Although Julia gives several opportunities for her students to think critically as they read and share their thoughts, some students did not share with their peers. Was it because they did not feel comfortable with the peers they were grouped with? Did they not share because they did not feel comfortable with the content being discussed? Practicing critical literacy in the classroom is not enough. Yes, Julia prompted interesting conversations and gave students the space to share their thoughts - but some of her students did not participate in these conversations. For instance, Lewis describes a peer-led discussion on Number the Stars on pages 110 and 111. Although Jason begins the discussion by reading a response in his journal, Nikki interrupts his thoughts and takes power over the conversation. Jason was absent from the entire event after his initial thoughts. "Although the Number discussion was one time when Jason attempted to meet the expectation of an audience that valued talk about characters, he still functioned as a silent member of the group." This event demonstrates the roles performed by focal students in this study. Nikki was the insider in this conversation, while Jason was the outsider. In response to this event, Jason explained that he did not like discussing big issues because they were too hard and too slow. His favorite literature group was an all-boys group consisting mostly of fifth-graders that discussed independent reading. In choosing reading groups for our students, it is important to think about content and who will benefit most from the conversations. Whereas Jason felt intimidated by sixth graders, Nikki, also a fifth grader, felt challenged by their presence in her book groups. She enjoyed what she felt the sixth graders could offer her.
I recently gave my students the opportunity to discuss a class novel in groups of their choosing. I left it very free-form, so kids could pick who to work with and (within reason) the size of the groups. I gave minimal directions about the locations of the groups and how far apart they should be. What I observed was really interesting -- in both my classes, all or most of the boys gathered into 1 or 2 groups rather than creating mixed groups, and the boys' groups in both classes gravitated toward the rug area. During the discussion, the boys tended to take up a lot of space, move around a lot, and talked without looking at one another very often, moving and standing/sitting throughout the discussion. I listened in quite a bit to these groups and found that they were discussing the book, but to an outside view they might appear to be playing around or off task because they were all over the place physically. That makes me reflect on the question we asked ourselves about what types of students are privileged by our literacy structures -- I am thinking in this case even about the basic classroom structures (like desks and chairs) as well as the expectation that a literary discussion will be generally quiet(ish) and still.
There's always a fine line -- in one boy group, for instance, as the discussion went on, some of the physicality did turn into a moment or two of roughhousing which I had to stop (even though it was not malicious in intent). And there's the issues of space -- I am lucky enough to have enough classroom space to have kids spread out a bit -- and respecting other kids' rights to have a quieter discussion if that's a structure that works for them (again, space helps). But it's interesting to think about how our notions of how literate discussion "looks" might be sometimes misleading.
Although Julia gives several opportunities for her students to think critically as they read and share their thoughts, some students did not share with their peers. Was it because they did not feel comfortable with the peers they were grouped with? Did they not share because they did not feel comfortable with the content being discussed?
ReplyDeletePracticing critical literacy in the classroom is not enough. Yes, Julia prompted interesting conversations and gave students the space to share their thoughts - but some of her students did not participate in these conversations. For instance, Lewis describes a peer-led discussion on Number the Stars on pages 110 and 111. Although Jason begins the discussion by reading a response in his journal, Nikki interrupts his thoughts and takes power over the conversation. Jason was absent from the entire event after his initial thoughts. "Although the Number discussion was one time when Jason attempted to meet the expectation of an audience that valued talk about characters, he still functioned as a silent member of the group." This event demonstrates the roles performed by focal students in this study. Nikki was the insider in this conversation, while Jason was the outsider. In response to this event, Jason explained that he did not like discussing big issues because they were too hard and too slow. His favorite literature group was an all-boys group consisting mostly of fifth-graders that discussed independent reading.
In choosing reading groups for our students, it is important to think about content and who will benefit most from the conversations. Whereas Jason felt intimidated by sixth graders, Nikki, also a fifth grader, felt challenged by their presence in her book groups. She enjoyed what she felt the sixth graders could offer her.
I recently gave my students the opportunity to discuss a class novel in groups of their choosing. I left it very free-form, so kids could pick who to work with and (within reason) the size of the groups. I gave minimal directions about the locations of the groups and how far apart they should be. What I observed was really interesting -- in both my classes, all or most of the boys gathered into 1 or 2 groups rather than creating mixed groups, and the boys' groups in both classes gravitated toward the rug area. During the discussion, the boys tended to take up a lot of space, move around a lot, and talked without looking at one another very often, moving and standing/sitting throughout the discussion. I listened in quite a bit to these groups and found that they were discussing the book, but to an outside view they might appear to be playing around or off task because they were all over the place physically. That makes me reflect on the question we asked ourselves about what types of students are privileged by our literacy structures -- I am thinking in this case even about the basic classroom structures (like desks and chairs) as well as the expectation that a literary discussion will be generally quiet(ish) and still.
ReplyDeleteThere's always a fine line -- in one boy group, for instance, as the discussion went on, some of the physicality did turn into a moment or two of roughhousing which I had to stop (even though it was not malicious in intent). And there's the issues of space -- I am lucky enough to have enough classroom space to have kids spread out a bit -- and respecting other kids' rights to have a quieter discussion if that's a structure that works for them (again, space helps). But it's interesting to think about how our notions of how literate discussion "looks" might be sometimes misleading.