One Child Sparknotes
One Child is the story of a lost little girl and the extraordinary teacher who works to find her. The book opens with Hayden, a helpful education teacher, was reading a newspaper article about a six-year-old girl who attempted to burn a three-year-old boy a couple of days prior. As there was no place for the little girl at the hospital to receive help, the little girl ended up in Mrs. Hayden’s class, where she remained there for the about four to five months. Torey was brought in by Ed Somers who is the director over the special education department to let her know that there would be eight special children that she will teach. Her teaching assistant is a Mexican migrant worker named Anton who didn’t finish high school. According to the her book, the eight children that was brought in are as follows: Peter who is eight
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years old who has seizures and behavior problems that are caused by a neurological condition, Tyler who is eight years old who is suicidal, Max who is six years old is autistic, Freddie, who is seven ears old is obsess and mentally retarded, Sarah who is seven years old is defiant and selectively mute because of sexual abuse by her father, Susannah who is six years old who is schizophrenic, William is nine years old who is OCD with phobias of water, cars, vacuum cleaners. Guillermo is nine years old who is blind.
The last child that was Shelia who was abandoned by her mother who was eighteen years old and her father was verbally abusive and who lived in poverty that did not have enough money to get water to wash her clothes that she owned. Later on in the book Shelia begins to come to her senses and joins the group session that Torey would have everyday for her student to think about real life situations and give the students a chance to discuss how they feel about the topic discussion of the day. After first Shelia refuses to socializes with anyone. She would just sty in her chair and observe the students and not talk. According to Torey, on the first day of class Sheila became violent during lunchtime when she takes all of the goldfish from the aquarium Torey has in her classroom and Sheila begins to stab the goldfish eyes out with a pencil in front of everyone.
After a few days, Sheila begins to trust Torey and the teacher noticed that Shelia would wear the same clothes every time she would appear in class. Torey took a chance on Shelia and asked her question about her father but at first Shelia wouldn’t response. Torey continue to gain information and Shelia states that her father beats her and her father is the only one that loves her and know one else. As Shelia began to participate in class and Torey noticed something strange about Shelia level of knowledge. Torey began to question Shelia with vocabulary words to see if she can spell them, and she gave her math problems to see if she can solve. Torey reveals that Shelia is incredible smart for someone who had a few months of first grade. Next, Torey decide to test her IQ and the test results were outstanding for a first grader.
Later on in the book, Torey goes to California to go to an important teacher conference. Torey left tons of work and was warn that their teacher was leaving but Sheila began to feel abandon by the one person that showed her true love. Later on that year, Torey has been contacted that there has been an opening at the hospital, which is where Shelia was suppose to go. After hearing this, Torey is horrified that Shelia has came along way with learning new things in a classroom setting and Torey being about to understand and to get to know Shelia more was a treat to her. Torey and her before Chad, who is a lawyer, went to court to win this case and they did. One normal day, Torey noticed that Shelia did not look the same as she usually does. Shelia began to act funny around Torey as well as go to the bathroom so frequently. Torey noticed that someone has rape Shelia because Torey noticed that there was blood everywhere. Shelia states that her uncle Jerry has just been released from jail and I staying with Shelia and her father while her uncle looks for a job. Shelia confesses that her uncle tried to rape her but that didn’t work so her uncle cut her with a knife. Torey rushes her to the hospital to have surgery on her wounds. After finding out that uncle jerry did this to her, Jerry was sent back to prison.
Critique of the book As I sit down and try my best to disperse One Child from an personal perspective If I was Torey, I don’t think I would help Sheila with her clothes at first, but once understanding where Shelia comes from and what she has been through then I will give back to the community. I would have one of my closes friends or my girlfriend to help me with Shelia and have them help with her clothes, her hair, and any other important features with Shelia. I am all about helping others but until I can help the individual then I wouldn’t know that her is verbally abusive but I would absolutely noticed her physical appearance to see if she’s physically abused. I would reach out to the child and the child’s parents just as what Torey did with little Shelia.
