Abstract
In this piece, the author experiments with re-presenting particular stories through poetic texts that contextualize and honor difference in experience between GED students and instructors. These poetic re-presentations stem from an ongoing study that explores (a) adult basic education instructors’ perceptions of their pedagogy and interaction with their students, and (b) adult student experiences in GED classes as well as perceptions of their instructors. The poems are constructed entirely from the words of the participants to capture the tenor of self-disclosure and experience that was shared with the author and to draw the reader toward these experiences. The poems are written in three columns, representing three voices—two students and one instructor. The author hopes that as the reader moves along the text in a weaving pattern, one voice is not privileged over the others as similar and divergent views are expressed.
As an adult basic education 1 practitioner and a novice qualitative researcher who believes in the power of stories—their power to heal, to oppress, to empower—I understand the importance of sharing stories and making them accessible so that they become stories the reader will not be able to put down but will carry with them (Anders, 2007). I am drawn toward poetic texts that push the boundaries of traditional narrative presentation and evoke emotional responses (Denzin, 2003). I have chosen to leave out any detailed introductory material to the poems and instead invite readers to fill in the gaps, noting places where the experiences escape their language, or, perhaps, push them to places and spaces that are difficult to fully understand or interpret.
The student experiences of Andy and Ariel 2 re-presented here conjoin with previous field literature and research findings displaying how prior schooling experience acts to powerfully influence one’s overall educational experiences (Anyon, 1981; Belzer, 2004; Rogers, 2004). The words of the GED instructor, Sam, reiterate both the cognitive and social deficit perspectives (Beder, 1991; Fingeret, 1992) too readily drawn upon by the majority in reference to school leavers. 3 A reading of these stories as poetic narratives provides the reader with striking similarities and obvious differences between GED graduates and instructors, making their understanding of adult basic education and experiences within that system powerful.
The power of poetic re-presentation becomes evident here as well. Through re-presenting the stories side by side, not privileging one voice over another, (Fox, 1996) the poems begin to take on one voice that can be interpreted as a mutual understanding of experience between instructors and students. Although the poems were constructed using the participants’ words, I chose how to re-present them. I recognize that the re-presentation of another’s life experience is imbued with power dynamics between researchers and participants (Norum, 2000), and therefore, worked to maintain the participants’ voices and to situate their experiences and voices within the categories developed during the coding process. 4 The stories in this preliminary research are not explicit constructions of “truth” but rather one version of the multidimensional and storied experiences of GED students and instructors.
Footnotes
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.