This response to Priya Prasad’s and Crystal Kalinec- Craig’s article on the interplay of the Rights and Responsibilities of the Learner aims to engage with and add on to the authors’ exploration of learners overexercising or opting out of their rights. While grappling with these challenges alongside the authors, our curiosity deepened about a significant and understudied facet of democratic classrooms: silence. Through this response, we consider the multifaceted dimension of silence and how a focus on silence may help us more fully understand the tension between learners’ rights and responsibilities to self, each other, and the collective. Specifically, we engage in dialogue around three questions: If students have the right to speak, listen, and be heard, do they also have a right to be silent, or is that right surpassed by a responsibility to contribute verbally, because classmates will not be able to learn from unexpressed thinking? If a student is silent, how do we distinguish if they are choosing to be silent or are being silenced? What might it look like to think about rights and responsibilities as collective rather than individual? This article is in response to Torres’s RotL in the classroom, they also should help students grow into a place of being responsible for their development and the space for others to grow in their thinking: a sense of responsibility to self and others. As students acknowledge a responsibility to self and the collective group, they can find more ways to exercise their rights as learners.
This qualitative study investigates the ability of teachers that have completed their clinical experience— i.e., teacher preparation— in a school grounded in Deweyan theory to maintain a democratic practice. As such, the study focused on educators that were graduates of a school- university partnership program, known as CARE— Creating Active, Reflective Educators. Data were collected to address the following research question: “To what extent can former CARE students practice democratic education in their current public- school teaching environment?” Interviews conducted with current school teachers and leaders that were former CARE program students. Responses were audio- recorded and transcribed, then coded and organized into thematic units to report findings. like organized you a
The article adds to a growing conversation that recognizes and supports young children’s civic capabilities, positioning them as citizensnow and not simply citizens in the future. They detail how three different classrooms sought to work with children to engage in social action on behalf of their broader community. This response wonders alongside the authors about how adults can best work with children to support their civic action and proposes that teachers engage children’s visions for a more just, humanizing democratic society. The article offers three avenues of action for teachers as they support children’s civicness: reflection on our views and experiences with democracy, educating ourselves in the traditions and histories of community organizing, and developing practices that involve children’s visions of society. This article is in response to Miller Marsh, M., Kenyon, E. A., Cardy, T., West, E. M. (2020). That’s My Voice! Participation and Democratic Citizenship in the Early Childhood Classroom. Democracy & Education, 28(2), Article 1. Available at: http:// democracyeducationjournal .org/ home/ vol28/ iss2/ 1 A TexttoSelf Connection While teaching first grade in a public school in New York City, I participated in a teacher research group1 in which we inquired into how young children could change their world. Some of those changes felt farreaching, such as when my students identified the person in power who could help their cause and then composed letters to that person. Noah (all names have been changed to pseudonyms) wrote to the city’s mayor about the very largescale issue of global warming— he questioned the number of taxis on the street and advocated for people to use public transportation as he and his family did. Other aspects of creating change in the world fell more closely within 1 Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Leadership Group led by Sarah Picard Taylor. See also, Taylor (2008). the microcosm of our classroom. As a teacher, I learned to pay attention to the everyday problems that arose by living and learning together in a classroom community. One of those everyday problems for our firstgrade class involved the delivery of milk cartons during our classroom lunchtime (see also Payne, 2015; Swalwell & Payne, 2019). When we did not receive the correct amount of milk, students noticed and advocated that we needed to do something. We engaged in a conversation about what to do. A group of students suggested going down to the cafeteria right then and there to talk with the cafeteria Katherina A. Payne is an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research considers the intersections of civic education, elementary/early childhood schooling, and teacher education and examines the role of relationships, community, and justice to transform classrooms into childcentered, democratic, and more equitable spaces.
