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Journal ArticleDOI

Poetic Expressions: Students of Color Express Resiliency Through Metaphors and Similes

Horace R. Hall1
01 Feb 2007-Journal of Advanced Academics (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 18, Iss: 2, pp 216-244
TL;DR: The after-school City School Outreach youth program captured the attention of high school male students by offering them a physically and psychologically safe environment to talk about issues they faced as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The after-school City School Outreach youth program captured the attention of high school male students by offering them a physically and psychologically safe environment to talk about issues they faced. The students of color who attended the program used various forms of creative written expression (i.e., poetry, spoken word, and hip hop) to document and share their lived realities as African American and Latino youth. An analysis of their writings and subsequent interviews revealed a variety of coping strategies and resources that these resilient adolescent males of color used to transcend adversity in their environment. When adolescent males of color have a strong sense of cultural pride and awareness, they are able to construct a healthy self-concept that assists them in acts of agency and resistance against negative psychological forces in their environment. These students used familial and nonfamilial support mechanisms, such as peers, church, and mentors, to assist them in reducing the stressful im...

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Johnnie Thomas1
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: The internal and external factors motivating the academic success of five African-American males who grew up in Chicago, Illinois' most violent communities were examined in a phenomenological study as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Understanding the factors that contribute to the educational success and failure of African-American males continues to be a topic of current research. Frequently, educational performance outcome data, report African-American males as low performers. Some African-American males are able to overcome family issues, community violence and school dysfunction, and achieve academic success. They are resilient. Masten, Best, and Garmezy (1990) define resiliency as “the process of, capacity to, or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances” (426). In this study, the internal and external factors motivating the academic success of five African-American males who grew up in Chicago, Illinois’ most violent communities were examined. The dual purpose of this phenomenological study was, to first, understand the lived experiences of five resilient African-American males who were successful in their educational pursuits and second, to uncover the central meaning of resilience and those factors, both internal and external, that contributed to their success. The researcher was able to identify four key themes. These themes reveal the perceptions of the participants around resilience and the factors they attribute to their personal resilience and academic success.

8 citations


Cites background from "Poetic Expressions: Students of Col..."

  • ...…or attributes, supportive family relationships/family cohesion and warmth, and access to community resources/support (external support systems) (Garmezy, 1985, 1991; Hall, 2006, 2007; Holzman, 2008, Masten et al., 1999; Myers & Taylor, 1998; Poindexter, 2000; Wallace & Fisher, 2007)....

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  • ...Those with the right supports are more likely to achieve academic success (Hall, 2007)....

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  • ...…have to consider the needs of the whole child in their development of school curriculum and culture in a manner that compliments the strengths and inadequacies of their homes and neighborhoods (Delpit, 2006; Hale, 1986; Hall, 2006, 2007; Nogeura, 2003, 2008; Nogeura & Wing, 2006; Wilson, 1987)....

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  • ...…influences: (a) individual characteristics, (b) supportive relationships with at least one parent or relative, and (c)) access to community resources and support (Garmezy, 1991; Hall, 2006, 2007; Holzman, 2008; Masten et al., 1999; Myers & Taylor, 1998; Poindexter, 2000; Wallace & Fisher, 2007)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors explored the metaphorical language that nine black youth used to describe what it means to be black in their social and political context and found that abstract or indirect conversations about race may provide teachers and other hearers of students' metaphors a greater understanding of and empathy toward students' needs, experiences, and identities.
Abstract: Metaphor and metaphorical expressions are phenomenon of interest in teacher education research, critical race literature, and research on black communicative practices. Only marginal concerted attention has been paid to students’ metaphorical expressions, and what these expressions might tell us about students’ racial identities and lived experiences. This study explores the metaphorical language that nine black youth used to describe what it means to be black in their social and political context. Data collected through the metaphor elicitation prompt, ‘Being black is like …,’ is presented to probe participants’ understandings of race, racial identity, and urban society. Conclusions indicate that abstract or indirect conversations about race may provide teachers and other hearers of students’ metaphors a greater understanding of and empathy toward students’ needs, experiences, and identities.

