A Thought On the Social Dynamics Issue

So after our conversation in class I was looking again at the section on page 69 about the expectations for journal writing about books - the "interpretive competence" looked for in the class.  In one sense, I thought this was another example of the same kids (the older, more confident girls primarily) having more power than the other kids, and things in the classroom really being comfortable to them much more so than to others.  There's examples of some of those leaders in the class telling the others what to do, and so on.  But on the other hand, getting students to respond to a book rather than retell it is something that I struggle with in class sometimes.  It's a battle with some kids, and it's something that would be easier if it was a class-culture sort of thing.  If almost everyone was consistently being analytic or critical instead of retelling, and if everyone valued and looked up to those kids who did a good job at that, it would push some of my kids who are certainly able to write and reflect like that but don't always want to.  I think the culture of thinking in Julia's class is terrific, and she clearly is doing a lot of specific things to make that happen.  I just wonder if those are actually the SAME things that simultaneously exclude some of the kids like James and Jason.  And is there a middle ground?