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.

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.

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.”

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.”