“It Happened to Me”: Third Grade Students Write and Draw ...jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Article-2_Flint.pdf“It Happened to Me”: Third Grade Students Write

JournalofLanguageandLiteracyEducationVol.11Issue2—Fall2015http://jolle.coe.uga.edu

“ItHappenedtoMe”:ThirdGradeStudentsWriteandDraw

TowardCriticalPerspectives

AmySeelyFlintElizaAllen

MeganNasonSanjuanaRodriguezNatashaThornton

KamaniaWynter-Hoyte

ABSTRACT:Elementaryteachersandtheirstudentsoftenfindthemselvesusingcurricularframeworkswithprescribedoutcomesthatcloselyalignwithcurrenttestingregimesandstandards(Au,2011;Botzakis,Burns,&Hall,2014;Williams,2007).Suchlearningrarelyincludesopportunitiestoproblematizeandconsidermultiplepointsofviewabouttopicssuchasraceandclass.Thisarticleexaminesthewrittenandvisualresponsesofchildrenastheyreadanddiscussedissuesrelatedtocivilrightsandmigrantworkers.Theoriesthatguidethisstudyincludesocioculturalandcriticaltheories,specificallywritingisasocialpractice,writingisatoolforthinking,andwritingfromacriticalperspectivecontributestodevelopinggloballymindedandsociallyjuststudents.Findingsfromaconstantcomparativeapproachtodataanalysis(Strauss&Corbin,1994)suggestthatchildren’soralresponsestothetextsfocusedonthemanyinjusticesexperiencedduringthetimeperiod.Topicssuchasfriendship,violence,languagelearning,movement/solidarity,andhealthcarewerealsoapparentinpublishedpiecesandinformalwritingsamples.Studentsutilizedarangeofsignsystemsthroughwriting,language,anddrawingtofurthertheirownunderstandingsofthesocial,historical,andpoliticaleventsofdayspast,aswellascurrentdayhappenings.

Keywords:criticalliteracy,EnglishLearners,transmediation,writinginstruction

JournalofLanguageandLiteracyEducationVol.11Issue2—Fall2015

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AmySeelyFlintisprofessorintheMiddleandSecondaryDepartment,CollegeofEducation,GeorgiaStateUniversity.Herresearchinterestsincludecriticalliteracy,teacherprofessionaldevelopment,andemergentwriting.ShehaspublishedinjournalssuchasLanguageArts,TheReadingTeacher,ElementarySchoolJournal,andTheoryintoPractice.

ElizaG.AllenisanassistantprofessorintheInstructionandTeacherEducationDepartment,CollegeofEducation,UniversityofSouthCarolina.Herresearchinterestincludescriticallanguageandliteracypracticesofculturallyandlinguisticallydiverseyoungchildren,inandoutofschoolliteracypractices,familyliteracy,socialjusticeandeducation,anddigitalliteracy.ShehaspublishedinjournalssuchastheLanguageArts,LanguageArtsJournalofMichigan,andEnglishinTexas.

MeganNasonisanassociateprofessorintheTeacherEducationDepartment,CollegeofEducation,UniversityofNorthGeorgia.Herresearchinterestsincludesecondlanguagelearnersandteacherdevelopment.ShehaspublishedintheBilingualResearchJournal.

SanjuanaC.RodriguezisanassistantprofessorofReadingandLiteracyEducationatKennesawStateUniversity.Herresearchinterestsincludetheearlyliteracydevelopmentofculturallyandlinguisticallydiversestudents,earlywritingdevelopment,andliteracydevelopmentofEnglishLearners.ShehaspublishedinLanguageArtsandLanguageArtsJournalofMichigan.

NatashaThorntonisanassistantprofessorofReadingandLiteracyEducationatKennesawStateUniversity.Herresearchinterestsincludeculturallyrelevantpedagogyandteacherdevelopment.ShehaspublishedinLanguageArtsandLanguageArtsJournalofMichigan.

KamaniaWynter-HoyteisanassistantprofessorintheCurriculumandInstructionDepartment,SchoolofEducation,NorthCarolinaAgriculturalandTechnicalStateUniversity.Herresearchinterestsincludecriticalliteracy,culturallyrelevantpedagogy,andcommunityliteracypractices.ShehaspublishedintheIllinoisReadingCouncilJournal.

Flint,A.S.,Allen,E.,Nason,M.,Rodriguez,S.,Thornton,N.,&Wynter-Hoyte,K.(2015)/“ItHappenedtoMe”

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n a culturally and linguistically diverse third-grade class, William (all names of people andplaces are pseudonyms) and his classmates are

busyreading,writing,drawing,talking,andthinkingabout issues related to civil rights and migrantworkers. The rights and freedoms for everybody,includingmigrantworkers,arebeingtalkedaboutaspartofthemandatedcurriculuminsocialstudies.Asstudents consider the course of events during the1960sand1970srelatedtohumanandcivil rights intheUnited States, they engage in “problem posing”(Freire, 1970) and wonderabout fairness, race, languageuse, and the plight of AfricanAmericans and Latinos in thiscountry. During a sharingtime, William reads from hischaracterperspectivepiece.Inthispiece,Williamtakesonthe perspective of one of themarshals hired to escort andprotect Ruby Bridges as shewalks past the protesters into her new school andfirstgradeclassroom.Hewrites,“WhatwillhappenifI let Rubywalk by herself? I wonderwhat they areplanningtodowithRuby?AndIwonderifIwillgeta $100 to walk Ruby to school.” This particularwritinginvitationrequiredstudentstoaddressoneofthedimensionsofcriticalliteracy:takingonmultipleperspectives (Lewison, Flint, & Van Sluys, 2002).While imagining what the marshal’s experiencesmighthavebeenlike,Williamconstructsamorein-depth understanding of the issues during this timeperiod. He even considers the economic costsinvolvedinprotectingtherightsofoneyoungchild,RubyBridges.Onadifferentday,William’sclassmatesdiscusstheirexperiencesrelatedto learningEnglish.Manyofthestudents in this class are English Learners (EL) andhave multiple experiences navigating betweenlanguages. One text in particular,Harvesting Hope:The Story of Cesar Chavez (Krull, 2003), resonateswiththestudentsastheylistentotheirteacherreadabouthowChavezwassingledoutbyhisteacherforspeaking Spanish. As the discussion ensues, thestudents share stories of peoplewhohave chastisedthem for speaking Spanish or supported them in

learning English. Some begin to write about thesepersonalmemories.

