Qualitative Inquiry
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"Realism and Naturalism and Dead Dudes" Talking About
Literature in 11th-Grade English
Suzanne J. Baff
Qualitative Inquiry 1997; 3; 468
DOI: 10.1177/107780049700300407
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"Realism and Naturalism
and Dead Dudes"
Talking About Literature
in 11th-Grade English
Suzanne J. Baff
State
University of New York at Albany
literature discussions, the author spent 4 weeks in an
from classroom observations, audiotaping of
discussions, interviews, and written artifacts. Classroom discussions were affected by
students’attitudes toward reading, self-perceptions as readers or nonreaders, and homeIn this microethnograpic study of
11th-grade English class. Data
came
work completion rates. The quality and quantity of the interactions were also affected by
interruptions, prior student and teacher experiences, required textbook use, time constraints due to preparation for the state examination, and setting or context of the
discussions. The perception versus practice disjuncture applied both to teacher and
students; the schedule left little reflection time. Curriculum changes were planned for
the following school year; one goal is increasing student engagement in class discussions.
In consonance with the context of the author’s inquiry (literature class), she used poetry
to represent these results. This article focuses on content and on the author’s positive
experience with poetic representation.
It happened once too often in my advanced Spanish classes. After the
vocabulary had been defined, after information about the author had been
shared, after pertinent cultural information had been introduced, after we had
reviewed poetic structures and devices, after we had read the poem out loud,
and after I had asked the students to read the poem to themselves at home
and answer some reflexive questions about their experience came the question, &dquo;What does the poem mean to you; why, and how?&dquo; &dquo;Wait time,&dquo; I would
think. &dquo;A good teacher gives adequate wait time to let students think.&dquo; And
so I waited. Silence. Finally, I would try to start the discussion rolling with a
few questions. The students would answer in single words or short phrases
Author’s Note: Please address all correspondence to author at 108 Echo Hill Road,
Gloversville, NY 12078-6018; telephone: 518-725-4327; e-mail: sjb56@cnsibm.
albany.edu
Qualitative Inquiry, Volume 3 Number 4,1997
01997 Sage
468-490
Publicabons, Inc.
468
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469
despite the fact that during this first literature unit, I was conducting this part
of the class in English, hoping to get them to transfer English-language literary
discussion patterns into subsequent Spanish-language discussions of literature later on during the course. I tried small-group activities. I tried response
logs. Why? Why did these normally articulate, intellectually active 16-yearolds turn to stone when faced with a 10-line poem that should be well within
their second-language and interpretive capabilities? I experimented. I used a
poem in English with a similar theme. The stone students sat quietly in their
chairs, willing me to talk. I went to their English teachers and compared notes.
Behind the usual collegial social routine of complaining about student disengagement, I sensed in them the same frustration I was experiencing. And so
when the opportunity arose to do a small study, the English classroom
beckoned.
I wanted to see these same students in English class, so I arranged to spend
4 weeks attending one class daily (one complete literature unit). I began the
study with a strong belief in the social construction of knowledge (Vygostky,
1978), a transactional view of literature learning (Rosenblatt, 1994,1995), and
a constructivist approach to teaching (Brooks &
Brooks, 1993). Other researchers had done studies of literature discussions (e.g. Marshall, Smagorinsky, & Smith, 1995; Nystrand & Gamoran, 1991; Wolman-Bonilla, 1994).
Would I see the same patterns in this classroom? Would I find a key to unlock
the interpretive minds of my stone students? What would I find in only 4
weeks? I knew the teacher in whose classroom I would be observing, and I
had seen her 8th graders engaged and active as I passed by the open door to
her classroom over the past several years. This year, she was teaching llth
graders, but I felt that I had made a good choice of site because I knew that
she would include lots of discussion during the course of the unit.
