When looking across the research projects that have engaged
me since 1991, when I entered graduate school, a few themes become evident.
First, this work is broadly related to my interest in understanding how
public education can play a role in creating a more equitable, compassionate
society that draws upon diversity as a strength.
Second, my membership in the Santa Barbara Classroom Discourse Group (SBCDG)
is very evident. I became a member
of this teacher-researcher/university-researcher collaborative during my first
year at UCSB. This group was
originated by and is currently led by Drs. Judith Green and Carol Dixon at UCSB.
It is there that I learned first hand and through long group meetings and
discussions about the rigors and delights of classroom and school ethnography,
classroom discourse, and the necessary relationship between theory, method, and
practice. It is there that I also developed a knowledge base about
literacy practices across the curriculum, especially when I became a fellow of
the South Coast Writing Project.
My work as a graduate student focused upon processes and
practices of “learning social justice” in classrooms. I
was also engaged in a national research study headed by Dr. Jon Snyder and
funded by the Lilly Foundation that investigated promising processes and
practices of school restructuring that aimed toward providing equitable
opportunities for all students. Thus,
I have drawn upon the work of some critical educators to better understand these
processes. While some researchers
exposed the political and social processes that continue to produce inequities,
the work of Freire, Ira Shor, Jim Cummins, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and many
others have helped me to conceptualize constructive practices that aim toward
equity and utilize cultural diversity (broadly defined) as a resource.
Here at the University of South Carolina, I am building on
that work by tying in theories and practices of inquiry-based instructional
practices and multicultural education. I
am collaborating with Drs. Heidi Mills and Amy Donnelly (Department of
Instruction and Teacher Education) to conduct research at the Center for Inquiry
(CFI), a public elementary school in Richland District 2 that serves as a
national model site. We have
designed a multi-tier, longitudinal research plan, in which I play several
roles. First, I have been
investigating inquiry-based pedagogical practices by following one cohort of
students since 1996. The
teacher-researchers who have collaborated with me on this study are Michele
Shamlin and Tim O’Keefe. Two
graduate assistants have also joined this project.
I am also examining how inquiry supports continuous school
renewal and professional development.
After years of being the investigator behind the camera, I
have turned the lens on my own instructional practices regarding multicultural
teacher education. I developed an
inquiry-based graduate course, Foundations of Multicultural Education (EDFN
845). Through a small grant at USC,
I was able to support a graduate assistant to co-investigate the course in July,
1998. We are currently analyzing
the data.
Thus, my work has come to integrate theory and practice;
inquiry as pedagogy and inquiry as research; issues of diversity, critical
democracy, and equity. While
constructs and concepts are pulled in from a variety of disciplines and fields,
all this work is centered around the investigation of actual classroom practices
through ethnographic research. And
collaboration is a vital element to accomplishing any and all of these projects.
The bulk of what I have learned has come from the incredible work of
teachers and students in California and South Carolina.
Editorships
Jennings, L. B. (2001). Inquiry for professional development and continuous school renewal. In H. Mills & A. Donnelly (Eds.), From the Ground Up: Creating a Culture of Inquiry. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. pp. 33-54.
Yeager, B., Pattenaude, I., Fránquiz, M., &
Jennings, L. (1999). Rights,
respect, and responsibility: Toward
a theory of action in two bilingual classrooms.
In J. Robertson (Ed.), Teaching for
a Tolerant World, Grades K-6, (pp. 196-218). Chicago: National
Council for Teachers of English.
Yeager, B., Pattenaude, I., Fránquiz, M., & Jennings, L. (2000). Rights, respect, and responsibility: Toward a theory of action in two bilingual classrooms. Selected for reprinting in Trends and Issues in Elementary Language Arts. Chicago: National Council for Teachers of English.
Jennings,
L. B., O’Keefe, T., & Shamlin, M. (in review). Creating
spaces for dialogue: Democratic classroom practices in first and second grade. Journal
of Classroom Interaction.
Jennings,
L. B. (in review). Co-constructing
responsibilities of communities of learners through democratic classroom
practices. International
Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Jennings,
L. B., & Pattenaude, I. Oye y Escucha Mi Voz/Hear and see my Voice:
Responding to intolerance and genocide. Multicultural Perspectives 1(1), 30-36.
Jennings,
L. B. (1998). Reading the world of the classroom through ethnographic eyes.
The
California Reader, (31)4, 11-15.
Jennings,
L. B., & Pattenaude, I. (1998). Making
meaning and beyond: Literate Strategies for Exploring and Enacting Tolerance. The New Advocate, 11(4),
325-343.
Tuyay,
S., Jennings, L. & Dixon, C. (1995). Classroom
Discourse and Opportunities to Learn: An
Ethnographic Study of Knowledge Construction in a Bilingual Third Grade
Classroom. Discourse Processes, 19
(1), January-February 1995.
Santa
Barbara Classroom Discourse Group (Heras, A., Yeager, B., Floriani, A., Franquiz,
M., Jennings, L., Green, J. & Dixon, C.) (1995).
Two Languages, One Community: An
Examination of Educational Possibilities. In
R. Macías and R. García Ramos (Eds.), Changing
Schools for Changing Students: An Anthology of Research on Language Minorities,
Schools and Society. Regents of
the University of California.
Jennings, L. B., & Putney, L.(1999). [Review of the book, Schools for growth]. Communication Education 48(2),173-5.
Jennings,
L. B., Mills, H., and Donnelly, A. (1998).
Creating a culture of inquiry. Education
Report, Newsletter of the College of Education, University of South
Carolina.
Michel, C. & Jennings, L. B.
(1993). African-Americans and
Secondary Education, in W. Sackett (Ed.) The African
American Encyclopedia. Los
Angeles, CA: Salem Press, Inc.
Works in Progress
Jennings, L. B., O’Keefe, T., & Mills, H.
(Submitted). Curricular Conversations:
Looking Closely at Literacy in Inquiry-based Classrooms. Book proposal accepted by the National
Council for Teachers of English.
Jennings,
L. B. (in review). Co-constructing
responsibilities of a community of learners through democratic classroom
practices. Chapter submitted to
Dixon & Green (Eds.), for a volume on academic classroom practices.