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Teaching and Teacher Education 20 (2004) 589605

The classroom as a stage and the teachers role$

Tove Pettersson*, Tina, May Britt Postholm, Annlaug Flem, Sigrun Gudmundsdottir
Department of Education, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, 7491 Trondheim, Norway

Abstract
Teaching is a profession in which teachers are accustomed to being in the spotlight. In this paper we meet Tina1a
newly employed teacher at a Norwegian public junior high schoolwho is engaged on an hourly basis to teach Arts
and Crafts, including a seventh-grade class which has been called challenging by other members of the staff.
Enthusiastic, committed, and focused educators who can serve as role models for their students are much in demand at
this school. Her own challenge is to nd a good balance between the many cultural roles she has to perform in an
inclusive educationone that works toward a goal of servicing an integrated student bodyas manager, administrator
of materials, initiator, facilitator, reection partner, and mentor. In this paper we describe how she shapes a learning
environment characterized by clear and unambiguous signals about what is acceptable behavior, while at the same time
insisting on creativity and originality in art work. The guiding question is: How does the teacher achieve the double task
of keeping order and maintaining creativity?
The study is based on ethnographic eld work conducted over several months in the Arts and Crafts class of Berge
school. We describe how the children try to sabotage the tasks, and analyze critical episodes using sociocultural theory.
With its emphasis on cultural and creative activities, the Arts and Crafts subject provides a special opportunity for what
sociocultural theory calls using mediating artefacts or elements (mediated action2). What makes the subject particularly
interesting is that it is not only a matter of using linguistic mediation, but rather also mediation based on external
factors, such as the use of specic objects or model learning.
r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Classroom stage; Teachers role; Arts and crafts; Challenging class; Sociocultural theory; Mediated action; Mediating artefacts

This article is based on parts of Tove Petterssons Masters

thesis in special education. Sigrun Gudmundsdottir and
Annlaug Flem were her supervisors. May Britt Postholm is
currently an associate professor with the Norwegian University
of Science and Technology, while Tina is the informant. It
should be noted that Sigrun Gudmundsdottir served as a large
part of the inspiration for the article and the research behind it,
and it is with no small sadness that we mark her passing before
its completion; Sigrun died in June 2003.
*Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +47-74-82-45-96.
E-mail address: tove.pettersson@c2i.net (T. Pettersson).
1
Tina: Berge School, Trondheim Municipal School District, Norway.
2
Cultural mediation, or mediated action, is a term used in
sociocultural studies (Wertsch, 1988).

1. Introduction
Todays school scene places substantial demands on all its actors. Teachers are responsible
for the education of all the students in their
classrooms, they determine the quality of integration (Meijer & Stevens, 1997) and, like it or not,
they are always on the stage. Pijl and Meijer (1997)
suggest that factors affecting inclusive education
can occur on three levels: (1) the classroom level;
(2) the school level; and (3) the external level
consisting of factors outside the schools. This
paper focuses on the classroom level. At this level,

0742-051X/$ - see front matter r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tate.2004.06.004

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inclusion is dependent on what teachers do in the

classroom.
Norways national Curriculum for the ten-year
school on primary and lower secondary school
(
system (Laereplanverket for den 10-arige
grunnskolen, 1996) states clearly that social inclusion of all
students, regardless of their abilities and aptitudes,
is the greatest practical challenge for educators,
and much more of a concern than curricular
integration (Flem, 2000; Haug, 1999; Ogden,
2001).3 The challenging taking place on the stage
of the classroom represents a complicated text for
its actors to interpret. According to Gudmundsdottir (1998b), teachingor, more precisely, what
she later (Gudmundsdottir, 2001) denes as school
practicecan be seen as a text for interpretation
on three different levels. The rst level consists of
the primary text of curricula and textbooks, the
secondary level includes the social text created in
the learning situation, and the third level is the
insights both teachers and students are left with
after their experience with primary and secondary
texts. Being a teacher means developing a personal
understanding of important curriculum concepts
such as inclusion and adapted instruction
(Hughes, Scam, & Vaughan, 1996). It also means
continuously renewing and expanding the content
of these concepts in line with ones own personal
and professional development in order to respond
to the full variety of students needs, and to do so
regularly (Dyson & Millward, 1997; Meijer, Pijl, &
Hegarty, 1997; Fottland, 2001). Teachers must
have materials and time available to instruct their
students in ways that promote inclusion (Pijl &
Meijer, 1997; Flem & Keller, 2000).
School practiceespecially in rst weeks in a
new school, a new class, new groups, with a new
subject, and new work formsis a critical time for
both students and teachers. This is especially true
of new classes with many challenging students
(Ogden, 2001; Kauffman, Mostert, Trent, &
Hallahan, 1993). Both students and teacher are
3

For the purposes of this text, we have translated the title of

Norways national curriculum plan as Curriculum for the 10year school on primary and lower secondary school system. The
(
original title is Laereplanverket for den 10-arige
grunnskolen
(1996). In Norwegian, it is also called L 97 for short.

trying to nd their way, to ascertain the climate.

