I am in the secondary education department of Queens College, CUNY,
where I direct the English Education program. I teach courses in the
teaching of English, writing, literature, and I work with student
teachers as well as a nascent community of inservice teachers. My
research, speaking very generally, is in classroom literacy teaching and
learning, especially about the formation of discourses within classroom
communities, the accompanying activity structures, and the ways those
communities and structures create and constrain possibilities for agency
and for participation - what they say about literacy and about
interaction - the proleptic worlds they create. Some of my research is
about groups of kids in classrooms and how they differentially
participate in the discourse of their class and how they also keep a
foot in conflicting discourses from home, the culture, and other classes
they've been in. I also have been investigating the ways particular
static texts and genres (e.g. the "developmental lesson plan") become
authoritative in school communities and really put the squeeze on
activity structures. Because I'm also a methods person, I work too on
ways of teaching that are attentive to such issues and that allow
teachers to be active and strong mentors while also preserving the
intentionality and decision-making of students. Maybe that gives you an
feel for a few of the many things that are on my mind right now.
Thanks for all your continuously potent thought. I'll try to post a
little more now and then, now that I've stepped out of the shadows to
sign back on.
Randy