Children’s Narratives: A Mirror of their Social Sensitivity

Children’s Narratives: A Mirror of their Social Sensitivity

Research Report Paola Quevedo Gómez (M.A.) 14th National ELT Conference: Innovation and Professional Development in ELT Wednesday, September 21st 2011

Objectives of the session z To explore a new perspective of Writing. z To report about the social dimension of Writing through Children’s Narratives. z To portray how by means of narrativising life stories raising awareness can come up. z To invite EFL teachers transform their settings and their students’ views towards the act of writing critically.

Initial Warmer: Pair Discussion What is your Writing view?

Is Writing an active part of your teaching practice?

How do you ask your students to write?

Under what instructions do you ask them to do it?

Which aspects do you consider when indicating your students what to write? z Please, write the last instruction you told your students in order to write:__________________________________ z z z z z

Final Warmer: Pair Discussion 1. Name a Social Issue: __________ 2. How would you define: za “narrative”? z“concientization”? z“voice”? z“social sensitivity”? z“writing as a social practice”?

3. What comes to your mind with the idea: “River of Life” ?

Children’s Narratives: A Mirror of their Social Sensitivity

Theoretical Framework

Rationale Bridging the gap between the school philosophy and what is being done in class.

Explore students' social views.

Writing as powerful tool to rethink the world.

Children’s Voices to act and reflect.

Writing as a means to empower children’s voices.

Project which nurtures and transforms teaching practices and social awareness.

Problem Statement z There was an existing gap between the institution philosophy and the children’s writing practices. z Children were not making sense of writing as a means to express their sensitivity towards social issues. z Writing was being seen as a linguistic skill worth to be developed.

Research Question & Objectives What social issues are portrayed in children’s narratives produced in a sensitive writing environment? z To identify the social issues children depict in the construction of narratives. z To explore and describe children’s understandings of social issues enclosed in their realities and life stories.

Research Design Type of study: A Qualitative Interpretive Case-study (Lankshear & Knobel, 2004 – Merriam, 1998 - Yin, 2002)

Data Collection Instruments: - Narratives: (McEwan and Egan, 1995) - Conferences (Marshall & Rossman, 1999).

Type of data: children’s narratives, reflections and life stories.

Setting: San Bartolomé La Merced School.

Participants: 19 Fifth Graders &Teacher as participant-observer.

Instructional Design This instructional design is carried out under the principles of critical pedagogy and the teaching methodology underlies open-ended dialogues, the school’s philosophy and the language itself jointly.

The River of Life Writing Center

First Phase: Students are told about the phases of the project.

Reading the World.

Survey of relevant lifestories.

Decorating the Writing Center.

Getting to know some special vocabulary.

Second Phase: Sensitizer moments to foster their memories.

Under a “written” construction.

Conferencing preparation.

Third Phase “Thinking” my world.

Conferencing: ( Social - Critical).

The version I loved the most.

Gallery of Photographs

Data Analysis In this inductive research I triangulated the data collected in three ways: by theory, by alternative instrument and by participants.

1. In matrix 1, resultant from the reading of the narratives, I took into Account: Student

Narrative #

Line #

Issue

Related theory

Patterns – Labels

Conference

2.. Protocol to record and transcribed conferences.

3. Individualized questionnaires for each participant.

4. Conference sessions.

5. Identification of topics from both instruments: Commonalities .

6. Commonalities were grouped into patterns.

7. There was a reduction of issues to determine the categories: Labels in narratives

Labels in conferences

Patterns

Categories

8. After the reading of the data one main category emerged: emerged Children’s

realities: mediation in the interaction with the world, the appraisement of life experiences and a sociocritical dimension of writing.

Data Samples (1)

Conferences Ja: entonces fue, para mí eso representó algo importante porque pues, eh un hermano para mí significa una persona que me va a acompañar y pues que tal vez, al comienzo cuando él sea un bebé pues tal vez toque cuidarlo más de lo que a uno lo acompaña … después se convierte en un compañero, en un amigo que uno le va ayudar…Source: Conference 3, lines 115 to 123, May 27th 2008.

Group 3) (

z z Ja: Ja Y pues en la narrativa siete que pues habla de los cambios recientes que he tenido con lo de mi hermano, los cambios malos que tuvo mi hermano en mí porque pues eso significó para mí como perder un poco la atención por parte de mis padres y de toda mi familia, y pues como yo antes era el pequeño y pues como me imagino que todos estaban concentrados en mí, entonces pues como ahora había alguien más pequeño entonces iba a cambiar y pues me iban a poner a transición y entonces eso como que afectó como la clase, la clase se afectó, pues me afectó sicológicamente porque me sentía como mucho que no me querían, pero últimamente he estado como, todos hemos estado, como muy pendientes de eso.

