"In the School, Not of the School": Co-Performing Critical Literacies with English Amped

292 Pages·2017·9.93 MB·English

LLoouuiissiiaannaa SSttaattee UUnniivveerrssiittyy
LLSSUU DDiiggiittaall CCoommmmoonnss
LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School
2017
""IInn tthhee SScchhooooll,, NNoott ooff tthhee SScchhooooll"":: CCoo--PPeerrffoorrmmiinngg CCrriittiiccaall
LLiitteerraacciieess wwiitthh EEnngglliisshh AAmmppeedd
Anna Catherine West
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
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West, Anna Catherine, ""In the School, Not of the School": Co-Performing Critical Literacies with English
Amped" (2017). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 4464.
https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/4464
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“IN THE SCHOOL, NOT OF THE SCHOOL”:
CO-PERFORMING CRITICAL LITERACIES
WITH ENGLISH AMPED

A Dissertation

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

in

The Department of English

by
Anna Catherine West
B.A., Columbia College Chicago, 2000
M.Ed., Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2011
August 2017
To the students and teachers of English Amped,

and to students and teachers everywhere

who dare to reimagine education together.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This dissertation belongs to a wide community of people who have from the start
shaped its life, and my own life with it. Through each phase of this project, I have depended
on collaborators who stood alongside me as partners, advisors, and dear friends. Destiny
Cooper and Dr. Susan Weinstein have been my collaborators in the fullest sense. Destiny
and I worked together day-to-day through the often-intense highs and lows of creating and
teaching in Humanities Amped. I cannot imagine my own life without her friendship,
teacher wisdom, MacGyver-like problem solving skills, and seemingly endless commitment
to holding open the learning spaces through which so many fortunate people, myself
included, become more confident and alive. I am likewise honored to stand with Sue
Weinstein, who simultaneously holds the role of my major professor, long-time
collaborator, and dear friend. Sue’s intellectual and ethical considerations are woven into
the tapestry of my scholarship and public service at every step. I thank her for her generous
feedback on this dissertation, her fierce sponsorship of Humanities Amped, and her
willingness to help me navigate so many learning thresholds of my own. It is hard to know
where the ideas of these two collaborators end and where mine begin, and this project
simply would not exist without their generous presence in it.
I am grateful to my incredible committee members, whose stewardship of this
project allowed me to take risks and feel supported every step of the way. Dr. Solimar
Otero and Dr. Roland Mitchell each provided me with insights, resources, and critical
encouragement that helped me to frame this work as an engaged, interdisciplinary project.
Their commitments to scholarship and community engaged work have provided brilliant
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examples that enabled me to locate my own place in academia at moments when that felt
challenging. I am grateful to have been supported by people whose lives I so fully admire.
I will forever be thankful to the English Amped graduating class of 2016, whose
experiences sit at the heart of this text: What you have taught me would take much more
than one dissertation to explain. My life is changed because I met each of you. Kaiya, our
rock and sky, is no longer on the earth with us; yet, she is forever part of our circle. Each
one of us has a place in this circle that cannot be moved. We are written into each other’s’
lives, and I could not be more thankful to belong to each of you.
The English Amped graduating class of 2017 deserves its own special shout out.
Though you are not the central focus on this text, you have helped to define English Amped
and much of what I write here through your bold, relentless selves. I honor each of you, as
each of you forms a circle of your own and an even greater, ongoing circle of community
extending to all the Humanities Amped students, including those to come. This work
belongs to you all.
I am likewise grateful to the now fourteen undergraduate pre-service English
teachers who have worked with Humanities Amped over the last three years. The five who
formed the first Art of Critical Literacies class, you are forever in my heart. Thank you for
helping me to become alongside you.
I also want to thank the teachers and administrators of what I refer to in this study
as Frazier High School. The school principal deserves my deepest respect for his
stewardship, support, and savvy, as do the many fine faculty who have helped give this
project shape, including Sam Biddick and Malcolm Reed, our dear partners with the tenth
grade class this year.
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Alex Torres, Bobby Thompson, Shamaka Schumake, and Sarah Webb are community
partners who have supplied English Amped with knowledge, time, and a spirit of solidarity
that has greatly energized this work. Raven Jade, Gabrielle Swindle, Amelia Hammond,
Selena Johnson, and Michaela Janicki are part of the ground from which the project comes,
and I am so grateful to be connected through this work to each of you. I am also thankful to
my extended family at Forward Arts, whose wisdom is woven into the DNA of Humanities
Amped. The full list of people who have contributed to this dissertation, and to Humanities
Amped, is too long to include here, but please know that your contributions are not
forgotten.
Finally, I thank friends and family, those who have met me where I am in this life,
made me remember how beautiful the path is, and given me courage. Megan, my swimming
pool and writing marathon partner; Amanda, my little sister and compass; and Jenn, my ace
and spiritual muse— thank you for everything. My parents, Mary and Joel West, my
brothers and their families, and Mery and Victor Julian Sanchez, thank you for expecting me
to be myself always and grounding me in your love. Lastly, I could never have survived this
work without Victor, Anton, and little Koko, my loved ones who carried me through.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

