It always upsets me when I read research piece after research piece that shows the value of giving students a voice, of giving students purpose in their reading and writing assignments. I’m not upset because the research shows that with carefully crafted lessons built on student’s experiences and interest, students find their voice and see the power and value of reading and writing. I’m upset because so many of the people that make curriculum decisions seem to completely ignore the research – especially if that research is qualitative. It’s almost sloppy to me to ignore or choose to not read research that had the potential for making our classrooms mean something to our students. In Henry’s article I saw several young girls, who before the implementation of the workshops thought that they weren’t important and what they had to say was even less important, transform into individuals with their own thoughts and emotions. Real learning to me comes in moments when we can be as attached to the materials as these young students were able to do. It also comes in moments when we believe we are truly being heard and respected for what we are able to share. These students were making attempts to share their experiences with one another so that they could learn more about themselves as well as more about each other. Beyond that they were making connections to the texts that allowed them to be active, engaged readers.
I wish this piece would have shared more about how the teacher/researcher went about leading the sessions. There were some descriptions of the dialogue between the girls and teacher, but I’d have liked to see more about the literature used and more extensive feedback from the students, however I understand the space constraints for journals and I’m sure that that had a great deal to do with how much was put into this piece. A second part to this research could be information for other teachers to bring this type of book club into their own classrooms.
Amie Snow
Comments (2)
Amie,
I also wish there was more information about the format of her workshops. I was sucked into the few dialogues with the girls. I wanted to hear even more! I wanted to read more of what they wrote in response to The Diary. This is certainly something I would like to do in my classroom. Perhaps I could try to mimic what she did! :)
Posted by Sarah Feinman | February 21, 2009 6:09 PM
Posted on February 21, 2009 18:09
Amie,
I totally agree with your comment about policy makers ignoring qualitative research! I often call quantitative research findings "elevator reports" because they can be summarized to policy makers in the time it takes to ride an elevator from one floor to the next. :) I think you touched on the power of this curriculum and the findings of this research for this particular group of minority girls.
Posted by Alecia Jackson | February 25, 2009 9:20 PM
Posted on February 25, 2009 21:20