Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 20, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Iio Winnipeg free press october 1995 the education Page editor Gerald 6977231 email a Story of salvation abandoned child beats the Odds through the Power of literacy by Bud Robertson staff reporter Sharon Jean Hamilton is living testament of the value of Ever judging books by the their physically abused and Manour Hamilton was taken from her birth Mother when she was eight months and then was shuffled to 18 different Foster her records from the now defunct childrens Aid society recount horrifying tales of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her supposed a Man who tried to molest her while she sat on his knee threw her Down a flight of stairs after she accidentally urinated on she was two at the by the time she was Hamil ton was labelled borderline autistic and potentially she suffered from rickets a childhood disease caused by a Vit Amin deficiency and could hardly walk without no one could have blamed her if she had surrendered to the unbearable pain of she fought at Sharon Hamilton is an associate Dean at Indiana uni varsity Purdue University in Indi Anapolis and director of Campus and the former Winnipeg who grew up in has written a Book called my names not a Story about her struggle to overcome the labels she and others had placed on i was virtually written off when i was 3 years said Hamil who returned to Winnipeg this week to promote the which has been nominated for two prestigious at 3 Hamilton was adopted and her life slowly started to take a turn for the in the preface of her Hamil ton writes literacy salvaged my it is As simple and fundamental As at the age of three and a i snuggled into a new mothers arms to be read to for the first that Day i entered a world of princesses and pirates and gods and goddesses and Little engines that could and Little boys who called Wolf once too this literary like my real was paradoxically predictable and Safe and ethical and delightful and but in stories at least the stories my new Mother read to me every Day from the first Day she adopted me until i could read by was always a Way to figure out what went wrong and my own life was not so easy to figure after High Hamilton went on to teachers Landing her first Job in a on room school North Jeff free press speaking to students from Elmwood and Kildonan East stresses she later married and had a a writer who still lives in Hamilton taught school in the City and then travelled to England to study for a doctorate in Litera Ture and f you Are confined within a Milieu that is very is really no Way out of it if you dont know any other Way out of Hamilton said in an literacy not Only gives you the tools it also allows you to see that there Are other ways to solve problems and other ways to resolve but Reading is Only one part of the Hamilton writing is another really important part of she adding it brings a self awareness that Doest come from any other what she finds frightening is the discovery some students Are Actu ally choosing to be this is their Way of resisting the culture As it is by not she s your last Chance at on remaining Cash Back w in and test drive the 96 Taurus Scort la 1995 contour go air compact disc automatic Power locks air Antilock final clearcut Price final clearcut Price final clearcut Price 995 Taurus go so 1995 probe be Power loaded air 5 demo Power air 5 Speed final clearcut Price final clearcut Price final clearcut Price 995f1504x4 995 win Star go Scab or e4od Iran air i mean loaded air 15 anniversary final Price final up pm clearcut v l Price final clearcut Price prices freight rebate to plus applicable taxes 750 Pembina 2847650 hours 99 they see themselves As taking Power Over their and real there stripping themselves of Power Over their what these students she is someone who can make a direct connection Between what there doing in the classroom and what there doing inside their hearts and souls and Hamilton knows the pain of being labelled and How it can limit a persons ability to succeed in three years during a night class with a group of special needs adult students some of whom Are single parents and living on welfare Hamilton made an Eye opening discovery which would Lead to the writing of her life they were talking about going to a party after class to celebrate a students divorce and Hamilton said she make it she had a dinner and symphony one student looked at her strangely and said shed never known any one who actually did those kinds of and she thought it would impossible for her to Ever do any thing like that they think there is such a huge Gap Between me and Hamil ton they think that the Gap is almost she wanted to show them that they could do what she had done overcome the Odds and prove the labels i thought if i could strip away grown a number of academic studies have established a Clear Ink and How they pet Ortii some of these studies of self fuelling prophecy include a study in which teachers were Given identical sets of written but the names Ware different on each Type Marks for the same written material were lower if the author a study in which 20 per cent of 650 students were randomly designated As High potential Stu or tests later found students so designated did in fact scoring significantly higher on tests than students who had not been so same study also found sputters were described by teachers to be More More inter Esting and More Likely to the study concluded that teach ers unconsciously through Posi Tive facial postures and speech improved the spurted self concept and expect in other teacher expectations improved a study found students Are More Likely to have positive self which translate into bet Ter if the teacher is supportive and rather than grim and a study that found when Stu dents Are treated As being unique and esteemed they perform bet source sell concept and school achievement the veneer of my then they could see that i went through a lot of what there going in a Well known a teacher was Given a class of so called learning disabled but was told they were gifted and Hamilton the teacher treated them As though they were gifted and the students Reading Levels went up three years in Only one it blatantly shows that How you Label Young people depends on How you react to How you teach present Roc Tober the Best in Rock n Roll wifi components and enter to win this classic Rock monster system no Purchase listen to pm for buy the win the get your Money Csc Tom Pioneer digital receiver w to i pm m 100 Watts x Cerwin Vega Rock monitors 3way incredible Bass and sound pressure vs100 Pioneer co changer 6 pack pm 423 Pioneer double cassette dec High Speed ctw103 Pioneer cd player Pioneer double cassette Mck Auto reverse his peed system Remote ready dolby ctw404 top great Addon to any existing Remote pd103 ;