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Spring 2022 Meeting # 2
Meeting #2 5/2/21
4:10 pm
Reading:
“’You are asking me to do more than just read a book’: Student Reading in a General Literature Course” — Ann N. Amicucci, Michael M. Williamson, Sarah E. DeCapua, and John R. Hrebik
At our second meeting of the spring semester, we discussed Amiccui, Williamson, DeCapua, and Hrebik’s article, “You are asking me to do more than read a book.”
We paid particular attention to the author’s coding matrix, raising inquiries into the methodology and terminology for “ways of reading” and “role of reading.” The authors also indicate that “working with non-majors in a course that demands a great deal of students as readers is quite different from working with students who are perhaps more drawn to the task of reading literature” (p. 2). We considered how this statement has significance for community college instructors.
Moreover, we discussed how reader identity can be shaped within a class (through the practice of making meaning from a text) but also by a course (through the position the course places a student: honors, developmental, etc.).
We ended our discussion by considering a variety of texts for session 3.
Spring 2022 Meeting #1
Faculty Interest Group Notes
“Does Reading Matter?”
Monday, 4/4
4:10 – 5:10, via Zoom
Readings: “The Intersection of Reading and Identity in High School Literacy Intervention Classes”
— Katherine K. Frankel
At our first meeting of the spring semester, we discussed Katherine K. Frankel’s article “The Intersection of Reading and Identity in High School Literacy Intervention Classes.” With an interdisciplinary group of participants, we discussed how the academic infrastructure described in Frankel’s piece both mirrored (and at times differed from) that which we have experienced at Kingsborough Community College. We discussed the through lines between the “Literacy Intervention Classes” described in the piece and the history of academic remediation, developmental studies, and basic reading and writing at CUNY.
In particular, we examined how tracking in such a way has historically generated prescriptive norms for students – ones that often framed not only their academic performance but also their sense of self. In this regard, we reflected on our previous readings and last semester’s sessions, examining the role of dialogical practice in developing meaningful reading pedagogies for our students.
We ended our discussion with an open conversation fielding possible readings and directions for the remaining spring sessions.
Fall 2021 Meeting #3
Meeting #3 12/13/21
11:30 am
Reading: Bob Fecho – Literacy Practice and the Dialogical Self: Isaac Making Meaning
At our third and final meeting of the fall semester, we read Bob Fecho’s piece on the relationship between reading, the dialogical self, and acts of making meaning. The beginning of our discussion circled back to the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, addressing how meaning making relates to Bakhtin’s idea of “ideological becoming” as well as the ongoing and unending process of development and evolution that we all live within as students, teachers, and people (all of which serve as avowed and ascribed identity positions – a topic we discussed in meeting #2).
We read Fecho’s methodology closely, considering how his study reflected findings based off of his participant, “Isaac’s” experiences with literacy practices. Here, we entered a discussion about “wrestling” with reading and concluded that one can easily fake enthusiasm about a piece; it is much more difficult, however, to feign confusion. Confusion, we agreed, often requires assessing a text from a range of perspectives, effectively “trying on” a variety of identity positions to attempt to find meaning, purpose, and value in a text.
We ended our discussion by considering a variety of texts for spring 22.
Fall 2021 Meeting #2
Meeting #2 11/22/21
11:30 am
Reading: Dawan Coombs – School Culture, Struggling Adolescent Readers, and the Dialogical Self
Our second discussion centered on exploring the concept of identity in relation to both the act of teaching reading as well as in the act of reading itself.
Participants shared anecdotes about their own experiences as developing (and continuing to develop as) readers. In particular, we discussed the nature of “ascribed” vs. “avowed”identity positions – those identity positions given to us (ex: someone may be ascribed the identity position of “developmental” or “basic” reader) vs. those identity positions we choose (ex: we might choose to identify as athletes, musicians, artists, etc.).
This discussion dove deeper into the work of Hubert Hermans and Dialogical Self Theory and examined the way these identity positions shape our reading experiences. We also spent time thinking about how reading—itself—can function as a force molding one’s identity. Reading, we understood, is not a neutral act. It makes a palpable difference in the reader. Thus, the teaching of reading must also consider how our experiences with learning to read academic texts can shape not just our attitudes toward reading but also forge complex and durable attitudes about ourselves as readers and students.
In our next session, we look forward to reading Bob Fecho’s article, “Literacy Practice and the Dialogical Self: Isaac Making Meaning.
Fall 2021 Meeting #1
Meeting #1 10/25/21
11:30 am
Reading: Jacquelyn M. Urbani — Dialogic Reading: Implementing an Evidence-Based Practice in Complex Classrooms
Our first discussion centered on a conversation about defining “dialogic reading” and what that practice means to us, our students, and our classrooms.