CommonCoreStateStandards(CCSS)andWritingInstruction

According to recent National Assessment ofEducational Progress reports (National Center forEducation Statistics, 2012), twenty-seven percent ofalleighthgradestudentsacrossthenationscoredintheproficientrangeonthe2011writingassessments.

For English learners (EL) thepercentage drops dramaticallywith one percent at or aboveproficient. Such results, alongwithresearchstudies(Higgins,Miller,&Wegmann,2006;Mo,Kopke, Hawkins, Troia, &Olinghouse, 2014; Soares &Wood, 2010) indicate teachersare not providing studentswith frequent opportunities towrite or having writing tasks

that are limited in nature. A nationwide surveyconducted by Cutler and Graham (2008) revealedthatthemajorityofelementaryschoolstudentswereinvolved in writing activities for less than thirtyminutesaday.Higginsetal.(2006)andothers(Au,2011; Botzakis, Burns, & Hall, 2014; NationalCommission on Writing in America’s Schools andColleges, 2003;Williams, 2007) alsonote thatmanyteachers devoted less time to authentic writinginstruction that allowed students to make choicesandwriteaboutmeaningful topicsbecausethetimespent was focused on preparing students to takestandardizedtestsattheendoftheyear.Although former curricular standards includedwriting, recent effortswith theCommonCoreStateStandards movement have welcomed a renewedemphasisonwritinginstruction(Moetal.,2014). IngradesK-5, teachers are advised to carefully choosetexts that can strategically help students increaseworldly knowledge (NationalGovernorsAssociationCenter for Best Practices & Council of Chief StateSchoolOfficers,2010).TheCCSSinEnglishLanguageArts encourage teachers to embed more integratedwriting opportunities across the curriculuminmultiple content areas (Graham, 2013). Writing

I

Asocioculturaltheoryofwritingconsiderstheinterdependenceoftheindividualandthesocial

contextasideasarecomposedandknowledgeisconstructed.


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across the curriculum is a powerful strategy forlearning subject matter that “engages students,extends thinking, deepens understanding, andenergizes themeaningmaking process” (Knipper &Duggan, 2006, p. 462). As with previous curricularstandards, students are expected to write formultiplepurposes, suchas topersuade, inform,andnarrate. Students are also expected to conductresearch by gathering information from a variety ofsources and use document-based evidence withinexpositorytext.ResearcherssuchasStrickland(2012)and others (Fisher & Frey, 2013; Graham & Harris,2013) note that it is critical for teachers to providestudents with daily opportunities to write formultiplepurposes andaudiences across the contentareas. Implementing these new standards provideseducators and policymakers opportunities to“reevaluate current practices, abandoning lesseffectivemethodsinfavorofmoreconstructivewaysofteachingwriting”(Moetal.,2014,p.452).WhiletheCCSSprovidesaroadmapandbenchmarksfor teachers as towhatwriting should look like foreach grade level, several challenges still exist.Teachersstillneedtohaveaclearerunderstandingofhow gaining a deeper understanding of students’developmentalwritingstageswillhelpthemtomoreeffectively differentiate writing instruction forstudents based on their abilities, experiences, andinterests. The National Commission on Writing inAmerica’s Schools and Colleges (2003) and CutlerandGraham(2008)contendthatmanyteacherslackconfidenceintheirabilitiestoteachwritingandfeelunderprepared tomove beyond a scripted programor approach. Thus, writing assignments andassessmentstendtobepromptdriven.Theformulaicnature of instruction and the commonplacestructuresrarely invitestudentstograpplewithandthink“onpaper”aboutsocialjusticeissuesandideas.Yet, for the third grade students profiled in thisarticle, opportunities to discuss and think aboutsocial justice topics as they worked with “writinginvitations” allowed them to compose meaningfulandauthentictexts.(SeeAppendixAfordescriptionsofwritinginvitations.)Back in William’s class, the reading, writing,drawing, and talking about issues related to civilrights and migrant workers revealed that students

tookupandproblematizedhowtheirownlivesandexperiences were being shaped by the social andpolitical movements of previous eras. The readalouds,discussions,writingtimes,andauthorsharesmade it possible for the classroom community toreflect upon and consider multiple viewpoints andtheir own personal connections. In the context ofthese literacy engagements, the following questionswereposed: (1)What topicsandtypesofwritingdostudentstakeupwhendiscussingandlearningaboutissues related to civil rights and immigration? And(2)What are the affordances and constraints of thedifferentwriting invitationsasstudentsengagewithcriticalliteracytexts?Thepurposeofthispaperistoilluminatewritingactivitiesandchildren’s literaturethat support critical reflections from students ofcolor, in particular English language learners. Firstweprovide our theoretical perspective,which viewswriting as a social practice and a tool for thinkingcritically about historical and current events. Then,we describe our methodology, data collectionmethods, and data analysis procedures. Thesesections address how the researchers workedcollaboratively to analyze and interpret possiblemeanings behind the linguistically and culturallydiversethirdgradestudents’writingsamples.Finally,findings of this study are shared and followed by adiscussion of what it means to engage students inwritingaboutissuesrelatedtorace,andcivilrights.

