ERIC ED448465: Reflections of a Citizen Teacher: Literacy, Democracy, and the Forgotten Students of Addison High.

400 Pages·2001·3.6 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 217 355
ED 448 465
AUTHOR
DeStigter, Todd
Reflections of a Citizen Teacher: Literacy, Democracy, and
TITLE
the Forgotten Students of Addison High.
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.
INSTITUTION
ISBN-0-8141-2971-4
ISBN
2001-00-00
PUB DATE
399p.; Foreword by Victor Villanueva.
NOTE
National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon
AVAILABLE FROM
Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 29714-3050). Tel:
800-369-6283 (Toll Free); Web site http://www.ncte.org.
Classroom - Teacher (052)
Guides
PUB TYPE
Books (010)
EDRS PRICE
MFO1 /PC16 Plus Postage.
Case Studies; *Cultural Context; Diversity (Student);
DESCRIPTORS
*Educational Anthropology; Educational Research; High
Schools; *Hispanic American Students; *Reflective Teaching;
Rural Education; *School Culture
Latinas; Latinos; *Literacy as a Social Process; Michigan;
IDENTIFIERS
Teaching Perspectives
ABSTRACT
Based on more than three years of in-depth research, this
book tells the stories of a small group of Latino and Latina students
attending a predominantly White high school in a rural area of southeast
Michigan. The book takes readers inside the hallways and classrooms of
Addison High and into the hom's and neighborhoods of Spanish-speaking
students. It explores the history and the current socioeconomic dynamics of
the school's surrounding community, and it draws connections between specific
instances of teaching and learning and the broader contexts of educating
culturally and linguistically diverse students. The framework set forth in
the book challenges educators around the country to draw on an awareness of
the ethical complexities of their work and to develop the disposition of a
"citizen teacher" dedicated to fostering in all students the ability to
envision, create, and participate in a more humane and democratic society. An
appendix contains notes of the teachers' meeting. Each chapter includes
notes. Also contains extensive references.
(NKA)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
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U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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REFLECTIONS OF A CITIZEN TEACHER
NCTE EDITORIAL BOARD: Jacqueline Bryant, Kermit Campbell,
Willie Mae Crews, Colleen Fairbanks, Andrea Lunsford,
Gerald R. Oglan, Jackie Swensson, Gail Wood, Paul Bodmer,
Chair, ex officio, Zarina M. Hock, ex officio
Reflections of
a Citizen Teacher
Literacy, Democracy, and the
Forgotten Students of Addison High
TODD DESTIGTER
University of Illinois at Chicago
National Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096
5
Staff Editor: Tom Tiller
Interior Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf
Cover Design: Carlton Bruett
NCTE Stock Number: 29714-3050
©2001 by the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans-
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including pho-
tocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a
forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teach-
ing of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular
point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the
Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements
of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the song lyrics
at the opening of Chapter 5: "Dirty Blvd.," words and music by Lou Reed,
© 1988, 1989 METAL MACHINE MUSIC. All rights controlled and ad-
ministered by SCREEN GEMSEMI MUSIC INC. All rights reserved. In-
ternational copyright secured. Used by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeStigter, Todd, 1961
Reflections of a citizen teacher: literacy, democracy, and the
forgotten students of Addison High/Todd DeStigter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8141-2971-4 (pbk.)
1. Hispanic AmericansEducation (Secondary)Michigan
AddisonCase Studies. 2. Hispanic American studentsMichigan
AddisonSocial conditionsCase studies. 3. LiteracySocial
aspectsMichiganAddisonCase studies. 4. Educational anthro-
pologyMichiganAddisonCase studies. 5. DeStigter, Todd,
1961 I. Title.
LC2675.A33 D47 2001
373.1829'68073dc21
00-064604
This book is dedicated to the memory of my mother,
Carole Jean Schultze DeStigter.
