Annotated Bibliography
Alexander, R. (2018). Developing dialogic teaching: Genesis, process, trial. Research Papers in Education, 33(5), 561-598.
Robin Alexander is at the forefront of research into dialogic learning and in this article seeks to both define what it is, why it works, and how to enact it in one’s classroom. The authors lay out the argument that dialogic structures support the cognitive development of young children due to the relationship between language and cognition. He presents dialogic teaching as the inverse of I-R-E or the initiate-respond-evaluate structure of talk common in classrooms, that inevitably places the focus on the teacher. Alexander notes that the ways in which the teacher engages and facilitates talk is important as it decides whether students are expected to take ownership over their own thinking and learning. Alexander explains that there is no single right way to effectively do dialogic teaching because each class has a distinctive personality, culture and attributes. Lastly, The article also outlines justifications, or reasons for adopting dialogic teaching structures, criteria for assessing if true dialogic learning is occurring, and repertoires, or the specific structures and activities, that can be employed in dialogic teaching.
Dover, A. G. (2013). Teaching for social justice: From conceptual frameworks to classroom practices. Multicultural perspectives, 15(1), 3-11.
This article discusses some practices that teachers can employ in order to become more effective at empowering their students. The author states that a teacher’s sense of responsibility for students’ success or failure has a huge impact on equity, effectiveness, and student achievement. If a teacher feels like they can affect students’ achievement, the students in their classroom are more likely to perform well. Family and community involvement is another area where teachers can positively impact student success. Furthermore, the act of attempting to get families and communities involved is ultimately more important than whether or not they received engagement or involvement. Just the act of reaching out to families and communities can be effective in increasing student performance as it may help teachers develop a better understanding of the circumstances, issues and culture of their students.
Hammond, Z. (2014). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students (pp. 142-151). Corwin Press.
In this chapter, Hammond argues that marginalized students will not develop into independent learners without a safe learning environment that respects and acknowledges their humanity. The necessary elements for creating a strong, connected community are routines, aesthetics, talk structures, and task variety. Oftentimes teachers think that being culturally responsive means decorating with inclusive cultural artifacts but Hammond suggests that we need to move beyond decor to create supportive CRT spaces. Additionally, students must experience emotional support and be free to explore their multiple identities. The space needs to communicate that students are respected and valued. She outlines how to create an environment that communicates all of these things.
Hibbin, R. (2016). The psychosocial benefits of oral storytelling in school: developing identity and empathy through narrative. TECHNOLOGY, PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATION, 34 (4), 218–231.
The article claims that there are myriad socio-emotional benefits to oral storytelling in the classroom that are not seen when the oral storytelling is replaced by read-alouds from a printed book. Oral storytelling has the potential to build young children’s emotional literacy and impact their identity formation, specifically through increased self confidence, ability to represent and understand themselves, ability to understand others, and work collaboratively.
The article claims that these benefits are not mirrored when oral storytelling is replaced by read-alouds because of the social interaction and dialogic learning that takes place during oral storytelling. Oral storytelling is more physical, dynamic, improvised, and the storyteller is able to tailor the telling based on verbal and physical feedback from the audience. Additionally, when students retell stories in their own way, they gain the opportunity to renarratarize their lives, meaning that students can draw parallels between the character’s struggles and their own experiences, thus allowing “children to utilise an ‘averted gaze’ to address emotional issues.” (223) There are also opportunities for students to build empathy through storytelling. According to Hibben, “emotional literacy is fostered by oral storytelling through ‘empathy with the characters, identification’ and having ‘to perceive the story through the eyes of all the different protagonists’.” (224)
Kesler, T., Mills, M., & Reilly, M. (2020). I hear you: Teaching social justice in interactive read-aloud. Language Arts, 97(4), 207-222.
The authors outline how interactive read-aloud can be employed in the elementary classroom in order to increase students’ awareness of social inequities. They recommend selecting books that relate to the social justice issues related to the students’ own experiences and list recommended resources for finding appropriate books to utilize for this purpose. Social Justice read alouds are also an opportunity to engage students in dialogue, questioning, perspective taking, and role playing as ways to build empathy and awareness across identity groups.
Nagda, B. R. A., & Gurin, P. (2007). Intergroup dialogue: A critical-dialogic approach to learning about difference, inequality, and social justice.
The authors work to define the difference between debate, discussion and dialogue. Intergroup dialogue is connected to but extends beyond diversity and social justice education in that it focuses on dialogic interactions between peers across identity groups, also called cross-group interactions. They claim that the focus of dialogue is that it emphasizes an analysis of hierarchies and inequity within society. Different from discussion, inter-group dialogue aims to build community by embracing and working through conflict, which eventually leads to increased respect and empathy across identity groups. Additional benefits noted in the research include that students of color engaging in intergroup dialogue “perceived less divisiveness” (41) in their schools and all participants had increased positive perceptions of conflict in general.