“Urban Fiction and Multicultural Literature as Transformative Tools..." by Marcelle Haddix and Detra Price-Dennis

The best article I read this week is “Urban Fiction and Multicultural Literature

as Transformative Tools for Preparing English Teachers for Diverse Classrooms” by Marcelle Haddix and Detra Price-Dennis (English Education, 45(3), April 2013). I usually talk about what I read on my other blog, KaaVonia’s Learning, but I’m mentioning this one here because not only is it smart, it’s well- written.

What's notable about the way it's written?

 

I like the way Haddix and Price-Dennis braid their research findings together and share two case studies that speak to a similar point: teaching diverse literature. The first  case is based on Haddix’s work with preservice teachers who viewed the possibility of using The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Push in the classroom differently. Haddix says some students pointed out that both novels dealt with tough topics such as sex and drugs, but the “themes were viewed under greater scrutiny and with more tentativeness for Push” (p. 263).

The question is why.

 Price-Dennis focused on a student teacher, Sam, who “created a multicultural text set that included political cartoons, historical documents, poems, picture books, realistic fiction, newspaper and magazine articles, and cable news reports related to the topic of immigration” (p. 267) to provide a wider view of immigration that students could talk back to, question, and learn from.  

 The piece offers a model for collaborative writing. How can writers work together to tell a story that might inform pedagogy? If you get a chance, enjoy the writing choices Haddix and Price-Dennis made in order to provide a glimpse into how diverse literature is being considered for inclusion in classrooms.

 

 Books Mentioned