Moments That Flow: Examining Substantive Engagement in a Dialogic English Classroom

• In Event: 18.072 - Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: 18.072-1 - Agency, Discourse, and Youth

Abstract

In this study of student participation in a four-week literature unit in an 11th grade charter school classroom, we focus on the young people in our classroom and their group meaning-making processes. In particular, the purpose of our study was to examine how the students constructed themselves as knowers with authority over textual interpretation. We suggest that dialogic teaching, with its emphasis on shared meaning-making that honors multiple voices, experiences, and understandings, offers opportunities to reimagine educational opportunities in urban English classrooms.

Authors

• Ashley Johnson, Michigan State University

• Allison Gulamhussein, The George Washington University