Some students tend to react to the teachers
expectations by attempting to evade the instructors expectations of acceptable behavior, and thus
the game begins. The teacher is aware of phases
and class codes and is actively endeavoring to
discover and change the climate in such classes
(Roland, 1995). Knowledge about phases of
acting-out behavior and the ability to read and
interpret texts on what may trigger a chain of
actionsincluding how such a chain is reinforced,
peaks, and declinesmay be one of a number of
tools used to intervene at an early stage if there is
disruptive and problem behavior (Colvin, 1992).
The teachers role consists of many culturally
dened roles. Among these are those of part-time
subject teacher and teacher of Arts and Crafts in
primary school, as is the case for Tina. She has no
class of her own, but works full time in different
subjects as a oating resource.4 Most of the time,
however, she teaches Arts and Crafts for different
classes or students groups. She also gives drama
lessons.
The different roles leave a great deal of freedom
for the teachers to carve out their own approach to
the tasks assigned to the professional positions
they have chosen to inhabit (Gudmundsdottir,
2001). This also means that every action carried
out and every word uttered within these roles
belongs as much to the contextthe role and
cultural expectations assigned to those rolesas
much as they belong to the teacher. As Gudmundsdottir (2001) claims, actions and words
become part of a teachers repertoire once they
populate them with their own ideas and ways of
thinking about practice, children, learning, and
goals, giving each teacher a distinct style rmly
placed within a long and rich tradition (p. 104).
4
Tina prefers to move between classes and can easily be
described as a oating resource in the system. Many teachers
work in this manner in the Norwegian school environment,
particularly if they have higher education in these areas, but
also if theyre especially interested in teaching in them.
Likewise, many teachers prefer not to teach in these creative
subjects; they believe their artistic skills arent good enough, or
that they would rather have math or a text-based subject. They
do not believe drama lessons are appropriate for their interests
or intellectual bent.

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Most of the goals for students activities in

classrooms are not their own, but are prescribed
and handed to us by our culture, as is the situation
for the subject of Arts and Crafts itself as well as
accepted means of stimulating the environment in
the subject. The subject is divided into two areas:
Imagespictorial art, two-dimensional form
and Sculpture and handicrafts, three-dimensional
form. The primary objectives of the subject Arts
and Crafts in the Norwegian Curriculum are
experienceexpressreect (1996, p. 192).
These are objectives that challenge the teachers
skills and style when trying to help demanding
students, especially when the class is assembled.
Creating an environment for experiences in this
subject calls for teachers involvement and the
ability to stimulate the students interest and
passion in the message or theme the teacher is
presenting. The aim of expressing oneself places
demands on teachers to maintain an overview so
that they can guide the students in an environment
where the noise and activity level may be
disruptive, whether from the use of materials and
tools or because the students are moving around in
the room. Reection, moreover, is contingent on
cultural mediation in a safe and inclusive learning
environment, so that students with behavior
problems will also be stimulated into thinking
about what they are doing, both while the
activities are taking place and after the work has
been completed (see footnote 3).
Curriculum (1996) emphasizes the importance of
quiet, order, and a xed framework surrounding
the students working environment, to allow it to
function in a serious manner (p. 33). The
teachers role is strongly emphasized: The teachers most important teaching tools are themselves (p. 32). As long as we work with human
beings, we never know what will happen (Smidt,
2003). According to English drama teacher
Heathcote (1984), the good teacheror what she
names as the authentic (genuine) teachersees
possibilities for improvement, change, and reorientation, and has therefore prepared to take
considered risks (p. 176). We see a parallel
description of teachers roles in the Curriculum.
Because teachers are among the adults with which
children and young people have the most interac-

591

tion, they must dare to hold themselves as clear,

living, and deliberate examples in relationship to
the knowledge, skills, and values which shall
be shaped. In a noisy and somewhat chaotic
working environment, we need teachers who
dare to stand out as robust and unequivocal
adults (p. 32).
The Arts and Crafts teacher has special opportunities to create interest and involvement in
meaningful activities when teaching needs to be
adapted in order to achieve the necessary educational or training objectives. By examining some of
the roles in an experienced Arts and Crafts
teachers manifold register of roles in the classroom arena, we want to emphasize the importance
of mediation as a useful tool for approaching
students with behavior problems in order to help
them accomplish discrete learning tasks in the
subject, and thus stimulate processes that promote
holistic development in todays school.
The most important interface for linguistic
interaction and creation of meaning on the classroom stage, especially in primary school, is the
special area of the interior commonly called the
home base or listening corner (Gudmundsdottir, 1998a; Pettersson, Tina, Flem, & Gudmundsdottir, 2000; Pettersson & Postholm, 2003). The
rest of the time, students are organized in groups
or work at separate desks. The listening corner is a
common place for gathering the class in primary
school and is often used for conversation, sharing
of information, and instruction. It is a site where
the students sit on benches arranged in a semicircle
with the teacher sitting in the opening in front of
them. Little of what goes on there will escape the
students scrutiny or the teachers alert eyes. Most
actors will tell you that performing alone on stage
is the most demanding part of their profession
(Biggs, 1999). This type of performance is often
required by a teacher when going through new
material in the listening corner, where the teacher
is the actor on stage for 1020 min. As Tina put it:
Teaching and the school setting are dynamic
elements; just like in the theater. Each work
session has its setting, and it is necessary to
maintain the direction in which you are moving,
the content, so that it gives meaning to the
actors. The teachers direction must be considered

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carefully both as to content and form (Pettersson

et al., 2000, pp. 150151).

