A Whole New Question.... And maybe some folks who have answers!

So it looks like, as this I-search project comes to a close, I am left with a new and different question than the one I started with. Why isn’t writing used as community engagement? As Professor Collins remarked in a really helpful meeting I had with her on Monday, it’s not because it isn’t helpful for student writing. For example, I recently read an article in Rethinking Schools where students presented their final projects to community members. Their teacher comments “I invited [community members] to meet with my students, knowing this would challenge my students to synthesize everything we had learned and discuss it in organized, clear ways” (p. 30).

Perhaps the the question isn’t if there is a case or not writing as community engagement, but why it isn’t happening. All the teachers I talk to think it’s a good idea. All of the students I talk to agree that they put more effort into their writing when someone other than their teacher is reading it. Administrators believe that community schools is a direction we should be heading in. Professor Collins has explained that this kind of writing was really popular in the mid to late 90’s, but has since gone out of fashion. Why?

            As luck would have it, one of the after school programs I reached out to, has reached back! I assumed the radio silence was a no but apparently, it was just because of busy schedules (Hey, I know what that means!). I’m thinking that I’ll find some interesting answers from the director and the students, hopefully in time for my paper’s final draft!

Panic: Party of One

“What do I think about what my participants are telling me and/or about what I’m observing in schools? What does it mean? What new questions do I now have? What are my next steps?”

          I’m getting a little panic-y. I haven’t identified one source that is getting at what I want to talk about in this I-Search project. In case you haven’t been tuning in, I’m looking for writing that students do for audiences outside of the classroom as community engagement. If you have names please send them my way!! My email is colleenbradyconley@gmail.com.

          For primary sources, I’ve reached out to three after school programs  with less than fruitful results (Youth In Action, Providence Student Union and Sadie Speaks). I’ve reached out to three classroom teachers but it turns out they aren’t doing the kind of writing I am interested in. If Justin is reading this, I’m really glad that you’re enjoying your work through that Providence Public School volunteer organization and I appreciate your suggestion. However, I’ve actually had some pretty negative experiences working with them and I’m really hesitant to reach out again.

          The three books I was all excited about last week also turned out to be less than helpful. Engaging Schools, put out by the National Research Council Institute of Medicine has research and strategies for building community schools but does not talk about writing practices. Reading, Writing and Rising Up by Linda Christensen is chock full of really fly writing assignments, but they’re not about writing for audiences outside of the classroom, or as part of service learning. Rethinking High School by Harvey Daniels, Marilyn Bizar, and Steven Zemelmen is again more about structural changes and paradigm shifts than actual writing practices.

          What does it mean? That I’m behind, which I hate and is scary. I’m also wondering if this means that this kind of writing just isn’t happening…. I picked up the search term: community schools, but that hasn’t really led me anywhere promising. I feel confident about my research skills in general, but what if I’m just doing a poor job with this project for some reason?

          So what are my next steps? Today I’m going to send and SOS out to professors in the education department for classroom teachers I could reach out to.  I think if I don’t get anywhere by next week I’ll need to change my topic and do it fast (right Professor Collins?). Scary times!

Source Update!

Primary Source Update

I’m hitting a wall.

At the onset of this project, I imagined my primary sources to be students who are using writing as community engagement in after school groups in Providence. But, I haven’t heard back from folks I’ve reached out to…

Theories:

1) Spam?

2) I’m an adult trying to co-op student space for my own means, and folks are not interested in speaking with me.

Possible Solutions:

1) Pick up a phone (What’s a phone?).

2) Reach out one more time and express that while I may not be doing it perfectly, I’m trying to incorporate student voice into my research and future practices. Happy to follow their lead on how this exchange of time and information will go.

3) Reach out to classroom teachers who might be doing this kind of writing in their classrooms (Who are these teachers?).

Secondary Source Update

    This semester I’ve learned two tricks. Maybe they are ones y’all already know, but here they are:

1) Find a useful source. Mine it’s bibliography for more useful sources.

2) Look at the shelves surrounding that useful source, you’ll find relevant books that didn’t come up on the Adams website. I hear researchers in the stone age used to do this. Still works!