8 citations


Additional excerpts

  • ...The potential of metaphors about race to advance these ends makes them a compelling area of future study. As stated, research on metaphors in teacher education has largely focused on teachers-as-speakers of metaphors about educator identity and practice. The possibilities of teachers-as-hearers of metaphor have yet to be established in the literature. Since metaphors are used to enhance understanding (Beard, 1995; Gates, 1988; Lakoff, 1993; Lakoff & Johnson, 2008; Mitchell-Kernan, 1972), encouraging students to complete metaphor elicitation prompts about their racial experiences can help teachers reflect on students.’ For example, the concept of racial instability and uncertainty is an abstract one. This abstractness might influence teachers’ senses of fear, defensiveness, silence, ‘puzzlement or uncertainty’ (Milner, 2003, p. 176) when asked to reflect on the implications of race and racism for teaching and learning in their classroom (see also Gay & Kirkland, 2003; Parsons et al., 2004). Metaphors might improve teachers’ insight into the complex institutional relationships that contribute to reality of racial instability and uncertainty for their students, and the varied ways that black students respond to this reality. Students’ metaphorical expressions about race bear the potential to promote the informed, empathetic practitioner dispositions that critical race scholars and advocates of culturally relevant pedagogy have long argued are central to creating more equitable learning environments (Brazziel, 1964; Ladson-Billings, 1992; Milner, 2007; Warren, 2013; Weems, 2003). Deep understandings of students’ ‘home lives and personal experiences,’ as well as the recognition of ‘the social and cultural implications of being a Person of Color in a multiracial society’ (Warren, 2013, p. 6) are characteristic of these dispositions. Brazziel (1964) argued that dispositions of informed empathy support teachers in entering the world of the student, seeing the world through the student’s eyes, and equipping themselves to utilize student voice ‘to develop broader and more accurate’ conceptualizations of race (p. 385). As the vignettes above indicate, examining students’ metaphors about race offers insight into their home lives, social relationships, and personal experiences. These expressions also highlight how students understand race, and the ways in which their individual and collective racial experiences might influence their personal, behavioral, and academic decisions. Further work in this area also heeds Weems (2003) call for ‘the need for dialogue around issues of race, cultural relevancy, language tolerance, empathy, and compassion’ in teacher preparation programs (p....

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  • ...The potential of metaphors about race to advance these ends makes them a compelling area of future study. As stated, research on metaphors in teacher education has largely focused on teachers-as-speakers of metaphors about educator identity and practice. The possibilities of teachers-as-hearers of metaphor have yet to be established in the literature. Since metaphors are used to enhance understanding (Beard, 1995; Gates, 1988; Lakoff, 1993; Lakoff & Johnson, 2008; Mitchell-Kernan, 1972), encouraging students to complete metaphor elicitation prompts about their racial experiences can help teachers reflect on students.’ For example, the concept of racial instability and uncertainty is an abstract one. This abstractness might influence teachers’ senses of fear, defensiveness, silence, ‘puzzlement or uncertainty’ (Milner, 2003, p. 176) when asked to reflect on the implications of race and racism for teaching and learning in their classroom (see also Gay & Kirkland, 2003; Parsons et al., 2004). Metaphors might improve teachers’ insight into the complex institutional relationships that contribute to reality of racial instability and uncertainty for their students, and the varied ways that black students respond to this reality. Students’ metaphorical expressions about race bear the potential to promote the informed, empathetic practitioner dispositions that critical race scholars and advocates of culturally relevant pedagogy have long argued are central to creating more equitable learning environments (Brazziel, 1964; Ladson-Billings, 1992; Milner, 2007; Warren, 2013; Weems, 2003). Deep understandings of students’ ‘home lives and personal experiences,’ as well as the recognition of ‘the social and cultural implications of being a Person of Color in a multiracial society’ (Warren, 2013, p. 6) are characteristic of these dispositions. Brazziel (1964) argued that dispositions of informed empathy support teachers in entering the world of the student, seeing the world through the student’s eyes, and equipping themselves to utilize student voice ‘to develop broader and more accurate’ conceptualizations of race (p....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a phenomenological case study explores the persistence of high school readers labeled as struggling as they described their responses to recurring, consistent, and externally originating challenges in their daily lives.
Abstract: This phenomenological case study explores the persistence of high school readers labeled as struggling as they described their responses to recurring, consistent, externally originating challenges ...

8 citations


Cites background or result from "Poetic Expressions: Students of Col..."

