Toward a Whole Partnership

Abstract

S rences between today's elementa and high school classrooms can be striking. Even the casual observer will notice the differing attitudes of 2nd graders and high school sophomores in the ways that they approach school learning. Whereas 2nd-grade students are, as a rule, curious and enthused about learning, 10th graders, on the other hand, often appear cynical and disengaged. Some of this divergence, one could suppose, is a reflection of developmental difference; the heightened energy levels of young children may make them appear more active and hence, more enthusiastic than their older, more reticent counterparts. But high school sophomores are anything but lethargic when planning a dance, preparing for a drivers' test, or fixing up a car. We contend that at least part of the difference between the dispositions of 2nd graders and those of 10th graders is attributable to the classroom environments in which these students find themselves. In other words, we believe that the practices of elementary teachers contribute to the enthusiasm that primary students display toward learning. If this is true, then it is elementary-level whole language practitioners to whom secondary teachers should look if they wish to cultivate a similar enthusiasm among their own students. Building on the expertise of elementary teachers, however, may be difficult for secondary educators, given the historical and practical separation of the two groups. The reasons for this separation are plentiful and far beyond the scope of this article, but we suspect that at least one cause may lie in the ways that teachers at the two levels view themselves and their relationship to the field of literacy studies. Joy Ritchie, in her essay Between the Trenches and the Ivory Tower, describes the hierarchical paradigm that governs the prevailing view of the teaching universe; that is, college professors are assumed to know more than secondary teachers, who, in turn, are assumed to know more than their elementary counterparts (1990, 105-106). Such a view has had the unfortunate effect of preventing college and secondary teachers from recognizing their elementary colleagues as significant resources.