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Response
to literature as a cultural activity
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second-grade book discussion group. I also volunteer in the public schools, working on literacy tasks with elementary school children. Currently, I am using picture books to teach small groups of fourth-grade readers about the use of literary devices. This research with children complements my research on children’s literature. This work directly connects to my teaching at the University. I bring my knowledge of children’s literature and my understanding of children into my own classroom. I make use of videotapes that show children talking and writing about the books they are reading, allowing my students to participate in the experiences I have had in my own research. Before coming to the University of Minnesota, I taught at the University of Georgia where I received three awards for teaching. I currently serve as a trustee for the Research Foundation of the National Council of Teachers of English, am a fellow in the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy, and am an active member of several other organizations. I also very much enjoy writing with my graduate students and do so frequently. |
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The position Galda refers to is professor of children's literature for the University of Minnesota's Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Galda was initially hired for the job in May 1997, but a number of professional commitments held her for an extra year at the University of Georgia, where she taught from 1979 to 1998. It was in summer 1998 that Galda officially joined the Curriculum and Instruction department, transporting her career from Georgia to the decidedly cooler clime of Minnesota. Also transported was Galda's family, which includes her 15-year-old daughter Anna, her 11-year-old son Adam, and her husband, Tony Pellegrini, who is now a professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota. "This really was a dream come true to be able to move here with two great jobs," Galda explains. "This was one of just a handful of cities we would have moved to. All around, personally and professionally, this is the perfect place for us to be." Joining the curriculum and instruction faculty is the latest success in a career in education and children's literature that stretches back into the late 1960s. Galda's educational roots are in Wisconsin, having obtained her B.A. in English at Lawrence in 1967 and her M.A. in Reading from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 1973. Between her undergraduate and graduate studies, Galda taught English in Elgin, Illinois. Then, following graduate school, she worked as an elementary-school reading specialist in the Milwaukee public school system. Selected publications Galda, L., & Cullinan, B. E. (in press). Literature and the child (5th ed.). Atlanta: Wadsworth. Galda, L., & Beach, R. (in press). Response to literature: Theory and research into practice. Reading Research Quarterly. Galda, L., Ash, G. E., & Cullinan, B. E. (2000). Children’s literature. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, Volume III (pp. 361-379). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
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I also am interested in studying how teachers can most effectively engage students in critical interactive research in English classrooms. This research draws on socio-cultural “activity theory” of learning that suggests students are most likely to be engaged in learning when they are driven by their own concerns, issues, or dilemmas and that students learn through active participation in and with a community of learners. And, I am studying the academic socialization of first-year college students, focusing on how they negotiate the competing demands of school, family, peer-group, and work in defining themselves as university students and in acquiring social practices associated with success in the university. Selected publications Beach, R., & Myers, J. (in press). Constructing social worlds in the English classroom: An inquiry-based approach. New York: Teachers College Press. Beach, R. (in press). Reading and response at the level of activity. Journal of Literacy Research. Beach, R. (2000). Using media-ethnographies to study response to media as activity. In A. W. Pailliotet and P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Reconceptualizing literacy in the new age of media, multimedia, and hypermedia. New York: JAI/Able.
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Galda and Beach's "Response to literature as a cultural activity" is perhaps the most thought-provoking and interesting article I have read on the various roles in making meaning. Please refer to the excellent "References" section. In the past,
the text was deemed supreme and allowed little deviation in
interpretation. That is no longer the case. The authors
describe the interaction of five different roles. Research insight is provided in how one's specific economical, social and cultural world influences one's perspective. One example is whether tensions/conflicts exist between you and the status quo system and to what extent you, as a real-life protagonist chooses to challenge, reject, passively accept, or seek change within the system. Another example is represented by cultural expectations we have of the text characters and whether these are met, expanded on, or turned upside down. The authors emphasize the need for our students to go beyond understanding the conflicts and character of text personages and frame them within a larger cultural world. This may be quite idealistic rather than realistic. Research has depicted our students as in the midst of an identity crisis, trying to formulate who they are, what their peer group role is and how they feel about a multitude of social, sexual, religious, family and educational issues. All too often our youth seem to act based on personalities rather than principles. Concurrently we need to identify, confirm and reinforce the social, cultural, religious and moral values that holds families, individuals and communities together. There are principles and laws that sustain, encourage and strengthen the well-being of the individual and the community. There are also consequences when some of these principles are broken or disregarded. People do not act in a vacuum, their actions can be like pebble in a pond. These principles need to serve as a basis for looking at and appreciating the best that other world cultures, peoples, visions and influences have to offer us. Each of us has an obligation to invite and encourage others to be their best, do their best and to give them a voice in their efforts to become empowered, informed and engaged in the immediate environment. In order to understand and appreciate multicultural influences in our lives, we need to know who we are and what makes us the way we are. We need the opportunity, as learners, to choose more often. To choose what kinds of things we need to read within the framework of given curriculum, how we can take greater responsibility for individual and group learning and then show the results in multiple ways that include writing, speaking and other forms of presentation. The author refers to an essential element in the classroom, which I would like to mention in closing. As teachers, we must learn with out students. We cannot properly understand the inner-conflicts and efforts required of our youth if we think we have all the answers in advance, or even all of the questions. We have to let a combination of author, text context and learner context help frame our learning objectives/needs in such a way that we can go beyond our current position and establish ourselves, our class and our families in a stronger, healthier more inclusive community. |