Hey look, it's Daniels and Zemelman from our 407 text, I hope this other book they worked on will be just as good!

    Doing this, I’ve been able to find some useful sources that look at  on writing as a tool for community engagement  in high school classrooms. If you remember from last week, I was only finding articles on after school groups, so this new batch of sources is really helpful.

Thanks all for now, folks! Stay tuned for more I-Search updates!

Good Research Needs Good Words

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." - Marilyn Monroe said that. Mark Twain said that.

In searching for scholarly research, I discovered that I need different words. I've been looking for writing “as community engagement”, but it looks like I need to look for writing “with service learning” if I’m going to find I’m looking for. Once I figured that out, my major discovery this week was a series of useful journals. For example, Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Reading Research Quarterly. Obviously, the one specific volume I wanted in two of the three of these journals was mysteriously absent from the Adams Library Stacks, but thanks to the miraculous powers The Internet (thanks Mr.Gore!) I should be receiving them in .pdf format any day now. I was happy to find these journals, but I have to say I want more good ole fashion books. I think that as I find the right words, I’ll find the right books.

Gabor (2011) (In a book I did find, by the way) claims that “in academic settings students (and often professors) usually view writing as a commodity in exchange for a grade… I wanted students to see … writing as political action” (p. 180). BINGO. I want students to see writing as a political action! Wright (2012) explains how writing during in service learning projects produces high levels of motivation and can create great gains in literacy. He mentions a variety of writing strategies for in service learning and I look forward to discovering more.

Something significant in this weeks research is that almost all of the service learning writing projects I encountered take place in youth led after school programs, not in classrooms. So why is this? The two places I am hoping to connect with for primary sources are youth led after school programs, so it’s possible I am using that language and that lens when I’m conducting research and coming up with similar results. Maybe service learning and community engagement don’t have much traction in the current climate of American schools. Maybe it’s easier to publish research on after school activities than in classrooms. I really hope I find some classrooms using writing in this way, and will take this opportunity to H/T (hat tip) Cindy for her comments on my last blog post with a list of schools she’s seen writing projects I might be interested in.

Stay tuned for more updates dear readers!

Why is writing and community engagement vital to me?

For my I-search project, I am hoping to examine the ways that students use writing as community engagement. This question is so vital to me because I am really passionate about schools being community centers. I believe that interdependent communities have the power to continuously build themselves, and that interdependence is directly tied to community groups being interconnected. This project is guided by a big question I have that transcends this project, how can my classroom practices prepare students to work with their communities?

Lately I find myself being exposed to different high school student organizations who are doing some impressive work within their communities (Youth in Action, Providence Student Union). Something I perceive them having in common is they are using writing in their endeavors. For example, I’ve seen pieces of student writing be used to inform community members about local issues, or to organize workshops for pre-service teachers. I am dying to learn more about their writing practices and to figure how I can incorporate these practices into my classrooms. I’d also like to point out it’s really important to me to give them the credit they deserve, I see a tendency in adults and teachers to take credit for the work done by folks under 18. Finding a way to interact with these students in spaces that belong to them without asserting my power as an adult is really important to me, too.

I would also like to mention that part of my desire to bring these practices into my classroom is that I think they were lacking in my education. In my own experience, a lack of these practices produces students who feel cynical about making change happen, and a sense of powerlessness. Only as I have begun to interact with the Providence Public Schools, Americorps, and other community organizations, have I begun to develop a sense of my own socio-cultural positioning, and an awareness of the systems I live in. With this awareness has come this wonderful feeling, “Oh. I know how things work, maybe I could affect them.” 

Since writing is so closely tied to thinking, how is writing used not only to directly reach out to communities, but to reflect on these experiences and develop a student’s understanding of how a community works?

My Project Proposal in 30 seconds!

I-Search Project


This semester, I'll be reaching out to student groups that are actively engaging in their communities, like the Providence Student Union and Youth in Action. From what I have seen, these groups are using writing to reach out to local government, inform community members of important issues, and organize a variety of events. I hope to explore the theory and research behind this kind of writing, and to see it in practice! My goal is to learn useful strategies that will inform my own practices as a future classroom teacher.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I'll be posting updates on my I-Search Project for SED 445.