Remaining readings for this course and reading assignments for MWF group:

Gates, Jr.,: Ruby & Sarah

Douglass: Anna & Edwen

Mendoza-Denton: Lauchlin & Daniel

Steele: Sequoia & Arno

Lee: Michelle & Leshee

Tatum: Mary & Eileen

WEEK 5

Race & power

Gates, Jr., H.L. (1986). 'Race' as the trope of the world. In "Race," writing, and difference (pp. 590-597). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gates challenges the careless use of "race" as the ultimate trope for irreducible difference between cultures; gives an account of Phyllis Wheatley's "oral examination" to prove that she, as an African girl, was capable of having written a set of poems; rehearses and refutes the European assumption, existing since the 1600's, that Africans were incapable of creating formal literature.

Douglass, F. (1987). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. In H.L. Gates, Jr. (Ed.), The Classic Slave Narratives (pp. 273-281). New York: Penguin.

This section of Douglass's autobiography gives an account of his learning to read and write, despite the fact that, from the perspective of Douglass's slave owners, "it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read."

Mendoza-Denton, R. (2010). Are we born racist? New insights from neuroscience and positive psychology. Framed! Understanding achievement gaps.

In this chapter Mendoza-Denton chronicles the erroneous assumptions, which later became aphorisms, regarding what was perceived as an inherent cognitive deficiency in African Americans; and, how these erroneous assumptions have informed rhetoric around the achievement gap.

Steele, C. & Aronson, J. (2004). Stereotype threat and intellectual performance of African Americans.

In this essay the authors discuss the ill effects of stereotype cues and stereotype threat both psychologically, and to a lesser degree, psychosomatically.

Lee, S.J. (1994).  Beyond the model-minority stereotype: Voices of high- and low-achieving Asian-American students.  Anthropology & Education Quarterly 25: 413-429.   

This article examines the complex relationship between Asian American student identities and perceptions regarding future opportunities and attitudes towards schooling.  

Tatum, B. (1997). Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? And other conversations about race (93-113).New York:  Basic Books.

Tatum writes in this chapter about how white people can develop identities both as white and as anti-racist.

WEEK 6

Final in-class presentations

Multiliteracies

Boal, A. (1979). Poetics of the oppressed (selections). In Theater of the oppressed (120-126; 142-156). New York: Theatre Communications Group.

Boal uses theatre to enact Freirean pedagogical theories that intertwine literacy and democracy, and that result in personal and collective revolution.

Movie in class: Shakespeare’s Children.

This documentary highlights a drama project carried out with kids in a Berkeley school.

Hull, G.A., Kenney, N.L., Marple, S. and Forsman-Schneider, A. (2006). Many versions of masculine : an exploration of boys' identity formation through digital storytelling in an afterschool program, The Robert Bowne Foundation: Occasional paper series, vol. 6, Spring, pp. 1-42.

This monograph examines how young male students of color use digital storytelling to realize complex masculinities for themselves, masculinities that defy limited (and limiting) perspectives on male childhood and adolescence.

Parker, J.K. (2010). Preface and Chapter one: Understanding youth and digital media (xi-xiv; 1-14). In J.K. Parker (Ed.), Teaching tech-savvy kids: Bringing digital media into the classroom, grades 5-12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

This chapter calls educators to examine and capture the power of digital media, with specific examples from classroom teacher-researchers throughout the book.

Gee, J. P. (2005). Learning by design: Good video games as learning machines. E- Learning, 2(1), 5-16.

Gee connects video game design with effective teaching and learning principles.

Finnegan, Ruth.  (2002). A mix of arts. In Communicating:  The multiple modes of human interconnection (pp. 223-243). London: Routledge.

This chapter, which comes toward the end of Finnegan’s book, celebrates the creative and diverse means that human beings have invented to make meaning and interconnect.  How can we use Finnegan’s insights to rethink literacy?

Lee, C. (2009). Culture, Literacy and Learning: Taking Bloom in the Midst of the Whirlwind. Teachers College Press: New York. [pp. TBD]

This chapter articulates the potential for out-school knowledge in learning advanced literacy skills.

Hull, G.A. & Schultz, K. (2002). Connecting schools with out-of-school worlds: Insights from recent research on literacy in non-school settings. In G. Hull & K. Schultz (Eds.), School’s out: Bridging out-of-school literacies with classroom practice (32-57).

CASE STUDIES DUE MONDAY AUGUST 15

Class schedules

MWF Class 1: Wed 7/06 Class 2: Fri 7/08 Class 3: Mon 7/11 Class 4: Wed 7/13 Class 5: Fri 7/15 Class 6: Mon 7/18 Class 7: Wed 7/20 Class 8: Fri 7/22 Class 9: Mon 7/25 Class 10: Wed 7/27 Class 11: Fri 7/29 Class 12: Mon 8/01 Class 13: Wed 8/03 Class 14: Fri 8/05 Class 15: Mon 8/08 Class 16: Wed 8/10 Class 17: Fri 8/12

TTh Class 1: Tue 7/05 Class 2: Th 7/07 Class 3: Tue 7/12 Class 4: Th 7/14 Class 5: Tue 7/19 Class 6: Th 7/21 Class 7: Tue 7/26 Class 8: Th 7/28 Class 9: Tue 8/02 Class 10: Th 8/04 Class 11: Tue 8/09 Class 12: Th 8/11