"Texts found in the classroom, and how they are used, are the product of power relationships within society. Texts and their use are "sponsored" by particular groups - both inside and outside the classroom - representing particular ideologies" (p. 259-260).
Sponsors can be people such as teachers, publishers, administrators, and the state and federal government.
Sponsors and Standards
The text discusses the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the criticisms that the standards have received. These standards determine what knowledge is legitimate and imposes a one-size-fits all approach to teaching and schools. It is hard for these criticisms to not be related back to the sponsors, or the people who created the CCSS. Sponsorship means power and authority. The sponsors of the CCSS have a large responsibility to create standards that can be integrated into classrooms all over the United States.
Ideologies and "Standard Truths"
Ideologies of a specific group of people can affect interpretation and the way a text is read. This is demonstrated most notably through some Evangelical Christian denominations. For these groups, a close and exact reading of the Bible is imperative to understanding God's plans for the world and what he wants from His people. They do not want to encourage other interpretations. They see The Bible as black and white. Students who share this Christian view of the Bible try to use the same literal interpretations with other types of literacy.
Perspectives of a particular group are usually affected by those in power. These "standardized truths" are viewed as beliefs the whole group recognizes, and can therefore repress other beliefs and voices.
Social Constructivism vs Foundationism
Social Constructivism - "knowledge is understood to be communally constructed and promoted by like-minded individuals" (p. 264)
- authority and power are important to understanding phenomenons
- knowledge is a product of human activity
- knowledge exists because of its need within a community
- knowledge can change when it is no longer useful to the community
- multiple truths
- characteristics of a group determine which truth is accepted
- believe in deconstruction of texts to find hidden meanings
- texts represent multiple meanings across various communities depending on interpretation
Foundationism - norm within society; "truth is present whether known or not; its existence is independent of human activity" (p. 267).
- seek knowledge to find truth
- knowledge changes when it is found to be untrue
- justification based on objective and reliable evidence
- particular texts are supreme because they are universal across space and time and have a single meaning
Most classrooms have a foundationist perspective regarding knowledge and texts.
Literature Identities and Text Interpretation
We know that each student enters the classroom with his or her own unique background knowledge that affects how any text is understood. This background knowledge is partly formed from the various social groups the student belongs to. Shared experiences with these groups can lead to shared understandings.
The text examined how various texts can affect our interpretations. Kucer compared the folktale The Three Little Pigs to the story The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. In the folktale, the pig's intentions were selfish as he simply wanted to eat the pigs for his own pleasure. In the "true story", the pig simply wanted to borrow a cup of sugar for his granny's cake but his cold got in the way. Also interesting to examine is the point of view that these two stories are told from. Although not mentioned in the folktale, one can assume it is told from the perspective of a pig or a reporter who heard about the story. Also, the author of the folktale likely knows that the audience is likely fearful or wolves, which makes it easier to portray the wolf as the bad guy.
Texts such as both of the three little pig stories provide an opportunity for teachers to educate their students on critiquing texts for their perspective and positions they represent. These comparison activities can support students with their development of critical literacy abilities.
Two other texts were analyzed in the chapter, The Great Big Enormous Turnip and The Carrot Seed. These texts provide a different lesson opportunity for teachers who wish to encourage critical literacy.
Teachers need to help their students to understand the explicit meanings of text as well as the more subtle meanings and messages found in a text.
Gender identities also affect a child's academic development. The following was found during a study by Kamler (1993):
"The stories authored by the boy tended to focus on behaviors within events that positioned himself as an actor and doer."
"In contrast, the girl situated herself as a describer or commentator. Her role was passive and reflective in nature, and she frequently expressed her personal feelings and emotions about an event" (p. 273).
*Table 10.6 describes all of the contrasts found between the writing samples
Gender differences can also (unintentionally) affect classroom activities and the classroom dynamic. Heineken (1995) found that access to writing conferences varied with boys and girls. Boys dominated the literacy conversations and did not like to conference with the girls, even when discussing a topic such as sports. A single male child usually led the literacy club and there were often students excluded from the conference who didn't "fit in".