Deliberative democracy surfaces disagreements so that people holding conflicting stances understand each other’s reasons for the purpose of decisionmaking. Democratic education approaches should provide students with the opportunity to learn and practice how to address conflict in the collective decisionmaking process. In this paper, I examine the Foxfire Course for Teachers, a professional development retreat in which teachers learn to practice democratic teaching by themselves experiencing democratic decisionmaking. In particular, a series of disagreements among course participants is analyzed in detail to understand the learning that resulted and the conditions that supported that learning. As a result of this experiential learning opportunity, teachers came to realize the importance of allowing students to experience and reason through disagreement although it may cause discomfort. Teachers also came to view democratic participation as a developmental process that requires practice. Submit a response to this article Submit online at democracyeducationjournal .org/ home Read responses to this article online http:// democracyeducationjournal .org/ home/ vol28/ iss1/ 3
Teachers are often apprehensive about facilitating deliberation in classrooms because conflicts can develop when deliberations surround issues of authentic concern to students. However, conflict is central to deliberation, and the identities and experiences of participants must be reflected in deliberation. These differences challenge the assumptions of neutrality and a common good that can restrain conflict. Harell’s article focuses upon many of these aspects of deliberation and the essential role of facilitators as conflicts emerge from deliberation. In my response to Harell, I extend his findings by developing the themes of conflict, identity, and inclusion. These themes are conceptually linked and can guide reflection before, during, and after deliberation. Finally, I discuss the implications for democratic education in general and teacher education in particular. This article is in response to Harell, K. F. (2020). The Value of Conflict and Disagreement in Democratic Teacher Education. Democracy and Education, 28(1), Article 3. Available at: https:// democracyeducationjournal .org/ home/ vol28/ iss1/ 3 Understanding Conflict in Education for Democracy There is a danger in overemphasizing shared understandings, common ground, conflict avoidance, and consensus during deliberation of issues. While one of the objectives of deliberation can be to arrive at the best course of action, other objectives of deliberation can often go unrecognized in communities and classrooms. One of these objectives involves developing a better understanding of the range of perspectives on an issue (Benhabib, 2002). Expanding the range of perspectives often involves conflict because there are a variety of community members in deliberation who are positioned differently in relation to an issue. Deliberators participate with different experiences, knowledge, and identities. This inevitably leads to inequitable power relations in communication because norms of communication are usually dictated by takenforgranted assumptions enforced by dominant groups. Teachers and facilitators are also influential in enforcing these assumptions. While some views are privileged, others are marginalized. As deliberation proceeds, these differences can rise to the surface. Recognition can increase conflict as perspectives that are usually hidden or unrecognizable challenge dominant perspectives during deliberation. Referring to the value of the conflicts that emerge, Mouffe (2000) wrote: Steven Camicia is a professor of foundations and social studies education at Utah State University. His research focuses on curriculum and instruction in the areas of perspective consciousness and social justice as they relate to critical education for democracy. The term “critical” modifies “democratic education” in order to focus upon the attributes of power, inclusion, and recognition in democratic education.
In “Beyond the Invisible Barriers of the Classroom: iEngage and Civic Praxis,” the authors reported on the experiences teachers encountered during a weeklong Youth Engage Civic Institute Camp and the degree to which what teachers learned in the camp was able to move their thinking and practice toward a more critical, justiceoriented approach to civic education. The authors’ analysis thus “considers the ideological shifts the counselors [teachers] made and the likelihood that they will teach beyond the formal classroom as they return to more traditional environments” (Magill et al., 2020, p. 2). In that, the authors were interested not only in what teachers learned at the camp and how it impacted their thinking about civic education but, also, in issues of contextual transfer: whether the teachers were inclined to make the learning gained at the camp material in their future teaching in classrooms back home. This response both questions the ability of a weeklong professional development to change teachers’ civic imagination as well as the ability of studies using traditional qualitative frameworks to get at the complex psychic processes involved in attempts to shift teachers’ understanding about practice. Specifically, the piece focuses on concepts borrowed from psychoanalytic theories in education to explore the manner in which learning also always involves not learning and the processes of ignorance and resistance teachers might be using to both embrace and reject change at the same time. This article is in response to Magill, K. R., Davis Smith, V., Blevins, B., LeCompte, K. N. (2020). Beyond the Invisible Barriers of the Classroom: iEngage and Civic Praxis. Democracy and Education, 28(1), Article 1. Available at: https:// democracyeducationjournal .org/ home/ vol28/ iss1/ 1 In “Beyond the Invisible Barriers of the Classroom: iEngage and Civic Praxis,” Magill et al. (2020) reported on the experiences teachers encountered during a weeklong Youth Engage Civic Institute Camp and the degree to which what teachers learned in the camp was able to move their thinking and practice toward a more critical, justiceoriented approach to civic education. Both the premise and promise of the piece— and of the Youth Engage Civic Institute Camp it describes— are no doubt important and necessary. Civic education in K– 12 classrooms, as well described in the piece’s literature review, too often is— and has been so for many years— mired in curricular standards that result in dry, rote learning about the operation of government and the formal roles and responsibilities of a “citizen” rather than giving life Avner Segall is professor of teacher education at Michigan State University. His research integrates a wide range of critical theories and focuses on how particular versions and visions of citizenship, education, teaching, and learning are made possible both in formal and informal educational settings.
