RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

Control of Learning

Who is in control of the learning environment? Is the classroom a place of dictatorship, with the teacher in charge? Do the students have a voice in their learning?
There was a common connection that struck my attention, as I concluded the two articles. The two articles represent the goals of educators in working to connect literature to ALL students, despite race, gender, dialect, or culture. It was their objective to reach students where they are inside and outside of the school environment. I commend Staples and Henry in their efforts to work to implement and integrate literacy with two groups of students who are often judged as illiterate due to their race and culture. One way in which Staples and Henry worked to overcome the struggles faced by these two groups was that they gave the students both “choice” and “voice” in the classroom. The students were a part of their own learning, as well as in control of the literature experience.
“As alternative educators remind us, 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” (pg. 241, Henry). There is great truth in this statement; I highlighted it several times, and couldn’t help but come back to it, as I concluded the passages. Many teachers are known as being dictators in the classroom; many teachers find comfort in knowing that they are the “captain of the ship”, in complete control. It was imperative that in Henry’s objective to encourage the African Caribbean girls to speak up and speak out about their literature experiences, that they have a role in the discussions and development of the literature sessions. I also noted that Staples used cooperative authority when working with the students, and not just the teacher designing the learning process. During both research studies, researchers used a variety of methods to reach each student’s interests and allowed the girls and boys to be in control of the literature, discussions, and writings. I believe that when students have a choice and feel that their input is valued by the teacher, then they are more apt to being successful learners.
Traditional educational theories teach us that there is only one “right” answer, and the teacher is always “right”. Henry states that she had a difficult time encouraging the girls to speak up and speak out, because the students believed that there was only one “right answer”. A valuable piece of the research study was to “unlearn” the traditional thoughts of students that there is only “one right way”.
When implementing my own research study in my classroom this year, “book talks”, I found that students do become wrapped up in the notion that there is only one answer to a question, and that it is either “right or wrong”. There are some questions that we called, “skinny” questions that often lend to solitary answers. We also had to work on using questions in our discussions that were open-ended questions, called “fat” questions. These questions helped us further discuss the books that we read. During our first “book talk”, my students were quiet and timid; they were used to someone (teacher), leading the discussion. One of my goals in implementing the book talks was to allow my students to have control over the discussions. To be honest, it was tough to step out of control of the discussions, and allow my students to lead; they also had a tough time. However, over the course of the research study, they began to “open-up” and lead the talks on their own. Students were given choice as to the books that they read and encouraged to construct their own questions. I believe this experience of allowing them choice and control of the literature that they worked with and discussions that followed was one of the most beneficial this year.
Concluding the two articles, I am encouraged to work to find ways in which to make the classroom a place of “cooperative authority”, not “my classroom”, but “our classroom”. In what ways can teachers allow students to have control of their learning in the classroom?

Katie Johnson