TheoriestoGuideOurThinking

The theoretical framework that guides study isgrounded in sociocultural and critical theories,specifically the notions that writing is a socialpractice, a tool for thinking, and writing from acritical perspective contributes to developinggloballymindedandsociallyjuststudents.

WritingasaSocialPracticeSociocultural theorists and scholars emphasize thatlearning and literacy development are socially,culturally,andhistoricallysituatedpractices(Barton& Hamilton, 2000; Cook-Gumperz, 2006; Vygotsky,1978). By focusing on the diverse contextualizedpracticesinwhichreadingandwritingoccur,literacyisviewedfromwhatStreet(1984)callsanideologicalperspective.Anideologicalperspectiveacknowledgesthat literacy is a set of social practices based in


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particular worldviews and varies from context tocontext. As children engage in reading and writingevents, they draw upon social relationships withothers, language patterns, and use of various toolsandsignstoconstructmeaning.Thesemeaningsaresituatedinthevalues,beliefs,andattitudesofthoseparticipating, leading to particularways of thinkingabout and doing reading and writing in culturalcontexts. Literacy practices then are “neverindependent of [the] social world” (Perry, 2012, p.52). They are connected to and are understood asexisting in relationships between people, withingroups, and among communities (Barton &Hamilton,2000).A sociocultural theory of writing considers theinterdependence of the individual and the socialcontext as ideas are composed and knowledge isconstructed.Aschildrenandteacherscometogetherto participate in classroom-based writing events,they engage in a process of collective learning in ashared domain of interest. Children compose in avariety ofmodes and with a variety ofmaterials toconnectwithothersaboutmattersofsignificance.Indoing so, they draw upon their cultural resources,values, attitudes, understandings of the world, andnetworks of relationships. The features, processes,anddesignofthecontextinfluencethelearningandthe writing that occurs within such a community.Identities aswriters are thus constructed, and theiremerging identities in turn shape the contexts inwhich they engage in turn shapes the contexts inwhichoneengages(Schultz,2006).

Writing and Other Sign Systems as Tools forThinkingHuman beings strive to understand and makemeaning of such things as experiences, histories,paintings, movement, scientific theorems, andmathematical computations. People seek toconstructmeaningbyrelatingnewexperienceswithexistingmentalstructuresorworldviews.Dix(2008)suggested, “While an idea is the thing you arethinking, when you write it down you can thinkaboutit”(p.18).Writingbringsvagueperceptionsorideas to a verbal level that is explicit enough toreconsider or extend. Multiple theorists andresearchershavecontemplatedthe ideathatwriting

promotesandextendsthinkingformanyyears.Luriaand Yudovich (1971) stated, “written speechrepresents a new and powerful instrument ofthought,” while Vygotsky (1986) discussed this ideaand argued that writing centrally represents acompression of inner speech. The slower nature ofwritingallowsforandencouragesmovementamongpast,present,andfutureexperiencesandthought.FuandHansen(2012)claimedthatwritingcouldleadtodeeperthinking.Writing, as a mediating tool between thought andactivity,however,isnottheonlypossibility.Buildingfromthetheoryofsemiotics,Siegel(1995)andothers(Short & Kauffman, 2000; Smagorinsky & Coppock,1994) extend the idea that using a range ofmediational tools (e.g., writing, drawing, music,dance, etc.) supports greater complexity of thoughtandtheconsiderationofnewideasandconnections.Definedastransmediation,thisprocessreflectswhathappens when “understandings from one system(language) [are] mov[ed] into another sign system(pictorial representation)” (Siegel, 1995, p. 456).Further,thismovefromonesigntoanotherandthefunctioning of these signs “always involves anenlargementandexpansionofmeaning,notasimplesubstitution of one thing for another” (p. 457).Transmediating across sign systems is a generativeandreflexiveact,wherebynewconnectionsandnewunderstandingsarecreated.

CriticalLiteracyCritical literacy invites teachers and students toconsiderthevariedways literacypracticesmattertothe participants and their places in the world. Asnoted,literacyisseenasasocialpractice,notsimplya technical skill (Comber, Thomson, &Wells, 2001;Luke & Freebody, 1997). Language and literacy arenotneutralacts,butratheraresituated inpersonal,social,historical,andpoliticalrelationships.Lewison,Flint and, Van Sluys (2002) identified four socialpracticesthatreflectacritical literacycurriculum:1)disrupting the commonplace, (2) interrogatingmultiple perspectives, (3) focusing on sociopoliticalissues, and (4) taking action to promote socialjustice.Emphasisisspecificallyplacedonthecontextin which the texts are created and contested.Students’ interests and purposes serve as the


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foundationforwhatoccursintheclassroom.Despite the growing research centering younglearnersincriticalliteracy(Chafel,Flint,Hammel,&Pomeroy, 2007; Comber & Simpson, 2001; Flint &Laman, 2012; Vasquez, 2004); our collectiveexperiencessuggestthatmanyeducatorsbelievethatchildren are incapable of partaking in suchcontroversial or political discussions. However,young students are already cognizant of issues ofrace, gender, class, and power. They are inundatedwith power struggles in both home and schoolsettingsandareabletorecognizethesehegemoniesat an early age (Park, 2011; Rogers&Mosley, 2006).Criticalliteracyinvitesstudentstodiscussthesepre-existing issues. Further, critical literacy “allowsstudents to bring their own lived experiences intodiscussions, offering them opportunities forparticipation,engagementinhigherlevelsofreading,andtounderstandthepoweroflanguage”(Soares&Wood,2010,p.487).Thetheoriesthatguidethisstudypointtothenatureof learning and literacy as being socially, culturally,historically,andideologicallysituated.Learnersdrawupon beliefs and values to construct criticalunderstandings in language andother sign systems,as they engage with others inmeaningful contexts.Moreover, these literacy practices “always comesfully attached to ‘other stuff’: to social relations,culturalmodels,powerandpolitics,perspectivesonexperience, values and attitudes, as well as thingsandplacesintheworld”(Gee,1996,p.vii).

