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Casting Minority Gifted Students: the Pedagogical Impact of Cinema on the Culture of Schooling Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2013 Casting Minority Gifted Students: The Pedagogical Impact of Cinema on the Culture of Schooling Deborah F. Burnette Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, and the Gifted Education Commons Recommended Citation Burnette, Deborah F., "Casting Minority Gifted Students: The Pedagogical Impact of Cinema on the Culture of Schooling" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 63. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/63 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CASTING MINORITY GIFTED STUDENTS: THE PEDAGOGICAL IMPACT OF CINEMA ON THE CULTURE OF SCHOOLING by DEBORAH F. BURNETTE (Under the Direction of John Weaver) ABSTRACT African American students are significantly underrepresented in gifted education programs. This dissertation creates a space where gifted education, African American students, media literacy, and teacher perceptions intersect in the field of curriculum studies. Media literacy will be utilized to critique popular films by gifted endorsement teacher-students and myself. Due to the low number of states that require pre-service teachers to study gifted characteristics of children it is left up to gifted teacher endorsement programs to train teachers. By using media literacy to examine films in gifted teacher endorsement programs, I assert that the under-representation of African American students in the referral process for gifted education programs can be positively impacted. INDEX WORDS: Curriculum studies, Gifted Education, Media literacy, African American students, Teacher perceptions 1 CASTING MINORITY GIFTED STUDENTS: THE PEDAGOGICAL IMPACT OF CINEMA ON THE CULTURE OF SCHOOLING by DEBORAH F. BURNETTE B.S. Armstrong Atlantic University, 1993 M.S. Armstrong Atlantic University, 1996 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2012 2 © 2012 DEBORAH F. BURENTTE All Rights Reserved 3 CASTING MINORITY GIFTED STUDENTS: THE PEDAGOGICAL IMPACT OF CINEMA ON THE CULTURE OF SCHOOLING by DEBORAH F. BURNETTE Major Professor: John Weaver Committee: Marla Morris Ming Fang He Diane Saturday Electronic Version Approved: December 2012 4 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my husband Dean, and my parents, Jim and Emily Canter. My father, who inspired me to work hard, but always take time for laughter. My mother, who introduced a love of reading and its transformative value to my life. My husband who has shown love, support and patience throughout this journey. 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To the members of my dissertation committee, I would like to thank each of you for your support and guidance as I journeyed from course work to written dissertation: Dr. John Weaver for introducing me to the interconnectedness of films and curriculum studies. Your guidance has been invaluable; Dr. Marla Morris for her wisdom in relationship to reconceptualization and its importance; Dr. Ming Fang He for her comments on cultural studies and contributions to my work on the use of fiction; And Dr. Diane Saturday for your support and knowledge of gifted education. To my good friend, Leslie Nissen, I would like to thank you for always being there for me. Your willingness to escape into a dark movie theater with me, talk endlessly on the phone, and laugh often made my work an adventure. Your impeccable editing and comments on my work made my journey possible. To all, your time and expertise is greatly appreciated. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………..………...…..6 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………..………........9 CHAPTER 1 AWAKENING A CASTING CALL…………………….……………………......15 Hidden in Plain Sight…………………………………….……………….….. 15 Reading Cinema as Text………………………...……….……………….….. 21 Overlaying Fiction ans Film………………………….….……………….….. 27 2 PERSPECTIVES ON THE CHALLENGES OF GIFTED EDUCATION…….....32 Changing with the Times……….……………………….….…………….….. 32 What Public School Teacher Look Like………………………………….….. 49 Invisible Spaces in Gifted Education……………………….………………....53 3 POPULAR CULTURE VOYEURISM IN THE CLASSROOM…………...….....56 Film as a Mirror…………………………………….……………….………...56 When Screen Images Influence Perceptions…………………………………..62 Invisible Intellectual Spaces…………………………..….……………….......73 4 PEDAGOGY OF REPRESENTATION CAUGHT ON FILM…………..……....76 Masking Reality………………………………………...………………….….76 Elusive African American Gifted Student Films………………………….......85 Akeelah vs Fred…………………………………………………..….…...…...92 5 SCRIPTED TEACHER DISCOURSE……………………………….….......…..103 Now Showing………………………………………………..………........….103 Producing Changes………………………………………….……….…........114 Review of Film Use……………………………………………………….…125 7 EPILOGUE…………………………………………………………………………....130 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………......…133 8 Casting Minority Gifted Students: The Pedagogical Impact of Cinema on the Culture of Schooling Introduction You can not address the other; speak to the other, without an act of faith, without testimony. What are you doing when you attest to something? You address the other and ask, „believe me‟ (Caputo, 1997, p. 22). Perception is reality. I have uttered this phrase countless times when talking to my coworkers about teacher or parent concerns. It doesn‟t matter what the truth is, if a person has a perception of a situation it is their reality. Over my 18 years working in public education I have witnessed how difficult it is to change a person‟s perceptions of a given belief or situation. Most of the individuals I have encountered hold fast to the comfort of their perceptions whether they are based on fact or fiction. Changing someone‟s perception of reality can take more than just presenting the facts; it can take shifting long held beliefs and mindsets. Changing human perceptions require building relationships, establishing credibility, and earning trust. All of these factors take time and effort. As a graduate student, a number of my perceptions of reality changed based on my readings, lectures attended, and discussions. Never before had I considered the fact that along with being racially white came privilege and access in society. My perception of the “other” was based on misconceptions and my own skewed point of view. Egocentrically, I thought the culture I grew up under was the measuring stick for all 9 people‟s success or failure. I stumbled along a path of self discovery. “Refocusing the lens with which I view my own reality was an exercise fraught with contradictions and questions (McIntyre, 1997, p. 29). As I was reconstructing my own meaning of whitness I was dealing with feeling of guilt and powerlessness. These feelings are reflected in this dissertation. At times when I am reflecting on my past teaching experiences shades of guilt over my unexamined whiteness surface. The feelings I reference in my early teaching career are reflective of a majority of white teachers when they face, “their own complicity in maintaining a system from which they benefit and feel not only uncomfortable, but also deeply wounded in the process of exploring it” (Kincheloe, Steinberg, & Chennault, 1998, p. 167). Reality has slowly cast its light as and my perceptions have been forever changed related to race and education. “One other significant idea white educators need to catch on to about „us‟ is that not only have our psyches suffered negative effects because of our own race-centered socialization but also that we can move beyond that” (Kincheloe et al., 1998, p. 164). My goal in this dissertation is to be honest with my own history of flawed thinking, be it racist or apologetic. I find too often in my reading of texts that individuals who have reconstructed their meaning of whiteness want to ignore or gloss-over their past thinking concerning race. My thinking was flawed in the past and I still has a few kinks that need worked out when it comes to whiteness and the “other”. Because of my emerging awakening I am focused on using my past misperceptions to assist other teachers with exploring the foundation of their perceptions related to African American students and gifted education. Since my primary work in education has been in the field of gifted education in urban majority minority schools, this is where my heart and interest 10 is. There are so many threads that could be unraveled in the tapestry of public education, but I am going to focus on what I know best: White teachers and gifted African American students. Due to the sensitive personal nature of changing one‟s perceptions, all individual characters and conversations in this dissertation will be fictionalized. Composite characters will be used to parallel real events. Fictionalized narratives of coworkers and my lived experiences will be my testimony to white teacher perceptions of gifted African American students. Through the use of the popular media of films and selected readings I will show how perceptions changed in a teacher gifted endorsement program. Since these
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