Instructions. Assignment 2 (task/s) 1. DIVERSITY CONSCIOUSNESS PRESENTATION 2. Read the article (DIVERSITY CONSCIOUSNESS) and write reflection paragraph (300-350 words). (Use colors to highlight important points in the article./n Journal of Pedagogical Research Volume 3, Issue 2, 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.33902/JPR.2019252790 JPR Journal of Pedagogical Research Conceptual Article Diversity consciousness in the classroom: A case for opening new spaces and generating 'new' knowledge for critical literacy using imaginative practices Ishwarya N. Iyer¹ and Sridhar Ramachandran² 1School of Education, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA (ORCID: 0000-0003-3843-3808) 2Department of Informatics, Indiana University SE, New Albany, Indiana, USA (ORCID: 0000-0002-3743-3104) The purpose of this research paper is to offer/propose a framework/model of specific imaginative practices, classroom engagement ideas, and implementation pathways that can be adapted across various grade levels within the K-12 (preferably language and literacy) classrooms to utilize the inherent diversity (of lived experiences) amongst the learners as a resources for fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the classroom while simultaneously generating 'new' knowledge for learning and sense-making. Essentially, the framework proposed will afford expressive outlets into the curriculum via imaginative practices that are designed to allow opportunities for critical literacy learning by bringing common experiences and issues to the fore (utilizing dialogic comprehension-as-sensemaking pedagogy) and thus perpetuating diversity consciousness. The paper also includes a mock-up (i.e. present an example for each step in the framework when possible) of the proposed model in the hope that it will provide an impetus to teacher scholars and educators interested in adapting/including the framework into their classroom. Keywords: Diversity consciousness; Imaginative practices; Critical literacy; Pedagogy Article History: Submitted 3 January 2019; Revised 2 May 2019; Published online 14 June 2019 1. Introduction In today's globalizing world, the K-12 classroom demographic composition is becoming increasingly diverse. This inherent diversity within the classroom population has the potential to become a pedagogy resource for critical literacy offering “novel ways of thinking and acting” to the learners (and the teachers) along with 'new' opportunities to "broaden their horizons, enter new worlds, become acquainted with a vast range of ideas and perspectives, and reflect on their own perspectives" (Van der Veen, Marjolein, & Bert, 2017, p. 49). However, classroom diversity as a useful resource for critical literacy inquiry/learning is often unutilized, untapped and/or unrecognized because of the prevalence of the monologic method to classroom instruction (Eranpalo & Jorgenson, 2018, p. 2). Unfortunately, "a monologically understood world is an objectified world, a world corresponding to a single and unified authorial consciousness" (Hays, 2005, p.9). Sarah Maxine Greene, in her book titled 'Releasing the Imagination', notes (in regards to this authorial consciousness) that "when nothing intervenes to overcome such inertia, it joins with the sense of repetitiveness and uniformity to discourage active learning” (1995, p. 21). Address of Corresponding Author Ishwarya N. Iyer, Indiana University Bloomington, School of Education, 201 N. Rose Ave. Bloomington, USA. iniyer@iu.edu How to cite: Iyer, I. N. & Ramachandran, S. (2019). Diversity consciousness in the classroom: A case for opening new spaces and generating 'new' knowledge for critical literacy using imaginative practices. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 3(2), 63-73. I. N. Iyer & S. Ramachandran/Journal of Pedagogical Research, 3(2), 11-21 64 Offering a solution, Greene adds that "the classroom situation most provocative of thoughtfulness and critical consciousness is the one in which teachers and learners find themselves conducting a kind of collaborative search, each from her or his lived situation” (1995, p. 23). This call for action (by Greene) to use ‘lived situation' for critical literacy and critical consciousness serves as the primary motivation for the framework presented in the paper. In her book, Greene (1995) also shares her dream/desire for a “humane and liberating classrooms in which every learner is recognized and sustained in her or his struggle” (p. 5). Recognizing that the world is converging, she highlights the need to "socialize diverse young learners” to “counter both relativism and ignorance at once" (p. 9) stating that “one must resist viewing other human beings as mere objects or chess pieces and view them in their integrity and particularity instead. One must see from the point of view of the participant in the midst of what is happening if one is to be privy to the plans people make, the initiatives they take, the uncertainties they face" (p. 10). Echoing similar sentiments, authors Van der Veen, Marjolein, & Bert (2017 pp. 49-50) in their article titled 'Engaging Children in Dialogic Classroom Talk' state that: "It requires the effort of teachers to make these classrooms reach their full potential. This