The poems that follow are both the substance of the study and the lived
experience of all who were involved in it. They include many voices; those of
the classroom teacher, the English teacher across the hall, the students, and
myself can all be heard. I quoted directly from the discussion and interview
transcripts wherever possible. I chose poetry not only because it is a natural
form of expression for me personally but also because I wanted to give a
three-dimensional picture of the experiences of all of us during the study. A
narrative would have given too much linearity to a situation that appeared
in my mind’s eye as more circular (see &dquo;Circle,&dquo; &dquo;Student Reflections, 2,&dquo; and
&dquo;Dark Clouds&dquo;). Yes, the teacher was sometimes frustrated. But, stating that
does not even begin to communicate the depth of her feelings: her sense of
being boxed in by forces beyond her control (see &dquo;Circle&dquo; and &dquo;Dark Clouds&dquo;),
her anger at the constant interruptions from outside the classroom (see
&dquo;Realism and, Naturalism and Dead Dudes&dquo;), her resigned acceptance of
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470
these
things as part of the way things have to be, and the ebullient reemerhope when planning for the future (see &dquo;Next Year&dquo;). In her
in
argument support of sociological poetry, Laurel Richardson (1994) writes,
gence of her
If a goal of ethnography is to retell &dquo;lived experience,&dquo; to make another world
accessible to the reader, then, I submit that the lyric poem, and particularly a
sequence of lyric poems with an implied narrative, come closer to achieving that
goal than do other forms of ethnographic writing.... That is, lyric poems are
consciously constructed through literary devices such as sound patterns,
rhythms, imagery, and page layout to evoke emotion.... A lyric poem &dquo;shows&dquo;
another person how it is to feel something. (pp. 8-9)
the poems further addresses my choice of form for
and
delineates
how it affected the interpretive process.
representation
The section
following
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The junior-senior high school where the study was conducted is in a small
central school district in upstate New York with about 580 student in grades
7 through 12. The population is racially and ethnically homogeneous; both
students and teachers are overwhelmingly White, Christian, and mainstream
American. Less than 2% of secondary students are Jehovah’s Witnesses; there
were 2 Jewish students, 2 Latinos, no African Americans and 1 Asian American
at the time of the study Socioeconomically, students are more diverse; there
are sharp class divisions based on income and living conditions. Most of the
students are middle or lower middle class, with a small number from uppermiddle-class families. There are also students who are very poor and who live
in substandard housing. Unemployment due to factory closings, child abuse,
teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, and alcohol and drug addiction are
serious problems in this area.
The study was done in an llth-grade English class taught by an experienced teacher in the district. This was her first year as an llth-grade English
teacher; she was previously assigned to the 8th grade. The Regents-track
(college-preparatory) class had 19 students (10 males, 9 females) of which 2
males and 1 female did not participate in the study, giving a total of 16 student
participants. All students were preparing to take the New York State Regents
Comprehensive Examination in English at the end of the school year. The class
met daily for 43 minutes during the last instructional period. All names used
to
identify participants are pseudonyms.
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471
Theoretical Framework
Transactions
I open the book and read
and soon the black and white
blossoms into technicolor.
I squeeze between the pages
and begin to live.
This is real.
This is life.
As I take a peek
at the world I left behind,
it holds no lure for me.
A voice calls from faraway
and reluctantly, I climb off the page
and slip into the body
sitting in the chair,
and close the book.
We sit in the classroom, all of us,
and tell our stories of experience.
Was it a dream we all shared last night,
or did everyone travel to the same time and place?
It was this way, says one.
Yes, says another.
But why? Says a third.
And I, too, begin to tell of my life
in the other world.
But wait!
Something is missing
from the story.
What about the ... ?
And so we continue our narrative medley,
with the teacher as maestro
leading the way
Together, we weave a web of melody
with colors even more brilliant
than before.
Once again, I open the book and read.
Eager to return, I climb into the pages.
It looks different here, this time, I thinkThe edges are sharper
and the air is clearer
and I can see farther toward the horizon.
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472
I continue my journey,
but after awhile, the mist drifts in.