Dyson (1997, 1998) conducted another study and found a similar male dominance during the study. The boys did not like the idea of girls writing superhero stories where a girl had the lead role, and some boys refused to act it out as a theater production.
Boys also receive a favoritism with the use of technology. "According to Marshall (2008), studies consistently reveal that boys receive greater encouragement to engage with digital technologies at home and at school" (p. 276). But when games were made gender neutral, girls were more effective at playing them.
Girls and boys tended to use the internet in different ways. Girls were more likely to write journals and personal blogs, while boys wrote things that were more informational. Boys also clicked more links and liked to explore webpages, while girls tended to read more rather than clicking around.
Reader Response vs Critical Response
Reader Response - teachers help students connect their personal experiences with the text being read
Critical Response - responses reflect not just personal knowledge, but also popular and cultural knowledge; students comprehend text and interpret it using their sociocultural identity and history
Critical Response moves beyond just acknowledging and affirming student responses, and desires to create a more just and equitable society. Questions that encourage critical response desire for students to think deeply about the text, the author, the audience, various perspectives, any stereotypes of the text, etc. These type of questioning and thinking is more important than ever in our society obsessed with internet. Readers of online sources need to be able to judge trustworthiness and accuracy of a site.
*Table 10.8 offers some great questions that encourage critical response.
We also need to be aware of types of multicultural text that promote different ideals. Questions that encourage critical response are necessary to separate books that promote harmony, culture awareness, and sensitivity vs those that promote a multiracial democracy in which certain groups have power and others are powerless.
QUESTIONS!!
1. Do you have any ideas how we can make girls feel included in the classroom? How do you discourage male dominance?
2. Do you think that Reader Response needs to be combined with Critical Response questions? Do you think we should encourage Critical Response with emergent and beginning readers, or should we mainly use Reader Response with these students?
I encourage you to use these vocab words in the discussion! cultural capital, social constructionism, gendered writing, critical literacy, critical response.
1. My main goal as a teacher is for EVERYONE, both boys and girls to feel included in my classroom. I don't feel like the girls in my class are excluded--sometimes they are more domineering than the boys! But, maybe that is my perception of my classroom. I should do more investigating. That being said, there are times that girls' voices and ideas can get dominated by boys in group discussions and activities. One way I try to give girls a voice in my classroom is by doing Girls Only Book Clubs. My book clubs meet at lunch/recess where we all read the same book and meet to discuss a few times. I like to do girls only book clubs because they are more likely to be given a chance to talk than when they are in a mixed group. (I also do the same thing for boys.) Usually when I group students for peer revising/editing, I put girls with girls and boys with boys. I also have some boys who prefer working with girls and vice versa.
ReplyDelete2. I definitely think critical literacy is a good combination of Reader Response and Critical Response. Even with beginning readers, teachers can incorporate Critical Response in age-appropriate ways, such as discussion during a read aloud. I think using two books that talk about the same event/story is a great way to start a culturally responsive discussion with students. Though younger students may not know words like stereotypes or exclusion, you can still discuss ideas like "being left out" or "not being treated fairly." Being exposed to thinking this way while reading in the early stages will make this practice a natural thing as they get older. Hopefully, they will develop into full-fledged critical literates.
Jenny, thank you for your response! I love your idea of gender Book Clubs! I'm sure that the kids think that is really special - I always loved getting to spend time with my teacher during lunch!
DeleteI think that you are correct with the fact that sometimes girls can be more dominant; it really just depends on the classroom and situation.
Have any of you ever used the I-Chart mentioned on pg. 280? I haven't used it for critical response like the author showed, but I have used it for research. It helped my students keep straight what pieces of information came from different sources. You can download a clean copy at http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/Inquiry%20Chart.pdf.
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't, but thank you for the resource!
DeleteI definitely agree with you on both of these topics.
No but I'll be checking it out.
Delete1. Do you have any ideas how we can make girls feel included in the classroom? How do you discourage male dominance?