2. Method and context

A case study is dened as an exploration of a
bounded system, a system bound by place and
time. The case being studied can be individuals, a
program, an event, or an activity (Stake, 1995;
Creswell, 1998). This approach is also dened as a
study of actions in everyday life (Yin, 1994). Case
studies provide a holistic way of studying phenomena in their natural surroundings (Stake,
1995; Creswell, 1998). Data collection is often
extensive, and the method is selected using
different sources that can include observation,
interviews, audio-visual material, documents, and
reports (Yin, 1994; Stake, 1995; Creswell, 1998).
Tove entered the classroom scene to make
observations of Tina and her 23 seventh-grade
students13 boys and 10 girlsin September,
shortly after summer vacation. Observations of the
class were made regularly until the second week of
February with only school holidays, excursions, and
project periods keeping her away. Data compilation
was carried out by means of observations, video
recordings of the instruction given in the listening
corner and at the desks of the students, and taped
interviews with Tina. Tina wore a small micro
cassette recorder in her pocket and a lapel mike
attached to her jacket or sweater to secure good
sound quality. Tove describes most of the data
material that comprises 205 pages. It also includes
70 pages of observations notes and 211 pages of
notes concerning the 16 observations, each with a
length of 90 min. Furthermore, the material includes
the schools activity plan, the yearly and weekly
plans for this grade, and the teachers syllabus.
In order to acclimate students as well as the
teacher to Tove as a researcher in the classroom so
that less attention would be paid to the recordings,
she spent ve double lessonsa period of 5
weeksobserving the class before she began video
recording. Toves own near-30 years of primary
school teaching experienceincluding the subject
of Arts and Craftsallowed her to knit together
the interviews with different lesson plans and

teaching activities for each of the 16 lessons. The

interviews can be characterized as conversations
between two collaborative partners speaking the
same language of practice. Almost all of these 16
conversations took place shortly before or after
the lessons and lasted from 30 to 45 min. Most of
them were taped. All the actions and verbalizations in this article are from this material.
The illustrations we present have been collected
from the listening corner and are taken from a
drawing lesson in the area of Imagespictorial
art, two-dimensional form. The assignment the
class is to perform is to draw a human being, using
the technique Tina has taught them of dividing the
body into different proportions. This topic is
familiar to the students and has been on the
agenda the last 3 weeks. As a teacher, Tina is
recognized as a goal-oriented, committed, and
reective person. She has 25 years of teaching
experience in primary school, and is especially
keen on Arts and Crafts as well as drama lessons.
Whenever she can in her spare time, she frequents
art exhibitions and the theater.
The students have a reputation for being a
noisy, academically challenged class whose conduct often inhibits learning. Among them, Tina
nds a group of boys with behavior difculties
who challenge both her own instruction as well as
the students learning.5 These boys exhibit a
behavior that breaks with the schools rules, norms
and expectations. Problem behavior inhibits teaching and learning activities and thus the students
learning and development, and also makes positive
interaction with others difcult (Ogden, 2001,
5
NOVAs Report 12b/98 from the research project Skole og
samspillsvansker (School and Interplay Difculties; Srlie,
1998) mentions students exhibiting behavior inhibitive to their
schooling and learning as the most common type of problem
behavior in school. This includes students who daydream, are
disorderly, restless, or tired and under the weather. Other terms
related to problem behavior include interplay difculties,
interaction challenges, socio-emotional difculties and psychosocial difculties. Even if these terms are often tied to individual
students or groups of students, they focus on problems in a
social context. Srlie (1998) mentions students who act out by
becoming angry too quickly, argue, ght, or answer back when
reprimanded as the second most frequent type of problem
behavior. Findings from the seventh grade show that 10% of
the students exhibit both these types of behavior.

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p. 15). Tina stresses the importance of seeing both

the students and their learning environment. She
wants to help change or improve the cultural
climate, including the students attitude towards
proper behavior when responding to assignments
in Arts and Crafts.
As a theoretical foundation for understanding the
complex world of the classroom, we use sociocultural theory, in addition to Bakhtins theory on
the importance of language or, more precisely,
language in context. We also include some theatrical
perspectives that may help to illuminate the activities
on the classroom stage (Goffman, 1959, 1992).

3. Theoretical background
In Norway, as in other countries, school is an
important socialization arena in the lives of
students. During their stay in school, they are
affected by the learning environment and vice
versa; there is an interactive relationship between
.
the parties (Cole, 1996; Engestrom,
1999). Such a
dialectic relationship or mutual interaction is
necessary in order to create understanding and
meaning in the interplay between people and the
environment in which they perform (Holquist,
1990). This means that the learning environment
in which the students work and talk together
inuences their development. Through a dialectic
relationship with other, more experienced persons,
students acquire cultural knowledge, skills, and
attitudes, both academically and socially (Vygotsky, 1978). Sociocultural theory is one of the
theories that has helped break down the dualistic
.
distinction between mind and world (Engestrom,
1999). Vygotsky (1978) also emphasized social
interaction when in cognitive development, and
focused on the conversation between the parties as
important tools for thinking. Wertsch (1991, 1998)
has developed Vygotskys theories, claiming that
the childs total cognitive, cultural, emotional, and
social development follows the same process outlined by Vygotsky. Wertsch expanded and enriched
Vygotskys theory with Bakhtins concepts on the
creation of meaning through linguistic interaction.
The basic idea of sociocultural theory can be
summarized by the familiar general law of cultural

593

development within Vygotskys (1978) theory,

which maintains that higher mental functions such
as thinking, reection, reasoning, problem solving,
or logical memory originate from the individuals
interactions with other people (p. 86). All the
functions of a childs cultural development appear
twice, and on two different planes. The process from
the intermental to the intramental level is called
internalization, and is a process where external
social structures are transformed in each member of
a given culture to create internal processes. As
Leontev (1981) puts it, [t]he process of internalization is not the transferal of an external activity to a
pre-existing, internal plane of consciousness: it is
the process in which this plane is formed (p. 57).
The core concept is the Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD). Vygotsky (1978) denes this
zone as the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem
solving and potential development as determined
through problem solving under adult guidance or
in collaboration with more capable peers (p. 86).
Through engagement in culture-specic activities,
people develop higher mental processes that are
appropriate in solving culture-specic tasks (Gudmundsdottir, 1998a). The concept of ZPD is a
dynamic region of sensitivity in which childrens
mental functions develop in a joint problemsolving process with more skilled members of their
culture. As childrens cognitive development occurs
slightly beyond their competence, the task of the
more skilled person(s) is to structure and model the
learning situation. Contemporary interpretations
of Vygotskian theory use the concepts of scaffolding (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976), guided
participation (Rogoff, 1990) and guided construction of knowledge (Mercer, 1995), while
Tharp and Gallimore (1988) present six different
ways of assisting learners through the ZPD.6