I cannot see so clearly-I must go back.
A voice calls from faraway
and reluctantly, I climb off the page
and slip into the body
sitting in the chair,
and close the book.
Once again, we sit in the classroom together,
some of us here, some there,
and to a few we tell our stories of experience.
I got lost in the mist, says one.
I did, too, I say.
What mist? Says another. Didn’t you see the ... ?
And so we continue our journey together,
helping each other,
until everyone can see the way ahead.
The bell rings, and I go on to the next class,
but I can’t wait until I can
Open the book and read
and soon the black and white
will blossom into technicolor.
I will once again squeeze between the pages
and begin to live.
Setting
(The Arrow on the Map Says) You Are Here
A small school
in a small town.
The schoolit’s where it’s all happening.
There’s nowhere else to go
in down-at-the-heels Upstate New York.
White-collar
versus
blue-collar,
pink-collar,
and no-collar.
Unemployment,
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473
underemployment.
Welfare,
workfare.
They leave at sixteen,
some of thembut they come back
with their babies
a year later
(just to visit).
They hang around
in front waiting
for their still-in-school buddies.
They walk the halls
looking for their favorite teachersjust to say hi.
They graduate at eighteen,
of them.
Off to work or on to welfare,
to the armed forces
or the ivy-covered halls
of a college campusbut they come back
some
(just to visit).
They walk the halls
looking for their favorite teachersjust to say hi.
A small school
in a small town.
A small staff
with a small budget
and big hearts.
The school-it’s where it all can happen.
Walk the halls and feelit’s family
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474
Talking About Literature
Realism and Naturalism and Dead Dudes
I want them
to not be afraid to read literature,
to not feel that everything they read
must have a deep meaning.
I want them
fun in reading,
and joy.
to find
I’m not a reader.
I have no time to read.
What? &dquo;The Open Boat?&dquo;
Oh, I just skimmed it.
Took me five minutes.
I did read parts in class.
While looking for answers
for the question sheet.
Discussion of literature?
It’s all I can do
to get them focused on the story
by giving them questions
to answer.
If I don’t ...
Beep.
Please send Kim
to the Main Office.
...
they wouldn’t read at all.
Well, I answer questions..
during class discussion.
I’m pretty good at it,
’cause Mrs. B always talks
so
I can understand.
Yes, I do adjust my speech
fit the students’
I want them
to
style.
to feel comfortable,
not tense
and afraid to respond.
Beep.
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475
Not again!
Joe’s Pizzeria,
would you like to order?
Please tell Colleen and Lenny
that they have overdue library books.
Did you hear that, you two?
Now, where were we?
Class, open your books
to &dquo;The Sculptor’s Funeral.&dquo;
Now, just before we start,
&dquo;
some
people
in the morning classes
thought this story
about that they couldn’t find
was
the will.
The will is only mentioned once,
and that’s not what the story
is about.
All right-get started
on those questions.
Working together.
Do you know why, Jesse?
Why what?
Do you know why the
townspeople ... ?
Hmm?
Why they felt that Harvey
Merrick was not a success?
’Cause he never made
anything with life.
Really? Are you sure?
I didn’t really read it.
And now we have twenty
minutes to get these
questions done.
It was a stupid story.
There’s no point to it.
Except the will,
and they never found
the will.
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476
All right,
put your pens down.
I want to start on this.
I always run out of time
with you guys,
I wanted to ask you yesterday,
at
a
the end of class,
couple of questions
about the dead.
Door opens.
Enter teacher alde
with envelope.
WHAT? Do I owe more?
They send me
these lovely Jobs.
on
Don’t kill the messenger,
you know.
OK, what was I saying?
Who took him for
granted?
Everybody
The townspeople.
Everybody
Do you think?
You’re shaking your head
no.
You disagree
with the Joanie-Jesse group.
What do you think?
I think they ...
’Cause it says something,
like, he was well-educated
and they weren’t.
He wasn’t the normal...
