Who We Were; Who We Are; Who We Are Becoming Examining Our Identities Through Literature
Dr. Vicki Sherbert College of Education Kansas State University April 2, 2016
Who Am I?
• We are all on a lifelong journey to answer this question. • Who I am today is not necessarily the same as who I was yesterday or who I’ll be tomorrow. • This journey can be puzzling and perplexing, and sometimes painful. • We can do much to help children and young adults - and ourselves! - by making connections and engaging with literature.
Identity, Agency, & Power
Identity, Agency, & Power
Kathleen Kelly: [writing to "NY152"] Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void.
Truth, Memory, & Power Reframing Sociocultural Research on Literacy: Identity, Agency, and Power Lewis, Enciso, & Moje (2007)
Identity • Identity can be described as a stable, internal state of being. • Identity is socially and linguistically fluid. • Identity takes into account the different positions individuals enact or perform in particular settings within social, economic, and historical relationships. • Individuals form identities when they participate in these settings and reconfigure their identities as they react to circumstances. • Individuals also define their identities based on what they believe others expect from them and those expectations may be based on messages they get from others and from society at large.
Agency • Agency can be described as the strategic making and remaking of selves, identities, activities, and relationships within structures of power. • Power circulates and as a result structures of power change in order to allow different degrees of agency, which can resist structural constraints and can sometimes lead to transformative practices. • Agency is a way of positioning oneself in order to allow for new ways of being and new identity development.
Power • In sociocultural research, power is considered to be produced and enacted through discourses, relationships, activities, space, and time by individuals as they compete for resources and identities. • Sociocultural researchers often consider Foucault’s theories about power as “productive”, as a result of interactions and relationships rather than something that is possessed by some and desired or resisted by others. • These productions may be unpredictable when individuals participate in or challenge oppressive power relations.
Connecting and Engaging Readers • Read aloud. – In Defense of Read-Aloud: Sustaining Best Practice by Steven L. Layne • Create a climate that fosters reading habits. – Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer’s Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits by Donalyn Miller
From Dr. Steven L. Layne
pp. xiii; 9, 54
From Donalyn Miller
Donalyn Miller’s Nonnegotiables • Time to read: Students need time to read and write. • Choice: Students need to make their own choices about reading material and writing topics. • Response: Students need the opportunity to respond in natural ways to the books they read and the pieces they write. • Community: Students need to feel that they are part of a community of readers and writers. • Structure: The [reading/writing] workshop rests on a structure of predictable rituals and procedures that support the students and teacher.
Connecting and Engaging: Sharing our own journeys
Considering the journeys of our students • This journey can be puzzling and perplexing, and sometimes painful. • Sociocultural Theory - Identity, Agency, Power • What texts can we share with students to support them on their journey?
Books to Connect and Engage • • • • •
Picture Books Poetry Graphic Novels Young Adult Fiction Memoirs
Picture Books
Poetry
Graphic Novels
Young Adult Literature
Memoirs
Who We Were; Who We Are; Who We Are Becoming
• Be willing to share our journeys. • Be diligent to share great books. • Connection and Engagement with literature supports students as they establish their identities and enact agency as they engage in the power of learning.
Resources Picture Books Daywalt, D. (2013). The day the crayons quit. New York: Philomel Books. Daywalt, D. (2015). The day the crayons came home. New York: Philomel Books. Jenkins, E. & Blackall, S. (2015). A fine dessert: Four centuries, four families, one delicious treat. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books. Polacco, P. (2015). An A from Miss Keller. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Poetry Kennedy, C. (2013). Poems to learn by heart. New York: Disney/Hyperion. Pinkney, A. D. (2014). The red pencil. New York: Limle, Brown and Company. Wiviom, M. (2015). Paper hearts: A novel based on true events. New York: Margaret K. McElderberry Books. Graphic Novels/Graphic Nonfic8on Holm, J. L. & Holm M. W. (2015). Sunny side up. New York: Graphix. Lewis, J. & Aydin, A. (2013). March: Book one. Mariema, GA: Top Shelf Producnons. Lewis, J. & A. Aydin. (2015). March: Book two. Mariema, GA: Top Shelf Producnons. Lizano, M., Dauvillier, L, & Salsedo, G. (2012). Hidden. New York: First Second. Young Adult Fic8on Anderson, L. H. (2014). The impossible knife of memory. New York: Viking. Crowder, M. (2015). Audacity. New York: Philomel. Holmes. K. (2015). The distance between lost and found. New York: Scholasnc. Knowles, J. (2015). Read between the lines. New York: Candlewick. Memoir Alifirenka, C. and Ganda, M. (2015). I will always write back: How one leNer changed two lives. New York: Limle, Brown, and Company. Smith, H. L. Y. (2015). A simple life. Lincoln, NE: Relanve Connecnons Prinnng. Professional Resources Lane, S. L. (2015). In defense of read-aloud: Sustaining best pracOce. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Lewis, C.; Enciso, P.; & Moje, E. B. (2007). Reframing sociocultural research on literacy: IdenOty, agency, and power. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Miller, D. (2014). Reading in the wild: The Book Whisperer’s keys to culOvaOng lifelong reading habits. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Video Clip “Just Call Me Joe - You’ve Got Mail” hmps://youtu.be/to-69CP_lYs