Curry and Cherner’s article, “Red States, Blue States, and Media Literacy: Political Context and Media Literacy,” discusses preservice teachers’ perspectives of teaching media literacy skills in politically opposite “Red” and “Blue” States. In this response, I argue the inclusion of additional demographic information about participants might open up new avenues for which to analyze the data. I also address how the article theoretically takes up media literacy as well what other definitions exist, with suggestions for how the term might be expanded to include internal (selfreflective) and external (outside sources) processes for students and educators to consider. This article is in response to Curry, K., Cherner, T. S. (2019). Red States, Blue States, and Media Literacy: Political Context and Media Literacy. Democracy and Education, 27 (2), Article 1. Available at: https:// democracyeducationjournal .org/ home/ vol27/ iss2/ 1
Although experiential approaches to democracy education are gaining increased support from educators and scholars, few educational resources exist to support youth in constructing and delivering highquality, evidencebased policy arguments to authentic audiences. Such presentations are often the first time that young people step into the public sphere and speak to public officials; they represent rich opportunities for youth political development and activism. In this paper, we introduce an assessment tool, called the Measure of Youth Policy Arguments (MYPA), which is intended to be a resource for community and school educators. Drawing on data from two years of fieldtesting and iterative codesign in the context of researchpractice partnerships (RPPs), we chronicle the development of the tool and provide evidence about its educational uses in classrooms and community programs. In the discussion section, we explain key decisions in the development of MYPA and how those shaped its appropriateness for certain uses and lack of appropriateness for others. Submit a response to this article Submit online at democracyeducationjournal .org/ home Read responses to this article online http:// democracyeducationjournal .org/ home/ vol28/ iss2/ 4 Ben Kirshner is a Professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Colorado Boulder. He works collaboratively with educators, community organizers, and students to design and study learning environments that support youth development, activism, and civic participation. In his work with the Critical Civic Inquiry research group he codevelops researchpractice partnerships that increase the capacity of schools to support student voice and action civics (www .transformative studentvoice .net). With the Research Hub for Youth Organizing he codesigns educational tools and research studies with youth organizing groups and networks (https:// www .colorado .edu/ education -research -hub/). Ben’s 2015 book, Youth Activism in an Era of Education Inequality, received the social policy award for best authored book from the Society of Research on Adolescence. Dr. Shelley Zion is Professor of Urban Education in the Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Education Department at Rowan University. Her research is situated within a framework of sociopolitical development, informed by a range of critical theoretical perspectives, and advanced by an understanding of the nature of both individual and systemic change. She is coPI of a series of student voice research projects— Critical Civic Inquiry, funded by the Spencer Foundation, Measuring Youth Policy Arguments project, funded by Spencer and the Hewlett Foundation, which is charged with developing reliable and valid measures of the quality of youth policy arguments, the Student Voice Leadership Project, which examines the impact of student voice initiatives on School
This paper discusses the role of scaffolded reading instruction in democratic education. Focusing on a case study of a high school civic unit on the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis, it argues the importance of such reading instruction. Students noted the challenges they experienced when reading complex texts on the topic. Yet, scaffolded reading activities that helped students interpret and respond to the texts yielded student engagement with disciplinary material and were praised by the students. This paper illustrates the use of such supports and discusses the ramifications of their absence. Submit a response to this article Submit online at democracyeducationjournal .org/ home Read responses to this article online http:// democracyeducationjournal .org/ home/ vol28/ iss2/ 3
