August: "Making Room for One Another"

I am going to admit that I struggled with Dr. August’s Making Room for One Another.  Unfortunately, I had to miss the class discussion, so I am left with outstanding questions in regards to the implementation of dynamic and designed dialogicality.  In an attempt to receive further input, I am going to present my thoughts—please work with the digression into children’s trade books and a personal definition of dialogicality!  Any feedback is welcomed!  Please help me to ‘unpack’ excerpts from Dr. August’s dissertation!

Here is what I understand:

            While reading Dr. August’s first chapter and the mention of Alice and Wonderland, my mind wondered to a children’s book, Tacky the Penguin.  Please bear with me!  Tacky is an odd bird who marches to the beat of his own drummer. Tacky the penguin does not fit in with his sleek and graceful companions, but his odd behavior comes in handy when hunters come with maps and traps.   He is something of an eccentric, which would not be a problem if all the other penguins were not such conformists. Tacky’s individuality saves the day!  Yes, this is a children’s story…with a very grown-up message.  Do you know a Tacky?  Have you ever been a Tacky?  Who is Tacky in your classroom? 

Here is what I understand:    

Introduced in Chapter One: Equal Opportunity Adventure of Making Room for One Another (2009), Dr. Gerri August elucidates,

Each day school age children enact a familiar motif from the world of children’s literature.  They leave home, have an adventure, and return home.  The adventure, of course, is school…Most come ready to share their stories, eager to make connections.  Some children narrate their family experiences with abandon, painting their stories with broad brush strokes and vivid colors; others offer up only tentative sketches, smudged with erasures.  All children, however, return home from the adventure changed in some way. (1)

Thus, what is the factor that implements the change?  August would argue that it is dynamic and designed dialogicality—different voices, styles, and ideas expressing a plurality of judgments in different ways.  Reflected in Zeke Lerner’s kindergarten class (ZK) at Horton School, every child has a story or a discursive pattern.  Highlighted in “circle time” students are “encouraged to share accounts of celebrations, traditions, vacations, and other notable family experiences” (1).   Observed by Dr. August, some students fare better than other during circle time.  “Children whose discourse patterns, [their ‘dialogic’ stories], match those of the dominant culture, for example, seem to enjoy longer turns and more meaningful interaction with the teacher” (1).  But, what about the Tacky in the classroom or the figurative ‘odd bird’ (not by choice!) who does not adhere to the dominant culture?  In the ZK, it is Cody, a Cambodian child who was adopted by lesbian parents.  For Cody, these ‘dialogic’ stories are maintained by socially imprinted voices and logics that are ‘dialogic’ to one another, yet remain unfinished.  To put it colloquially, between the lines of our story is the stuff we fill in, are expected to fill in, and we do so in our own way.  Despite being a kindergartner, Cody recognizes his ‘differences,’ and hesitantly shares his story with the ZK.

Here is the disconnect:

            How does Zeke do what he does?  How does Zeke promote dialogicality rather than monologicality in order to create a more democratic classroom?  How does dynamic dialogicality transcend a teachable moment?  How is dynamic dialogicality applicable to a secondary classroom?  Is it more or less present in a secondary classroom?