EDUC 7752 Multiple Literacies in Schools and Communities Place Project: Textures of Place Literacy Objectives: Students will articulate the significance of place to literacy issues and experiences for individuals (your self and your students), schools (your profession), and society (your world). Students will determine how understanding literacies occurs within the context of place. Explanation of Objectives: You will conduct this mini-case study regarding the idea of literacy and place and will meet the objectives by reflecting, researching, and synthesizing. For this project you will 1) reflect upon formative experiences in the development of your teaching identity that emerge in the interrogation of influences of place, 2) research scholarship on pedagogies and curriculum of place and on literacy, literacy issues, and multiple literacies to discover the importance and impact of place on literacy issues (including literacy itself), and 3) synthesize your reflections and findings by identifying connections among curriculum/literacy and the cultural and social processes embedded in place that have influenced you as educators. Note: the project requires outside readings; the research that may include the internet. You will present your study in a poster session (display) held during class. I have attempted to provide you with general directions for the development of your project in an effort to give you space to be creative in how you meet the objectives. Required components of the project: Place artifacts Your own “Place narrative” Reflective journal/notes Evidence of research that connects/ties together themes/concepts Clear pedagogical implications Writing Prompts to Guide Place Narrative The following questions are prompts to guide and help focus your reflection. You should begin journaling in narrative and descriptive writing that addresses these issues. You should not limit yourself to addressing these questions exclusively, nor should are you expected to address each one. Remember, the focus is on connecting self, place, and literacy/literacies: a. What are some of your earliest memories of school? Can you describe the school room, the teacher, other students, school activities? b. As a young child, how did you feel while attending school; for instance, comfortable, uneasy, bored, interested, etc.? How did you feel about yourself as a child and student in light of these memories? c. How would you describe the society of your early school years? What societal and/or cultural factors stand out in your early memories? These might include gender identity, racial identity, socioeconomic status, etc. that surface as you write. d. What is your own understanding of the concept(s) of “literacy”? What literacy practices in homes, schools (particularly your own), and larger society have you observed as an educator? e. How have your own literacy practices been shaped by cultural markers such as race, class, gender, religion, etc? What implications might this have for your students, your pedagogy? As you journal, use the following guidelines to shape your reflections into a place narrative: a. Write a free flowing autobiographical account of your early years and early school years, etc., using writing prompts (above) if desired. b. Then, examine that writing and look for evidence of influences of place, i.e., locale/environment, as well as family structure, culture, etc. upon those experiences. Record narratives in which you reflect upon influences of place upon identity construction. c. We will discuss these and all writings during lab/work time in class and via email communication. d. Next, formulate questions for yourself based on those two aforementioned writings and discussions. e. Look for thematic issues/codes around which to group those influences. f. Finally, compile a narrative in which you work toward answering your own questions, thereby making connections among self, place, and literacy/literacies. Final Product: Your project will be displayed in a session similar to those at professional conferences. You will be expected to explain your work and answer any questions that observers might have. I am intentionally keeping the guidelines broad for what a final product should look like in order to allow for your creativity, individuality, and professional analysis. I do expect a written narrative accompanied by your reflective journal/notes. I envision a poster-type display that will graphically illustrate connections you have made through your reflective research. Evaluation: Your grade for the project will be based on 1) how well you have met the objectives for the assignment, 2) the overall quality of your presentation, including your ability to speak about your work. I. Philosophy & Goals This qualitative research project explores in narrative and descriptive form the lived experiences of classroom teachers who demonstrate through their reflection a consciousness of place. The project is focused on a study that links and traces the influences of place, including race, gender, socioeconomic status, religion, and other cultural and historical factors, to the identity formation of educators. The research will be guided by the following questions: How do social and cultural elements of place shape the teaching identity, dispositions, and practice of teachers? And, is there a place literacy? This research attends to the development of teaching identities that emerge in the interrogation of influences of place. The goals of this project are as follows: 1) examine formative experiences of teachers and allow participants to develop self understanding of cultural and social processes that have influenced and continue to influence their roles as educators; 2) create conversation about the progressive transformation of place literacy; 3) identify connections between curriculum/literacy and the cultural and social processes embedded in place that influence educators. II. Significance Place is crucial to understanding the self and society; the politics of place not only inform identity construction, but also shape dispositions that influence pedagogical practices and perspectives. Place, therefore, is central to curriculum studies that relate the individual and the social. For the purposes of this research, place refers to more than a regional geographic location. It is one “organizing idea for political, autobiographical, racial, and gender issues in curriculum” (Pinar et al., 1995, p. 289). Place frames the lived experience, not only as landscape, but as curriculum landscape upon which the educational community might reevaluate the traditional understanding of the learning environment (Slattery, 1995, p. 