Method

This naturalistic, qualitative study investigated howstudents engaged with and composed texts aroundissuesofsocialjustice.Anaturalisticstudyisfocusedon the behavior of individuals when they areabsorbed in life experiences in natural settings(Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This qualitative study,following a naturalistic design, studied theengagements and interactions in a combined third-grade classroom, where students read textsrepresentativeofsocialissuessuchasthecivilrightsmovement and migrant worker experiences. Theresearchers were participant observers as they

collected data related to the phenomena understudy.ParticipantsandSettingRichardsonElementarySchoolisaschoollocatedoffof what is an affectionately termed “internationalhighway”inalarge,urbansoutheasterncity.ManyoftherestaurantsandbusinessesclosetotheschoolareownedbyfamiliesofLatin,Vietnamese,andKoreandescent. The neighborhood, comprised mostly ofolder apartment buildings and small single-familyhomes,isdiverseandtransitoryinnaturewithmanychildrenmovinginandoutoftheschoolonaregularbasis. At the time of the study, the school hadapproximately800students,withover98%receivingfree and reduced lunch and 57% receiving pulloutESOLservices.

Participants in this study included two third-gradeteachers and 38 students. The teachers, one femaleand one male, were Caucasian with over 25 and 15years, respectively, of teaching experience. Thestudent population in these two classrooms waspredominately Latin@, with the exception of oneAfrican-American student. According to Stake(1994), of primary importance is participantselection.Theteachersinthisstudyhadworkedwithfirst author Amy Seely Flint in previous years andwere interested incontinuing to learnaboutcriticalliteracyandintegratingmorepurposefulwritingintotheir social studies curriculum. The teachersimplementedtwounitsofstudy,onefocusedonthecivil rights movement and the other on migrantworkers.Thesetopicswereselectedbecausetheyalignedwithstate-mandated social studies standards. Theteachers were also mindful that social studies wasoftendismissedinfavorofmoretimeonreadingandmathandtherewerefewauthenticwritingactivitiesintegrated into their social studies instruction. Toaddress these concerns, the teachers in this studyread aloud children’s literature selections on theidentifiedtopicsofcivil rightsandmigrantworkers,introduced different writing invitations, andfacilitated critical discussions of the texts (seeAppendix A for descriptions of writing invitationsandAppendixBforsummariesofselectedtexts).The


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teachers regularly brought the two classes togetherand took turns reading aloud the stories to theircombined classes.While one teacher read the storyaloud, the other teacher monitored the students’engagement, interjected with questions and ideas,andencouragedstudentresponseanddiscussion.Asthestudentswroteinresponsetothesetextsbefore,during, and after they were read aloud by the twoteachers,thestudentsbegantothinkcriticallyaboutthe characters’ actions and the events occurring inthese stories. These instructional activities wereviewedduringtranscriptionsofthevideos.Thedata collectedduring this study included videoandaudiorecordingsofthereadalouds,discussions,andteacherdebriefs;fieldnotes;studentconstructedartifacts;and interviewswithstudentsandteachers.For the purposes of this article, to understand thetopics students selected and the affordances of thewriting invitations, we draw primarily upon thestudent artifacts: student writing folders thatincludedthewritinginvitationsandpublisheddrafts,aswellasfieldnotesofclassroomdiscussions.

DataAnalysisData analysis was guided by the research questionsand theoretical frameworks: writing as a socialpractice, writing as a tool for thinking, and criticalliteracy. A frequency chart was constructed tounderstand the relationship and prevalence of thewritinginvitationsforeachtext.Basedonfrequency,Sketch-to-stretch and QuICS writing invitations(again,seeAppendixAfordescriptionsofthewritinginvitations)were furtheranalyzedto identify topics.Then, the students’ writing folders were equallydivided among the researchers and inductivelyanalyzed to uncover how the students’ writing wassocially constructed and used as a catapult forthinking. During this stage, each researchercompleted a data set chart per student, whichsummarized students’ responses to the texts anddescribed the various writing invitations.Researchers coded the data set with codes such as“personal experience,” “family,” “language use,” and“struggle.” Using a constant comparative method(Creswell, 1998; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss &Corbin, 1994), researchers recursively read and re-read the student artifacts, highlighting the

similarities and differences among the students’writing.After several rounds of reading and re-reading thedatasources,themesweregeneratedthatultimatelyrevealed how the students constructed meaning asthey interacted with critical literacy texts. The laststage of constant comparative analysis involvedrereading the data until saturation took place(Strauss & Corbin, 1994), which was reached whenredundancy in themes, patterns, and relationshipsamongst and between categories became apparent.Thisstagewasheavilygroundedinsocioculturalandcritical theories.Theconcludingthemes illuminatedstudentpreferences,socioculturallinkstothetopics,and what each writing invitation either afforded orconstrained.

Findings

Studentsaddressedvarioustopics intheirresponsesto the critical literacy texts. Overall, five topicsemerged from the data: friendship, violence,language learning, movement/solidarity, andhealthcare. Two of the topics, friendship andviolence,weremostly located in thecivil rights textset, the other three (language learning,movement/solidarity, and healthcare) were moreprevalent in the migrant workers text set. Thedistributionoftopicswithinthetwotextsetsreflectsinsomewaysthefocusofthetextitself.Forexample,it is not surprising that students made commentsabout best friends after reading The Other Side(Woodson&Lewis,2001)andmoving fromplace toplace in response to The Circuit (Jiménez, 1997).Overall,thefivetopicsrepresentedbothlargersocialissuesandintimatepersonalconcerns. FriendshipFriendship was a central topic across students’sketch-to-stretch responses to the stories If A BusCouldTalk:TheStoryofRosaParks(Ringgold,1999),The Story of RubyBridges (Coles,1995),White SocksOnly(Coleman,1996),andTheOtherSide(Woodson& Lewis, 2001). Initially this finding surprised theresearch team because the stories highlighted theunjust treatment of African Americans during thecivilrightsera.Discussionsfollowingthereadaloudsofthetextsfocusedonhowinequalityandprejudiceprevailed in the communities and around the


