Intertextuality%20in%20diverse%20classrooms

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Intertextuality in diverse classrooms

• Why teachers increased awareness of
  intertextuality resulted in increased
  effectiveness for diverse students.
• Rebecca Jesson
• SLP workshop
• February 2011

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But first, two tasks1 Story to be
recalled2 Problem to be solved
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Story to be recalled (at a later time).

• A general wishes to capture a fortress located in
  the centre of a country. There are many roads
  radiating outward from the fortress. All have
  been mined so that while small groups of men can
  pass over the roads safely, any large force will
  detonate the mines. A full-scale direct attack is
  therefore impossible. The generals solution is
  to divide his army into small groups, send each
  group to the head of a different road, and have
  the groups converge simultaneously on the
  fortress.

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Problem to be solved.

• Suppose you are a doctor faced with a patient who
  has a malignant tumour in his stomach. It is
  impossible to operate on the patient, but unless
  the tumour is destroyed the patient will die.
  There is a kind of ray that can be used to
  destroy the tumour. If the rays reach the tumour
  all at once at a sufficiently high density, the
  tumour will be destroyed. Unfortunately, at this
  intensity healthy tissue that the rays pass
  through on the way to the tumour will also be
  destroyed. At lower intensities the rays are
  harmless to healthy tissue, but they will not
  affect the tumour either. What type of procedure
  might be used to destroy the tumour with the rays
  and at the same time avoid destroying the healthy
  tissue?

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How did you solve the problem?

• 10 can come up with answer without any initial
  story
• 30 (of the rest) can come up with answer given
  story but not cued to use it (noticed it
  independently)
• 75 (of the rest) can solve it using initial
  story once they are told that it is relevant
  (applied it)

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The traditional transfer paradox

• Notoriously hard to get people to transfer in
  experimental situations learning does not seem
  to transfer
• Theories of learning rely on learners basing new
  learning on prior knowledge

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5 minute Discussion

• What can we as teachers do to help children
  transfer / use what they know in the current
  situation? (transfer in)
• What can we as teachers do to help children learn
  in ways so that they will use their knowledge in
  future contexts? (transfer out)

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General conditions for transfer

• Classrooms can either afford or constrain
  transfer of learning (Greeno, Smith, Moore,
  1993) (and learners need to perceive these
  affordances).
• focusing phenomena (Lobato, Ellis, Munoz,
  2003) to cue relevant prior knowledge
• framing (Engle, 2006) authorship / time
• Knowledge that can be flexibly recreated in new
  contexts, rather than reproduced in form (Gee,
  2001).
• situated meanings (Gee, 1999)
• Authoritative, connected knowing (Greeno, 2006)
  acting with conceptual agency

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Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

• Component processes
• Incorporation of students resources. That is
  Instruction that values and builds on student
  resources (Bishop, O'Sullivan, Berryman,
  2010 Lee, 2009 McNaughton, 2002)
• Making what is implicit or assumed explicit and
  able to be controlled. Maori and Pasifika
  students identify the need for clarity and
  guidance around what is required and can be given
  directly (Amituanai-Toloa, McNaughton, Lai,
  Airini, 2009 Bishop, et al., 2010)

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Processes imply transfer of learning

• Transfer is
• Preparation for future learning (Bransford
  Schwartz, 1999)
• Students use prior knowledge to make sense of
  what is taught (transfer in) (Schwartz Martin,
  2004)
• Students use current learning to make sense of
  future learning (transfer out)

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So how to achieve double transfer?

• How can learners draw on their existing knowledge
  for writing?
• Incorporation of the familiar
• How can learners build knowledge for writing
  (that will be cued for future contexts)?
• - Unlocking the unfamiliar

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This implies building intertextuality
connections between texts

• Texts drawn from multiple sources, an exponential
  network of connections.
• References to other texts (either implicit or
  explicit) as an inherent feature of all texts
  (Bloome Egan-Robertson, 1993 Hartman, 1995
  Lemke, 1992).
• Specific reference to an individual intertext
  (Lemke, 1992) or genre (Bloome Egan-Robertson,
  1993).

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Intertextuality and young writers

• Therefore, writers use, could use or should use
  knowledge of a variety of texts as a resource for
  writing
• carefully draw on such knowledge as a strategy
  for composing
• acquiring increasingly flexible expertise as
  writer
• Writers various sources of knowledge depend on
  individual intertextual histories
  Intertextuality is necessarily idiosyncratic
  (Cairney, 1992).
• Because of idiosyncrasy, essential that
  childrens ways of meaning are understood and
  taken up (Harris Trezise, 1999).