215). Finally, place is a metaphor for public space, as envisioned by Green (1973, 1978, 1988), wherein human consciousness is situated to contemplate democratic engagement, freedom. Greene states, “The effects of early experience survive, along with the sedimentations of meaning left by encounters with a changing world…The growing, changing individual always has to confront a certain weight in lived situations, if only the weight of memory and the past” (p. 8-9). Participants in this study are asked to confront the weight of memory and past insomuch as it influences their identity, dispositions, and practices. This research impacts the KSU academic community by maintaining the communitybased service learning focus of the Bagwell College of Education. The study explores and celebrates diversity and the teacher/teacher educator’s role in local, national, and global communities. In addition, it supports the mission of Kennesaw State University by exploring, “cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity” as a study that strives to embody “the ideals of an open, democratic, and global society” (KSU Mission Statement). Our student participants will benefit from self-understanding of cultural and social processes that influence their roles as teachers. This research will contribute to a growing body of work on curriculum and pedagogy of place through its unpacking of the identity constructs of teachers—as those constructs inform and have been informed by s place. The significance of this research includes, but extends beyond, the opportunities for self-reflection and self-understanding by the participants concerning their personal and professional identities. The project also significantly impacts teacher education—regionally, nationally, and globally—as it explores, through the educators’ naming of themselves as subjects, how teachers constitute their subjectivity by re-writing their pasts “as a way to make sense of the present” (Munro 1998, p. 87). Finally, this project impacts students, scholars, and practitioners of curriculum and pedagogy by situating teachers within a curriculum of place. Emphasized in curricular and pedagogical studies for decades, the study of place represents a growing trend in curriculum and pedagogy studies. For example, Pedagogy of Place: Seeing Space as Cultural Education (2004) seeks to understand place as a social aspect of education by focusing on place as the embodiment of a “purposefully created space that is a creation and enactment of the cultural and social conditions of participations” (p. 1). The editors note that the scope of the consideration of space includes the teaching and learning environment, particularly, the importance of space as place in shaping the educational experience. In other words, the book attempts to expand place beyond geographical boundaries, reconceptualizing space in the theorizing of a pedagogy of place. Of particular relevance to my own research is under the general heading Place as Political and Historical. Chapter 8, by David M. Callejo Perez, is “Identity, Literature, Schools, and Race: Southern Writers and Literature as a Metaphor for Place,” visits the work of Southern authors and looks for metaphorical representations of identity and curriculum. Perez explores the nature of place in a “racialized curriculum” (p. 4) and employs Southern literature to locate the space of connectedness among race, place, curriculum, and identity. In his Foreword, William H. Schubert shifts the focus on place between pedagogy and curriculum, a shifting he hopes will occur for the reader throughout the book. He emphasizes the historical and ongoing need in the field to explore place, not only insomuch as it concerns pedagogical practice, but also as it is aesthetically central to curriculum studies. He writes, While Understanding Curriculum (Pinar et al., 1995) was written almost ten years ago, its subject index has 21 citations to place, indicating that place has been emphasized in curriculum discourse for some time before that present volume. Moreover, Kincheloe and Pinar edited a volume in 1991 called Curriculum as Social Psychoanalysis: Essays on the Significance of Place, and one can find ample references to public space in the corpus of Maxine Greene’s earlier writings (1965, 1973, 1978, 1988). This trend in the fields is precisely why I argue for the significance and originality of Pedagogy of Place. (p. xv) Place Project: Place Literacy Case Study Name(s): Rubric Criteria 2 6 10 Overall Understanding of Concepts Presentation does not indicate understanding of place and literacy. Many questions about understanding arise. Little evidence of synthesis of place narrative and pedagogy. Presentation does not address content in light of classroom implications or teaching. Artifacts included do not illustrate reflective thought on concepts. Presentation indicates general understanding of place and literacy. Some questions about understanding arise. Some evidence of synthesis of place narrative and pedagogy. Presentation clearly indicates understanding of place and literacy. Narrative and artifacts clearly illustrate synthesis of place narrative and pedagogy. Presentation generally addresses content in light of classroom implications, including teaching. Artifacts included in presentation generally illustrate reflective thought on concepts. Presentation clearly addresses content in light of classroom implications, including teaching. Artifacts included in presentation clearly illustrate reflective thought on concepts. Classroom Implications Artifacts & Notes 1 Place Narrative 3 Narrative shows inadequate evidence of reflection. Inadequate discussion of place literacy. Narrative shows adequate evidence of reflection and has marginal discussion about place literacy. Quality of Presentation Presentation does not include technology or is inappropriate for the topic and message. Presentation is lacking in organization Professionalism Late, does not follow all presentation directions, some errors. Presentation includes technology, but there is some question as to the appropriateness of the presentation for the topic and message. Presentation is mostly clear and organized. On time, follows most presentation directions, some errors. 5 Narrative advances place literacy discourse through reflection that synthesizes the author’s formative experiences in the development of teaching identity embedded in place with issues of literacy/multiple literacies. Presentation includes technology that is appropriate for the topic, and message. Presentation is clear and organized. On time, follows presentation directions, mostly free of error, and well put together. Total