Theme With the theme that is stated in One Child would be the failing school. According to Torey Hayden, she called her class the “garbage class.” The Truth about her statement in the book is that the school just clearly dumps the more severely disabled children into a classroom of there own, specifically her classroom. I noticed that the school is subduing the children as well as cutting the children off from the rest of the school by forcing them all in one class together so they would not disturbed the other normal children in the classroom with their disabilities. In One Child, Torey describes the class of all the odd children into a special class. She states that her class were for the emotionally disturbed, classes for he physical handicapped, classes for the behaviorally disorder. She describes that her kids were classified as the leftovers. Torey also describes a as garbage class by stating her assistant, a fourteen year old junior high school student name Whitney, who devoted her time to help Torey with her classroom. Torey describes her as another child who has her own learning disabilities. She states that Whitney couldn’t take authority over the children, is shy, and an introvert. Torey states that there were sometimes she would have to take care of Whitney instead od Whitney helping out with her class with the work load, but eventually Torey persuades the helpless girl into coming back to help. Another example of having a garbage class when the special education teacher who name is Ed Somers came up to Torey and told her that there is another child that will soon be sent to a hospital to find help but the child had time before she was spent off. Torey begged her director to have her in Torey’s class and the director said that he would do it but Shelia would only be in her class temporarily until he court calls them about putting her in a hospital permanently.
My Reflection One Child is a life changing experience while teaching emotionally disturbed children.
After reading this overwhelming novel, I learned that no matter who walks into your classroom, you have to treat them with the utmost respect and know that children can be reached. Torey enjoyed her job and loved all of her students and she showed that she really cared about all of her students. Torey s a warmhearted teacher that gave her worst student Shelia, love, support, and showed her that trusting people is not so bad after all. In order to have a good relationship with anyone, trust is an essential factor to have that will keep the relationship going strong and will continue to get stronger. Torey was able to work with Shelia and teach her how to socialize with her fellow classmates, learn from her mistakes, take responsibility, and build a level of respect for other as well as for herself. Emotionally, I was scared to face children like Shelia, because as a teacher you hope you will have children who are all angles but that will not happen. As a teacher, you have to know what to do and how to handle each child different in whatever the situation may
be. In addition with my emotions, mentally Sheila constantly tested Torey’s patience countless times. There were times where Torey would slip up and end up yelling at Shelia, which is ultimately what Shelia is used to but as a teacher Torey knew to leave Shelia only and let her have her tantrums and then Torey would move in for help. Overall, One Child is a great book for anyone who would want to be well equipped on how to handle a group of children with different types of learning disabilities and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who would like to enjoy a good read.
years old who has seizures and behavior problems that are caused by a neurological condition, Tyler who is eight years old who is suicidal, Max who is six years old is autistic, Freddie, who is seven ears old is obsess and mentally retarded, Sarah who is seven years old is defiant and selectively mute because of sexual abuse by her father, Susannah who is six years old who is schizophrenic, William is nine years old who is OCD with phobias of water, cars, vacuum cleaners. Guillermo is nine years old who is blind.
The last child that was Shelia who was abandoned by her mother who was eighteen years old and her father was verbally abusive and who lived in poverty that did not have enough money to get water to wash her clothes that she owned. Later on in the book Shelia begins to come to her senses and joins the group session that Torey would have everyday for her student to think about real life situations and give the students a chance to discuss how they feel about the topic discussion of the day. After first Shelia refuses to socializes with anyone. She would just sty in her chair and observe the students and not talk. According to Torey, on the first day of class Sheila became violent during lunchtime when she takes all of the goldfish from the aquarium Torey has in her classroom and Sheila begins to stab the goldfish eyes out with a pencil in front of everyone.
After a few days, Sheila begins to trust Torey and the teacher noticed that Shelia would wear the same clothes every time she would appear in class. Torey took a chance on Shelia and asked her question about her father but at first Shelia wouldn’t response. Torey continue to gain information and Shelia states that her father beats her and her father is the only one that loves her and know one else. As Shelia began to participate in class and Torey noticed something strange about Shelia level of knowledge. Torey began to question Shelia with vocabulary words to see if she can spell them, and she gave her math problems to see if she can solve. Torey reveals that Shelia is incredible smart for someone who had a few months of first grade. Next, Torey decide to test her IQ and the test results were outstanding for a first grader.