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country.However,manyofthestudentsdrewimagesfor their sketch-to-stretches, which included girlsholding hands, BFF (Best Friends Forever), andhearts (see Figure 1).One of the stories in the civilrightstextset,TheOtherSide,carriedasubthemeoffriendship,whichseemedtoresonatewithstudents.The positive, colorful images that the studentsproduced contrasted the difficult and trying eventsdepicted in the text. In addition to the images thatreflected friendship, students captioned theirdrawings with words and phrases such as, “now,”“XOXOXXO,”and“blackandwhitecanbetogether.”These descriptors symbolized what they saw as theoutcomeof theworkof civil rights activists suchasRosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and RubyBridges: thatAfricanAmericansandWhitescangetalongandbefriends.Thefocusoffriendshipsacrossracial lines was commonplace among the students'writings in response to the Civil Rights texts theyreadanddiscussed.

ViolenceOne topic, indicative of the Civil Rights Era thatappearedinstudents’writtenartifacts,wastheissueof violence. When students wrote about whatsurprised them, they noted the violent nature ofmany of the incidences that took place. Thisemphasis perhaps was a surprise because studentshad not encountered picture books that addressedtheseevents.Althoughmanyofthetextsthemselvesdid not explicitly foreground the violence, studentspicked up on the subtleties in the images and inpassing references. The images in these textscontributedtostudents’expandedunderstandingsoftheeventsofthe1960s.InrespondingtoTheStoryofRuby Bridges (Coles, 1995), students noted that themarshals carriedguns.Theywere surprised to learnthat the White students in the school hated RubyBridges.Onestudentwrote“Everybodyattheschoolhateher[sic].”Gabrielwrote,“Thewholeschoolwasmean to Ruby.” As they read and talked about If aBus Could Talk (Ringgold, 1999), students againcommented on gun use. Alicia made references toMartin Luther King, Jr. and the violence thatsurrounded his life: “In the scary night, theywouldkill Black people. They burned MLK house [sic].”And still another responded to dangers andconsequences that Rosa Parks endured: “Rosa

threatened a White boy when she knew that shecouldgethungorshot.”

LanguageLearningLanguagelearningwasatopicthatappearedinmanyofthestudents’imagesandwords.Noneofthetextsexplicitly addressed learning a new language, butstudents’ownpersonalconnectionswitheventsandpeople, similar to those represented in the stories,were highlighted. For example, in the bookHarvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez (Krull,2003),theauthorwritesaboutChavez’sexperienceinschool when the teacher hung a sign on him thatstated “I am a clown. I speak Spanish” (Krull, 2003,n.p.).Chavez’sexperienceresonatedwithstudentsasthey wrote and drew about this incident. Whilemaking a connection to this particular book, onestudentwrote“sad”nexttothesign,“Iamaclown.”His feelings for the incidentwere clear in hiswordchoice. The image of the sign was also one of themostusedwhenstudentsusedthesketch-to-stretchinvitation.Severalofthestudentsdrewthesignwiththewordswrittenonit.The Circuit (Jiménez, 1997) was another text thatexplored the challenges of learning a language.Similar to the author’s boyhood experiences ingrowingupinamigrantfamily,manyofthestudentsidentifiedwithandwroteaboutinstanceswhentheyhad been denied the right to speak their firstlanguage in school. They sharedpersonalmemoriesof when they or their friends were scolded forspeaking Spanish in the classroom.Bernardowrote,“It remindsmeof kindergartenwhen I didn’t knowany English.” In a personalmemory text, Alejandroshared his friend’s experience of being admonishedbyateacher forspeakingSpanishthepreviousyear.Hewrote,

I remember in 2nd grade, Mrs. O said “English, English, no Spanish!” toAngel.Andthen hemoved toMexico to speak Spanish.AndIfeelsorryforhimbecausehegotyelledbyMrs. O ‘ cause she was a loud voice andshedon’twantpeopletospeakSpanish.

Formanyofthestudents,thechallengesof learninga new language were something that they couldconnect to and write about using the differentinvitations.


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MovementandSolidarityAn analysis of the writing artifacts suggested thatstudents appeared to include images related to thetensions exhibited in the texts when reading booksrelated to migration and Latin@ history in theUnited States. For example, they included imagesrepresentingmovement or migration from place toplace such asmaps, flags ofMexico and theUnitedStates, and large groups of people marching (seeFigure2).Onestudent,Xahari,choseforherfinal writing piece a response tothe storyHarvesting Hope (Krull,2003). She illustrated her coverwith a garden patch of lettuce,carrots, and grapes; an appleorchard with ladders next to thetrees; and people holding basketsastheypickedthefruit.Allofthepeople were frowning. Inside shewrote,

CesarChavez livewithhisfamily.

Hehadabeautifulhouse.His father had a job until

thetreesweren’tsogood.His familydidn’thaveany

moneysohisparentshadtoworkonafarm.

Heleftschoolandworkedwithhisparents.Theywerereallypoor.Theirhousewasn’tsopretty.Theywereimmigrants.Their bosswhen theworkers did somethingwrongsometimesthebossfiredthem,beatthemormurderedthem.Cesarwasscared.Hemadespeechesuntilonedayhedied.Xahari’s composition is a summary of the

story; but it alsodemonstrateshow shewas able toencapsulate the central ideas around solidarity,power,andresilienceamongmigrantworkers.

