Exploring Arab Muslim Children's Home and School Literacy Experiences in Ontario

In this ethnographic study I explore the cultural practices and literacy engagement of first generation Arab Muslim children who either immigrated to Canada or were born to parents who immigrated to Canada. Responding to an ongoing concern within Boards of Education in the Greater Toronto Area around the underachievement of minority students and their disproportionately high dropout rates (McKell, 2010), I focus on Arab Muslim children since they are repeatedly identified as underachieving and under-researched. Although low achievement is typically linked to demographic markers such as race, socio-economic status and linguistic and cultural background, little is known of how immigrants socio-cultural practices, in particular religious practices, impact literacy learning in schools. Working from within a situated literacy framework (Gee, 1996; Heath, 1983; Street, 1997; 2005; Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988), I explore how three Arab Muslim families, two whose children go to Islamic schools and one whose child goes to public school, engage their children in language and literacy acquisition. Moving beyond the findings of previous studies that document the central role of Islam in the daily lives of Muslims, observational data and interviews from this study highlight the extent to which religion influences and shapes the literacy choices, thoughts, and writing that form the childrens worldview. I conclude with a summative analysis of best practices and academic successes from private Islamic schools that provide insight into the underachievement of Arab Muslim children in public schools in the Greater Toronto Area

Teachers’ Conceptions of Student Engagement in Learning: The Case of Three Urban Schools

Although student engagement plays a central role in the education process, defining it is challenging. This study examines teachers’ conceptions of the social and cultural dimensions of student engagement in learning at three low-achieving schools located in a low socioeconomic status (SES) urban area. Sixteen teachers and administrators from the three schools participated in two focus group discussions about their definitions of student engagement, indicators of and factors affecting student engagement, and how to facilitate it. The findings indicate that teachers’ conceptions of student engagement have profound ramifications for the ways that they approach their work. Additionally, the teachers recognize that student engagement is a symptom displayed by individuals, but the roots of engagement lay elsewhere. The teachers also described a wide range of strategies to enhance their students' engagement that focused primarily on the student, the teacher and the classroom through improving student-teacher relationships, incorporating out-of-school issues in the curriculum and the classroom, and having teachers show engagement with educational material. We conclude by outlining several implications for practice and policy and by calling for more research on the origins, development and consequences of teachers’ conceptions of student engagement.Alors que l’engagement des élèves joue un rôle central dans le processus éducatif, en définir le sens représente un défi. Cette étude porte sur les conceptions qu’ont les enseignants des dimensions sociales et culturelles de l’engagement des élèves dans trois écoles peu performantes situées dans des régions urbaines à faible statut socioéconomique. Seize enseignants et administrateurs de trois écoles ont participé à des discussions thématiques de groupe pour partager ce qu’ils entendaient par « engagement des élèves », les indicateurs de celui-ci, les facteurs qui l’influençaient et les moyens de le faciliter. Les résultats indiquent que les conceptions qu’ont les enseignants de l’engagement des élèves ont des répercussions profondes sur leur façon d’aborder leur travail. De plus, les enseignants reconnaissent que l’engagement des élèves est un symptôme que manifeste une personne, mais que les racines en sont ailleurs. Les enseignants ont décrit une vaste gamme de stratégies qui visent l’augmentation de l’engagement des élèves, qui sont axées surtout sur l’élève, l’enseignant et la salle de classe, et qui reposent sur l’amélioration du rapport enseignant-élève, l’intégration d’enjeux externes dans le programme d’études et une manifestation d’engagement de la part des enseignants avec la matière à l’étude. Nous concluons en présentant les grandes lignes des incidences de cette étude sur la pratique et la politique, et en réclamant davantage de recherche sur les origines, le développement et les conséquences des conceptions qu’ont les enseignants de l’engagement des élèves.

Exploring the Challenges of Conducting Respectful Research: The Seen and Unforeseen Methodological Factors within Urban School Research.

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