Locating Opportunities to Unsettle False Constructions of "Deviant" Students in Pivotal Moments of Classroom Interaction

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Six
  In Roundtable Session: Student Experiences and Interactions in K–12 Math and Science (Table 18)

Abstract

This study draws on observational data of a fourth-grade mathematics classroom to explore opportunities of challenging historically false constructions of “desired” and “deviant” students. We adopt a critical-historicizing lens to elaborate how systemic violence toward certain students is woven into discursive practices of the present, including classroom interaction. Our analysis demonstrates that many small moments where a student’s way of being or knowing seemingly violates or contrasts norms and values that have been taken for granted in schooling are, in fact, signs of false constructions of “deviant” students at play. These moments should be taken up as opportunities to recognize, challenge, and unsettle the boundaries, for different ways of being and knowing to become normalized, admissible, and belong.

Authors

• Wan-Yue Zhan, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Nicole Louie, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author