  • ...Our findings affirm the ability of young people to move beyond risks encountered in the home environment when provided a safe space for reading engagement (H. Hall, 2007)....

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  • ...Similarly, L. A. Hall (2007) worked with middle school students labeled as struggling to help them consider who they wanted to become as readers....

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  • ...Hall, 2007). Additionally, our findings help explain how the assumption of a more questioning stance toward one’s childhood upbringing can elicit a reappraisal of the norms and values embedded in the particular social construct of one’s youth and invoke adaptation of new elements into one’s identity. Young people who are invited to reflect upon and actively critique what they were taught by their parents, guardians, and elders may be better suited to successfully negotiate positive identities in reading. Supportive space is important, but the opportunity to think critically in that space seems essential. This finding reaffirms Lesley’s (2008) argument that young people have the knowledge and strength to engage in difficult thinking but are not always encouraged to demonstrate this authentically in classrooms....

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  • ...H. Hall (2007) explored such reconceptualizations when he described the experiences of high school, male, African American and Latino students participating in an after-school program....

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01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: Theoretical underpinnings of Resilience and the Four C's are discussed in this article, where a problem statement and a purpose statement are used to define the four C's of academic resilience.
Abstract: ............................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................... xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Introduction ..................................................................................... 1 Problem Statement ......................................................................... 2 Purpose Statement ......................................................................... 2 Research Questions ....................................................................... 4 Significance of the Study ................................................................ 5 Theoretical Underpinnings .............................................................. 6 Assumptions ................................................................................... 8 Delimitations ................................................................................... 9 Definitions of Key Terms ................................................................. 9 Summary ...................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW Background ................................................................................... 13 Facets of Resilience...................................................................... 16 Academic Resilience...................................................................... 16 Academic Resilience and the Four C’s ......................................... 18 Social Resilience ........................................................................... 19

6 citations


Cites background from "Poetic Expressions: Students of Col..."

  • ...Adolescence is an inherently stressful stage of life, given the myriad associated biological, cognitive and social changes (Conger & Petersen, 1984; Hall, 2007; Licitra-Kleckler & Wass, 1993, Munsch & Wampler, 1993)....

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  • ...Rarely, however, are we 134 presented with studies that highlight their ability to competently move beyond the risks they encounter (Hall, 2007)....

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  • ...Promoting a school climate that places emphasis on the study of success, as opposed to the study of failure, is paramount to maintaining high expectations and aspirations and being goal-oriented, with effective problem solving skills contributing to the development of social resilience and competence (Floyd, 1996; Griffin & Allen, 2006; Hall, 2007; Wang, Haertel & Wahlberg, 1994)....

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  • ...…to the study of failure, is paramount to maintaining high expectations and aspirations and being goal-oriented, with effective problem solving skills contributing to the development of social resilience and competence (Floyd, 1996; Griffin & Allen, 2006; Hall, 2007; Wang, Haertel & Wahlberg, 1994)....

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  • ...134 presented with studies that highlight their ability to competently move beyond the risks they encounter (Hall, 2007)....

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DOI
01 Jan 2011

5 citations


Cites background from "Poetic Expressions: Students of Col..."

  • ..., their attire, or their use of language) (Hall, 2007; Taylor & Taylor, 2007)....

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  • ...Research in this vein has examined the undeniable impact on learning of low socioeconomic background (Cartledge & Kourea, 2008; Patterson, Hale, & Stessman, 2007; Shiller, 2009; Tickner, 2008), single-parent households (Hammer, Farkas, & Maczuga, 2010; Somers, Owens, & Piliawsky, 2008; Stewart, 2007), difficulty accessing positive role models (Somers, Owens, & Piliawsky, 2009), inadequate healthcare and the deleterious biological effects of exposure to environmental toxins, such as lead and asbestos (Hall, 2007; McNeese-Ward, 2010; Vaughn et al., 2010), and the longstanding effects of racism (Dotterer, McHale, & Crouter, 2009; Hyland, 2005; Zirkel, 2005), which includes a lack of consideration of students’ cultures in elementary and secondary school curricula (Brown, 2007; Cartledge & Kourea, 2008; Ford & Kea, 2009; Love & Kruger, 2005; Monroe, 2005)....

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  • ...Inadequate healthcare, exposure to environmental toxins such as lead and asbestos, single-parent households, and a lack of positive role models have each been identified as having the potential to negatively affect a child’s ability to learn (Cartledge & Kourea, 2008; Hall, 2007)....