He definitely
wasn’t the norm
in this society.
Um ... Lenny
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477
What?
Tell me who Henry Stevens is.
His buddy.
Whose buddy, hon?
The dead dude.
Yes, They Can!
English class.
Question sheets.
Realism and naturalism.
Tell me what it’s about, will you?
I never read it-too busy
to do my homework.
Anyway, I hate short stories.
And I’m not really a reader
of literature.
Spanish class.
Taco time.
Six students sitting and munching
and licking gooey fingers,
and then someone says
The Great Gatsby.
Like a volcano,
simmering too long with pressure unrelieved
discussion erupts
and buries Spanish class
under a layer of literary ash.
Everyone has something to saycharacters and scenarios, reactions and
And it goes on and on
until the bell.
questions ...
Yes, they can!
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© 1997 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized
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479
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© 1997 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized
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480
Next Year
Next year.
I’m gonna do it next year.
Carve out the first three hundred pages
of the literature book
and forget about it.
Next year.
All right-next year.
Pretend ...
we’re gonna wipe the whole slate clean,
and you’re gonna call the shots.
Create their literature program
from the bottom up,
What’ll it look like,
next year?
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481
Next year.
The first thing I would do
is give them ownership.
It’s their choice.
Constantly
Every day, go grab a book.
And if it’s the same book
ten
times,
that’s fine.
Go for itit’s gonna enhance their language.
So-free choice on reading.
Next year.
Next year.
Assessment would be
completely different.
If I didn’t have
that bloody Regents,
I’d be completely different.
Literature-based vocabulary,
classes more like a seminar.
Sit down and sit back,
and make it so they have to talk.
Next year.
I feel bad for these kids.
’Cause every day,
I walk out the door saying
&dquo;Next year....&dquo;
Student Reflections, 1
Anne and Jenna,
1’m wondering ...
what kind of experience you’re having
in English class this year,
with literature.
Have you read anything
that really caught your fancy ?
Be honest,
now.
Some of them were pretty good.
But I don’t like the book we’re reading now.
The Great Gatsby?
It’s pretty good, actually
Moby Dick was pretty good.
Poetry Ugh.
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482
I like poetry.
We all like novels.
Yeah. And plays.
Yeah.
Our class goes fast.
It feels shorter,
like there’s not enough time.
It really does go fast.
But there’s enough time
to discuss.
I have enough opportunity
to expressYeah.
We discuss,
half an hour,
maybe forty minutes.
(Discuss? For forty minutes?!)
Do you think
that you’re challenged
by this English class?
(Pause).
I don’t think it’s challenging, but ...
No, not really.
It’s not the easiest course,
but it’s not super hard.
When we were much younger,
everybody always did their work.
All of it.
People weren’t really into it,
they weren’t excited by it,
but they did it.
They were scared of a bad grade.
But now that we’re older,
either you do it,
or you don’t.
I would guarantee it,
that most people don’t read it
when she assigns it.
I think it was
in seventh grade
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483
when people changed.
It’s not that reading isn’t cool,
or anything.
It’s just that people
find more interesting things to do
when they get older.
English classit’s always the same.
Student Reflections, 2
I read before I
come
to class.
Occasionally
Like, if I read it,
I can pretty much figure it out.
But I haven’t really
felt involved
in anything we’ve read
so far this year.
The Scarlet Letter.
That was the pits.
I couldn’t get into it.
I don’t know why
English class.
It’s always been the same.
Short stories,
learning about the authors first.
But Mrs. B is,
into it more.
like,
She, like,
explains things.
Better, I think.
And she’ll always ask us
our
opinion, like,
and she’ll give us different views
until we can see it,
and finally we’ll see it
exactly the way it was,
and we’ll realize
how different we were
as compare to what ...
it was.
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484
From the Back of the Room:
The Observer Observes
Connections?
I’m not a reader.
I have no time.
I just hate to read.
When they are not good readers,
they don’t respond well
to free, peer-led discussion.