HealthcareThe topic of healthcare came up often in thestudents’ writings, especially in regards to familymembers being born, trips to the hospital, andremedies for illnesses. Students’ wrote personal

connection stories, sketch-to-stretch pieces, andFair/Not Fair responses as they listened to theirteachers read chapters from The Circuit (Jiménez,1997). In their personal connection stories twostudents wrote about baby sisters being born.Alejandrowroteabouta remedy thathismomusedto help him get betterwhen hewas sick, saying, “Iremember when I got sick.Mymom used to get acoin and put it with Tiger Balm” Another student’spersonal connection story included other familymembers: “My aunt had a baby who was sick and

wenttothehospitalandgotbetter.”References to healthcarewere also represented insketch-to-stretch piecesthat the students created.Alexis created two sketchesthat related to healthcare.Inthefirstpieceshedrewatentwithababy insideandwrote “the baby died.” Inthe second piece Alexisdrewababywithasadfaceandwrote “this is the babythat is sick when he islittle,”;apictureofatentisnext to the words “this is

the tent they stay in and sleep in”; and she drew ahospital and wrote “this is the hospital that Toritowenttowhenhewassick.”Similarly, another student depicted various aspectsof family and illness in her sketch–to-stretch. Herimagesdepictedamotherinthehospitaltakingcareof a sick baby. She also drew a picture of peoplepraying and wrote, “people pray when someone isdyingorsick.”Apictureofthebabyinthestorywithblood on his diaper depicted his illness. A thirdstudent drew a picture of a hospital and a baby.Students also connected to the unfairness of beingsick and dying as an infant. Tomas wrote, “It’s notfairthatToritoissick”whileDianawrotethatitwasfair that the doctors wanted to save the baby andthatthegirltriedtosavethebaby,too.The varied topics that students took up in theirwriting suggest that the texts and conversationsinvoked ideas and concerns that are rarely seen in

Asteachersandstudentsworktowardintegratingcriticalliteracypracticesintotheirwritingtime,itispossibletotransformandstrengthenthe

literacypracticesandrepertoriesofstudentsasthey

navigatethelargersocial,cultural,andpoliticaleventsof

theday.


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elementary classroom curriculum. Making sense ofthe violence during the civil rights, understandinglanguageuse, or talking aboutdifferent avenues forhealthcare are not commonplace “prompts” foundwithin elementary classrooms (Geisler, Hessler,Gardner,&Lovelace,2009;Hudson,Lane,&Mercer,2005).Studentsinthesetwoclassroomswereabletoexplorearangeof ideas inavarietyofsignsystems,thereby increasing their abilities to demonstrateknowledgeandunderstanding.AffordancesandChallengesRelatedtoMultipleWritingInvitationsAs we began to examine student response to thedifferentwritinginvitations,wenotedthefrequencyofcertaininvitations.Thisprocessledtoconsideringthepurposeandvalueofeachinvitationasstudentsdiscussed social justice issues and historical events.The three most popular writing invitations weresketch-to-stretch,QuICS,andcharacterperspective.By far, students selected sketch-to-stretch as apreferredresponsestrategy(n=71).Everystudenthadat least one sketch-to-stretch in his or her writingfolder, while many students had multiple sketches.White Socks Only (Coleman, 1996), The Other Side(Woodson & Lewis, 2001), and Harvesting Hope(Krull, 2003) were the texts that invoked the mostsketches.We surmised that the events in the stories lentthemselves to drawing selected images. The sketch-to-stretch invitation enabled students to visuallyrepresent the ideas in the story as well as in theirown thinking as they read and discussed the texts.Students’ images were predominantly positive andhappy, with icons reflective of friendships, family,solidarityofagroup,andlove.Occasionally,studentswould create a “collage” of sorts by drawing imagesacross the texts. One student, Aaron, chose tosymbolizehisperspectiveofhowracerelationshavechanged over the 40-year period (see Figure 3).Hisimages exemplify how sketch-to-stretch can pushstudentstonewunderstandingsofcomplexideas.Alongside the sketch-to-stretch, students alsoresponded to the texts through QuICS. The QuICSstrategywasanopportunityforstudentstolistinitialthoughtsaboutatextthattheycoulddevelopfurther

in later writings. To illustrate, Alicia wrote for herquestion, “Why did the White people didn’t likeBlackpeople?”andshewassurprisedthatthe“Whitepeoplewanted tokillRuby.”These statementsweredeveloped into amore thoughtful piece aboutwhatwas fairandnot fairabout the treatmentofAfricanAmericans and Ruby Bridges, in particular. AaronusedhisQuICStodevelopagraphicorganizerwherehe put himself into the perspective of one of theMarshalls that guarded Ruby as she walked to theschool.Understanding character perspectives, a CCSSstandardforthirdgrade,providestudentsaplatformtodiscussthebehaviorsofdifferentcharactersinthetext, which aligns with one of the tenets of criticalliteracy—taking on multiple perspectives (Lewison,et al., 2002). Further, students are supported toextendtheirunderstandings innewandnovelways.Specifically, the students in the study were able toconceptualize the characters from the text. Toillustrate, Lisbeth articulated the perspective ofRuby’steacherandwrote,

How did the judge tell her to go to thisschool?Howdoesshestandthemob.Howisshe happy without even one friend? She isvery smart. She is very brave. Iwonder howsheisnotscared.