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  • ...been identified as having the potential to negatively affect a child’s ability to learn (Cartledge & Kourea, 2008; Hall, 2007)....

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  • ...…of self (Milner, 2006), many African-American children attend schools that delegitimize their culture (Smith & Smith, 2009; Wiggan, 2008) and frown upon the manner in which they express their cultural affiliation (i.e., their attire, or their use of language) (Hall, 2007; Taylor & Taylor, 2007)....

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References
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Book
01 Jan 1968
TL;DR: Erikson as mentioned in this paper describes a process that is located both in the core of the individual and in the inner space of the communal culture, and discusses the connection between individual struggles and social order.
Abstract: Identity, Erikson writes, is an unfathomable as it is all-pervasive. It deals with a process that is located both in the core of the individual and in the core of the communal culture. As the culture changes, new kinds of identity questions arise-Erikson comments, for example, on issues of social protest and changing gender roles that were particular to the 1960s. Representing two decades of groundbreaking work, the essays are not so much a systematic formulation of theory as an evolving report that is both clinical and theoretical. The subjects range from "creative confusion" in two famous lives-the dramatist George Bernard Shaw and the philosopher William James-to the connection between individual struggles and social order. "Race and the Wider Identity" and the controversial "Womanhood and the Inner Space" are included in the collection.

14,906 citations

Journal ArticleDOI

5,199 citations


"Poetic Expressions: Students of Col..." refers background in this paper

  • ...From a psychosocial perspective, adolescents are engaged in a conscious and unconscious search for an autonomous identity as they seek to understand their social roles in life (Erikson, 1968; Marcia, 1980)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a framework for understanding how a sense of collective identity enters into the process of schooling and affects academic achievement is proposed, showing how the fear of being accused of "acting white" causes a social and psychological situation which diminishes black students' academic effort and thus leads to underachievement.
Abstract: The authors review their previous explanation of black students' underachievement. They now suggest the importance of considering black people's expressive responses to their historical status and experience in America. “Fictive kinship” is proposed as a framework for understanding how a sense of collective identity enters into the process of schooling and affects academic achievement. The authors support their argument with ethnographic data from a high school in Washington, D.C., showing how the fear of being accused of “acting white” causes a social and psychological situation which diminishes black students' academic effort and thus leads to underachievement. Policy and programmatic implications are discussed.

3,468 citations


"Poetic Expressions: Students of Col..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Even though there is an abundance of work that focuses on why youth of color either fail or succeed academically (Cammarota, 2004; Conchas, 2001; Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Juarez, 1996; Majors & Billson, 1992; Osborne, 2001), there is little research that concentrates on the dynamics that build…...

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Reference BookDOI
30 Oct 2009
TL;DR: The study of and interest in adolescence in the field of psychology and related fields continues to grow, necessitating an expanded revision of this seminal work as discussed by the authors, with contributions from the leading researchers.
Abstract: The study of and interest in adolescence in the field of psychology and related fields continues to grow, necessitating an expanded revision of this seminal work. This multidisciplinary handbook, edited by the premier scholars in the field, Richard Lerner and Laurence Steinberg, and with contributions from the leading researchers, reflects the latest empirical work and growth in the field.

2,001 citations

Book
24 Jun 1999
TL;DR: A definition of terms Defining Racism can be found in this paper, where the Complexity of Identity and Affirmative Action are defined. But there is more than just Black and White, you know.
Abstract: Introduction A Definition of Terms Defining RacismCan we talk? The Complexity of IdentityWho am I? Understanding Blackness In A White Context The Early YearsIs my skin brown because I drink chocolate milk? Identity Development in AdolescenceWhy are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? Racial Identity in AdulthoodStill a work in progress Understanding Whiteness In a White Context The Development of White IdentityIm not ethnic, Im just normal. White Identity and Affirmative ActionIm in favor of affirmative action except when it comes to my jobs. Beyond Black and White Critical Issues in Latino, American Indian, and Asian Pacific American Identity DevelopmentTheres more than just Black and White, you know. Identity Development in Multiracial FamiliesBut dont the children suffer? Breaking The Silence Embracing a Cross-Racial DialogueWe were struggling for the words.

1,562 citations