Teacher-domtnated discussion
is what they construct.
Their non-response
backs the teacher
into a corner
and they get what they need
to feel comfortable. (Wolman-Bomlla, 1994)
If I’m really into it,
I learn.
If I use the guide questions,
it helps me to understand.
If I hate it,
I
stop reading.
Students
who are truly engaged
achieve the best.
Students
who are superficially engaged
by classroom procedure
show modest gains.
Students who are disengaged...
(Nystrand & Gamoran,1991)
I can do it,
but not the way Mrs. B does.
I need her
to help me understand.
I don’t know if I could
on my own.
She explains it so clearly,
and then I can see
how I was wrong.
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485
Teachers who control
and model
have students
whose peer discussions
fall flat.
Teachers who provide
specific practice
allow for learning
by doing. (Marshall, 1995).
Rosenblatt?
In college.
I did that in college.
What I don’t understand is,
why can’t I get them to talk?
Dark Clouds
Students.
Stuck.
In a rut.
Comfort zone.
Sloth syndrome.
Paradigm paralysis.
Teachers.
Stuck.
Boxed in.
Bounded by time
and tests.
Persecuted
by percentiles
and public opinion.
Paradigm paralysis.
Community.
Stuck.
Suspended
in the past
(The Way It Used to
Learn for jobs.
Be).
Read for jobs.
For jobs.
For jobs.
Not for joy.
Paradigm paralysis.
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486
Silver Linings
Take a picture,
one with color,
one with movement,
with excitement
and action.
Take a text,
one with drama,
one with intrigue,
with beauty
and strength.
Take a teacher,
one with energy,
one with dedication,
with true caring
and flexibility.
Take some students,
ones unawakened
ones still responsive,
and open them up
with ownership.
Take a program,
one where change is happening,
one where reflection could become action
and where next year
is only a summer away
Take a look
for yourselvessee what is obvious,
find what lies hidden.
All of the pieces
to the puzzle
lie scattered
on the classroom floor.
Pick them up, people,
pick them up
and see where they fit together-
together !
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487
SO WHAT?
This study supports the results of other studies in terms of patterns of
literature discussions (&dquo;Connections?&dquo;). It also addresses the significant, and
often negative, effects of noninstructional factors (&dquo;Realism and Naturalism
and Dead Dudes&dquo;). Students’ attitudes toward reading, perceptions of themselves as readers or nonreaders, and the rate of homework completion had a
significant effect on classroom discussions (&dquo;Student Reflections,&dquo; 1 and 2).
The quality and quantity of the interaction during literature discussions were
also strongly affected by such factors as interruptions of class time, prior
student and teacher experiences, use of the required textbook, time constraints due to preparation for the New York State Regents Comprehensive
Examination in English (&dquo;Circle&dquo;), and setting or context in which a discussion occurred (&dquo;Yes, They Can!&dquo;). However, most salient was the disjuncture
between perception and practice, for both teacher and students (&dquo;Assumptions&dquo;), and a schedule for curriculum coverage that left little time for reflection or constructivist teaching.