Lisbethappeared tonotice theempathy thatRuby’steacher felt about the events surrounding Ruby’sattendanceattheschool.Thesophisticatednatureofthesewritingssuggeststhatthestudentsinthesetwoclassrooms were taking on the position of beingknowledgeable and insightful about the eventsduring the civil rights era and issues related toimmigrationandmigrantworkers.The constraints of these writing invitations wererevealedasthestudentsengagedinmakingsenseofthe social issuespresented in the texts.The sketch-to-stretchwasoftenmisunderstood in thatstudentsdrewscenesfromthestory,ratherthanusingimagestorepresenttheoverarchingthemeofthetext.Thisconstraint apparent inmany of the students’ piecesas they drew characters from The Other Side(Woodson & Lewis, 2001) sitting on a fence orholding hands (as friends do). Students also drewpicturesoftentswithababycryingtorepresentthestorylineofthefamilyinTheCircuit(Jiménez,1997)


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worryingaboutthebaby’sillness.QuICS’limitationsfoster littledepth in responsebecauseof thesizeofthe actual writing space, as well as trying to writewhile the teacher is reading the text. For somestudents itwasdifficult towritewhile listening; forothers there didn’t seem to be immediateconnections in theQuICScategorieswhich resultedin empty post-it notes. Character perspectives weresometimes challenging for students to take on,especially if there was limited knowledge of theevents taking place. Most of the characterperspectives(24ofthe29)weregeneratedinthecivilrights texts, which built upon students’ previousknowledge base about this historical period of time(e.g., Martin Luther King and his work for civilrights).

Discussion

The students and teachers in these two third-gradeclassrooms constructed meaning of texts in noveland complex ways. They utilized a range of signsystems through writing, language, and drawing tofurther their own understandings of the social,historical,andpoliticaleventsofdayspast,aswellascurrentdayhappenings.Thegenerativenatureofthewriting invitations was essential as studentsconstructed their own understandings andinterpretations of socially significant topics. Theyexamined a range of ideas and topics, includingviolence, language learning, and solidarity. Thesetopics problematizewhat is often considered statusquoorcommonplaceforyoungwriters.This finding issimilartotheworkofHeffernanandLewison(2003),wheretheydiscoveredhowstudentsreadilytookonthesociallysignificantissuessuchasbullying and power in their social narratives. AsLewison and Heffernan (2008) note, “Such writingactedasatool todisruptstudents'naturalizedwaysof‘doingwriting’inelementaryschools,encouragingthemtoanalyzeandcritiqueissuestheydescribedasimportant in their lives (p 436)”. Opportunities forstudents to think and respond to topics related tothe civil rights andmigrantworkers resulted in theconstructionof texts thatdemonstratedpossibilitiesfor extending conversations about these importantissues. Moreover, the range and depth of thestudents’writing suggest that this typeofwriting is

critically important in the context of students’ livesand experiences, as well as meets the demands ofcurrentstandardsandexpectations.Students also created a shared composing space,whereby ideas fromonestudentmanifested itself insomeoneelse’scomposition.Thesharingofideaswasparticularly noticeable with the sketch-to-stretchartifacts. There were similar iconic images acrossmanyofthestudents’papers.Forexample,“BFF”andhearts to represent friendship and “getting along”werefoundthroughoutthestudents’writingfolders.As the ideas and images traveled throughout theroom, students took these and incorporated themintotheirownrepertoireofunderstandings.Buildingon the belief that literacy is socially constructed(Barton &Hamilton, 2000), students came to valuethe icons and images in significant ways. Bakhtin(1981)talksaboutthismovementofideasintermsofappropriationanddialogism.Theseimagesandtextswere“fluidandtransactional,witheachtextservingto mediate and transform others” (Smagorinsky &Coppock, 1994, p. 300). Thus, as the studentsappropriated each other’s images, they drew uponpriorunderstandingstomakesenseoftextsandthenreframedthemtocreatetheirownrepresentationofmeaning.Sketch-to-stretch enabled students the opportunityto represent their thinking in novel ways. Studentshadnot experienced this invitationbefore, andas aresult had mixed success with extending beyond ascenefromaparticulartext.Yet,whenstudentsusedsymbolsand imagestoreflectcurrentandhistoricalevents, a wider range of thinking about their livesand the world emerged. Aaron’s visualrepresentationofracerelationssuggeststhathewasabletocriticallyexaminetheselargersocialissuesinways thatwerenotapparent inhiswrittentexts.Byengagingintransmediationofsignsystems,studentsadoptedacriticalstancetowardthetextsreadbytheteachers. Theywere able to examine the social andhistoricaleventspresentedinthestoriesandprovidecritique.This finding resonateswithothersworkingin the area of transmediation and critical literacy(Albers, Harste, & Vasquez, 2011).While the Albersand colleagues study focuses on teachers, it isimportant to note that the visual images from theyoung students carried similar messages of


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friendshipandracialunity.Additionally,studentsinthis study were able to extend and expand theirconceptual understandings as they mediatedmultiple symbol systems and lived experiences(Siegel,2006).

ConclusionStudents’ written and visual artifacts around twocritical literacy units, civil rights andimmigration/migrant workers, suggest that theywereabletointerrogateandproblematizethesocialandpoliticaleventsofthetime.Theytookriskswithmultiple perspectives and offered a number ofpersonal memory narratives that were infused withconnections and experiences. These third-grade

students also took up the invitation towork acrosssign systems and generate new and complexmeanings through their sketch-to-stretch responses.Throughout the read alouds, discussions, writingtime, and author’s sharing time, opportunitiesexistedforstudents“toexpandtheirthinkingandtograpplewith issuesof freedom,social responsibility,citizenship, andpersonal identity” (Soares&Wood,2010,p.493).Asteachersandstudentsworktowardintegrating critical literacy practices into theirwriting time, it is possible to transform andstrengthen the literacy practices and repertories ofstudents as they navigate the larger social, cultural,andpoliticaleventsoftheday.

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Children’sLiteratureReferences

Bunting,E.,(1994).Aday’swork.NewYork,NY:ClarionBooks.Coleman,E.(1996).Whitesocksonly.MortonGrove,IL:AlbertWhitman&Company.Coles,R.(1995).ThestoryofRubyBridges.NewYork,NY:Scholastic.Jiménez,F.(1997).Thecircuit:Storiesfromthelifeofamigrantchild.NewYork,NY:HoughtonMifflin.Krull,K.(2003).Harvestinghope:ThestoryofCesarChavez.NewYork,NY:HoughtonMifflin.Lorbiecki,M.(2000).SisterAnne’shands.NewYork,NY:Puffin.Mora,P.(1997).Tomasandthelibrarylady.NewYork,NY:AlfredA.Knopf,Inc.Ringgold,F.(1999).Ifabuscouldtalk:ThestoryofRosaParks.NewYork,NY:Simon&Schuster.Woodson,J.&Lewis,E.B.(2001).Theotherside.NewYork,NY:PutnamJuvenile.