Participants shared readings they’ve used in class and considered how some of the strategies outlined in Urbani’s text might be adopted to heighten the teaching of reading. In particular, we explored how “recursive” reading practices — going back to the same text multiple times and with new and renewed information and perspectives— could put a text in conversation with a) other texts, b) students lives, and c) the world beyond the classroom.
Together, we discussed how dialogic reading is connected to the larger discipline and theoretical framework of Dialogic Practice, a field indebted to the work of the Russian philosopher of literature and language, Mikhail Bakhtin. We explored how the origins in literary studies and linguistics paved the way for Hubert Hermans’ work in “dialogical self theory,” a methodology anchored to constructivist psychology.
Overall, we saw both how Dialogic Reading can provide pragmatic classroom strategies as well as underpin our reading classrooms with a deeper and more nuanced epistemological framework.
In our next session, we look forward to reading Dawan Coombs article, “School Culture, Struggling Adolescent Readers, and the Dialogical Self.”
Fall 2021 Meeting #3
Meeting #3 12/13/21
11:30 am
Reading: Bob Fecho – Literacy Practice and the Dialogical Self: Isaac Making Meaning
At our third and final meeting of the fall semester, we read Bob Fecho’s piece on the relationship between reading, the dialogical self, and acts of making meaning. The beginning of our discussion circled back to the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, addressing how meaning making relates to Bakhtin’s idea of “ideological becoming” as well as the ongoing and unending process of development and evolution that we all live within as students, teachers, and people (all of which serve as avowed and ascribed identity positions – a topic we discussed in meeting #2).
We read Fecho’s methodology closely, considering how his study reflected findings based off of his participant, “Isaac’s” experiences with literacy practices. Here, we entered a discussion about “wrestling” with reading and concluded that one can easily fake enthusiasm about a piece; it is much more difficult, however, to feign confusion. Confusion, we agreed, often requires assessing a text from a range of perspectives, effectively “trying on” a variety of identity positions to attempt to find meaning, purpose, and value in a text.
We ended our discussion by considering a variety of texts for spring 22.
Fall 2021 Meeting #2
Meeting #2 11/22/21
11:30 am
Reading: Dawan Coombs – School Culture, Struggling Adolescent Readers, and the Dialogical Self
Our second discussion centered on exploring the concept of identity in relation to both the act of teaching reading as well as in the act of reading itself.
Participants shared anecdotes about their own experiences as developing (and continuing to develop as) readers. In particular, we discussed the nature of “ascribed” vs. “avowed”identity positions – those identity positions given to us (ex: someone may be ascribed the identity position of “developmental” or “basic” reader) vs. those identity positions we choose (ex: we might choose to identify as athletes, musicians, artists, etc.).
This discussion dove deeper into the work of Hubert Hermans and Dialogical Self Theory and examined the way these identity positions shape our reading experiences. We also spent time thinking about how reading—itself—can function as a force molding one’s identity. Reading, we understood, is not a neutral act. It makes a palpable difference in the reader. Thus, the teaching of reading must also consider how our experiences with learning to read academic texts can shape not just our attitudes toward reading but also forge complex and durable attitudes about ourselves as readers and students.
In our next session, we look forward to reading Bob Fecho’s article, “Literacy Practice and the Dialogical Self: Isaac Making Meaning.”
Fall 2021 Meeting #1
Meeting #1 10/25/21
11:30 am
Reading: Jacquelyn M. Urbani — Dialogic Reading: Implementing an Evidence-Based Practice in Complex Classrooms
Our first discussion centered on a conversation about defining “dialogic reading” and what that practice means to us, our students, and our classrooms.
Participants shared readings they’ve used in class and considered how some of the strategies outlined in Urbani’s text might be adopted to heighten the teaching of reading. In particular, we explored how “recursive” reading practices — going back to the same text multiple times and with new and renewed information and perspectives— could put a text in conversation with a) other texts, b) students lives, and c) the world beyond the classroom.
Together, we discussed how dialogic reading is connected to the larger discipline and theoretical framework of Dialogic Practice, a field indebted to the work of the Russian philosopher of literature and language, Mikhail Bakhtin. We explored how the origins in literary studies and linguistics paved the way for Hubert Hermans’ work in “dialogical self theory,” a methodology anchored to constructivist psychology.
Overall, we saw both how Dialogic Reading can provide pragmatic classroom strategies as well as underpin our reading classrooms with a deeper and more nuanced epistemological framework.
In our next session, we look forward to reading Dawan Coombs article, “School Culture, Struggling Adolescent Readers, and the Dialogical Self.”
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