ReplyDeleteI read an article recently that was titled something along the lines of “3 Phrases Every Girl Needs to Know Right Now”. The phrases were: “Stop interrupting me”, “I already said that”, and “No explanation needed”. It had some interesting points of view on how we raise girls differently than boys and how are social group “groom” us to be different socially. I think that having clear procedures on when it is ok to talk and how to talk is important. Teach students how to not interrupt. Model a polite conversation. Make sure that there is time for everyone to speak. Make sure everyone’s voice is valued. I think that since I was a very shy, quiet girl growing up, I am mindful of when students speak and letting that have time to have their voice be heard. I liked the examples of gendered writing: I think that this is very typical from early childhood on. This is probably how they see their parents write from a young age.
2. Do you think that Reader Response needs to be combined with Critical Response questions? Do you think we should encourage Critical Response with emergent and beginning readers, or should we mainly use Reader Response with these students? I think that we should use both. I think that scaffolding their critical thinking skills while they are young will make them more independent thinkers and more empathetic community members when they are older. Students need Reader Response in order to connect to text: students need critical response in order to connect themselves and texts to those around them. Students start off as young children who see the world from their point of view; introducing them to other points of view will help them to develop a more well-rounded world view that can be open to critical literacy.
Megan, Thank you for your input! I agree! When the text mentioned the study in which boys dominated discussions in the classroom, I was thinking "where is the teacher intervention here?" I think that modeling is so important. Boys need to know how to work with and how to talk to girls and vice versa.
DeleteYes, we as teachers can help control that dominance. Boys tend to be more aggressive than girls, I suppose, but we can structure our classrooms physically and the lessons themselves so everyone participates.
DeleteMegan, I would be really interested in reading that article. I tried googling it and didn't see anything. If you find, do you mind sending the link?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea about having clear procedures of when to talk and when to not talk. I feel like this is something I don't do very well. I usually am fine with them talking while working, but then sometimes they get super loud and it pushes me over the edge! Maybe some kind of visual would be helpful. Anyone seen anything good that could work?
1. I've done research on general classroom practices with girls and boys, and girls tend to get favoritism in the other areas. We are always trying to figure out ways to get boys engaged and more involved in the learning process. Curriculum in general is geared towards girls and feelings. Therefore I see technology as a to allow boys to motivated. Yet everyone should feel included and good at all the activities. This being said I think giving specific directions. Allow for ample time to practice. Inviting girls to showcase new ideas on technology. The more practice girls have in technology use the more ownership they will have.
ReplyDelete2. I think critical response is always good to teach. It should be incorporated whenever it fits. Critical thinking is a skill everyone needs. It helps students navigate through the world. Including both views creates a balanced approach. Therefore they should each be used when they are needed.
I agree with you Kaitlin. In our after-school STEM programs, more boys than girls sign up to participate. If students drop out over the course of the program, they are usually girls. It's no surprise that the boys enjoy working with technology to build video games or legos to make types of helicopters, but the girls enjoy it too! Seeing these girls get interested in things like video game design and aeronautical engineering is exciting. I think these types of experiences are necessary to show girls things that may not be "typical" girl activities can be something they are interested in.
DeleteI agree with you, too, Kaitlin, that critical response to reading needs to be taught at very young ages. Why not? I'm thinking of the tomato experiment and how that boy wondered about the advertisements he watched and the language that was used, and how the ad for tomato planters was geared toward a weaker sex (females) and he caught that! He was young and understood that. Amazing, but a very teachable moment, as his mother (the author of the article) used it as.
Delete1. Do you have any ideas how we can make girls feel included in the classroom? How do you discourage male dominance?
ReplyDeleteI think social identities are changing in our society. An example of this is the STEM program; girls are encouraged to participate in science and math today. GirslStart.org is one website of several that encourage girls to excel in STEM. I'm used to a more East-coast view on education than what I see and experience here in Oklahoma. On the East coast, girls are encouraged as much as boys are in the classroom. I did not see or experience a lot of gender bias relative to conversation, questions, encouragement, projects, assignments., etc. in the classrooms in the Boston area where I taught. In fact, my own daughter is a product of an East coast education and she wants to major in biomedical engineering. So I think it really depends on what part of the country we're in, what the social identities are, and how girls are empowered.
