Voice as an Interactional Accomplishment in the Visual Arts Classroom

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Learning as Co-Constructed

Abstract

Student voice has been theorized as personal self-expression, participation in a social world, and developing across time and situation. I draw from these diverse literatures to support a theory of student voice as an interactional accomplishment between a teacher and students during classroom conversations about art making and social issues. I analyze how sixth grade students (n=32) and their teacher (myself) defined and developed what it meant to “have a voice” (i.e., what counted as legitimate contributions to discussion) during a 20-lesson instructional unit in which students made and talked about political art. I found that having a voice was interactionally defined as collaborative, democratic, and heterogeneous in whole class discussions about art and social issues.

Author

• Maggie Dahn, University of California - Irvine