Later on in the book, Torey goes to California to go to an important teacher conference. Torey left tons of work and was warn that their teacher was leaving but Sheila began to feel abandon by the one person that showed her true love. Later on that year, Torey has been contacted that there has been an opening at the hospital, which is where Shelia was suppose to go. After hearing this, Torey is horrified that Shelia has came along way with learning new things in a classroom setting and Torey being about to understand and to get to know Shelia more was a treat to her. Torey and her before Chad, who is a lawyer, went to court to win this case and they did. One normal day, Torey noticed that Shelia did not look the same as she usually does. Shelia began to act funny around Torey as well as go to the bathroom so frequently. Torey noticed that someone has rape Shelia because Torey noticed that there was blood everywhere. Shelia states that her uncle Jerry has just been released from jail and I staying with Shelia and her father while her uncle looks for a job. Shelia confesses that her uncle tried to rape her but that didn’t work so her uncle cut her with a knife. Torey rushes her to the hospital to have surgery on her wounds. After finding out that uncle jerry did this to her, Jerry was sent back to prison.
Critique of the book As I sit down and try my best to disperse One Child from an personal perspective If I was Torey, I don’t think I would help Sheila with her clothes at first, but once understanding where Shelia comes from and what she has been through then I will give back to the community. I would have one of my closes friends or my girlfriend to help me with Shelia and have them help with her clothes, her hair, and any other important features with Shelia. I am all about helping others but until I can help the individual then I wouldn’t know that her is verbally abusive but I would absolutely noticed her physical appearance to see if she’s physically abused. I would reach out to the child and the child’s parents just as what Torey did with little Shelia.
Theme With the theme that is stated in One Child would be the failing school. According to Torey Hayden, she called her class the “garbage class.” The Truth about her statement in the book is that the school just clearly dumps the more severely disabled children into a classroom of there own, specifically her classroom. I noticed that the school is subduing the children as well as cutting the children off from the rest of the school by forcing them all in one class together so they would not disturbed the other normal children in the classroom with their disabilities. In One Child, Torey describes the class of all the odd children into a special class. She states that her class were for the emotionally disturbed, classes for he physical handicapped, classes for the behaviorally disorder. She describes that her kids were classified as the leftovers. Torey also describes a as garbage class by stating her assistant, a fourteen year old junior high school student name Whitney, who devoted her time to help Torey with her classroom. Torey describes her as another child who has her own learning disabilities. She states that Whitney couldn’t take authority over the children, is shy, and an introvert. Torey states that there were sometimes she would have to take care of Whitney instead od Whitney helping out with her class with the work load, but eventually Torey persuades the helpless girl into coming back to help. Another example of having a garbage class when the special education teacher who name is Ed Somers came up to Torey and told her that there is another child that will soon be sent to a hospital to find help but the child had time before she was spent off. Torey begged her director to have her in Torey’s class and the director said that he would do it but Shelia would only be in her class temporarily until he court calls them about putting her in a hospital permanently.
My Reflection One Child is a life changing experience while teaching emotionally disturbed children.
After reading this overwhelming novel, I learned that no matter who walks into your classroom, you have to treat them with the utmost respect and know that children can be reached. Torey enjoyed her job and loved all of her students and she showed that she really cared about all of her students. Torey s a warmhearted teacher that gave her worst student Shelia, love, support, and showed her that trusting people is not so bad after all. In order to have a good relationship with anyone, trust is an essential factor to have that will keep the relationship going strong and will continue to get stronger. Torey was able to work with Shelia and teach her how to socialize with her fellow classmates, learn from her mistakes, take responsibility, and build a level of respect for other as well as for herself. Emotionally, I was scared to face children like Shelia, because as a teacher you hope you will have children who are all angles but that will not happen. As a teacher, you have to know what to do and how to handle each child different in whatever the situation may
be. In addition with my emotions, mentally Sheila constantly tested Torey’s patience countless times. There were times where Torey would slip up and end up yelling at Shelia, which is ultimately what Shelia is used to but as a teacher Torey knew to leave Shelia only and let her have her tantrums and then Torey would move in for help. Overall, One Child is a great book for anyone who would want to be well equipped on how to handle a group of children with different types of learning disabilities and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who would like to enjoy a good read.