RES 5530: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Spring 2009)

I really appreciated the podcast and would have loved the instruction and insight when I took my Action Research class. The podcast and outline were clear and concise in the description of qualitative research.
The Moller and Allen article conjured up some thoughts while I was reading. First, I need to purchase the book by Mildred Taylor. I read Lincoln's Way by Patricia Polacco to my class yesterday and I think there are some similarities between the books. The Friendship is definitely for the older grades,while the Polacco book tackles racism for a younger audience. My class listened intently as I read and we had a discussion afterwards that was okay. I sensed some hesitation about the topic. The topic of racism or prejudice is uncomfortable to talk about, even in second grade when some of the students' inhabitions are low. I love that a book will not always illicit comfortable conversation. The girls in the article struggled with fear as they pressed on in the application of The Friendship to life around them and their personal experiences. The book had become more than a collection of words transcribed on pages, it had become a revelation of life to these four young ladies. It was a revelation that was difficult to comprehend, yet they pressed on. They allowed themselves to connect this literature with situations from their own lives. They moved from a narrow, obstructed view of factual recall from the details of a book to building connection with its themes and characters to their very own lives. The Friendship had freed them from word analysis and reading rates and opened a door to engaged reading. The focus on meaning rather than a set of isolated skills drew the girls in to the pages of a book. Sim Bishop sums it up this way,"The main purpose of a literay work...is to encourage its readers to reflect on the human condition." These girls did that, this purpose was accomplished. This is also my purpose in introducing literature in my classroom. It is to expose the commonalities of life between the characters in a story with the real life events surrounding us on a daily basis. When the focus is on the connection, or the building of meaning, EVERY student can participate and find success. EVERY student comes with their own set of circumstances and life shaping events that will affect their processing of a piece of literature. When I read Lincoln's Way yesterday, my student who reads at a preprimer level didn't feel shut out or "dumb". He is always the first one to participate in the discussion. He may not grasp many of the words, but he deeply understands the themes and meanings of our stories. Perhaps my favorite part of the article was Tamika's poem. She found a way to express her reaction, her connection to this powerful book. While this study was conducted over a period of 5 sessions, the impact will continue on with these girls over a lifetime. They were sitting on a runway in their classrooms, just taxing around in isolated skills waiting for the tower to give them the go ahead to take off. Karla gathered them together, allowed them to press on their accelerators, and soar up into the atmosphere of meaning. These girls, I have a feeling are still circling about up there, blazing new trails in the skies.
Stefoni Shaw