However, it is in terms of form rather than substance that I argue for the
significance of this study The issue of representational form has been the
focus of some recent books (e.g., Ellis & Bochner, 1996; Van Maanen, 1995)
and articles (e.g., Richarsdon, 1994). It was also the basis for a published
symposium on the question of &dquo;What is ’good enough ethnography’?&dquo;
(Denzin, 1996; DeVault, 1996; Richardson, 1996; Schwalbe, 1996; St. Pierre,
1996). For me as researcher, using a creative form such as poetry liberated
insight and got me quickly to core issues within the data. Because this
small-scale project was done as part of my doctoral course work, I did not
write a standard research paper and add the poems to provide richer description. Encouraged by my professor, Dr. Sandra Mathison, I made a conscious
decision to use poetry as the sole form of representation for this limited study
Although I went through the typical process of theoretical framework diagram, data collection, tape transcription, coding, and analysis, the use of the
poetic form to represent my findings added a new dimension to my understanding of the data and also shaped the interpretive process in a way that
was both intense and productive. It was a challenge and a joy to produce a
representation of a complex, many-layered situation in the concentrated time
and space of a series of poems. In describing her own experience with poetic
representation, Richardson (1994) characterizes her &dquo;Nine Poems: Marriage
and the Family&dquo;: &dquo;Each lyric poem represents a ’candid photo’ or an ’episode’
or an epiphany&dquo; (p. 9). I would add that the process of creation can also be an
epiphany I had envisioned the writing as difficult. Instead, I experienced it
as bursts of insight during which strong visual images coupled easily with
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488
words. I quickly learned to write memos in verse so as not to lose a particular
turn of phrase. As part of a poem (not included in this article) written during
the study, I reflected on my experience:
A strange process,
this writing
before The End.
You think you’ll never get going
until you sit down
and do a complete analysisnever realizing that your brain
is always analyzing.
And suddenly, a piece of the puzzle
hangs in the air.
Before your mind’s eye, you see it
and the words pour outand it’s another poem.
The actual process of writing the poems was in itself part of the analysis.
Trends appeared not only as I consciously thought about the data but also as
I included various voices within one poem, and then another, and heard the
same themes repeated across poems. As Norman Denzin (1996) so succinctly
states, &dquo;Writing is interpretation and cannot be separated from the process of
analysis&dquo; (p. 526).
For the reader who has possibly read numerous scholarly articles and field
books about English education, experiencing a literary or artistic representation of similar data may provide another lens with which to view the
same scenery. Perhaps one viable role of such a representation is to provide
an experience that transcends the one particular study. As readers transact
with the representation, they synthesize their experiences with their prior
experiences of similar studies. For this particular study, poetry is an effective
alternative method of representation because the reader actually goes
through the same process in reading the results and analysis as the participants did during their literature class. Using poetry (form) to represent
findings about the study of literature (substance) allows for a consonance
between form and substance. In addition, the poetic form of the representation predisposes the reader toward a particular way of reading. A reader
who has prior experience and knowledge of poetry expects to extract concentrated, strong images and feelings from a poem, and also to look for layers of
meaning. These expectations allow the reader to get deep into the data and
interpretation in a nonlinear way, matching the many overlaid, connected
layers of talking about literature in a secondary English class.
Finally, I would argue for the reflexive use of poetry and other modes of
artistic expression as a valuable tool for the researcher. Even in situations
where the researcher chooses, or is required, to use a narrative or a standard
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distribution.
489
research report format, working creatively along with traditional writing is a
way to access the emic perspective of both researcher and participants. As
researchers, we must beware of paradigm paralysis (&dquo;Dark Clouds&dquo;). The old
adage &dquo;A picture is worth a thousand words&dquo; may apply here in that the
trigger of a phrase or a visual image may produce a chain reaction of analytical
thought or may be useful in future work to describe a particular concept or
situation. As a novice researcher, I expect that I will be writing up future
studies for some time to come. Because of my experience with a particular
llth-grade English class, I will be crafting verses as I go. Be they pure personal
reflection or part of a final representation, I know they will always enhance
my understanding and guide my thoughts.
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525-528.
19
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Qualitative Sociology, 19
& Bochner, A. P. (Eds.) (1996). Composing ethnography:
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(3), 261-290.
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Richardson, L. (1996). A sociology of responsibility. Symposium: Defending Ways of
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519-524.
19
Knowing: Expanding Forms of Presentation, Qualitative (4),
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19
Van Maanen, J. (Ed.). (1995). Representation in ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Baff is a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction at the State
University of New York at Albany. She is also a teacher of French and Spanish
at the secondary level as well as coordinator of the elementary foreign language
program in the same school district. Her interest is in foreign language
literature instruction in secondary schools.
Suzanne J.
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© 1997 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized
distribution.