ABSTRACT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

CHAPTER 1. IN SEARCH OF SPACE FOR BELOVED COMMUNITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview of English Amped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
“Yearnings and Desires”: Between Non-Profit, State, and Grassroots Movements . . . 5
Research Questions, Methods, and Positionalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Grounding Frames and Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Overview of Chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

CHAPTER 2. SCHOOL AS IT IS: SITUATING ENGLISH AMPED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Intimacy and Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Historicizing Frazier High and The South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Demographics of Frazier High School and English Amped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
School as It Is: Narrowly-Defined Achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
School as It Is: The Need for “Relationships That Educate” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
School as It Is: The Need for Culturally Responsive Teacher Preparation . . . . . . . . . . 75
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

CHAPTER 3. SCHOOL AS IT COULD BE: PERFORMANCES OF POSSIBILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Performing Possibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Situating Polyvocal Research as Critical Co-Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Upsetting the Set Up: Acting as Insurgent Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Solidarity, Healing, and Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

CHAPTER 4. NAVIGATING LIMINALITY: TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT THE
THRESHOLDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
To Appear Before One Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Decentering Teacher Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Between Madness and Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Facing Injustice and Despair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164
Between Guard and Guardian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

CHAPTER 5: THRESHOLDS OF CRITICAL TEACHER EDUCATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Going Beyond Created Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Rose’s Journey: Transforming What Counts as Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Jennifer’s Journey: Confronting Whiteness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
“As If Things Could Be Otherwise”: Insights from English Amped. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
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Three Years In: Future Directions for Humanities Amped. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Closing Thoughts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Appendix A. IRB Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Appendix B. Draft of English Amped Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Appendix C. Art of Critical Literacy 2014 Syllabus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

VITA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the possibilities and limitations of “amplifying”
critical literacy practices within an urban high school English and creative writing class.
This action research project defamiliarized English education and created conditions for
participants to imagine and perform alternative possibilities by bringing together critical
research, community involvement, creative writing and performance in an extended class
with high school, university, and community-based collaborators. Participants were high
school juniors, partnering teachers, university-based student teachers, and community
members who collaborated to form the English Amped program in the 2014-2015
academic year. Ethnographic methods were used to collect data through field notes, semi-
structured interviews, photographs, writing samples, questionnaires, and audio recordings.
Findings demonstrated that the socially structured and habituated alienation of working-
class students of color in urban schools delimited the ways that participants imagined and
enacted critical literacy in school. Historically-based and persistent experiences of school
as it is limited the legibility of school as it could be. The de-familiarization of traditional
schooling provoked both euphoria and anxiety for participants. English Amped produced
thresholds of contact between differently positioned people, institutions, ways of knowing,
and forms of experience. Over time, these thresholds helped English Amped participants to
experience performances of possibility that generated new repertoires of critically
grounded knowledge and forms of relationality. Participants could later draw on these
repertoires to produce more sustained forms of solidarity, agency, and well-being.
Performances of possibilities helped students, teachers, and teacher candidates to
experience increased agency and connection, which in turn helped participants to navigate
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the anxieties of critical literacies in school. This study points to the humanizing and
emancipatory possibilities of critical literacy projects that construct collaborative, cross-
institutional networks embedded deeply within urban high schools. Ultimately, English
Amped demonstrated that the proliferation of critical literacy in urban public high schools
may grow from concrete sites of practice and networks of relationality that enable people
to create alternative repertoires over time, and thus co-perform transformative
possibilities of school as it could be.

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