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Intertextuality and transfer

• Intertextuality provides a basis for
• making reading/ writing links in classrooms
• prior knowledge links to texts from students
  other contexts.
• Drawing on prior knowledge requires that reading
  and writing perceived and framed as
  inter-contextual
• Theories of intertextuality show teachers that
  they are
• Knowledge of and about texts (Lemke, 1992)
• Composition strategies for writers (Cairney,
  1990, 1992)
• Interaction intertextual agendas of teachers and
  their poly-contextual students may diverge
  (Harris, Trezise, Winser, 2002).

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What would Instructional design look like?

• Explicitly teach students to seek intertextual
  connections
• expanding students intertextual histories,
• identifying existing knowledge of texts,
• building discourse knowledge.
• Enable identification of intertextual connections
  to cue the prior learning necessary to make
  meaning in the current text (incorporation)
• Develop a common intertextual history guide
  learners in developing intertextual connections
  (unlocking)

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What would teachers need to be aware of?

• the divergent intertextual histories of the
  poly-contextual participants in lessons.
• the intertextual positioning created by teaching,
  and ones own intertextual agendas.
• reading and writing as dialogic

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What would instruction need to provide for
learners?

• Permission to draw critically from other texts as
  an aid to composition and comprehension
• Shift from writing as creating and inspiration
  to writing as appropriating tools for own
  purposes

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Research question

• Theoretical ideas compelling but as Wilkinson
  Son (2011) note very little evidence of
  effectiveness
• GIVEN a demonstrably effective intervention with
  Pasifika and Maori children
• which accelerated progress in writing to double
  that expected within a year
• WHICH USED (inter alia) intertextual theories as
  a basis for building teachers Pedagogical
  Content Knowledge

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Research question cont.

• THEN selecting effective teachers
• CAN WE identify their instructional practices
  with an intertextual focus using the
  instructional design principles

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Observed intertextual teaching practices of case
study (primary) teachers

• Four recurring practices identified
• Borrowing from reading to writing
• Making tools (e.g. writing frame) for future
  application to writing
• Layering knowledge across multiple texts
• Embedded discussion and uptake

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1 Borrowing -the reading / writing links

• So well have a look at the difference between
  the descriptions of that setting, and look at how
  it changed, and hopefully youll be able to take
  some of those ideas.

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1. Borrowing (not emulating)

• Reading for borrowing (incorporation, situated
  meanings, shared intertextual history)
• Teaching of awareness through meta-language
  (unlocking the unfamiliar)
• Permission to borrow (appropriation, agency)
• Potential for critique, therefore repositioning
  of writers (only borrow the best bits)

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Transfer to secondary?

• Should a case to be made for borrowing from
  texts in secondary contexts?
• (mismatch between texts students read and those
  they write?)
• What features of texts can be borrowed in the
  different content areas?
• Which texts offer resources for borrowing?

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2.Creating tools to make texts

• Teacher
• We did something about a limpet sticking to a
  rock I cant remember what.
• (The teacher reaches back to the workbook and
  chart made during that previous lesson)
• Child I stuck to my position
• Teacher like a limpet sticks to a rock
• __________________________________________________
  ___
• Teacher And a little challenge up there as well
  to try and use the checklist that we developed
  last week for a narrative
• __________________________________________________
  ___
• Teacher Do you remember doing the data chart
  with me last week? It was this one, right ?
• (flicks back through teachers workbook)

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2. Tools to make texts cont

• Teacher
• Just behind the boardthere is a big huge, orange
  sheet of cardboard up there.
• So as I walked around yesterday, I had a look at
  some of your highlighted words, words that you
  identified, were really amazing, from that text.
• Okay and we are going to put them up there.
• And what we are really going to try hard to do
  this term, we are going to try really hard to
  understand the vocab and use the vocab again.
• Even though its not the words that we thought
  of, because we didnt come up with any of these
  words, the authors came up with them, but that
  doesnt mean we cant use them.
• Ok we can borrow some ideas and put them into the
  stories that we write

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2. Tools to make texts cont

• Authorship of tool (framing)
• Making generalisations using meta -language
• Texts charts, frames, checklists and posters
  created by students
• Charts etc used as the link
• displayed in the environment
• some learning resided in these charts
• Theoretically, charts cued relevant prior
  knowledge (focusing phenomena)/ framed learning
  as relevant for future application

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Transfer to secondary?

