The Daily Grind: Lessons in the Hidden Curriculum

Orenstein used many actions, dialogues and details to describe vivid scenes in an eight-grade class. Amy who was a star actress “said hardly a word”; Allison tried to ask Mrs. Richter questions but got on respond, after struggled, she raised her hand again and got teacher’s respond; Some active boys raised their hand always to get chances to answer teacher’s questions. When I read this paragraphs, as if I saw the scenes in the class. Because I have similar experience and this essay reminds my memory.

I think my performance in middle school was like most girls’ performance in this essay. When I knew answers of some questions, I always thought again and again to make sure it was true and to avoid embarrassing. After I raised my hand and waited for teacher’s pick, two thoughts twined in my heart: be picked and not be picked. The reason I wanted to be picked is obvious—I hoped get praise from teacher when I answered correctly. While the reason I did not want to be picked was I felt embarrassed when I stood up. After I grew up, I think it does not matter. But, it was a big deal when I was in middle school. Boys’ behaviors in this essay also make me remember the boys in my class of middle school. Boys were always smart and brave enough so they liked answering difficult and challenging questions. Even though they answered incorrectly, they would not feel embarrassed but giggled after sat down.

Original tension and embarrassment in middle school have become a sweet memory now.

Respond of Soup

Yeganeh insisted his principles that used the best and freshest ingredients to cook soup and kept food health all the time.  His work ethic kept his soup in high value and attracted many customers. That makes me associate with the food quality at Chinese fast-food restaurants. They use low-quality chicken to make hamburger, use overused oil to fry chips and add chemicals into food that will make food more attractive. The fast-food restaurants only pay attention to how many food they can sell and how much money they will make despite how deep damage it will produce in customers’ body. They seriously lack social ethics and social responsibilities.

As many medias exposing these fast-food restaurants’ immoral behaviors and people who like eating fast food finding their body appear bad reaction due to fast food, people realize high-calorie food is hurting their body and destroy their health. Then, many parents prohibit their children from eating fast food. Breaking food safety laws and losing many customers, many fast-food restaurants have to close down. If they kept high ethics and responsibilities like Yeganeh all the time, they would not close down, instead, a large number of customers would wait in front of their restaurants to eat their healthy and good-tasted food.

Yeganeh kept his value and focused on long-term interests, which made his restaurant stand firm in competitive restaurant market of NewYork. Chinese restaurants should learn the enterprise spirit from Yeganeh, which will promotes the restaurants to develop longer and bigger. 

Reflecting on What You Have Learned

11.     I am pleased that I interpreted a small thing happened in my childhood and I used many details to describe my story. Actually, in the beginning, I tried to think about some very important thing happened in my life. However, when I read An American Childhood which interprets an interesting small story in author's childhood, I found I do not need to write some shock events in my life. Life is always peace and ordinary, but we always learn a lot from these common things. By reading some autobiography in the book, I realized details are very important for interpreting stories. Details make story more vivid and substantial, and help readers understand what authors want to express and arouse sympathy. Thus, I used details to expand childhood story. For example, I described the scene my friends and I lighted a fire and roasted sweet potato; I used many verbs to state the action I collected firewood.

22.    I interpreted the significance of the event and person in terms of my own feelings. For example, when I referred to why boys liked to play with me, I just judge it in my own feelings and value. When I stated what happened after my foot was inserted a stem, I also wrote in my own view. But when I read others’ autobiography, I always pay attention to what gender the writer is and what the write’s job is. Because I can understand their autobiography better after I know their background. I think I learned to interpret the significance of people’s stories more from school. Teachers always teach us how to analyze the relations of people in articles and how important the analysis process is.

 

Lighting a Fire

In my memory, the most happy and interesting thing in my childhood is making a fire. There were many farms around the town my family lived in my childhood. After harvest, many rows of wheat’s stems were left. My buddies and I were keen on collecting firewood and light fires.

Most of my buddies were boys. I was six while the boys was seven, eight and ten. They always asked me to collected firewood with them in farms and lighted a fire in the space.

In a sunny afternoon, we chased each other and arrived a farm which had a lot of wheat stubble and withered stems of other wild plants. The eldest boy divided area for us to collect firewood. I followed “header’s” order; I lowered my head, used right hand collecting firewood and putted it in left hand as I was walking slowly. All my mind focused on choosing firewood not on my foot that wore a pair of plastic sandal. Suddenly, a hard stem insert into my big toe when I was going to stepped on earth. A terrible pain stopped my step. I looked at my foot and tried to keep calm. I dared not to pull the stem out by myself and did not want my buddies to know because I knew they would send me to home which would influence them collecting firewood! I think it was really a big deal in my childhood! Thus, I told them I wanted go back home calmly. They paid most of their attention in firewood and did not find nothing wrong of me. Then I walked lamely and slowly on the way to home. 

It took me a long time to go back home, then, I told my parents my foot was hurt. In the beginning, my dad tried to pull it out in his hand but failed. And I finally could not bear the pain and burst into tears. My mom gave my dad a pliers and dad used it to pull the stem out.

Though blood incarnadined my toes and shoes, the pain help me remember my memorable and interesting childhood.