You Don’t Know Me: Adolescent Identity Development Through Poetry Performance

Authors

  • Janette Michelle Hughes University of Ontario Institute of Technology
  • Laura Jane Morrison University of Ontario Institute of Technology
  • Cornelia Hoogland University of Western Ontario (professor emerita)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37119/ojs2014.v20i2.160

Keywords:

adolescents, identity, digital literacies, multiliteracies, poetry, performance, social practices, social networking sites, Facebook, pedagogy, mobile devices, Android tablets, poetic inquiry, performance ethnography, meta-cognitive

Abstract

Our study concerns adolescents using poetry writing as an interrogative and creative means of shaping and creating “voices” or “identities.” Toronto-based high school students were challenged to be creators (rather than solely consumers) of available social practices within a digital landscape using mobile devices and social networking platforms. The students engaged in the processes of creating poetry that included experimentation with form (including spoken word, found, and rhyming couplet poetry), research, and writing-induced challenges of received ideas. Their creations of their multiple “Resonant Voices,” which in some cases were powerful statements of self-discovery and social criticism, were further amplified because they occurred in a formal educational setting.


Keywords: adolescents; identity; digital literacies; multiliteracies; poetry; social practices; social networking sites; Facebook; pedagogy; mobile devices; Android app; poetic inquiry; metacognitive

Author Biographies

Janette Michelle Hughes, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Dr. Janette Hughes is Associate Professor and Assistant Dean, Research at the Faculty of Education, University of Ontario Institute of Technology.  She has published her work on digital transformations of literacy practices in a variety of highly respected national and international peer-reviewed journals and has presented her research at over 40 conferences across Canada, the United States, and Europe, and in Brazil, China, Japan, and the UK.  In 2011, Dr. Hughes’s research was recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation through an Early Researchers Award.  

Laura Jane Morrison, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Laura Morrison is currently completing her M. A. at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Presently, she is exploring how poetry, performance, technology and problem-based learning can aid in adolescents' self-exploration and growth.

Cornelia Hoogland, University of Western Ontario (professor emerita)

Dr. Cornelia Hoogland is the author of 6 books of poetry, 2 chapbooks, and scholarly articles on Poetic and Narrative Inquiry. Hoogland’s recent finalist placements include the 2012 Relit shortlist for Woods Wolf Girl, and the CBC 2012 Literary Nonfiction Awards for Sea Level.

Downloads

Additional Files

Published

2014-10-24

Issue

Vol. 20 No. 2 (2014): Autumn 2014 Special Issue: [Practices of Poetic Inquiry] in education

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).