6
Tharp and Gallimores (1988) six suggestions for assistance
are: (1) modeling the performance of the task, (2) contingency
management by focusing on positive rewards, (3) providing
feedback by giving information on performance, (4) instructing
in a way that assists the learners performance, (5) questioning
by using both assessment and assistance questions, and (6)
cognitive structuring by submitting information and suggesting
strategies for how to solve the problem.

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The Arts and Crafts subject has deep cultural

historical roots that are in harmony with Vygotskys view on human actions based on their
sociocultural and historical context.7 Mediation
understood as an interactive process between
teacher and students by means of cultural artefacts
constitutes the essence of Arts and Crafts.
Mediating artefacts such as words and signs,
written and oral, verbal and non-verbal, are all
means for stimulating meaning-making processes
between the partners (Wood et al., 1976; Bruner,
1985). Thus, semiotic mediation constitutes a
useful tool for acquiring information about how
students perceive a situation (situation denition),
so that the parties may attain a common understanding of the situation (intersubjectivity)
(Wertsch, 1984).
Bakhtins ideas on the importance of language
constitute an important supplement to Vygotskys
concepts on the relationship between language and
human development (Wertsch, 1991). Bakhtins
inner convincing word strongly contrasts with
what he refers to as the authoritative word. There
is a ongoing battle between this pair of contrasts.
The signicance of the inner convincing word is
connected to its ability to mediate communication
and the interplay between teacher and student; it
uses its own power to inuence, for example, in
proportion to those values which students encounter and are affected by in school. The
authoritative text, on the other hand, is closed
and indivisible. It doesnt allow other voices to
introduce life. In our verbal consciousness, it is a
text we must either accept fully or reject
completely (Bakhtin, 1981, pp. 342343). For a
student, this can make it impossible to enter a
dialogue with both the teacher and the material
being presented.
The special nature of the Arts and Crafts subject
invites language, ideas, and use of models and
7
Vygotsky himself and his colleagues placed decisive
emphasis on the historical aspect of his theory. A number of
Vygotskys successors also include the historical element when
they speak about the approach as cultural-historical or
socio-historical theory in similar ways (Wertsch, del Rio &
Alvarez, 1995). Wertsch (1991) uses the designation sociocultural approach, while Cole (1996) uses the term culturalhistorical psychology.

other specics, such as mediating artefacts, for

stimulating mediation as part of a creative and
lively activity. Bakhtin stimulates us to consider
what happens when understanding and meaning is
constructed in human interactions. According to
Bakhtin, meaning and understanding cannot be
transferred from one person to the next; rather,
meaning and understanding are created when
voices speak to each other or reect each other
(Bakhtin, 1986). Understanding is built through
our reactions to each other, and when our voices
engage in dialogues with one another. Thus, an
utterance is always a link in a chain of other
utterances (Bakhtin, 1986, pp. 84 and 99); all
utterances depend on other peoples utterances,
which means that each utterance or link in
the communicative chain acquires new qualities
of reection and anticipation of future response
as part of meaning-making processes (Bakhtin,
1986).
The voice producing the utterance relates to or
reects the person or persons to whom the
utterance is directed. The teacher uses a different
voice speaking to her principal than when speaking to her students or their parents. Thus, an
utterance always includes at least two voices. In
this way, the words we speak do not belong to
ourselves, but also to others; we only temporarily
inhabit the words. Bakhtins concept of voice also
refers to the speaking personality or the
speaking conscious (Holquist & Emerson 1981,
p. 434). If we hear a radio program or read a
novel, it can raise images and ideas. This is our
response. According to Bakhtin (1986, p. 68),
[t]he fact is that when the listener perceives and
understands the meaning (the language meaning),
of speech, he simultaneously takes an active,
responsive attitude to it. He either agrees or
disagrees with it (completely or partially), augments against it, applies it, prepares for its
execution, and so on. Listening is, therefore, very
meaningful. According to Bakhtin, listening ascribes qualitative values (1981).
To exist, each and every utterancewhether it
consists of one single word or a long sentence
requires production. It needs to be expressed. It
needs a voice. Behind the voice, both will and
desire exist. A voice is colored by a persons

