Abstract:
It is well established that schooling is typically a White, middle-class endeavor (Apple, 1995; Delpit, 1988) in the United States. Yet scant research has examined how working-class citizens enter and interact with/in this space. This presentation explores the ways in which one White working-class English teacher, Lisa, was able to use the cultural artifacts of literacy, school, and work to transform how these objects mediated her subject positioning as she made her way to the teaching profession. It draws on Holland, et alia’s (2001) theorization of self-authoring and figured worlds and Vygotsky’s (1978) conceptualization of artifacts as tools in order to analyze Lisa’s 30+ year trajectory from urban, working-class child to suburban, middle-class English teacher. Using qualitative research methods that include personal interviews and participant reflective writing, Lisa’s journey reveals a need for better understanding of social class constructions and hierarchies, as well as a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which social class is acknowledged, discussed, performed, enacted, (mis) read, and problematized in K-16 schools in order to ensure that those from lower classes do not feel victimized and those from higher social classes do not feel villainized. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which teacher education programs can address these issues of social class differences.ReferencesApple, M (1995). Education and power. (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.Delpit, L. (1988). The Silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in other people’s children. Harvard Educational Review. 58(3), 280-298. Holland, D., Lachicotte Jr., W., Skinner, D., & Cain, Carole. (2001). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge: President and Fellows of Harvard College.Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.