Thank you to Stephanie for walking us through her two selected texts which focused on social action and activist-oriented learning: “Service and Self Renewal: Service Learning as a Means to Invigorate and Renew Teachers” in The Activist Learner by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Whitney Douglas, and Sara W. Fry and “Principles for Practice: What is Social Action?” by Jennie Fleming and Ian Boulton in Writing for Change: Boosting Literacy and Leaning through Social Action. It was a smaller group last week, but we still had a good discussion about how important this kind of learning is, and the particular challenges that are faced in different school contexts. We considered how a specific locale and the resulting community often determines the extent (and nature) of socially committed forms of learning in a school district. We also thought together about what is at stake when we teach children to be stakeholders in their own communities, and empower them to know what it means (early on) to make a difference in the world they live in.
I am glad that we were able to cover a thorough “walkthrough” of the procedures and expectations regarding a Literature Review for your formal Research Proposal. You should all be working on your Lit Review at this stage. Remember, we only have a few more weeks, and vetting materials that will influence your research is a time consuming (but also stimulating and pleasurable) part of the overall research process.
Next week, we will turn our collective attention to the writing process from a creative perspective. Hope wanted to include some readings that helped us think through creative writing approaches a bit. In selecting these texts to consider together, I hope we can broaden the discussion to include your own creative processes and share our individual creative approaches/methods. Hope will lead us through the two articles (which are both broad and accessible):
The first text is by William Zinsser from his seminal book entitled On Writing Well. We will read “Writing About People“. (Harper Collins, 1998).
The second text is an excerpt from the well known writing textbook entitled Everyone’s An Author by Andrea Lunsford, Michal Body, Lisa Ede, Beverley Moss, Carole Clark Papper, and Keith Walters. We will read the section entitled “Writing A Narrative“. (WW Norton & Co: 2017).
Your blog for this week should consider these readings while also reflecting on how you generate your own creative work. In addition, you should also include an update on your Literature Review progress.
Also, another reminder that our last meeting for class will be on May 8th, which is also the night of our Spring Symposium. That is also the deadline for your research proposal. In addition, you will also write a final “self-assessment”reflection, which will be due by Friday May 12th.
Enjoy the weekend.
See you Monday,
Dr. Zamora