Textbook selection is an area where we can hold sway as educators and encourage girls, regardless of what part of the country we're in. The school where I'm teaching now is reviewing a new social studies series and what is being included in the series, the verbage, the historical timelines, the emphasis is all being taken into consideration relative to gender equity.
Novel selection is another area we can help empower the disenfranchised, whether it's females, or people of color, or whomever. When we are careful, thoughtful, and enlightened about the reading we choose for our students, it can make a world if difference to them.
Teaching critical literacy skills is vital as well. Children need to know from an early age how to read text. They should not believe something just because it's in print (or on the Internet)! Children --- both girls and boys --- need to think about who has written the piece, why it was written, the words that were used, the audience the piece was written for, and so on, and then make some decisions about the writing.
We are invested in the cultural capital of our world. The social relations within our own classrooms confers power and status. I believe this occurs even at very young ages and in early grades, like preschool and kindergarten. What students are exposed to, how their ideas are received, the language they use, even the way they dress, can determine how girls are perceived and treated. Thinking this way, I try to do my part as a teacher to ensure that girls' ideas, interests, thoughts are valued and respected as much as boys' are. It takes time and perseverence to change attitudes that have taken root over many years.
2. Do you think that Reader Response needs to be combined with Critical Response questions? Do you think we should encourage Critical Response with emergent and beginning readers, or should we mainly use Reader Response with these students?
Reader response implies an individual's connection with text, whereas critical response requires an individual's background knowledge and cultural values be taken into consideration. Critical response includes more than just one person's view --- it takes into account sociocultural perspectives, economic perspectives, religious perspectives and draws upon these various perspectives to think carefully about text.
Reader response seems to be a beginning, immediate, ego-driven type of response to text, and critical response seems to be a more thoughtful, better-developed, other-centered response to text.So I would say that with very young children that starting with reader response would be appropriate because children tend to be egocentric. Then, as they grow and learn things and have exposure to more experiences, they should develop a more critical view of the text they're reading. So it seems to me there's a developmental curve, so to speak, when viewing and thinking about text.
Way to knock it out of the park, Marti! I hadn't thought about text book selection as a way to encourage gender equality. Thinking about that, I have noticed that our Reading text book has a good mixture of stories from varying cultures. It also has several texts in which women are seen strong and just as capable as men. We also need to think about gender roles and diverse cultures when selecting read alouds and novels. I also appreciate what you said about cultural capital. We must model how to treat others and share power with others.
Delete2. I hadn't thought about the fact that Reader Response can be ego-centric and focus too much on self. Critical Response calls students to look outside themselves. Wow, I feel like I have much to think about as I plan my final weeks of school and think about curriculum next year.
Marti, Thank you for your thoughtful responses! You provided a lot of suggestions that can assist with everyone feeling included in the classroom. I hadn't thought about the fact that different areas of the country have different teaching values. I know that Oklahoma schools are putting a greater stress on STEM subjects now, but it seems as if OK is behind compared to the rest of the country.
DeleteI hope in the future more STEM games and products are created that have girls as the primary focus to increase their interest!
Wow-great job, Marti! I think an interesting point too is that in reading, girls are more open to having a character that is different than them (I.e. A boy) than boys are about girl main characters. This fits in with the idea that social values are hard to change, but as teachers we can be advocates for change.
DeleteYes, Megan, boys tend to resis female main characters. We read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle as a novel study with my seventh and eighth grade language-based classes. Those classes were more boys than girls, and some of the boys wondered how a female could play a lead role in an adventure story. Well, we read the story and learned how she could! Seeing how it's done, from a literacy standpoint, can have a postive impact.
DeleteThanks to all of you for your thoughtful discussion.
ReplyDelete