is where we (as educators) should decide whether we love the world and our children enough to prepare them to deal with diversity, tensions, and differences; provide them with tools to take advantage of the range of perspectives they encounter; to prepare them to understand the plural other, as well as the plural self (i.e., a multi-voiced self); and to renew a common world that is open and livable". Taken together, it can be understood that the 'call' is for classroom reform so that dialogic meaning-making and sense-making replaces conventional monologic methods and where classroom diversity (e.g. ‘lived situations/experiences') is seen/viewed as a ‘curricular' (and not an extra-curricular) resource that can fuel the dialogues within the classroom that in-turn shall promote critical literacy, critical consciousness and social imagination amongst the participants. This ideological shift is necessary (now more than ever) since the goal of education in this globalizing world is to "create citizens of the world: those with the proclivities and abilities to shift across boundaries-geographically, disciplinarily, professionally, and in engagement with others—with a moral and ethical imperative to engage in and sustain equitable and just relations." (Hawkins, 2014, p. 94). In that context, this call for an ideological shift in classroom pedagogy and curriculum implementation opens up two very interesting questions for investigation, viz.: Q1. How can the traditional classroom curriculum be transformed into an 'active learning' site where dialogic meaning-making and sense-making helps with opening new spaces for learning and generating new knowledge? Q2. Can the diversity in individual ‘lived experiences' among the classroom population be utilized as dialogic resource that can promote critical literacy and critical consciousness? In the remainder of this paper, we will present our exploration/investigation of these two questions in an effort to offer the readers with a sustainable framework that can afford a symbolic ‘sample-initiative' towards the envisioned curricular reform (discussed earlier). 2. Key Concepts, Innovative Ideas and New Directions: Sources of Inspiration 2.1. Children as Consumer and Producers of Knowledge Medina and Wohlwend (2014) stated that in this era of rapid globalization and transnationalism, the children “live multiliterate lives as they move as consumers and producers of knowledge across real and imagined spaces, across worlds and communities, and in textual diasporas grounded in traveling texts that flow through media, digital spaces, and the consumption structures of global markets” (p. 5). They add that since “reading, writing, and cultural production happen at the intersection of participation in complex worlds and discourses" the children's ‘lived experiences' cannot be and should not be “ignored when visualizing literacy pedagogies that I. N. Iyer & S. Ramachandran/Journal of Pedagogical Research, 3(2), 11-21 65 matter to/for children” (2014, p. 5). They thus make a strong case for utilizing the inherent diversity (that is readily available in the lived experiences of the classroom participants) as a pedagogy (and learning) resource. So, having established that the diversity in lived experiences (diversity) is a valuable resource to learn from, the question then is - how can the lived experience be made part of the classroom discourse? 2.2. Imaginative Practices: Using Drama Practices for dialogic critical engagements Medina, Perry, Lee, and Deliman (2018) draws the attention to the potential and potency with/of using “drama as interpretative meaning making” (p. 2) in the classroom. They add that “the new emerging relationships that are constructed at the intersection of making meaning between texts and drama, become possible in the opportunities drama practices provide to negotiate and explore readers/performers multiple social positionings" (2018, p.3). They state that "(d)rama practices such as hotseating, role-play, tableaux, and human slide shows are some of an always expanding repertoire of performative, embodied, and pedagogical tools that provide opportunities for students to become critical observers and effective problem solvers as they actively and playfully negotiate meaning within and around the text where events take place" (2018, p.5-6). Along the same context, Diamond (1996), in her book titled 'Performance and Cultural Politics', highlights the importance of imaginative practices (like drama and performance) and how it offers the unique opportunity for the participants to don/wear several hats (e.g. writer and performer of personal tales/oral histories, script writer, director etc.). She adds that this opportunity to participate in all phases of a performance (from design to implementation) helps transform the performer's self- consciousness within politicized spaces. Taken together, these observations by the eminent teacher-scholars presents a strong case for using drama practices as a meaning-making and sense- making tool to encourage dialogic critical engagements in the classroom towards developing critical consciousness about the diversity around them. Moreover, when the drama is co-written, co-enacted, co-directed and co-produced by the participants in the classroom, it allows for lived experiences to become part of the discourse that then facilitates the opening of "critical spaces within which students negotiate diverse perspectives and generate knowledge that may serve their own educational and social empowerment” (Medina & Campano, 2006, p. 333). So, having established that drama performances (that utilizes the diversity of lived experiences in its scripts/design/narratives) can facilitate dialogic critical engagements within the classroom, the question then is- how can the teacher initiate reflective discourses to emerge from all learners in the classroom. 