Transcript In the Shadow of the Blast Furnace:

Constructing Third Space
Multiliteracies in the Shadow
of the Blast Furnace
Dr. Joseph M. Shosh, Moravian College
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
CARN International Conference
Cambridge, UK
6 Nov. 2010
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem Steel: Wikipedia
America’s Largest Brownfield filmed by Ms. Wescoe’s Students
on April 19, 2007 (Bethlehem Project Production Day)
Model of the Sands Casino filmed by Ms. Wescoe’s Students on
April 19, 2007 (Bethlehem Project Production Day)
Freedom High School (1967)
NCLB AYP Designation: F
Moravian College
founded 1742
• Selective liberal arts college
• 1,600 full-time residential students
• Elementary education certification
• K-12 certification in Music, Art, French,
German, Spanish, Latin
• Secondary certification in English,
Mathematics, History, General Science,
Chemistry, Biology, Physics
• 25% of student body enrolled in one or
more teacher certification programs
Initial Teacher Research Question:
How do tenth grade English students in an
urban comprehensive high school become
stronger readers, writers, listeners,
speakers, and critical thinkers when they
create living history documentaries with the
collaboration of their regular classroom
teacher, a university-based teacher
researcher, and pre-service teacher
volunteers?
Funding & In-Kind Support
James Moffett Grant, NCTE & NWP
Moravian College Leadership Center
Moravian College Education Department
BASD Instructional Technology Department
James Moffett Connection
• Create holistic, discourse-based curriculum.
• Mentor students to see their own community
through new lenses as they read, discuss, and
construct both conventional and multimedia texts.
• Create opportunities for students to dialogue in
meaningful ways with one another, with their
classroom teacher, and with university-based
educators.
What are Third Spaces?
We wanted to co-construct with our students a series of
third spaces for authentic learning at the intersection of
often competing and conflicting discourses, where teacher
talk and student talk meet, where personal interests
intersect with the needs of our community, and where what
students know and are able to do is extended and supported
by a more knowledgeable other, who learns as well as
teaches.
Project Participants
Ms. Wescoe’s 2007 10th grade “Extended” English Language Arts Class
• 11 young men
• 9 young women
• Labeled by PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) as “basic” or
“below basic” in English Language Arts
Participant Inquiry Question:
How will the “Bethlehem Works” Casino
redevelopment project impact life in Bethlehem,
especially on the South Side?
1. Bethlehem Boys’ Club—Steven, Dario, & Kevin
2. Century 21 Realty—Joey & Lindsay
3. Hillside Obgyn Associates—Kaleia & Jazzlyn
4. Lehigh University Spokesperson—Jason & Anthony
5. Mayor Callahan—Xavier & Orlando
6. Patty’s Petals—Henry
7. Recycled/Earth Friendly Art and Furniture—Felix & Matt
8. St. Luke’s Hospital—Dionely & Ashley
9. STAR Tutoring Program—Rubianna & Christine
10.Touchstone Theatre— Talayia & Lashawn
Project Facilitator: Ms. Wescoe’s Role (1)
Project Facilitator: Ms. Wescoe’s Role (2)
Joey reflects on his Century 21 interview.
Project Facilitator: Dr. Shosh’s Role (1)
Project Facilitator: Dr. Shosh’s Role (2)
www.sfett.com
www.listenup.org
Lashawn considers how digital video
production will help her in the future.
Moravian Student Teacher: Ms. Steward’s Role
1. First Steps: Pre-Interview Brainstorming
2. Writing Good Interview Questions
3. Writing Good Interview Questions: The
Students’ Turn
4. Interview Note-Taking
5. Making a Good Impression: First-rate
Habits for Interviewing
6. Applying What We Have Learned:
Evaluating a Television Interview
7. Pulling It All Together: Interviewing One
Another
8. Introduction to Internet Research
9. First Steps: Beginning Internet Research
for the Documentaries
10. Preparing to Interview Our Contacts
Ms. Wescoe comments
on the interview with
Mayor Callahan.
Xavier and Orlando
interview Mayor
Callahan.
Moravian Pre-Student Teacher: Ms. Uhas’s Role
• Coordinate college mentors to chaperone high
school teams on production day.
• Organize a video production workshop in the
College’s Digital Media Lab.
• Make arrangements for a luncheon in one of the
College’s dining halls.
What was really the best part of Production Day?
Participant Response
What Students Told Us They Liked
• Role-playing city council meeting
• Critiquing student-produced video clips
• Conducting interviews
• Exploring South Side
• Being ‘on their own’ with college students
• Watching film festival & college student video clips
• Eating lunch on campus
What Students Told Us They Didn’t Like
• Writing research
• Being on camera
• Listening to “lectures”
• Doing “regular” classwork
Henry shares what he learned…
Q & A with Student Teacher Kelly Steward (1)
Q. What was personally most meaningful
and challenging about your involvement
in the Bethlehem Project?
A. It was so rewarding to be involved in something so
revolutionary in English language arts instruction! This
was something totally new, and we were the only class
participating; that alone was pretty amazing! I was lucky to
have had the opportunity as a student teacher. The main
challenge was leading the students in working with
technology; glitches and malfunctions require great
flexibility.
Q & A with Student Teacher Kelly Steward (2)
Q. What might college teacher
education programs do to prepare
future English teachers for teaching
and learning in the digital age?
A. I could imagine a half-credit course or something like that devoted
entirely to helping future English teachers use new technology.
Perhaps teacher education programs should even require their student
teachers to design and implement an original multi-media project for
their students to complete relying on available technology.
Q & A with Student Teacher Kelly Steward (3)
Q. What, if anything, do you think you'll do later in your teaching
career that you may not have done if you hadn't participated in
the Bethlehem Project?
A. My involvement in the project inspired me to
one day be a leader in using new technology, even when that
task seems quite daunting. The project also demonstrated the
value of stepping outside the boundaries of a school building
and involving the rich resources of one's unique community.
Finally, participating in the Bethlehem Project challenged me to
view teaching and assessment in a different way: in short, the
more authentic the learning activities, the better. We should not
limit ourselves to having our students writing or creating things
for hypothetical situations; why not ask students to actually
produce something personally meaningful for a real audience?
Pre-Student Teacher Kelly Uhas’s Reflection:
“I worked with a group of students who were
labeled as being underachievers, strugglers,
and behavior problems, and I was able to watch
them excel. Intrinsically motivated by such a
thoughtful, interactive project, they became
overachievers, asking those they interviewed complex
questions and going beyond the assignment in every
way. The value of engaging students in academic work
that can be applied to the real world and has a real
world audience became obvious to me. The students I
worked with were and had always been capable but
chose to apply themselves to this project in particular
because it had meaning for them and for others.”
Some parting thoughts
as we come out from
behind the shadow of
the blast furnace…
• Expect logistical and technological challenges.
• Create multiple opportunities for all to engage in dialogue.
• Engage students as active participants in authentic literacy
opportunities.
• Resist the need to have expert knowledge before forging
ahead.
• Preserve the best practices of the past but develop a
forward-looking curriculum that is relevant today.