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awareness or personality when speaking. Voices

can, according to Bakhtin (1986), only exist in
social environments, in stimulating interaction
with other voices, in a polyphony, which is a
concept most teachers recognize from their classrooms. The concept of polyphony is used about
different forms of multivoicedness which appears
in places where many people are assembled, such
as in the classroom (Wertsch, 1991). Polyphony
also appears as dialogue between spoken and
written expressions, between reader and text, or
between texts of different times. Multivoicedness
does not imply merely harmony of voices, but also
manifests itself through differences (Wertsch,
1991). Teacher and student react to each others
expressions, regardless of whether they are verbal
or written.
A central feature of Bakhtins vision of communication suggests that construction of knowledge also implies tensions, disharmony, and
conicts. It is therefore important that the
participants are not afraid of discussion when the
situation is fraught with different opinions and
bases of knowledge. Interaction through multivoicedness, with objections and voices which are
raised against each other, creates a potential for
dynamic growth. While Bakhtins concept of
multivoicedness inherently implies active speech
and encourages willing participation in verbalization, it also emphasizes the receptive process of
communication: listening.
Those receptive and generative elements of the
communication process make our relationships to
each other doubly importantand create importance within the relationships. With our language
and perspectives, we are allaccording to Bakhtinthe other to each other. Nothing of what
we say or do occurs in a vacuum; a person is
dened through his relationship to others. Consciousness is other (Holquist, 1990, p. 18).
Because the meaning of the other is so fundamental, this perspective has constant inuence on
how we think and behave, and in no small degree
concerns the teachers efforts to create community
among the students in the class.
Goffman (1959), an American sociologist who
was called the father of stage direction, was also
interested in the communicative aspects of human

595

social actions (i.e., what happens when two or

more persons encounter each other in a face-toface interaction). To study this, he used the
theater model in which he saw society as
consisting of roles and closely analyzed human
interaction in various social arenas. One of his
most familiar quotations is: All the world is not,
of course, a stage, but the crucial ways in which it
isnt are not easy to specify (Goffman, 1959,
p. 78). By using vocabulary of the stage we are
fully aware that we are employing an analogy, and
in so doing we are also aware of its limitations,
knowing that it is not to be taken too seriously.
The description of life on and off the stage is
different in many ways. On the theatrical stage,
actors perform for an audience, while the action
on the classroom stage shapes itself even as it is
happeningand it is part of real life. On the
theatrical stage we often nd a number of persons
acting for the audience. On the academic stage the
teacher and their students will normally come
togetherbut certainly the teacher performs both
for her peers and for her studentsand the
students perform for both the teacher and each
other. Improvisational actingwhere the actors
create their script as they perform it, and
particularly those types where the audience participates in the theatrical performance and sparks
the actorshas traits in common with classroom
performance.
Goffmans main idea is that everything we do
can be dened on the basis of social conventions as
elements of social or cultural conditions. We learn
to express ourselves through socially dened forms
of expression, forms which we then use to be
understood. A community of students is characterized by culturally dened ways of expressing
positive and negative emotions between the
students, to the teacher, or in relation to the
teaching. Our ability to actively attempt to
inuence a situation increases when we understand
more of the social life form we are part of (Barth,
1992). As rhetorician and strategist of the spoken
word that he is, Goffman (1959) calls the physical
surroundings for a given situation the stage set
(p. 27). Moreover, he distinguishes between
what happens in the stage area and in given
situations backstage. Backstage designates both

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the physical area and the activities that take place

outside the audiences eld of vision (Brissett &
Edgley, 1990). This is where stage props will be
kept, and the behavior here is typically full of
informal language and conduct. Unkempt manners and language may also occur as part of the
personal facade is stowed away (Goffman, 1959,
p. 114).
Goffman is concerned with performances. A
performance is dened as a specied participants
collection of activities on a given occasion when a
group of individuals is gathered over time, andin
one way or anotherthat individuals collective
experience then impacts the other participants.
For such performances there will be an audience,
spectators, and participants. A pattern of action
that is determined in advance and which unfolds
on one or more occasion or during performances
is often called a role. A social role is dened as
the exercise of rights and obligations linked to
a particular status, such as the teacher role and
the student role. Social life can be understood,
then, as a series of performances. The teacher as
an actor has varying relationships to each student,
hence it is necessary to behave differently in
different situations. Both teacher and students
will normally have a large repertoire of ways to
behave when together with other persons. They
may either activate or downplay some aspects of
their register or their behavior, based on expectations or indications they encounter in the situation
(Goffman, 1959).
The role of the audience consists of being
present and interpreting the events so that there
is a self. The persons performing are the ones
staging a performance. Their job is to study the
roles and use their registers while performing. If a
persons activity is to have importance for others,
it is rst important that the activity is undertaken
in a manner that during the action expresses what
the person in question wishes to state (Goffman,
1959, p. 40). Moreover, it is important that the
person is able to act rapidly and without any time
to consider (p. 40). None of these aspects are
strangers to active and experienced teachers.
However, Goffman takes this further and manages
to make us reect on how much leeway there is for
dramatic opportunities in the teaching profession,

and how very demanding such activity is. The

persons on this stage function in different roles.
On the academic stage, it is often the teacher who
plays; the teacher is the protagonist. However,
the audiencethe studentsmay also be protagonists. This could be the case with the listening
corner through the exchange of roles which occur
in that space. Nevertheless, most of all we
encounter the students as protagonists in their
own arena at the workplace, with the opportunities they have to create their own roles in relation
to the activities carried out there.

4. Illustrations
4.1. Prelude
The rst illustration leads us into the center of
the listening circle where total silence prevails.8
Tina has just discovered that six of the boys have
boycotted the assignment she gave in the class: to
draw a human being. Tina immediately stops the
drawing activity and, after reviewing the products
of all the students, turns to the blackboard and
makes two copies of students provocative drawings of the human body.
4.2. Illustration 1: Monologic introduction
The instruction topic for todays drawing lesson
in two-dimensional form is: The human body.
Postures. During the two last weeks, the class has
been working on the human body and its
proportions in two and three dimensions using
white/black paper and modeling clay. To introduce the topic on the bodys postures and
exibility, Tina used cultural aids such as sketches
on the blackboard, her own movements and
postures, and literature on Matisse and Picasso.
8
Even though the illustrations are described in detail, they do
not render all the nuances of what is said and done, nor the
context in which the actions occur. The intention has been to
capture what occurs in dialogues and in the interplay between
the parties. However, quotes are reproduced accurately down to
small sounds and syllables found in the Norwegian original, as
are gestures, because the data material captured what happened
close-up and from two angles.

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She also referred to other well-known material on

the bodys proportions.
Afterward, the students work apparently proceeds well at their desks. Tina is moving among the
groups. Suddenly, offering no explanation, she
calls on all the students to assemble quickly, and to
bring their drawings to the listening corner. Some
of the boys in three of the groups have either
missed the point or boycotted the assignment. In
addition to Marius and Jonas, the other offenders are Per, Erik, Robert, and William. The
summons comes as a surprise. The students look
up from their work in astonishment. Marius,
Jonas, Per, and Erik grin and show each other
their drawings before sauntering to the circle.
Robert and William hesitate before surrendering
their products. The pile of drawings grows in
Tinas lap. She sorts through them rapidly, placing
them face down in front of her on the oor, before
placing the pile on her desk. All this takes place in
silence. The students watch Tinas movements.
(1) Tina: (Rises, moves to the blackboard and
sketches a circle with two dots and a line inside.
Then draws two gure threes close under each other,
to suggest a hand with four ngers. Points at the
illustration, requesting): Look at the blackboard!
(2) Students: (Everyone is looking at Tina or the
blackboard. Many of the boys who had boycotted
the assignment are grinning.)
(3) Tina: Look at this hand! (Takes her time
while glancing around the circle, pauses and then
continues in a low voice): And look at that face!
(4) Students: (Staring. Jonas and Marius smile.)
(5) Tina: (With emphasis): This is the way
some of you seventh graders draw. (Looks at
them, pauses before she continues): This is not
the way we draw a human being! (Pauses, then
smiles): Even preschoolers can manage this.
(6) Students: (Most are looking at the board and
Tina. Jonas, Erik, and Robert are looking down.
Erik is blushing and squirming.)
(7) Tina: (Loudly, in a rm voice): Its childish
to draw heads and ngers the way you do! (More
vividly): We have to learn how to respond to an
assignment in the Arts and Crafts class. (Pointing
at the blackboard): Drawing smiling faces like
this is not good enough!
(8) Students: (Facing Tina.)

597

In Monologic introduction (Illustration 1) we

meet the teacher Tina as the protagonist on
the classroom stage. She is the one who masters
the play, and her part in the play is demanding.
She must arouse her publics interest in the
proceedings and maintain interest while events
are unfolding. The protagonist in Bakhtins
scenarios has the dual role as both the self
and the other (Holquist, 1990). This view of
the main actors role has no limits. The individual
lives only in relation to others, with consciousness
based on otherness. Such a teacher can identify
with Bakhtins awareness is others (Holquist,
1990, p. 18). Tina is concerned about her students,
even if she knows she can seem strict. She has
a very expansive perspective of her role as teacher.
In the interview that followed this lesson, she
said: These students are in the seventh
grade. Theyre on their way into the world,
and therefore its more important to give them
something along the way. It can seem as if I bully
them around a lot. But at the same time, you
give them rules they can use in other places than
with me.
Tina knows her responsibility is to straighten
out such problems as students boycotting the
assignment. Addressivity means structure and
responsibility for straightening out the potential
chaos (Holquist, 1990, p. 84). As the class leader,
she labors diligently and performs for the open
stage (Goffman, 1959). She reacts without hesitation; her mediation is rm, using a wide range of
mediating artefacts (Wood et al., 1976; Bruner,
1985). One of the most important is her rhetoric;
her choice of text type or discourse. The sequence
above is an authoritative discoursedense and
indivisible. The semantic structure is static, dead,
and entirely complete. In our consciousness, we
can either totally afrm or acknowledge it, or
totally reject it (Bakhtin, 1981, pp. 342343).
Monologic introduction is a commanding text
with no room for student interplay. As a cultural
text consisting of complex activities around us, it is
nevertheless readable for the students (Bakhtin,
1981, 1986; Bruner, 1985, 1990; Geertz, 1973,
1983; Gudmundsdottir, 1998b, 2001). Among the
texts the students can read are human actions and
classroom situations. By using artefactssuch as

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words and expressions, the unnished student

products, drawings on the blackboard, norms
and regulations for academic and social behaviorTina mediates ideas about academic levels
and effort (Vygotsky, 1978; Wertsch, 1984, 1991,
1998).
A silent audience follows the fate of their own
drawings and Tinas production on the blackboard. Tinas rst utterances (1, 3) are formed as a
triple appeal: Look at the blackboard!, Look
at this hand! and Look at that face! The impact
of her message is further reinforced by the clear,
succinct form of the appeal. Only now are the
blackboard drawings referred to as the face and
the hand. She then addresses her assembled
audience directly (5) by summing up and assessing
the efforts of some of the students. She has not yet
named the students she has in mind. She also
discloses why she broke off the activity and
assembled the class. In unmistakable terms, she
compares the achievements of her seventh grade
(5) with those of preschoolers.
The students eyes are glued to the teacher (2, 4,
6, 8). Some of the boys who have neglected to do
the task are grinning, but also smiling (2, 4) and
starting to squirm (6). Eriks response is most
evident. Our utterances are in mutually dependent
relations to each other (Bakhtin, 1986). The words
become links in a communication chain where the
links both reect each other and anticipate future
responses in a process that creates meaning. The
boys have made their statements through their
drawings which become the visible and articulate
link in the students communicative chain (Bakhtin, 1986). The products become the half utterances that Tina picks up as links for further use in
the communicative chain between herself and the
students.
The task of the more skilled person is to
structure and model the learning situation (Vygotsky, 1978). Tinas response (5) is clear and
direct; in utterance 7 it is totally to the point: It is
childish to draw y in that way and We have to
learn to respond to an assignment in the Arts and
Crafts class. By means of semiotic mediation, like
the words she uses and the drawings on the
blackboard, she mediates specic cultural goals for
the students further activity and growth in the

zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978).

Thus she reminds her students about the academic
goals they have been working on in Arts and
Crafts during the last few weeks: to be able to
draw a human body with good proportions and
in simple positions. This is the topic these seventh
graders have been working on when they are
more than twice the age of the preschoolers to
whom she compares them. Tina changes between
personal pronouns such as we and you by
beginning with the addressing pronoun you (5),
but then modies it to an inclusive we (5, 7). She
calls the heads drawn by her students smiling
faces (7). She has stated her view, but the
mediation has only just begun; the drawings are
lying untouched on the table. Now these artefacts
are taken into use.
4.3. Illustration 2: Approaching dialogue
4.3.1. First sequence
(9) Tina: (Showing a silly drawing of a
skateboarding macho man with lots of creative
solutions when it comes to proportions.)
(10) Students: (Bursting into laughter.)
(11) Tina: (Looks over the edge of the paper
and down to the drawing that has caused
the laughter. Suddenly smiles, her hands holding
the drawing resting in her lap, and asks): Which
parts of this drawing are incorrect? Id like to
have your comments on that. (Many students
put up their hands to answer, but Per is given
the nod.)
(12) Per: (Loudly): The legs are much too
long.
(13) Tina: (Quickly): Yes!
(14) William: (While raising his hand): The
ngers are wrong.
(15) Tina: (Slightly nodding): Yes.
(16) Robert: (Loudly): Its a silly drawing.
(17) Tina: Yes. (Looks down over the edge of
the drawing): Yes, the legs are too long. (Stands
up, pointing to her own legs. Smiles, then asks):
The legs, what about the proportions? What have
you learned?
(18) Erik: They make up half the body.
(19) Tina: (Quickly, smiling): Exactly! (Points
at the outside of the top of her thigh and gestures

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down, calling them thighbone and calf.9 Repeats

these terms and the proportions of arms and joints
of elbows and shoulders while standing. Demonstrates on herself that her hands reach the middle
of her thigh when hanging straight down, and
reviews how to render bent arms and legs.)
(20) Students: (Most of the students participate
eagerly in the review which lasts a couple of
minutes.)
4.3.2. Second sequence
(21) Tina: (Sits down again, looks at her
students, smiles. Her voice is low, appealing):
Do you understand why I introduced the topic of
silly drawings?
(22) Students: (Some are nodding, others conrming): Yes. Hm-m.
(23) Tina: (Raises her hands in a lifting gesture,
palm up.)
I wanted to emphasize what my wish for you is.
I want to lift you to another level when it comes to
drawing! Lift you above the level of a ve-yearold. (Pauses, then continues almost inaudibly): I
dont appreciate the way you fool around with
your drawings.
In the rst sequence Tina displays a drawing
that is much the same as the previous one (9). The
two artists, Marius and Jonas, sit side by side in
the listening circle. Yet another drawing of a
macho man gives rise to general laughter in
the group (10). The two artists also laugh. The
laughter of the students seems to affect Tina. She
loosens her grip, capitulating smilingly when she
looks at the caricature features and distorted
proportions of the drawing (11). Her attitude
and voice reveal that she can see, as her students
do, the comical aspects of the product. Tina shows
that she redenes the situation. The parties share
the same situation denition, and they are aware
that they do according to Wertschs (1984, p. 12)
9
Even if a rule of thumb when reviewing the sections of
the human body suggests starting by halving the distance from
the head to the groin and then from the groin up to the top of
the head, Tina avoids such a description. Instead she points to
the upper part of the thigh and models the halving along the
outside of her legs, thus making the mediation more neutral.
Very little, Tina says, is needed before this class gets
downright silly.

599

denition of intersubjectivity. The strict actor we

met in Illustration 1 has stepped aside. Now Tina
activates new elements of her repertoire. We sense
an approaching interaction in her choice of words,
intonation, and body language (11). The more
authoritarian: This is not the way we draw a
human being! (5) has been replaced by a softer
invitation to new interplay: Id like to have your
comments on that (11).
The students respond immediately (12, 14, 16,
18). Their utterances interact with Tinas positive
conrmations (13, 15, rst response in 17, 19). At
least two voices are speaking, and both hold
meaning (Bakhtin, 1986). The creativity and
innovation of the inner convincing word means
that the word generates new and independent
words in a free, open discourse (Bakhtin, 1981).
However, polyphony does not only mean polyphony in harmony, but also multiplicity through
dissimilarity (Wertsch, 1991). A central feature of
Bakhtins ideas on language is that construction of
knowledge implies tensions, disharmony, and
conicts. Thus it is important that Tina does not
step back from tension-lled discourses such as
this drawing sequence. What is special here is that
the four boys who respond are among those who
have handed in silly drawings. The other two boys,
Marius and Jonas, say nothing when Tina displays
their products (9). Robert, who is one of the
cool leaders among the students in this class, is
the rst to identify the product as a silly drawing
(16). The artist himself remains silent. The name
silly drawing comes from a representative of the
students. Tina adopts Roberts expression, but
does not use it before utterance 21. She repeats
virtually verbatim Pers utterance (12) about the
awed proportions of the legs as a signal for
further mediation about leg proportions (1720).
The utterances by both Robert and Per interact
with Tinas own words. This emerges from the way
she reformulates (17, 21) the boys two utterances
(12, 16) and places them in her own mediating
context. This becomes apparent in utterance 17,
where Tinas mediation with a review of the
human bodys various postures or attitudes is
another stage in the communication chain now
being formed by the parties. The chain of events
(19) initiated by the signal from Erik (18) shows us