2.3. Self-Excavation as the 'first step': The case for a 'Pre-Text' An essential 'first step', before the participants can engage in dialogic exchanges, is for the participants to discover, explore, recognize and articulate their own lived experience (around a topic/issue or everyday experience that the class is exploring) so that they can become self-aware and self-conscious of their unique worldviews before the dialogic engagements begin. This ‘first step' is important because it allows every participant to share, document and externalize their otherwise internalized 'position' about an everyday event that the class is planning on exploring thus displaying the diversity upfront. Moreover, this individual self-reflection is essential so that ‘original voices/experiences are allowed to surface free of peer influence and conformity that is common in the socio-political nature of collaborative work. There are many ways this ‘first step' can be designed, for example once the class has decided on an issue/everyday event to investigate/discuss, the teacher can ask each student to first individually create an ‘artwork' that identifies with their position on that issue (that is informed by their worldview). The use of art as a medium for contemplative self-reflection will help the student self-excavate internalized issues that can provide insights into how the lived experiences have shaped ones' social imagination. Authors Bhattacharya and Payne, in their paper titled 'Mixing mediums, mixing selves: arts-based contemplative approaches to border crossings', successfully accomplished this 'first step' by using I. N. Iyer & S. Ramachandran/Journal of Pedagogical Research, 3(2), 11-21 66 66 imaginative practices like fragmented storytelling, art-making and theorization for self-excavation. In their paper they note the effectiveness of the art-making approach stating: "Contemplative art-making provides a window, revealing the multiple states of consciousness that arise from experiences, desires, and imagination of possibilities. Through storytelling I am able to attend to what arises in these states of consciousness. I begin to question the aspects of myself I hold as stable and those I separate from myself through resistance. Pushing further, I question how we can attend to what arises when we participate in or resist the effects of social structures of oppression, when the mere act of paying attention automatically places us in opposition, creating a righteous self against an oppressive other" (2016, p. 1114). The diverse positions that shall emerge from this 'first step' shall become fodder/resource to be used as ‘Pre-Text' for the design of the remainder of the imaginative engagements (as discussed in sections 2.1 and 2.2 - also, we will expand on this detail later in this paper). When contemplative art-making is followed up by storytelling, the students will be able to bring to the fore their individual positions about an issue/event that is outside (and uninfluenced) by dominant discourses and that is exactly what is the motto for this ‘first step'. This extends the usefulness of the art and also foregrounds meaning making in an integrated and constitutional way into the flow of activities moving away from “linear forms of interpretations” to instead encourage the emergence of meaning making in an “actively negotiated” encounter (Medina et al., 2018, p. 11). Taken together, the sub sections in this section of the paper have successfully explored the feasibility of finding answers to the two research questions presented at the end of the first section. However, before we move on to discussing an implementation framework it is important to discuss (briefly) the role of the teacher, the significance of opening up new spaces and the meaning of diversity consciousness and social imagination as it applies to the context of this paper. 2.4. Diversity Consciousness as the 'gateway' to Social Imagination Diversity Consciousness, as it applies to critical literacy (and especially to the framework to be discussed in this paper), should be interpreted as the critical consciousness about diversity that "helps students (and teachers) develop a flexible, inclusive kind of thinking/awareness of the interconnectedness of our world's different people and cultures" while simultaneously understanding the value "of developing such an awareness" in their "personal life, education, and career" (Bucher, 2000). Development of this critical consciousness is vital because classrooms are getting more "heterogeneous" and so in a classroom devoid of means (and curriculum) to cultivate diversity consciousness "children (and teachers) might experience this melting pot of cultures and perspectives as threatening, confusing, and difficult” (Van der Veen, Marjolein, & Bert, 2017, p. 49). One way to combat this anxiety (and the associated fear/threat) is to break through the “inertia of habit” and “poke around” investigating the world around paying attention to it and moving “from the habitual and the ordinary and consciously" undertaking a search, instead of "fleeing from it" (Greene, 1995, p. 16 - 24). This search is a precursor to the redevelopment of social imagination - “the capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be” (Greene, 1995, p. 5). In that vein, diversity consciousness is the precursor (and gateway) to initiating/undertaking the search (mentioned above). 