Inspired by your quest for inclusion!
Barb Smith
OISE-UT
e-mail: bjsmith who-is-at oise.utoronto.ca
On Sun, 22 Sep 1996, Judy Diamondstone wrote:
> Hello, All.
>
> I have just launched a teacher-research project that is organized
> around a discussion list - it is still getting off the ground,
> as teachers work through the logistics of modems & email at
> their sites. One of the participants (also a student of mine)
> has raised questions specific to an inclusion classroom. There are
> only a handful of us online right now, and none have expertise
> with special ed. I plan to recruit someone to correspond with
> Mary Beth. Can some of you out there pinch hit for now? Any
> references to relevant literature would be much appreciated.
> Mary Beth also has much to say that will be of interest to
> many of you - the message deserves the sort of richness in
> response that xmca can provide (Questions include how to
> teach writing in an inclusion classroom.) Thank you
> so much if you can help.
>
> If you wish, respond to me personally, and I will repost to Mary Beth.
> If you respond to xmca, I will assume that it's okay to forward, unless
> you say otherwise.
>
> --------
>
> > First, I'm fairly obsessed with the fact that a number of my
> >students simply do not participate. A good deal of the "silent" ones are
> >classified (with perceptual/processing problems/Attention Deficit Disorder -
> >whatever the hell that "really" means). I'm itchin' to create a more
> >inclusive classroom that invites their participation. Then, I'm wondering if
> >they don't participate because it takes them "longer" to process the ideas
> >being discussed. Or, if they are reluctant to speak because of the risk
> >involved - the terror of showcasing their "limits." Then, too, I wonder
> >about how I'm creating a "school" speech community - one that is a bit
> >unnatural in the sense that you raise your hand, wait your turn, try to
> >remain "on task" and offer ideas that are relevant or on topic. So, I have
> >this quest: I want very much for all my students to "talk." I guess I need
> >to be more precise about what "talk" I'm after. These non-talkers are quite
> >chatty outside of academic contexts. Some are very strong socially. What's
> >so compelling to me (more & more) is this issue of CONTEXT (in the SFL
> >tradition). What am I doing wrong that silences these kids? Am I corrupting
> >or poisoning their social contexts where they speak and carry on without any
> >inhibitions? Yet, I don't buy that simple, liberal knee-jerk clap trap that
> >school is a necessary evil, an adulteration or corruption of children's
> >natural, immediate, spontaneous speech styles. Maybe school is just a
> >different context with different requirements and constraints. This might
> >just bring me right back to Bakhtin and the whole ventriloquism
> >schtick. The students are just code switching, finding the resources
> >to appropriate in a new situation. Maybe I need to make this all
> >explicit and talk about the talk ... the talk that seems easy and
> >effortless & why ... the talk that's hard, unfamiliar, alien, daunting
> >& why... I also have to restructure discussions so they offer a
> >variety of formats - from whole class to pairs and small groups.
> >
> >I can't let go of the idea that "class participation" is so
> >performative. The way students see this part of the school game as a
> >way to demonstrate what they know ... as a final/polished draft of
> >ideas ... as an all or nothing venue for their ego PAINS ME. I liken
> >class participation to writing "informational" or expository
> >text. Students must construct concepts / new knowledge / the content
> >of each discipline in a coherent, conventionalized format so that
> >their listening audience understands. They need to fully grasp the
> >new information, make sense of it in their own terms, have the
> >confidence, know the "rules" of school discourse (i.e. - make comments
> >that are actually relevant to the ongoing discussion, situate one's
> >remarks in the running text of others' remarks, refer to
> >others'points, agree/disagree, advance an argument and rationale).
> >
> >Perhaps "class participation" issues can be a springboard for
> >"expository writing" issue. The 2 seem to feed into each other. Maybe
> >if I do an ethnography about participation / talking (according to
> >field, tenor, mode: the what, the who, the how of being a talker in
> >and out of school). I can talk about how our own speaking behaviors,
> >willingness to talk varies along each dimension and within each.
> >Later, as we write more and more, I can re-direct our ethnography to
> >focus on writing. I could pick up on what I did last spring with
> >"voicing" and so forth.
> >
> >So sorry to take up your time, but I had to commit these ideas to
> >writing before I went on with my day. I wasn't sure if this letter
> >could go on the discussion list so I just sent it to you. OK, one
> >final comment or area of interest: How does one address expository
> >writing with classifed students who have no command over the basic
> >mechanics? Some of my students write in cuneiform - no spaces betweem
> >words, no syntactic sense of a sentence (purely semantic like Noguchi
> >suggests), "invented spellings." Issues like audience, purpose, power
> >relations, world views, ideologies and so on are compelling ... but
> >where do I start when these student texts are incomprehensible? We
> >know that writing is far more than the words on the page and I'd never
> >want to indulge a "slavish concern" for form / writing
> >prescriptions. However, how can I just ignore or leap over this word
> >level issue and arrive at the discourse level? Well, that's all for
> >now (and probably too much for a sunny Saturday).
> >
> >Thanks and take care. Mary Beth
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
> Judy Diamondstone
> Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
> Graduate School of Education
> 10 Seminary Place
> New Brunswick, NJ 08903
>
>