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Models of power and the deletion of participation in a classroom literacy event
Author(s) -
Jacobs Gloria E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of research in reading
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.077
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9817
pISSN - 0141-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01470.x
Subject(s) - dyad , presentation (obstetrics) , literacy , context (archaeology) , pedagogy , class (philosophy) , mathematics education , psychology , power (physics) , event (particle physics) , the arts , language arts , sociology , computer science , social psychology , political science , medicine , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , biology , law , radiology
This article uses the analytic lens of power relations and models of power to examine how the participation of two students in an urban US eighth‐grade English language arts class was symbolically and literally deleted. The researcher asks why do some students fail despite being placed in a technologically rich educational environment that ostensibly draws on best practices? Drawing on data collected during an academic year, the author uses a telling case of a dyad engaged in on‐line research and the creation of a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate how the students try to participate and complete the assignment but experience failure. The author raises questions about the context of the students' lives as well as the nature of the classroom instruction and assessment structure. It is argued that further research into the nature of participation is needed to address the lack of student success in urban schools.