Compare And Contrast Portelli And Vilbert

I was riding the subway on a Saturday afternoon on my way to a Toronto Maple Leafs game when a mother and four children entered the train holding toboggans. All five of them were dressed in warm winter clothes as they were about to embark on a fun afternoon tobogganing. Once they entered the train they quickly searched for seats and made sure their toboggans were secure to ensure they would move as little as possible during the ride. For a while the children were just looking around on the subway and did not say anything. However, once we were approaching Runnymede station one of the girls who seemed to be around eight years old got excited. She wanted her Mom to listen as she spelled the word Runnymede. Even though the mother was sitting behind her

Then the daughter proceeded to ask her mother how to spell certain words such as hat, cat, mat, sat and pat. Her mother was busy with the child sitting beside her, but she took the time to spell each of the words her daughter had requested of her. There were many other people on the subway having conversations, but this one between a mother and her daughter stood out to me and other subway riders as well. I noticed people around me smiling as they listened to the mother spell word after word. This reminded me of the reading by Portelli and Vilbert titled “Standards, Equity and the Curriculum of Life”. Specifically, I was reminded of the curriculum of life concept they introduce towards the end of the article. They note that a curriculum of life applies not only in school, but also in a child’s daily life (15). This is what I observed on the subway. When I think of spelling the first thing I associate it with is school. I remember being in grade three and getting words of the week that I learned by writing each word out three times. The observation on the subway is unique, in contrast to my own experience. Spelling, a task which is commonly