Entonces pues me imagino que ellos mejoraron y he hecho todo lo posible por cambiar (Source: Conference 3, lines 205 to 213, May 27th 2008. Group 3)

Data Samples (2)

(Source: Dc, Narrative 7 “My first time that I go to Canada�, April 11th, 2008)

Conferences Dc: Yo puse que ir a otro país es un privilegio porque no todas las personas tienen la misma oportunidad que yo para viajar a otro Lugar del mundo. Digamos ocho horas en un avión. Porque esos viajes se disfrutan mucho y hay personas que no tienen recursos económicos, por ejemplo, no todo el mundo puede viajar a Canadá, por eso yo digo que es un privilegio porque es algo que digamos, Dios me dejo ir a Canadá. Y ya.

(Source: Conference 3, lines 305 to 308, May 27th 2008. Group 3)

Data Samples (3) Ja: Ja: yo considero a la primera comunió comunión como, como uno ir madurando espiritualmente, espiritualmente, en la dimensió dimensión espiritual.

Entonces pues recibir a Dios es algo importante que a uno lo va acompañ acompañar toda la vida, que pues es un sacramento que se debe recibir en la religió religión cristiana y pues me pusiste como varias preguntas, como qué qué quieres decir con, con pues primera vez por pues comiendo a Dios, entonces yo quiero decir que, pues uno siempre ha tenido a Dios mentalmente acá acá, pues en la mente espiritualmente, pero pues como comerlo físicamente es como má más importante. importante.

T: ¿Qué Qué significa eso?

Ja: : Pues tener a Dios fífísicamente es como, Ja uno va a sentir la compañí a de Dios como, compañía como má más cerca o presente. ¡Eso, má más presente a Dios!

Dios

(Source: Mf, Narrative 8 “My first communion”, April 23rd, 2008)

Conclusions z Students made sense of their histories as transformative events that nurture their awareness as social beings. z To this respect, material, psychological and interpersonal mediators enrich the construction of knowledge and the empowerment of their voices as main tools in the development of social awareness and the social practice of writing. In this perspective, students show in their narratives issues concerning social experience facts, social activities and social interaction.

- Regarding social experience facts, children explore and reflect upon issues related to their school initiation, social changes or moving, travelling, religious sacraments, accidents and the acquirement of new roles and new life stages.

- From the social activities, children render issues as their participation into a specific social group, personal achievements, and celebrations.

- As regards social interaction, children consider relevant issues in relation to their family dynamics, the exposure to a different culture, affectivity, human relationships, human behavior and attitudes.

-Students become conscious of their realities and feel able to problematize their stories as purposeful situations in their living process.

- Students read the world with a powerful social sensitivity.

- The intention to hear student’s voices in this research project became particularly fundamental, because it is how challenges, liberation, critical social views and reflexivity have their implications in human consciousnesses.

Implications z This research development contributed in the transformation of three specific facts as they are the view of writing, the learning environments, and the teaching practices. z It is tremendously relevant to adopt a new view of writing as a social practice.. z As soon as teachers assume a more critical view of the reality, rewarding written experiences will appear z This research suggests all discipline teachers to provide students with more authentic experiences that will be raised from their living realities and which may contribute to a real learning of any subject area

Key References z Adam, J. & Lorda, C. (1999). Lingüística de los textos narrativos. Barcelona, España: Editorial Ariel. z Freire, P. (1973). Concientización. Bogotá, Colombia: Colección Educación Hoy, perspectivas latinoamericanas, segunda edición. z Goodman, Y. (1990)How children construct literacy-Piagetian perspectives London, England: International Reading Association. z Lerner, D. (2001). Leer y escribir en la escuela: lo real, lo posible, lo necesario.

México, D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica. z McEwan, H. & Egan, K. (1995). La narrativa en la enseñanza, el aprendizaje y la investigación. Columbia University: Teachers College Press. z Quintero, A., (2003) Assessing writing in the EFL curriculum: how teachers can accomplish the task: Bogotá, Colombia: Cuadernos de Investigación Nº1. z Wink, J. (2001). Critical pedagogy, Introduction: welcome to my real world.

Chapter 2: Critical pedagogy: what in the world is it? (pp. 27 – 74). Addison Wesley. Longman.

Thank you so much for attending.

If you have any question, please feel free to ask

paola.quevedo3@gmail.com