsing-Chiung Lin (2015) discusses Gilligan’s view of moral development. Hsing-Chiung (2015) points out that Gilligan discusses the attachment in relationships that is related to moral development. According to Gilligan, this attachment influences moral development.
In relation to the decision I made, my attachment to my mom influenced my decision. I decided to make the wrong decision because I knew that there is security in my relationship with my Mom. I knew that even though I took her credit card without asking she would still love me.
References
Hsing-Chiung, L. (2015). Theories of morality in early childhood. In T. David, K. Goouch, & S. Powell (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of philosophies and theories of early childhood education and care (pp. 119-127). London: Routledge.
Ormod, J.E., Saklofske, D.H., & Schwean, V.L. (2010). Principles of educational psychology. Toronto, ON: Pearson (pages 72-83)
An incredible aspect of being human is having an immense awareness of one’s self. We define ourselves based on various characteristics and beliefs to separate who we are from the surrounding world. In Principles of Educational Psychology, Ormod, Saklofske, and Schwean discuss how students develop a sense of self. In the text, there are three main concepts involved in the development of sense of self: self-concept, self-esteem, and Self-Efficacy.
Self Concept: One’s perceptions of, and beliefs about oneself.
Self-Esteem: Judgements and beliefs about one’s own general value and worth.
Self-Efficacy: The belief that one is capable of executing certain behaviours or reaching certain goals (Ormod et al., 2010, p. 61).
Ormod et al. discuss how an individual’s self-concept and self-esteem can be influenced by many factors including: peers, parents, and teachers.
How has my self-esteem and self-concept been influenced?
From the time I was a pre-teen till the end of my teen years, I competed in Track & Field at a highly competitive level. After one important track meet my mom and dad compared me to another girl on my track team. They said things like: ‘if you worked harder you would have done just as well as her, if not better’. When my parents said this to me, my self-esteem was negatively impacted because I began to compare myself to my peers. I no longer saw myself as a capable athlete. After my self-esteem began to decline, my self-concept also began to change. I began to believe that I was not good at track and as a result, my performance declined.
Connections to Text
The authors of the text state that children with low self-esteem feel as if they have low value and little worth. After my parents compared me to my teammate, I began to feel as if my value and worth was less than my teammate’s. In addition, once my self-concept began to change (I no longer thought I was a good athlete), so did my self-efficacy. Once I began to think I was not a good athlete, I began to believe that I could not improve or reach any of my original goals. As a result of this, my enjoyment of the sport began to disappear and performance declined.
References
Ormod, J.E., Saklofske, D.H., & Schwean, V.L. (2010). Principles of educational psychology. Toronto, ON: Pearson (pages 60-72).
An important part of learning is to develop new skills that can help us solve problems and become active participating members of society that are capable of sharing ideas and invoking positive change in the world. Lev Vygotsky’s theoretical perspective of learning and cognitive development pays close attention to the social perspective of developing new skills. Vygotsky suggests that learning from more competent individuals is an essential part of cognitive development. So, how can we apply Vygotsky’s theory to our own experiences?
Time for a Story
I would like to share with you a time in which an adult taught me a new skill…
The day that I first got my learner’s license, as soon as my Dad and I walked out of the government office we began a teaching process that would last for the next year until I turned sixteen and could take my Driver’s License exam. We began this journey by him covering some ground rules and responsibilities that accompany driving, such as: appreciating and respecting the freedom driving will give me, responsibility for the cost of vehicle maintenance, and that any tickets I got in the process would be my full responsibility to pay (of course). He then began driving around the city and explaining what he was doing as he did. He described why he turned his signal light on at that time, which vehicle had the right of way, how he decides if it is safe to change lanes, and other things. After a while, my Dad pulled over in a low traffic area and asked me to drive us home from there. On the way home, he gave me direction on when to start slowing down, when to signal and other suggestions. When I did something incorrectly, he would explain how it should be done properly and how to improve for the next time that situation arose. From that point on, any chance that there was to drive my parents ensured I drove, even if it was a short five minute drive. As the year passed, my parents began to give me less and less instruction when we drove together until it was time for me to take my driver’s exam.
Connections to Vygotsky’s Theory
McDevitt and Ormrod’s Child Development and Education explains the principles of Vygotsky’s theory of learning and cognitive development. Two of the principles discussed are the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Scaffolding.
Zone of Proximal Development
McDevitt and Ormrod (2014) define the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as a “Range of tasks that one cannot yet perform independently, but can perform with the help and guidance of others,” (p. 237).
How was my ZPD influenced when learning to drive?
When I first began driving, the gap between the tasks that I could accomplish independently and the tasks that I needed considerable assistance with was very large. In the beginning, my Dad needed to provide a considerable amount of assistance and supervision. However, as I began to learn more and became more experienced, my Dad was able to decrease the level of support he was giving me. Meaning that my ZPD was beginning to shrink as I learned more about driving.
Scaffolding
Vygotsky’s theory discusses Scaffolding skills that can be used to help teach children.
McDevitt & Ormrod (2014) define Scaffolding as a “Support mechanism, provided by a more competent individual, that helps a child successfully perform a task within their zone of proximal development,” (p. 241).
What Scaffolding skills did my parents use when teaching me to drive?
They demonstrated the proper performance of the task whenever they drove.
They divided the complex task into smaller tasks by breaking down how to shoulder check, change lanes or merge into traffic.
They gave frequent feedback on how I was driving and how to improve my driving.
What other strategies could my parents have used to support my learning?
They could have asked questions about what to do in certain scenarios when driving.
They could have initiated a Mediated Learning Experience in which they discussed a scenario that I was struggling with to help me make sense of it.
They could have had me role play through scenarios that I would have encountered while driving.
References
McDevitt, T.M., & Ormrod, J.E. (2014). Child development and education. Harlow, U.K.: Pearson. (chapter 7, pages 237-262).
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