The Critical and Reciprocal Benefits of Dialogue Journals and Young Adult Literature With Intergenerational Urban Populations

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Collaborations and Partnerships to Support Preservice Teachers’ Development and Learning

Abstract

Schools of education and their neighboring schools must enhance collaborations to attain simultaneous renewal, where K-12 students and pre- and in-service teachers learn from authentic interactions. One way to accomplish this is through sustainable, innovative projects that connect teachers’ early learning experiences directly to public classrooms. The purpose of this paper is to provide a model for collaborations between current and future teachers and urban students. The authors provide an overview of a two-year project using dialogue journals where college students and adolescents partnered together to discuss adolescent literature. Analyzing journals and focus group transcripts, the authors found adolescents’ literacy skills were enhanced while simultaneously teachers’ knowledge of adolescents and skills in using adolescent literature in the classroom were increased.

Authors

• Jody Nicole Polleck, Hunter College - CUNY

• Melissa Schieble, Hunter College - CUNY