2.5 Teacher as a Co-Participant As we seek to integrate imaginative practices into the classroom curriculum to encourage diversity consciousness and re-cultivate social imagination, it is also important to briefly discuss the role of the teacher in this reimagined 'dialogical' space. According to Medina et al. (2018), when imaginative practices as meaning making practices are used in the classroom, the role of teacher has also to be reimagined - “rather than teachers positioning themselves as the facilitator they become co-participants who are an integral part of co-construction of the learning” (p. 16). In that context, authors Van der Veen, Marjolein and Bert (2018) share that in these new dialogic spaces, teachers as co-participants "encourage children to cross the boundaries of their own thinking, of I. N. Iyer & S. Ramachandran/Journal of Pedagogical Research, 3(2), 11-21 67 their own voiced positions, and try to understand the position of the other. In this process, the different positions or perspectives are negotiated so both the group and the self can progress in thinking” (p. 51). We will conclude this sub section with a quote from Greene's paper (1995) that sums up the importance and significance of the reflective teacher²: "Teachers imaginative enough to be present to the heterogeneity of social life and to what has been called the "heteroglossia," or the multiple discourses, of the everyday (Bakhtin, 1981) may also have strong impulses to open pathways towards better ways of teaching and better ways of life". (p. 12). 3. A Framework for fostering Diversity Consciousness in the Classroom Now that we have discussed all of the important key concepts that inform and inspire our vision for a dialogic classroom, it is time to share with you our vison in the form of a framework/model of specific imaginative practices, classroom engagement ideas, and implementation pathways that incorporates many (if not all) of the best practices that we have discussed thus far. In this section, we will begin by first presenting our framework visually (See Figure 1) and then discusses each part of the framework (see the labels) is some detail (we will keep it as brief as possible). We will also simultaneously present a mock-up of the framework (i.e. we will present an example for each step in the framework when possible) in the hopes of providing an impetus to teacher scholars and educators interested in adapting/including the framework into their classroom. The First Step - Self Excavation using art- making similar to the one discussed in Section 2.3 Multiple event Engage students in writing personal narrative(s) about everyday situations using the art they created - Example contemplative art-making from Drs. Bhattacharya and Payne's (2016) paper. Example - using the art as 'Pre-Text' for writing personal narratives. The image on the left shows this technique in action at the 'Cultural Agents' Initiative at Harvard University. Image credit: https://www.culturalag ents.org/visual-archive/#photos Engage in Drama and Writing-IN-Role Activities like the one discussed in the paper by Drs. Medina 3 a & Campano (2006) Example using 'Hot Seat' drama practice after a Writing-IN-Role activity. The image on the right shows learners from Greswell Primary School use this technique in their classroom. Image credit: https://greswellprimary.net/2j2015/ Engage in Teatro like the Medina & Campano 3 one discussed by Drs. (2006) enhanced using a multi-dimensional moment approach. Once social imagination has started to redevelop, use playful literacies to forefront social interconnectedness. Here storytelling and retelling can be used to further encourage co-creating and co- authoring. Example the image on the left shows elementary kids in a London primary school using 'Teatro' freeze frames (tableaus) to analyze the issue of bullying. Image credit: https://dramaresource.com/anti-bullying-key- stage-2/ Examples-the images on the right shows kids engaging is playful literacies of rewriting/retelling and re scripting. Image credit: https://blog.bellalunatoys.com/2015/ storytelling-waldorf-education.html https://davisstudiovt.com/products/p layful-literacy-fall-2018 Figure 1. A framework for opening new spaces and generating 'new' knowledge for critical literacy using Imaginative Practices 2 In the context of this paper, a reflective teacher is one who has diversity consciousness and the social imagination to properly incorporate imaginative practices into the classroom curriculum.