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Author Biography

Caran Mullins is a teacher in Duval County Public Schools. She has a master's in Educational Leadership and uses inquiry in her daily practice. In addition to her role in the classroom, Ms. Mullins works with the University of North Florida as a designer and instructor for Project Intersect, an FLDOE grant that brings STEM professional development to early childhood educators in Northeast Florida.

Abstract

In this study I used teacher inquiry to explore how to better engage my Black and Brown elementary students in student led discussions that could enhance academic discourse. The research questions driving my work emerged at the intersection of my beliefs and commitment to creating an equitable learning environment. Specifically, I wanted to know: (1) How do I scaffold my minority students to increased participation in academic discourse?, (2) How might these scaffolds support their development of metacognition, reading comprehension, and deeper critical thinking?, And (3) How do these scaffolds contribute to student feelings about their voice and place in my primarily white classroom? Through this inquiry, I identified a teacher-student power and a compliance-agency continua existing in my classroom which I sought to break down by providing students with increased opportunities for student academic discourse leadership. The inquiry positioned me to realize that my own beliefs about student abilities perpetuated a lack of opportunity to engage with content, explain their thinking and connections, and engage in academic leadership. By intentionally centering my target student group, they have had access to critical thinking and leadership opportunities through student-led, student-centered discourse that they otherwise would not have been afforded. By shifting teacher-student power, students developed agency in place of compliance, to regulate their own understanding of concepts and offered critique of classroom structures to improve effectiveness. Implications suggest that the opportunity gap for Black and Brown students within white spaces goes much deeper than lack of access to grade-level work and depth of assignments but rather emphasizes shifting power from teachers to students or students with high social capital to students with lower social capital.

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