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One way to merge imagination with problem-posing and problem-solving in the English classroom is by asking students to respond to what I term cultural and political vignettes or CPVs. CPVs are cultural and political situations that are presented to students so that they can practice the creative and essential decision-making skills that they will need to use in diverse classrooms and communities. CPVs deal with sensitive cultural and political issues, such as race, class, gender, ethnicity, school politics, and sexual orientation, and are designed to ask respondents to reflect on their values, ideologies, biases, philosophies, and, ultimately, their subsequent actions.(http://www.merrellonsale.com)
This strategy is one that I first developed for use in literacy education courses that I teach at a large college in New York City. After having used this strategy for several years, I have begun to encourage my graduate literacy education students, most of whom are high school and middle school English teachers, to experiment with CPVs in their secondary classrooms. I was a high school English teacher for many years prior to teaching at the college level and draw on my past experience as a secondary teacher in writing this article.
At the beginning of the school year, CPVs can be presented to students in a written format by the teacher, as was the bullying example in the introduction, and students can respond to them in writing and then share and discuss their responses with partners, small groups, or the whole class.
A second possibility for using CPVs involves students writing their own CPVs, based on difficult issues that they may be dealing with in their schools, families, and communities and exchanging them (anonymously) with other class members. The other class members respond to their peers' CPVs and then the teacher can facilitate small-group or whole-class dialogue about possible solutions. This process is fascinating in that the kinds of CPVs that students create are strongly influenced by their cultural backgrounds, past experiences, political views, current events, and myriad other factors. The following guidelines are helpful in guiding students in creating their own CPVs:
Please be sure that the CPV is open-ended and does not have one obvious, clear-cut "correct response." The topic of the CPV should be sufficiently complex to stimulate reflection on the part of those responding to it and should force them to consider several factors when responding.
Try to make the CPV as realistic as possible. This is often accomplished by reflecting on personal experiences in school, at home, or in the community.
A thought-provoking CPV will compel those responding to consider the problem through several lenses or perspectives and will often encourage them to think about more than one possible solution or response before answering.
If a CPV is well-constructed, it will be controversial and stimulate debate, discussion, and perhaps even anger. The person(s) responding to the CPV may come away feeling frustrated or confused, but (http://www.merrellshoesstore.com) it is OK.
Keep in mind that this is an integral part of the process and is a result of asking people to consider complex issues in ways in which they may not be accustomed.
If the teacher chooses to have students create and exchange CPVs in groups, the following procedure can be used. Once all the groups have constructed their CPVs, they are exchanged with other groups so that they can respond. One way to do this is to have individuals in the group respond in writing to the CPV first and then share their responses verbally with the other group members. A variation is to have the group discuss the CPV first and then come up with a written response that is constructed by the group together. This written response can also be presented as a visual representation such as a flow chart, web, or Venn diagram. Usually, the students who responded to the vignette then share their thoughts and ideas with the group that originally constructed the vignette or with the whole class. It is important that these conversations are facilitated by the instructor in such a way that all voices are heard and that more-vocal group members do not monopolize the conversations or force other members of the group to adhere to their cultural and/or political views. |
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