Faculty Publications

Productive Taboos: Cultivating Spatialized Literacy Practices

Document Type

Article

Keywords

critical inquiry, elementary, literacy, urban, video

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Pedagogies

Volume

10

Issue

2

First Page

177

Last Page

191

Abstract

The fifth grade students in this project were part of a yearlong ethnographic study in an urban elementary school. They engaged in a student initiated inquiry project combining bakeries and mysteries, which culminated in the production of an original film. Situated in a socio-spatialized stance on literacy involving networks of participation and interaction in conjunction with Discourses and encoded texts, this study examines the co-construction of lived and ideologically charged spaces. The inquiry project privileged discussion, script writing, and a range of texts as literacy curricular tools, such as everyday texts (cookbooks and TV shows, e.g. Cake Boss) and cultural content (pop music icons Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson). The students, from three ability-grouped classrooms, reimagined their roles within the inquiry group through bargaining for tasks, wearing costumes, and taking on new roles to determine how to interact with one another effectively. Analysis, with an emphasis on the social co-construction of school spaces for literacy practices in current educational settings, highlights the potential for productivity when student engage in literacy work outside of dominant trends of ability grouping, individual work, and compliance. Productive taboos in this study such as collaborative writing, embodying characters, and taking leadership roles fostered flexibility in thinking and engagement in student-initiated projects.

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Original Publication Date

1-1-2015

DOI of published version

10.1080/1554480X.2014.985299

Link to Full Text

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