Seeking spaces for negotiation: issues of agency when students contribute to decisions about curriculum

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This study used a design experiment approach (Brown, 1992) to explore what happens when students recommend and negotiate with teachers about which informational texts will be used in English language arts lessons. The study was framed by Third Space Theory (Bhabha, 1994; Soja, 1996), which supported an examination of the disjunctures between first spaces (ways of knowing and doing valued by individual students) and second spaces (ways of knowing and doing valued by a teacher). The study considered how issues of teacher agency and student agency influenced negotiations about which texts were chosen for use in an upcoming lesson. The study also explored how text selection and negotiation related to student engagement. As a design experiment, this study included a series of two iterations in separate classrooms. Between each study iteration, the researcher adjusted classroom procedures to influence as possible the development of a third space where students and teachers would have the opportunity to influence each other's choice of texts and classroom experience more generally. Findings from the study suggested that for students and teachers to negotiate choices for curriculum, both teachers and students must feel that their first space and second space goals are protected throughout the process. A set of protocols is offered to demonstrate how teachers and students can negotiate and share in decision-making around choices for curriculum.

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