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In many classrooms on any given day, students sit at their individual desks engaged in solo work developing skills and knowledge based on curriculum, scope and sequence, with no deep understanding of the purpose or use of the content they are learning. Literacy learning, as expressed with concern by Lankshear and Knobel (2006), “has been reduced to the task of ensuring that all young people master ‘literacy’, narrowly defined as encoding and decoding alphabetic scripts for the purposes of accessing information” (p. 84). But what if that mindset could change? What if the learning worlds our students engage in could take on a virtual context with opportunities to experience authentic, deep learning and development of new, potential identities? What if classrooms took on a new shape in which students create virtual worlds by engaging in a variety of activities? By utilizing individual research, small group investigation, whole-group discussion and role-playing, students could expand their knowledge in authentic experiences designed to help them take on the identities of others by utilizing new literacies methods. Combined with dramatic inquiry approaches, students could have opportunities to develop electronic resources or multimodal presentations demonstrating their learning about the world around them as they develop multiple perspectives, expand their knowledge, understanding, and skills, and master critical thinking skills in multiple disciplines at the same time. By providing opportunities for students to engage in deep learning, educators allow students to expand their identities, develop a deep understanding of the topics they study, and begin to understand their place and impact on the world around them. This deep learning should be the focus and ultimate goal of literacy instruction.
James Paul Gee eloquently explored the depth of the role of identity in learning. Gee (2005), summed up the critical nature of identity in learning when he stated, “No deep learning takes place unless learners make an extended commitment of self. Learning a new domain, whether it be physics or furniture-making, requires the learner to take on a new identity: to make a commitment to see and value work and the world in the ways in which good physicists or good furniture makers do” (p. 34). Gee, relating learning to video gaming, further stated, “players help ‘write’ the worlds in which they live – in school, they should help ‘write’ the domain and the curriculum that they study” (p. 35). This insight called for students to take a more active role in the creation of the learning experiences they are afforded in educational settings.
Lankshear and Knobel (2011) highlighted the paradigm shift in new literacies which changed the initial concept of identity and supported Gee’s focus on identity and learning. In the first paradigm, identity was associated with individualism. The authors (2011) emphasized that, prior to new literacies, original thought relegated identity to “a single identity, a core ‘self’, a more or less stable and permanent ‘personality’ of a particular ‘type’” adopted for life (p. 53). The new paradigm expanded the idea of identity and recognized greater complexity. Identity was now defined with an understanding people possess many identities throughout life created through their interactions and experiences with multiple “Discourse” groups as defined by Gee (Lankshear & Knobel, 2011, p. 53). Individuals were capable of moving in and out of varied groups, and as Lankshear and Knobel (2011) wrote, were capable of “‘doing life’ out of many Discourses, and of being able to move among many ways of thinking, speaking, valuing, judging, deciding, desiring, and acting” based on diverse identities (p. 53). Lankshear and Knobel (2011) emphasized people operated out of multiple perspectives “depending on which Discourse they are ‘in’ or ‘operating out of’ within a particular situation or context” (p. 53). As people move through different Discourse groups throughout their daily lives, they take on the different identities to which they belong (i.e., students, children, parents, athletes, musicians, cultural members, club members) each possessing specific vocabulary or terms, ways of speaking and interacting, behaviors associated with the group or activity.
Incorporating this new understanding of individuals as possessing multiple identities allowed possibilities for learners to be exposed to, take on, and embrace new identities as learners.
In Gee’s (2003) discussion of his tripartite identity model, learners possessed three identities which combined to form the deep learning experiences of which he spoke. In his ‘tripartite play of identities’, Gee (2003) described the interaction between the individual’s real-world set of identities, the virtual identity created by the learning situation, and the projective identity created by combining the real-world and virtual identities into a new identity (pp. 55-56). The real-world identity involved the varied aspects of the learner’s individual life experiences (their race, ethnicity, class, interests, etc.) which influenced and filtered the learning experience. The virtual identity created within the learning experience allowed the learner to take on the “identity” of the new role – a game character, scientist, mathematician, historian, etc. The projective identity allowed the learner to blend the real-world and virtual identities into a new identity where the learner could “transcend the limitations both of the virtual identity and the learner’s own real-world identity” (Gee, 2003, p. 63). Clarifying the role of the projective identity, Gee (2003) stated this projection went beyond role-playing – the virtual identity – to “proactively building that virtual person as a certain kind of person with a certain kind of history. They are projecting their own hopes and desires onto that person” (p. 62), creating a belief in their own ability to take on the virtual identity as a potential real-world identity in the future (p. 63). A perfect illustration of this concept was shared by Bitz (2009) when he described the Youth Music Exchange project created to “establish school-based record labels owned and managed by youths in underserved urban areas” (p. 15). Students embodied record label executives while they researched and developed all aspects of running a record label – creating business plans, hiring recording artists, creating and distributing materials and managing finances. This range of activities allowed students to develop skills in both literacy and math while building ownership, confidence, and entrepreneurial spirit. Further, this experience enabled them to view potential career opportunities in the future - potential real-world identities to pursue.
In What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Literacy and Learning, Gee (2003) defined the Identity Principle as one where
Learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a way that the learner has
Deeply connected to Gee’s idea of ‘deep learning’, the concept of identity plays a key role in achieving active, critical learning. According to Gee (2003), “People cannot learn in a deep way . . . if they are not willing to commit themselves fully to the learning in terms of time, effort, and active engagement” (p. 54). The learner’s personal belief in their ability to take on this new identity provides motivation for deep engagement and persistence, and allows the development of multiple perspectives, skills, and connections to alternative experiences and roles beyond their real-world lives. Additionally, incorporating a social learning aspect in developing the new identity, the learner had to believe they would be “valued and accepted by others committed to that domain” or the discourse or “affinity group” associated with it (Gee, 2003, p. 54). Gee’s ideas on identity mirror the shift in new literacies to the paradigm of multiple identities; incorporate social learning opportunities utilizing 21st century technologies which include critical and digital literacy using multiple formats, content and mediums to produce evidence and assessment of learning; and provide potential implications for deeper learning opportunities for in-school learning settings through dramatic inquiry and role-play.
When considering identity development, the dramatic inquiry approach provides a unique vehicle to allow exploration of alternate identities. Developed by Dorothy Heathcote, this approach takes advantage of “the ability of humans to ‘become somebody else,’ to ‘see how it feels’ . . . to ‘put yourself in my shoes’” as a natural ability used throughout a lifetime (as cited by Beach, Compano, Edmiston, & Borgmann, 2010, p. 69-70). Strengthening deep learning opportunities and identity development, dramatic inquiry uses students’ “imaginative ability in order to deepen and extend students’ inquiries” (Beach et. al, 2010, p. 70). This approach “dramatizes whole-class inquiries about life. . . embodied, collaborative, interactive, and sequenced improvised activities that young people engage in alongside adults as they explore questions about a topic from multiple viewpoints by creating, experiencing, representing, and
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by Melanie Duddy
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