A NARRATIVE INQUIRY of BLACK UPPER MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN's EXPERIENCES with SCHOOL WRITING April L
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations Department of Middle and Secondary Education Spring 5-17-2019 A NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF BLACK UPPER MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN'S EXPERIENCES WITH SCHOOL WRITING April L. Poindexter Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_diss Recommended Citation Poindexter, April L., "A NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF BLACK UPPER MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN'S EXPERIENCES WITH SCHOOL WRITING." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2019. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_diss/81 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Middle and Secondary Education at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, A NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF BLACK UPPER MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN’S EXPERIENCES WITH SCHOOL WRITING, by APRIL L. POINDEXTER, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of Philosophy, in the College of Education & Human Development, Georgia State University. The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chairperson, as representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. _________________________________ Michelle Zoss, Ph.D. Committee Chair _________________________________ _________________________________ Nadia Behizadeh, Ph.D. Jennifer Esposito, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member _________________________________ LaToya Owens, Ph.D. Committee Member _________________________________ Date _________________________________ Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Ph.D. Chairperson, Department of Middle and Secondary Education _________________________________ Paul A. Alberto, Ph.D. Dean, College of Education & Human Development AUTHOR’S STATEMENT By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the College of Education and Human Development’s Director of Graduate Studies, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission. APRIL L. POINDEXTER NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: April L. Poindexter Department of Middle and Secondary Education College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University The director of this dissertation is: Michelle Zoss, PhD Department of Middle and Secondary Education College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 CURRICULUM VITAE April L. Poindexter Department of Middle & Secondary Education College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 EDUCATION Ph.D. 2019 Georgia State University Teaching and Learning Language & Literacy Education M.Ed. 2009 Kennesaw State University Early Childhood Education B.S. 2006 Tennessee State University Arts and Sciences Childhood Development CERTIFICATIONS Georgia Professional Education Certificate P-5 Early Childhood Middle Grades 4-8 (ELA & Social Studies) Gifted Education Endorsement International Baccalaureate PYP Level 2 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Primrose Schools Franchising Company Education Consultant & Trainer 2017-Present Georgia State University Graduate Teaching Assistant – Instructor Fall 2018 Graduate Research Assistant Spring 2018 Graduate Teaching Assistant Fall 2017 DeKalb County School District Instructional Support Specialist 2015-2017 Elementary Education Teacher 2006-2015 Metro-Nashville Public Schools Educational Assistant 2004-2005 SCHOLARSHIP Publications Poindexter, A. (2016). All the different voices: A teacher’s journey to shifting paradigms in language variation and diversity. GATESOL In Action, 1. Retrieved from http://georgiatesoljournal.org/ojs/index.php/GATESOL/article/view/43>. Professional Presentations Poindexter, A., Klein, S., & Zoss, M. (2017, Aug.). My answer to this has already changed: How two novice teachers understand the teaching profession. Poster presentation at triennial congress of International Society for Cultural-Historical Activity Research (ISCAR), Quebec City, Canada. Poindexter, A. (2016, Mar.) Race and Rights: Doing Black history month differently using children’s literature, critical literacy, and discourse. Paper presentation at Kennesaw State University 25th Annual Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults, Kennesaw, Georgia. Poindexter, A. (2015, Oct.) The outing of doctoral students and coming to voice on a course on language variation and learning. Paper presentation at Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators (SRATE) 62nd Conference, Jekyll Island, Georgia. Poindexter, A. (2015, Jun.) Hello Edmodo! Using an online platform with elementary students to critically explore historical texts and literature. Paper presentation at National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Whole Language Literacies for all Summer Institute, Decatur, Georgia. Poindexter, A. (2015, May) Hello Edmodo! Using an online platform with elementary students to critically explore historical texts and literature. Paper presentation at 10th Annual SOURCES of Urban Educational Excellence Conference, Atlanta, Georgia AWARDS Beverly J. Armento Doctoral Award for Commitment to Addressing Equity and Excellence Issues in Research and Teaching, Department of Middle and Secondary Education, Georgia State University, 2019 Dissertation Grant Award, Office of the Vice President for Research, Georgia State University, 2018 Teacher of the Year, Fernbank Elementary School, DeKalb County School District, 2013-2014 Georgia Hope Scholarship, 2007-2009 Presidential Scholarship, Tennessee State University, 2002-2006 SERVICE Proposal Peer Reviewer National Association for Multicultural Education 26th Annual International Conference, 2016 Article Peer Reviewer English Education, 2015, 2016, 2017 A NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF BLACK UPPER MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN’S EXPERIENCES WITH SCHOOL WRITING by APRIL L. POINDEXTER Under the Direction of Dr. Michelle Zoss ABSTRACT In this qualitative study, I explored the school writing experiences of four Black upper middle-class children in elementary school and their beliefs about school writing. Participants included three girls and one boy. All students were in fourth or fifth grade and attended three public schools in a metropolitan area in the Southeast region of the U.S. I drew on critical race theory to center the experiences of people of color within systems of privilege or oppression (Bell 1992, 1995; Crenshaw 1988, 1995; Delgado, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1998; Solorzano, 1997, 1998) such as the education system. I also used sociocultural theories of learning (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986; Wertsch, 1991) to examine aspects of culture, class, and lived experiences. Within this framework, I situated the experiences of Black upper middle-class children in broad, systemic contexts, as well as personal, environmental, and cultural understandings. Ivanic’s (2004) discourses of writing also provided a framework to anchor the varied discourses on writing children commonly take up and embrace. My work aimed to listen to and honor the voices of the young Black girls and boys in the study, thus I used a narrative inquiry methodology (Clandinin, 2013). I used a narrative analysis approach (Riessman, 2008) to analyze the data and represent the findings in narrative constellations. Findings showed that all four students 1) placed importance on technical writing skills, 2) experienced highly structured writing assignments, 3) felt teachers avoided critical and sociopolitical issues in class and in writing opportunities, and 4) experienced a silencing and invisibility of their Black identities in school. The implications call attention to the hidden messaging Black upper middle-class children receive that writing about and discussing race is negative or offensive. Thus, educators may be more intentional about fostering professional development for teachers on bias and how to foster dialogue and writing about race in a safe way for all students. Secondly, there is a need for education policy makers and curriculum writers to produce innovative resources to aid teachers in bringing critical and sociopolitical topics into the classroom, as well as creating a school space that affirms ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity. INDEX WORDS: Black Upper Middle-Class, Elementary Students, Children, School Writing, Student Writing, Writing Instruction, Writing Attitudes, Student Voice,