I found the articles by Henry and Staples to be more difficult than previous readings. For one reason, I think the articles used more vocabulary that was more highly specialized and/or unfamiliar (at least to me). I will be the first to admit, for example, that I know next to nothing about black feminist theories. In both articles, I could not wait to get through the introductory material and find out what the researchers actually did with the research participants, simply for the fact that I found the introductory information to be too highly technical and jargon-filled for my liking. Now that I have “voiced” that and put in my two cents’ worth, we can move on.
A commonality I see between both of the articles is that there is power in ownership. Both of the researchers gave their research participants some say in the procedures, texts, assignments, etc. that went along with the work associated with the afterschool club. In “Hustle & Flow,” Staples commented that “My students and I collaborated from beginning to end” (p. 382). She goes on further to say that the program “was led by them; each strategy, role, and question was co-developed with them, stamped with their approval or omitted as ineffective or too intrusive . . .” (p. 387). Henry encouraged her students to relate passages they had read to their own lives, thus encouraging more critical thinking and making the passages more relevant to each individual. As Henry states, “teaching and learning processes often inscribe us into a unidirectional model of education in which the teacher does the thinking, knowing, talking, and decision making, and in which the students passively comply and regurgitate” (p. 241). Such processes, in which the teacher is the all-knowing, all-seeing talking head like in “The Wizard of Oz,” serve to undermine any sense of ownership students might feel. In stripping them of this sense of ownership, the students feel a loss of power in determining what is relevant to their own lives. In my opinion, giving students of that age that amount of control would be somewhat scary in that I don’t know that I, as a teacher, would feel any sense of control, although I guess that goes back to the idea of “cooperative authority” Staples mentions on page 382.
One statement by Henry that struck me as interesting was her assertion, based on research by Staton and Tierney, that “reading and writing activities together promote greater learning than when they are treated as separate subjects” (p. 237). I had never really thought of this and I think one of the main reasons why was that my pre-kindergartners do not “write" in the sense that older children do. It is NOT common for me to read a story and then tell my students to go back to their seats and write about something from the story, such as their favorite part. I do, however, often have them think about the story and perhaps DRAW a picture about something from the story. The students might then dictate something to me related to their pictures. I had never really thought about the fact that the two activities together would increase the students’ learning more than if they were seen as separate, but I suppose this goes along with the idea of integration of subject areas.
One point that I wholeheartedly agreed with, made by Henry, was that finding one’s voice is not always liberating (p. 246). Henry made this statement when relating why Alice felt she must not talk too long to Nadia when they were acting out their play. Alice’s feeling that she must get home to cook for her husband reflected the place of a woman within the literature from Belize. My frame of reference for agreeing that finding one’s voice is not always liberating is my own experience with literature and other “popular culture narratives” (to use the term used by Staples) containing gay characters. For many years, especially in the 1980s with the AIDS epidemic starting up, many references to gay people contained language that depicted them as individuals to be despised, feared, etc. There has also been the common ground in many TV shows that anyone who is gay is the funny one, always good for a laugh, but not much more. Off the top of my head, I can think of Jack Tripper from “Three’s Company” (even though his character was only assumed to be gay) and both Will and Jack from “Will and Grace.” Lastly, for many years, there was the idea that gay people were either sexual predators or they couldn’t “score” and would thus end up living a lonely life. Not a very liberating image, to say the least! From my own experience, I can say that even though those images described above were not very flattering, I did feel a certain joy in the fact that the existence of gay individuals was acknowledged and I knew that I was not alone. I can say that there have been improvements over the years in that there are now TV shows, literature, movies, etc. that give more than a one-dimensional representation of gays. One example that springs to mind is the “Luke and Noah” storyline on “As The World Turns.” (Yes, sometimes I do watch “As The World Turns” and I know it is often considered stereotypical that a gay man would watch soap operas! It is going off the air this year, however, so I’ve got to "enjoy the liberation" while I can! :-))
Clyde Rice
Comments (7)
In regards to your second paragraph (where you mentioned Staple’s student driven activities), do you think it is realistic for teachers to rewrite curriculum based on student’s interest and culture? My planning times have been dominated by meetings this year. It is all I can do to get my grading, parent conferences and the ten million pieces of miscellaneous paperwork done each week and still go home to sleep. In a perfect world we could adapt each lesson to our kid’s interest and needs, but this is reality, where standards are dictated to us and time is limited. Gone are the days of units on penguins and dinosaurs (at least in my district). It might be easy for two-non teachers to point out everything we are doing wrong, but it would be much harder to tell us how and when to get it all done!
