The Story of Drama Club: A Contemporary Counternarrative of a Transformative Culture of Teaching and Learning for Disenfranchised Black Youth in the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Debra Mayes Pane

doi:10.17583/remie.2015.1522

Abstract

<p>This study explored a contemporary counternarrative of Drama Club, a transformative culture of teaching and learning for disenfranchised Black youth who had been systematically funneled out of classrooms and into the school-to-prison pipeline. Auto/biographical and auto/ethnographical data were collected and assembled as a metaphor of the teachers’ and students’ experiences in Drama Club and their understanding of the teaching and learning process and of themselves within it. The collective story of Drama Club was analyzed through the lens of culturally responsive pedagogy theory and critical race theory in education. Implications for future research and teacher education that set out to impact disenfranchised students are included.</p>

Highlights

This study explored a contemporary counternarrative of Drama Club, a transformative culture of teaching and learning for disenfranchised Black youth who had been systematically funneled out of classrooms and into the school-to-prison pipeline
The historic African American philosophy of education—literacy for freedom and freedom for literacy—was “forged out of [narratives from] African Americans’ early encounters with literacy and their struggles over time to acquire literacy and education in America” (Perry, 2003, p. 11). These narratives are central to the identity formation of African Americans as intellectual capable people but are not reflected in the traditional theory of education master narrative of schooling for African American students, especially those who are systematically funneled out of classrooms and into prison—the school-to-prison pipeline (Alexander, 2010; Pane & Rocco, 2014)
It was a team effort in critical multicultural pedagogy to develop a transformative culture of teaching and learning for disenfranchised Black students

Summary

Introduction

This study explored a contemporary counternarrative of Drama Club, a transformative culture of teaching and learning for disenfranchised Black youth who had been systematically funneled out of classrooms and into the school-to-prison pipeline. Palabras clave: estudiantes privados de sus derechos, vía de la escuela a la cárcel, pedagogía multicultural crítica, cultura transformadora de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. The traditional master narrative denies teachers the infrastructure, experience, and freedom to create a contemporary counternarrative about teaching and learning that aligns with the African American philosophy of education, which (a) takes seriously the social, historical, cultural, racial, political, and economic context of schooling for Black and other students of color, and (b) illuminates teachers’ and students’ agency and understanding of the teaching and learning process and of themselves within their culture of teaching and learning (Kincheloe, 2005)

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion