“Third Space” Pedagogy: Creating Classroom Cultures for Collective Achievement

• In Event: Improving Outcomes and Engagement for Middle Grade Students: Evidence From Schools and Classrooms

Abstract

This research explores the experiences of eighth grade boys of color in an urban middle school that was reconstituted into single-sex academies. The number of school districts experimenting with single-sex schooling is growing, despite a debate within the educational research community as to its effectiveness (Arms, 2007). Much of the growth in single-sex schooling is taking place in urban areas (Salomone, 2006), with all-male classes seen as a possible solution to the downward educational spiralof low-income boys of color (Riordan, 2002).

In this middle school many of the all-male classrooms were places of struggle and chaos in terms of the learning environment. The school also struggled to meet the demands of high-stakes testing. In contrast, this paper documents the efforts of one teacher and an eighth grade class of boys to create an effective learning environment. We draw on Gutierrez’s (2008) idea of a “collective Third Space”, a new educative space where “students begin to reconceive of who they are and what they might be able to accomplish…” (p. 148).

Utilizing ethnographic data gathered over the course of one school year (multiple classroom observations, multiple interviews with the teacher and the students), we unpack the lived realities of the one classroom “rule”: “You cannot interrupt the learning process.” Our research reports the practices put in place to implement this ethos and how the teacher and students co- created a collaborative learning environment that resulted in a high level of achievement in the classroom. We were particularly interested in this classroom in that it stood in contrast to many others in the school as well a plethora of research indicating that low-income male students of color are among the most vulnerable to being disenfranchised through current practices of schooling (Noguera, 2008)

In our paper we will pursue those areas that appeared to be somewhat counter-intuitive in the ethos of many middle school cultures. These include 1) shared authority and responsibility between the teacher and the students to maintain the learning culture and collective self-regulation and 2) collaborative achievement where the sum of the talents and strengths in the room added up to increased learning and achievement for the whole class. These approaches stood in contrast to revering individual achievement and emphases on teacher controlled classrooms that were not uncommon in the school. We believe this research contributes to our ongoing learning regarding creating classroom cultures for student populations that we have routinely failed in the everyday practices of schooling.

Authors

• Kathryn G. Herr, Montclair State University

• Fernando Naiditch, Montclair State University