-Rebecca Ashby
Posted by Rebecca Ashby | June 13, 2010 9:03 PM
Posted on June 13, 2010 21:03
Clyde-
As a teacher of upper elementary students, I’m not sure that I agree with the statement made in Henry’s article that you included in your response: “Reading and writing activities together promote greater learning than when they are treated as separate subjects” (p. 237).
As a 2nd year teacher I have come to understand the power of combining reading and writing activities. As children read text selections, I feel that they need to be able to discuss what they have read. Sometimes I have students discuss their opinions in small groups, in a whole class situation or to write about their ideas in their journals. This piece of writing is a way that I can read and see if students are getting the gist of the story, and if comprehension is evident. Some students feel more comfortable sharing their ideas on paper, and not speaking up in class.
I also like to incorporate writing assignments along with poetry units. I feel that it only makes sense that students read examples of poetry, and then try their own hands at poetry. Together I feel that reading and writing shape a child’s language arts curriculum.
Renee Hennings June 13, 2010
Posted by Renee Hennings | June 13, 2010 10:46 PM
Posted on June 13, 2010 22:46
Clyde,
Henry's use of the statement, "reading and writing activities together promote greater learning than when they are treated as separate subjects”, was one that I also highlighted. In the past couple of years, I had only considered having my students write, in response to literature comprehension questions. However, this year, I tried using a quick journal writing at the beginning of my Language Arts lesson. The journal writing was connected to the story that we were reading. I found that my students greatly benefited from this writing. Journal entries included having students review the story, or making connections to the story. I am curious as to how others may integrate Writing and Reading in their classrooms?
Posted by Katie Johnson | June 13, 2010 10:52 PM
Posted on June 13, 2010 22:52
Rebecca,
In response to your comment,I do not necessarily think that it is realistic to expect teachers to totally revamp everything to fit a student's interest and culture, but I do think that a good teacher tries to find ways to make assignments broad enough so that students can incorporate their own interests in the assignments. In my work with pre-K, I am supposed to build what I do in my classroom around the students' interests, so that is something I try to do throughout the year. I realize that may be harder for older students with a more set curriculum.
Clyde Rice
Posted by Clyde Rice | June 14, 2010 6:37 AM
Posted on June 14, 2010 06:37
Knowing that you teach preschool, it is understandable that you would not have students writing after every story. I know that you provide other opportunities for expression. One of my favorite stories is after the reading of “Tango makes three, you had nesting supplies available for the children to re-enact the story, that type of activity is gradually replaced with writing, writing, and more writing. Writing is not the only way to express or make sense of our world. Some of us are actors, some of us are doers and some of us are writers. As a fifth grade teacher I must re-think “let’s write about our feelings” and go back to some of the other fun stuff, like acting, drawing, singing and play dough.
Elizabeth Achor
Posted by Elizabeth Achor | June 14, 2010 1:26 PM
Posted on June 14, 2010 13:26
I think that when students see the teacher as the only one with authority and they feel forced to think and respond in a prescribed way, they are less likely to want to voice their thoughts because they are not really their thoughts at all. However, when students get the opportunity to lead in discussions about things that are relevant to them they will be much more open to share their voice in an open and meaningful way. These opportunities should always be present in a healthy classroom environment. I feel we need to facilitate our students and guide them without putting the thoughts and words out for them to just say what we expect them to say. That teaches them nothing. However, we cannot realistically rewrite the standard course of study to meet all the different cultures or interests represented in our classes.
Posted by Tracy Icenhour | June 14, 2010 5:46 PM
Posted on June 14, 2010 17:46
Clyde,
I agree that the introductions to both studies were very technical and difficult to read. Like you, I have zero knowledge of African-American feminist theories. Perhaps that is why I disliked the Henry article: I have no background knowledge in this area. I had to read the study multiple times and still had trouble understanding her conclusions. I did, however, like the Staples study, and I agree that ownership is a major component in the success of the literacy groups.
Laura Corbello
Posted by Laura Corbello | June 15, 2010 4:44 PM
Posted on June 15, 2010 16:44