Intertextuality and Multivocality: Themes on the ListservWe found six broad themes recurring on the listserv; these themes emerged from the data as we tried to classify the resources students were drawing on to support their observations, raise questions, refute or confirm the views of others; thus, these themes represent what we coded as the primary foci of the experiential resources that students drew on repeatedly and often critically in their messages.
(1) Family
(2) School experiences before college (reading, writing, teachers, etc.)
(3) College courses (professors, readings, class discussions, etc)
(4) Teaching experiences (field experiences, student teaching, first year composition teaching, etc.);
(5) Politics/news
(6) References to specific texts and/or writers (without mentioning a specific class/teacher/course).
To illustrate these experiential resources we turn to some postings from a discussion on one of the lists about creative writing that began with this question, which was raised in the more general context of literature teachers teaching composition in a deliberately provocative question from one of us because we thought students were avoiding the issue (intertextual references are in bold):
Are BA English majors qualified enough to give appropriate instruction and evaluation in the area of creative writing? I am impressed with KERA implementing the creative writing component in student portfolios. I believe this form of expression allows students to grow personally and intellectually. Unfortunately, due to demanding pre-college curriculum and fewer electives being offered to high school students, students may fail to discover something they love and enjoy. For this reason, I am happy with the creative writing component being added to the traditional English course. (BW) Like many other states, Kentucky now mandates a writing portfolio for assessment at various grade levels. Thus, BW’s covert collaborations have included news of politics and discussions in his education classes about KERA and its mandates for teachers. The question he brought to the listserv prompted several postings in which participants reflected on their experiences. For example, one student drew on a school literacy experience before college that was not altogether positive to argue that teachers need to be reflective about their writing assignments:
Here CB not only reports a relevant anecdote with a strong lesson, she goes beyond reporting her personal triumph. She also reflects, in the italicized section, on her experience to offer a professional-sounding comment on how writing teachers, including herself in the future, assess writing, an area of explicit concern in the courses she and the other students were taking. This response is to Brian’s message about creative writing. I recall a time when my 9th grade Honors English teacher gave us a creative writing assignment. I jumped at the opportunity, and spent a lot of time fine tuning my story (which was influenced by all the Christopher Pike, RL Stein, and Steven King books I enjoyed reading at the time). When I got my paper back it said "Gruesome! B+" on the bottom. I was pissed. I entered my story (against my teacher’s wishes) to Lucas County Writing Contest, and I won. I remember the comment I made to her: "Wow! The best paper in Lucas County, and I got a B on it." I guess my main point is that teachers may grade creative writing based on styles they like or don’t like. We need to remember as future teachers that if we do assign a creative writing assignment, we need to be prepared for many different forms of writing to have to evaluate, and we need to be open minded enough to grade every one of them fairly, even if they aren’t what we would normally prefer to read. (CB) CB’s anecdote creates a context for other students to share and reflect on their own experiences. For example:
BR evaluates his teacher in the light of CB’s bad experience. "Looking back," he says, on this teacher, he sees a model for the kind of writing teacher that we all hope our students become. Another student’s response recalled her senior high school teacher who asked her and her classmates to write the lyrics to favorite rock ‘n roll songs when they studied creative writing. I guess that I was really lucky by having Mrs. M. as my junior year English teacher. We were given the annual assignment of the research paper and I chose to do mine on Jack the Ripper (I am NOT a psycho. Just a psychology major as well as an education major! Explains a lot, huh?). I am sure, looking back, that she must have been mortified with some of the details of the paper, but she was very understanding and encouraged my writing a great deal. I feel truly blessed to have had her as a teacher. Just a few thoughts. (BR) This public recollection opened a floodgate for postings about music in the classroom. As the following message shows, one prospective teacher in Ohio connected this idea with BW’s posting about KERA by raising the issue of proficiency testing required by the Ohio State Department of Education:
While I think that teaching music as poetry is innovative, I am having trouble seeing its effectiveness. Sure it is minimally effective, but when you have to prepare students for proficiency tests, teach them how to write effectively, expose them to some form of writing/literature, teach spelling and grammar, and something relating to the history of the language, plus everything else expected of secondary English teachers, how do you find time for it? (MR) This student’s response recontextualizes the idea within the perspective of a political reality, a kind of social text that teachers must deal with every day, the influence of standardized tests on curricula and teaching practices. As with other themes, many students contributed to this thread, drawing on their own experiences as students being tested, as student-teachers observing classrooms where they saw more or less overt teaching to the test, and as professionals with a career investment in the connection between classroom and political realities.
In the following example, another student, drawing on a literary experience in a college course, offers a pedagogical defense of music as a way to teach poetry:
This sort of report of personal experience establishes an ethos among student-teachers: it is the voice of a student who has reflected on personal experience in the multiple contexts of teaching language arts, testing, and affect in education. I understand what you said about the many requirements that must be met and are more important for the Proficiency test. I do believe, however, that poetry is an aspect of Language Arts that must be covered and it is more easily understood when put to music. I have just recently experienced this aspect in my African American lit course. The professor hands out lyrics to songs on a regular basis and he plays the songs along with them. The meaning becomes clear through the song. It is more easily understood to me through the rhythm, tune, and the expression by the artist. It also breaks the monotony of the everyday classroom and I really enjoy it! (EL)
Another student contextualizes her reflections on her field experience through a connection with students’ response to poetry; note here the combined discourses of teacher lore and teacher professionalization :This excerpt also illustrates a very common feature of e-mail, multivocality within a text. Here the writer blends formal and vernacular voices seamlessly, in addition to adding her voice to other voices speaking on this topic. I like the idea of music and poetry. I think that students shy from poetry because it seems sappy or elite. The students in the class that I am observing do not like the fact that it doesn’t tell a story. I saw a lesson idea that incorporated a "coffee house" in the classroom to study poetry. The tables were made of desks pulled together with tablecloths over them. The students could read or perform a selected poem to the class. The idea was even used to let them set the poetry that they studied to music. Some students brought in guitars and played along while they read their poem. It sounds a bit trendy, but if it works.....(-: (CT) To illustrate the sixth category of experiential resources that participants drew on in the listserv discussions, we turn to a different issue from the same list. One major thread of discussion on all of the lists we’ve operated has been multiculturalism, whether it had to do with diversity in classrooms or in language and literature. A participant raised a question about how far a teacher can go when a student, in writing or speech, makes racist remarks. The question came up because of something the student had observed at his field experience. which is, by the way, a great example of what we wanted them to do: think about their moral responsibilities in these kinds of situations. The posting about language and racism led to a discussion of ways to teach students respect for people of diverse cultures. Here is an example of one Hispanic-American using an example from her family to make a point:
Here YM engages in critical reflection about pedagogy, connecting her father’s personal experience with political and pedagogical concerns. Many other students also contributed to this distributed public thinking about discrimination and inclusiveness in schools. Teaching cultural diversity in the classroom is extremely important to me. My father moved to America at the age of 7 and he has informed me of the many horror stories of coming to a different country. He was made fun of for his accent. He told me he can’t remember a teacher who really helped him in this major transition. He said the way he learned was being paired with another student and observing everything he did. We need to make our students feel comfortable and proud of their ethnicity. I never want any of my students to feel the way my father felt when he came to America. (YM) Back to Table of Contents
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