7
CONTENTS
iX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Xi
FOREWORD
Victor Villanueva
Introduction: Unfamiliar Territory
1
1
37
The Strangers
2
(Mis) Understanding Failure 70
3
Structured Exclusion
105
4
Agency, Individuality, and the Politics of Fear
149
5
206
Identity, Resistance, and the Production of Persons
6
The Tesoros Literacy Project: An Experiment in
7
Democratic Communities 255
Good Deeds: A Citizen Teacher's Reflections on
8
291
Usefulness
325
EPILOGUE
337
APPENDIX
349
NOTES
357
REFERENCES
375
INDEX
387
AUTHOR
vii -
8
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
n some ways, writing a book can be a lonely enterprise: the
I
years of reading and research, the countless hours watching a
cursor blink back from a computer screen. However, despite the
periods of isolation, this project has provided an opportunity for
me to enjoy many supportive and enriching relationships with
people and organizations that deserve my sincere thanks for their
contributions to this work.
This book would not have been possible without generous
and consistent financial assistance from the University of
Michigan's English Department, School of Education, Joint Ph.D.
Program in English and Education, and Rackham School of
Graduate Studies, and from the University of Illinois at Chicago
Institute for the Humanities. Each provided resources in the form
of fellowships, travel grants, and summer stipends that enabled
me to continue my reading and writing.
To Hedy and the late Charles Feit, I express my thanks for
allowing me to live in their apartment in Santiago, Chile. Be-
cause of their hospitality, I made friends I will never forget, went
places I never thought I'd go, and learned Spanish well enough to
engage in the conversations recorded and discussed in this book.
To my friends in the Michigan English and Education Pro-
gram I owe thanks for their friendship and counsel. Randall
Roorda, Andrew Halevy, Debbie Mintor, and Renee Moreno each
made important contributions to my understandings of literacy,
teaching, and the consequences of my research. I wish especially
to acknowledge Aaron Schutz, now at the University of Wiscon-
sin, Milwaukee, whose agile intellect and creative scholarship
kept me asking new questions and seeing things in ways I hadn't
before.
I also wish to thank Anne Ruggles Gere for her interest in
and support of this project. From my first year as a graduate
Acknowledgments
student, Anne treated me like a trusted colleague, and the faith
she showed in the integrity of my decisions was a great source of
encouragement. Martin Packer, too, deserves my gratitude for
introducing me to the theory and practice of educational ethnog-
raphy and for providing advice and direction during our weekly
coffee shop meetings during the first years of this project. I am
grateful as well to my UIC colleague David Schaafsma and to
Cathy Fleischer for their thorough, thoughtful responses to ear-
lier versions of this manuscript and for their ongoing guidance in
helping me understand and articulate the democratic, ethical
mandates of literacy education. I also thank NCTE editors
Michael Greer, Zarina Hock, and Tom Tiller for their support of
this book and for shepherding it to publication.
I am especially indebted to my mentor and friend Jay
Robinson for his careful readings of several drafts of this work
and for the conversation we've been sharing for the past ten years.
Jay's lifetime of passionate scholarship and unrelenting commit-
ment to exploring ways in which language might help make this
a more humane world has represented, for me, the best of uni-
versity pedagogy. I have never known anyone whose intellectual
energies are more infused with and motivated by a profound love
for others.
My thanks are also due to the teachers and staff of Addison
High who welcomed me as a colleague and friend. Though I must
use pseudonyms, Beth Rienstra, Laura Vedder, and Alice Martinez
(you know who you are) are among the finest teachers I have
ever had the privilege of working with. I am also thankful to the
students whose words and experiences are documented in these
pages and who have enriched my life in more ways than I could
ever name. These young people have astounded me with their
courage and resilience, their love of life, and their gift to me of
friendship.
To Susan Forest, without whose companionship and techni-
cal support this book would not have come together, I am and
will always be deeply grateful. Finally, I thank my family, and
especially my daughter Kaitlin, for their willingness to listen to
all the stories about my friends in Addison.
X
1V