Reading, Writing, Cheetahs, Oh My!: Literacy, Collaborative Learning, and Making Movies.
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| Title: | Reading, Writing, Cheetahs, Oh My!: Literacy, Collaborative Learning, and Making Movies. |
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| Authors: | Reaves, Melanie1 melanie.reaves@msubillings.edu, Kamberelis, George2 gkamberelis@western.edu |
| Source: | Journal of Literacy & Technology. Winter2019, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p150-207. 58p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Collaborative learning, *Literacy, *Artistic creation, *Teacher development, Cheetah, Women authors |
| Abstract: | Despair, hopelessness, frustration--this is how some children feel in school when they struggle with reading and writing. This is where our story begins for 9-year-old Katy (pseudonym) and her tutor, Melanie (first author). In this article, we describe interest-based, purpose-driven literacy activity mediated by digital technology tools as Katy and Melanie composed an informational iMovie about cheetahs. Using a case study design in which the tutoring dyad was our case, we drew upon the construct of attunement (Kaye, 1982) to understand how the emergent and contingent nature of their collaborative work unfolded and propelled both Katy's development as a literate person and Melanie's development as a teacher forward. Through this work we have come to understand art, collaboration, and production in new ways. The iMovie product and (related products) generated through Katy and Melanie's collaborative activity revealed processes (or what we have come to call micro-productions) that became key artifacts of their aesthetic play (Latta, 2004) that contributed greatly to their "final" product. Katy's play involved learning new technologies and literacy practices; Melanie's play also involved learning new technologies, as well as experimenting with putting literacy theory and research into practice. The dyad's artistic endeavors provide insights into the affordances of collaborative productions. Their movie could not have happened as it did without both Melanie and Katy contributing their ideas, questions, problems, materials, experiences, knowledge, and skills. More importantly, we know that each micro-production was saturated with affect--how Katy and Melanie invested their intensities, passions, and feelings/emotions (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Massumi, 2015). It was art-in-motion. Process art. Art that produces material and affective transformations in those who create it. Despair, hopelessness, frustration--this is how some children feel in school when they struggle with reading and writing. Students who need it the most are getting the least amount of time to engage in motivating and meaningful literate activity (e.g., Allington & Walmsley, 2008) and instead, are often given skills-based activities largely involving worksheets. This is where our story begins for 9-year-old Katy (pseudonym) and her tutor, Melanie (first author). In this article, we describe interest-based, purpose-driven literacy activity mediated by digital technology tools as Katy and Melanie composed an informational iMovie about cheetahs. We have come to understand art, collaboration, and production in new ways. The iMovie product and (related products) generated through Katy and Melanie's collaborative activity revealed processes (or what we have come to call micro-productions) that became key artifacts of their aesthetic play (Latta, 2004) and contributed greatly to their "final" product. Katy's play involved learning new technologies and literacy practices; Melanie's play also involved learning new technologies, as well as experimenting with putting literacy theory and research into practice. The dyad's artistic endeavors provide insights into the affordances of collaborative micro-productions. What we mean by micro-productions is somewhat counterintuitive in that they refer to intensive activities or processes that propel a project forward or alter its direction in significant ways. We construe these activities or processes as products of a certain kind because they were pivotal "moments" over the course of the overall macro-production of cultural artifacts like the Cheetah movie. Importantly, the Cheetah movie only happened as it did because both Melanie and Katy constantly contributed ideas, questions, problems, materials, experiences, knowledge, and skills, and some of these contributions (which we are calling micro-productions) turned out to be fundamentally important in the overall production of the movie. More importantly, we know that each micro-production was saturated with affect--how Katy and Melanie invested their intensities, passions, and feelings/emotions (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Massumi, 2015). It was art-in-motion. Process art. Art that produces material and affective transformations in those who create it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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