The purpose of this study was to determine whether “marginalized” (Moje, Young, Readence, & Moore 2000) 9th grade students in a low-level, tracked English class perceived themselves as more successful students in English class after participating in a 10-week Poetry Reading Writing Workshop. A second purpose was to determine whether their knowledge of poetry terms and concepts such as metaphor, and subsequent performance on the poetry sections of standardized tests improved.
My nested case study focused on 19 students in a low-level 9th grade English class. As the practitioner researcher, I conducted in- depth research with six focus students chosen through purposeful sampling. I collected data over the course of three months, using the types of instruments most common to case study research.
Data analysis for my nested case study was ongoing and recursive between field work and reflection. Data were coded for patterns that represented categories pertaining to my research questions and coding was refined as I gathered and re-read additional data sources.
The findings revealed that students learn better, and are more engaged when they have choices (Atwell, 1998; Lauscher, 2007). When students were forced to read poems that I chose for them, their journal and discussion comments were consistently negative. Students stated that they could not relate to the content or the format of these poems, and thus often summarily dismissed them as unimportant, boring or confusing.
The findings suggest that students had a better knowledge of poetry after the workshop. Students improved their scores on a literary terms quiz and on practice Ohio Graduation Test poetry selections, but these improved scores did not affect their own definition of themselves as successful English students, which remained closely tied to overall grades, attendance, and behavior. A clear understanding of metaphor and other poetry terms were indicated in focus student interviews and also through their applications in their poetry exercises and responses.
Within a tracked system, marginalized students have limited choices to feel successful (Oakes, 1985; Yonezawa, Wells, & Serna, 2002). When students are given a “third space” (Gutierrez, Rymes, & Larson, 1995; Soja, 1996), such as a classroom’s Poetry Reading Writing Workshop where they can transact with poems, then they can practice and play with aspects of their identities through multiple literacies. The students in this study came into my classroom angry or uninterested. While they needed to adjust to the unfamiliarity of no worksheets, no drills, and more choice during the Poetry Reading Writing Workshop, by the end of the workshop more students were engaged in their poetry class reading and writing and in sharing their writing with their peers. The data I collected and analyzed can give insight into the larger considerations of what could and might occur if teachers were to untrack their marginalized students at least in the space of a Poetry Reading Writing Workshop where students are given the possibility to work through poetry to discover different aspects of themselves.