• What tools would be useful for secondary
  students to create based on texts?
• Would tools differ between content areas?
• Which texts would be useful as a basis for
  creating a tool?

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3. Layering of multiple texts

• I want show you yesterdays groups work, but
  what they came up with
• They brainstormed some clothes that Dan wore,
  some personality traits, of their own Dan.
  Attitude of their own Dan, and physical
  appearance (teacher records this on own
  brainstorm)
• So think of some words that would describe your
  character
• They talked about personality. They talked about
  the clothes that their character liked to wear.
  They talked about physical appearance, and
  attitude Culture you might think about your
  Dans culture.
• If you think back to the description of Miss
  Trunchball, we got lots and lots and lots about
  her physical appearance. They talked about the
  size of her legs. I wonder what Dans legs are
  like?
• If you think back to Foolish Jack. Try to use
  some of those ideas that you came up with. We
  talked about his socks and his hair and his ears
  
• Just build the character, hes your character...

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3. Layering of multiple texts

• Teacher Ok so a complete narrative, how are we
  going to be successful at that WALT. What do we
  need to be able to do?
• Student Plan
• Teacher What could we use to help us plan?
• Student The checklist
• Teacher Ok, what else? When we read stories,
  what do we use
• Student Use the authors techniques
• Student Conferencing
• Teacher We could use the conference checklist
• Teacher What else can we use?
• Student Old stories
• Teacher Old stories? For guidance?
• Student Other ideas
• Teacher Your imagination
• Teacher What else can we use to help us plan
  this out?
• What type of mapping have we used before?
• Student Story maps
• Teacher Have you all done a story map before?
• Teacher What else do we do.?
• Student Brainstorms

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3. Layering of multiple texts

• Multiple examples (resituating, awareness)
• Systematically varied experience
• Comparisons/ links between texts
• Generalisations about texts
• Links to created texts (multiple layers shared
  intertextual history)
• Students writing (via books/ sharing)
• Tools (e.g. charts and signs)

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Transfer to secondary?

• How might Secondary classes be organised to
  facilitate the layering of texts for students?
• Would this differ across content areas?
• Which texts could be layered in this way?

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4.Embedded discussion

• Student Its a ti-gon.
• Student Thats what we said
• Teacher- A ti-gon?
• Student -A ti-gon
• Student - Whats a ti-gon?
• Student - Its a type of half lion
• Student -Is it real?
• (discussion continues)

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4.Embedded discussion

• Teacher Ok , any other words on there that you
  dont know?
• Student 1 Yes miss
• Student 2 that, El Dorado
• Teacher What do you think that El Dorado
  is?
• Student 1 a city, or a village
• Teacher like a city, or a placelike a village?
• Student 2 Miss, its a place of gold.
• Teacher its a place of gold?.where does
  that give that away? (referring to the
  text)
• Student 2 Miss, Ive seen the movie

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4. Embedded discussion

• Intertextual links affirmed through uptake
  (Bloom Egan Robertson, 2003)
• Discussion as the main pedagogical tool for
  incorporation
• Opportunities for true discussion (compared
  with class discussions which are teacher led
  QA sequences)

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Transfer to secondary?

• What are the opportunities for embedded
  discussion in Secondary classes?
• How might different content areas embed
  discussion around texts and tasks?
• Discussion about which texts?

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So effectiveness of explicit intertextual focus?

• Framing (conceptual agency)
• Students as appropriators of knowledge resources
• Creators of tools based on own experiences with
  texts and created for students future use
• Situated meanings
• Inter-contextuality of reading and writing
• Multiple examples re-contextualising

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So effectiveness of explicit intertextual focus?

• Agency and situatedness in classrooms
• By incorporating the teaching of composing
  strategies which explicitly draw on situated
  textual knowledge
• giving permission to investigate and appropriate
  the features of texts that work to achieve
  authorial purpose.

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Conclusion intertextual theory repositions
writing instruction to be more culturally
responsive

• Intertextuality as incorporation and unlocking of
  textual knowledge
• Textual inquiry (by students, with authority to
  talk) as building situated and authoritative
  textual knowledge