Text talk, towards an interactive classroom model for encouraging, supporting and promoting literacy

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis is the story of my journey as a teacher-researcher in a grade five classroom. In it, I discuss some assumptions I held about written and oral responses to literature and describe the "critical incidents" that caused my assumptions to be challenged and my plans to be revised. This research describes my professional growth as I worked towards developing an interactive classroom model for encouraging, supporting and promoting literacy. Response theorist Louise Rosenblatt regards reading as a transactional process, a kind of conversation between reader and writer, who together shape the ideas captured by the words on the page. As a teacher of reading, I became concerned about ways of improving the individual child's capacity to evoke meaning from the text. As one who believes in the power of personal response, the question arose: How could I foster the kind of fruitful transactions that Rosenblatt encourages? When I began my investigation, I assumed that reading journals were the best accountable way of revealing children's responses to literature. I had assumed that the students would come to write about their reactions, opinions, and connections to the books they were reading. However, this did not seem to happen in any significant way. The notion that dialogue would deepen their reflections was not validated for me. I introduced three different responses activities that further challenged the action research. My observations and reflections led me to abandon journals and to revise my investigation. In the second phase of my Action Research I revised my plans, modified methodology and collected data to help me examine response through small group discussions. I introduced four talk sessions about four poems which helped me to better understand the significance of talk as a medium for response. Through the action research process and writing about research, I have come to the present point in my journey with text talk. This thesis has prompted me to change my practice as a reading teacher to create opportunities for interactions--interactions between the reader and the text, between reader and reader and between the reader and the teacher.Ed.D