Classroom Provocateurs and Ethical Classroom Practice

Abstract

This article is based upon a larger study that considered three high school literature units in the US. Through a close analysis of one classroom discussion between a teacher and a provocative 8th grade student named Fish, I argue that it is not only ethically responsible to position the Fishes of this world as laudable, but that doing so is beneficial for critically focused English classes as a whole. Further, I argue that my reading of Fish as a provocateur can be productively transferred to other student‐provocateurs in our English classrooms who vex the smooth doing‐of‐school in different ways than Fish did.

Keywords:

• English teaching
• high school students
• challenging students

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Stephanie Jones, Lisa Scherff, Aaron Kuntz and Heather Pleasants for reading and responding to drafts of this article. The preparation of the manuscript was made possible through a grant from the Research Grants Committee, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

Notes

1. Mrs Parker read, commented upon and approved this manuscript before I sent it out for review. I wanted her to co‐author the paper with me, but her duties prevented her from doing so. There would be no paper without her selfless participation in the research process.