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AppendixA

DescriptionsofWritingInvitations

WritingInvitation Description

CharacterPerspective Studentschooseacharacterfromthestoryandattempttoviewandwriteaboutaneventoreventsfromthatspecificcharacter’sviewpoint.

Fair/NotFair Studentswriteaboutstoryeventsorideasthatarefairversusthosethatarenotfair.

PersonalMemories Studentswriteaboutapersonalexperienceormemorythatconnectstoaneventorideainthebook.

QuICS Studentsdividetheirpaperintofoursquaresandrecordtheirinitialthinkingaboutthestoryinresponsetothefollowingfourcues(oneiswrittenineachbox):Qu-QuestionsIhaveI-InterestingpointsC-ConnectionsIcanmakeS-Surprisingevents

Sketch-to-stretch Students“sketch”ordrawvisualimagesbasedonwhattheyfoundasimportantorinterestinginthestory.Theimagesthatthestudentsdrawrepresenttheirpersonalinterpretationsofthetextaswellasconnectionsbetweenthetextandtheirreallifeexperiences.


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AppendixB

SummariesofTextsSelectedforReadAlouds

BooksRelatedtoCivilRights

WhiteSocksOnly(Coleman,1996)

Agrandmothershareswithhergranddaughterastoryofherchildhoodwhenshemisunderstoodthemeaningofa“whitesonly”signonawaterfountain.Sheremovedhershoestodrinkfromthefountainonlytodiscoverthatthesignmeantwhitepeopleonly.AwhitetownspersonwasreadytobeatherbutAfricanAmericanbystanderssteppedinandalsoremovedtheirshoestodrinkfromthefountain.

TheStoryofRubyBridges(Coles,1995)

AtruestoryofRubyBridges,thefirstAfricanAmericangirlsenttofirstgradeinanall-WhiteschoolinNewOrleansinthe1960s.Thebooktellsabouthernegativeexperiencesandthecrowd’shostilityasshewalkstoschool.ThebookshowcasesthecouragethatRubyBridgeshasinthefaceofracism.

SisterAnne'sHands(Lorbiecki,2000)

Sevenyear-oldAnniehasanewteacher.SisterAnneisthefirstdarkskinpersonthatAnniehasmet.SisterAnneismetwithresistance.Althoughkidsarepulledfromherclass,SisterAnnecontinuestoteach.Oneday,astudentthrowsapaperairplanewithanoffensivepoem.Attheendofthebook,AnniedescribesheryearwithSisterAnneasayearfulloflearningwhenanimportantlessonaboutacceptancewaslearned.

IfaBusCouldTalk:TheStoryofRosaParks(Ringgold,1999)

Inthisstory,MarcietakesamagicalrideonabusthatdetailsthelifeexperiencesofRosaParks.ReaderslearnwhyRosaParksissuchanimportantfigureinthecivilrightsmovement.Attheendofthebook,RosaParksgetsonthebusandthelittlegirlunderstandtheimportanceofRosaParks'actionsthatinspiredotherstostandupforfreedom.

TheOtherSide(Woodson&Lewis,2001)

Thisbooktellsthestoryofafriendshipbetweentwogirlswhosehousesareseparatedbyafence.Despiteknowingthattheyarenotsupposedtoplaywitheachotherduetotheracialdifferences,thegirlsdevelopafriendshipandbegintositonthefencetogether.

BooksRelatedtoMigrantFarmWorkers

ADay'sWork(Bunting,1994)

Thisisthestoryofayoungboy,hisgrandfatherandthechallengestheyfacewhenlookingfordaylabor.Theyoungboyliestoapotentialemployerbysayingthathisgrandfatherknowshowtogarden.Theboyandgrandfathermistakenlypullplantsinsteadofweeds,whichisdiscoveredbytheemployer.Thegrandfatherandboyrectifythemistakebyworkingfornoextrapay.Theyoungboylearnsalessonabouttellingthetruth.

TheCircuit:StoriesfromtheLifeofaMigrantChild(Jiménez,1997)

ThisbookisacollectionofshortstoriesaboutaboynamedFranciscoandhisfamilyastheyworkthefarmfieldsinCalifornia.Includedintheshortstoriesarememoriesofgoingtoschoolforthefirsttime,notspeakingEnglish,andwhentheyoungestchildinthefamilygetsverysick.


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HarvestingHope:TheStoryofCesarChavez(Krull,2003)

ThebookbeginsbydetailingCesarChavez’schildhoodandstrugglesinschoolsandchronicleshislifeasamigrantfarmworker.ThebookrecountshowChavezbegantoorganizefarmworkersandhowhewasinstrumentalinorganizinganon-violentmovementforfarmworkers’rights.

TomasandtheLibraryLady(Mora,1997)

ThisbooktellsthestoryofalittleboywhomovesfromTexastoIowa.Tomasbeginstovisitthelibraryandisgreetedbythelibraryladywhoshowshimthathecancheckoutbooks.Tomasbeginstoreadmanydifferenttypesofbooksandlearnsaboutthejoyofreading.


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Sketch-to-stretch

Figure1.Sketch-to-stretchtoillustrateiconicimages


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Sketch-to-stretch

Figure2.Sketch-to-stretchtoillustratemovementandsolidarity


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Sketch-to-stretch

Figure3.Sketch-to-stretchtoillustrateracerelationsfor40years.

Documents

“It Happened to Me”: Third Grade Students Write and Draw ...jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Article-2_Flint.pdf“It Happened to Me”: Third Grade Students Write