Student Planners in School and Out of School: Who’s Managing Whom

• In Event: Roundtable Session 73
  In Roundtable Session: Reenvisioning Schools as Institutions

Abstract

This paper examines the use of student planners (agendas) with elementary school students. It asks how teachers, students and parents in two classrooms engage in the literacy practice of using student planners. A literacy object originally introduced to manage schoolwork in and out-of-school for students with learning difficulties, planners are now used widely in school districts across North America. In this paper, planners are shown to be used for a number of functions beyond organizing students’ schoolwork. The findings of this multiple case study lead the authors to question whether the kinds of meanings produced by the mandated and tracked use of planners signals a form of surveillance and control that does not rightfully belong in home-school relationships.

Authors

• Kimberly Lenters, University of Calgary

• Marianne McTavish, The University of British Columbia