Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Content learning and identity construction (CLIC): a framework to strengthen African American students’ mathematics and science learning in urban elementary schools

Maria Varelas et al. — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:40:18 PDT

We present a theoretical framework that views learning as a process involving content learning (CL) and identity construction (IC). We view identities as lenses through which people make sense of, and position themselves, through stories and actions, and as lenses for understanding how they are positioned by others. As people become more (or less) central members of a disciplinary community (e.g., a science or mathematics classroom) and engage (or not) in various cultural practices, changes in identity and knowledge accompany changes in position and status. Identity construction (IC) and content learning (CL) share an important characteristic: they both involve meaning making. For IC, it is the development of reasoned, coordinated, coherent, and meaningful ways of seeing one’s self in relation to communities, and for CL, it centers on the development of disciplinary concepts, processes, tools, language, discourse, and norms within practices. Focusing on Black students in mathematics and science classrooms, we claim that three intersecting identities are particularly important: disciplinary identity (as doers of the discipline, i.e., mathematics and science), racial identity (emerging understandings of what it means to be Black), and academic identity (as participants in academic tasks and classroom practices). In this paper, we elaborate on the CLIC framework as a useful tool for understanding how Black students negotiate participation in, and come to see themselves as doers of science and mathematics in their school classrooms. We synthesize empirical findings from our research with younger and older students, as well as with parents and community members, to illustrate dimensions of this framework.

“Everything She Knew": Race, Nation, Language, and Identity in Philip Pullman’s The Broken Bridge

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 06:55:51 PDT

A decade before his international acclaim for the His Dark Materials fantasy series, Pullman authored The Broken Bridge, a coming-of-age tale featuring Ginny, an Afro-British teenaged girl living in postmodern coastal Wales. The Broken Bridge delves into dilemmas of racial identity, ideologies of language and location, and aspects of non-Western religion that are not often touched upon in young adult literature. Pullman’s deft characterization prevents Ginny from becoming a caricature; instead, he presents the story of a very real sixteen-year-old girl with resentments, fears, and doubts. Ultimately, The Broken Bridge serves as a metaphor for the irreconcilability between an imagined Blackness that is authentic, unitary, and atemporal, and Ginny’s lived reality of a fragmented Blackness that has been irrevocably created by and reified through personal and collective cultural trauma and loss.

An Ethical Dilemma: Talking About Plagiarism and Academic Integrity in the Digital Age

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas et al. — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:10:35 PDT

An open, in-depth discussion about academic dishonesty may help students (and teachers) develop ethical approaches to scholarship. Real classroom talk is closely examined and suggestions for teaching students how to avoid plagiarism in the digital age are offered.

Gaining Options: A Mathematics Program for Potentially Talented At-risk Adolescent Girls

Pamela Trotman Reid et al. — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:57:29 PDT

In response to indicators that a decline in interest in mathematics occurs among girls—particularly those from low-income and minority groups—during middle school, the GO-GIRL (Gaining Options: Girls Investigate Real Life) program was designed to help potentially talented at-risk girls. The program aimed to build mathematical confidence, skills, and conceptual understanding by integrating mathematics and social science research in a single-sex, technology-rich environment supported by university student mentors. The program targeted seventh-grade urban girls from public and private schools. Participants met over the course of ten Saturdays to learn research methods, computer skills, mathematics, and descriptive statistics. Quantitative data from the girls indicate that participants demonstrated greater confidence in their mathematics ability and increased mathematics achievement after the program. Qualitative data confirmed these findings and supported the contention that multiple factors play a role in fostering girls' interest in studying mathematics and science.

Landscapes of City and Self: Place and Identity in Urban Young Adult Literature

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 06:46:08 PDT

Urban landscapes feature iconic symbols from the past and contemporary times. These noticings and remembrances from literature and life contribute to the formation of readers’ identities, as well as their sense of being anchored in worlds both real and fictional. As taken for granted as the geographic, cultural, and economic distinctions of cities are, there are broader implications for readers, teachers, and critics of adolescent literature. In this article, the author proposes that the virtual nature of many of today’s communication modes has inspired a return to that which is tangible, local, and immediate. The urban geographies imagined and described in twenty-first century fiction for young adults provide orientations and grounding in specific places. These story places are as diverse and interconnected as that of any natural biome.

Applying Toulmin: Teaching Logical Reasoning and Argumentative Writing

Lesley A. Rex et al. — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 06:46:06 PDT

To learn to write well-reasoned persuasive arguments, students need in situ help thinking through the complexity and complications of an issue, making inferences based on evidence, and hierarchically grouping and logically sequencing ideas. They rely on teachers to make this happen. In this article, the authors explain the framework they used and describe how they taught reasoning to students at an alternative high school, where they recorded what happened.

Walking the Talk: Examining Privilege and Race in a Ninth-Grade Classroom

Kelly Sassi et al. — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 06:46:05 PDT

Kelly Sassi and Ebony Elizabeth Thomas describe their struggles and eventual success with students in constructing a "counternarrative to colormuteness and colorblindness"--the self-imposed student segregation and silencing of voice. Because of discussions during a Native American unit and student participation in a classroom intervention activity, interpersonal dynamics openly shifted for the better.