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how the utterances of Per (12) and Robert (16) are

reected in Tinas actions a number of stages after
the utterances were spoken. Her modeling (19)
conrms that her students do not belong on the
5-year old level.
In the second sequence, Tina attempts to
stimulate new reection to ascertain whether the
students have understood why she brought up this
matter. She mediates the core of her message (23),
but now she uses the same designation as Robert:
silly drawings (21). The episode is mentioned as
(23) the way you fool around with your drawings. Using her own voice and the young peoples
in an understandable social language may get
students to listen; there will be an echo in the
inner speech (Wertsch, 1991). In spite of a clear
and direct choice of words, her speech is mild
and quiet with no edge to it and no accusatory
tone (23). As a stage narrator, Tina links
the students unfortunate drawings to utterances
on the level of ambition she has as a teacher
both for her students academic development and
for her own instruction (23). The students themselves are often unaware of the motives behind
what happens during an activity and need orientation to understand the activity systems they
encounter (Aebli, 1988). These students receive
such orientation. Tina wants to lift her class to
a higher level, above that of 5-year-olds. In this
way she indicates the direction for further work in
the proximal zone of development (Vygotsky,
1978). Perhaps Tina might have ended it there,
and let her audience leave the arena, but she goes
on to show them another drawing. This time it is
Eriks.

4.4. Illustration 3: A communication chain takes

form
Utterance (18) shows that Erik is aware of the
various parts of the human body. The current
product is not representative of his academic
knowledge and skills. His drawing shows a man
with stiff joints and huge teeth, as in a caricature
or cartoon character. The set of teeth is made
using lines drawn with a ruler. Another line divides
the set of teeth in two.

4.4.1. First sequence

(24) Erik: (Squirming, looks down when his
drawing is displayed, then suddenly looks up at
Tina.)
(25) Tina: What do you see here, Erik?
(26) Erik: (Clearly): A silly drawing.
(27) Tina: (Pauses, then continues in a low
voice): Im not trying to pick on you, Erik. You
understand that?
(28) Erik: Yes! (Nods at the same time, looks
at her.)
(29) Tina: (Rises, draws a similar set of teeth on
the board. Emphasizes her words while looking at
Erik and the rest of students in turn, pointing to
the board): Drawing like this y (Pauses) This is
not good enough, because its not serious.
(30) Erik: (Nods, quietly): I know.
(31) Tina: (Pauses, then continues): y Nor is it
good enough to draw a person using a ruler and
get the joints wrong. (Pauses, then adds): y
Youre supposed to show the proportions and see
how the body works.
(32) Erik: (In a low voice): Yes y I understand
now.
(33) Students: (Listening, calm.)
4.4.2. Second sequence
(34) Tina: (Comments on the last drawings
quickly and lightly, also mentioning names of the
artists): Mia! Good attempt! This too, Kari!
(35) Mia/Kari: (Smile): Hm-m.
(36) Tina: (Vividly to the class, after displaying
the drawings): Now practice for the assignment
you have been given! Take a sheet of paper and go
to your places. (After a moment, adds): But
before you go y Who wants to be a model when
the others draw you?
(A number of hands rise, Thea is selected.)
In the rst sequence we meet the actors Tina and
Erik. We see a communication chain being
developed (Bakhtin, 1986). The director calls an
actor, Erik, onto center stage through a direct
question about his drawing (25). Erik has the
initiative. Tinas question can be answered in a
number of ways. One possible response is to
remain silent. Eriks contribution to a new link in
the communication chain, A silly drawing,
appears as a rm and surprisingly honest utterance

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(26). Bakhtin nds that an utterance closely linked

to the voice and its qualities is a speaking
personality and a speaking awareness (Wertsch,
1991, p. 51). Eriks tone of voice and his use of
concepts prove that he has realized that what he
did was not well thought out (26). This realization
probably costs him more than a mediated confession in the presence of the class. Eriks drawing
may have been an unpremeditated action, but it is
also an indication of spite or a boyish prank. By
entering into a dialogue with Tina in front of his
class where he is sitting with his cool pals with
whom he has regularly disrupted the instruction,
he mediates an attitude that breaks with that of
these boys. It is hard for Erik to dare to lose face,
surrounded by a number of his cool mates. It
takes courage to step out of the shadows, out of
the unguarded backstage and into the spotlight as
Erik is now doing (Goffman, 1959).
It is Tinas responsibility to prevent Erik from
becoming the scapegoat for all the pranks these six
boys have been responsible for. Her utterance (27)
may be interpreted in the light of the responsibility
she experiences when she now passes the baton to
Erik, giving him the opportunity to defend himself
or make a comment. Erik does neither. Through
his clear conrmation in utterance 28 he connects
another link to the invisible communication chain
between himself and the teacher. Tina now
employs the blackboard sketch of Eriks rendition
of a wide grin as a symbol for mediating why such
a drawing is inadequate (29). She also states what
she thinks about students using rulers to render
human shapes and movements. By presenting
proposals (29, 31) for how the students can work
on their assignment, Tina attempts to lift her
students further into the proximal zone of development (Vygotsky, 1978). The voice that is heard
is Eriks. His three responses (28, 30, 32) are
humble, but also clear and reected. The inner
convincing word belongs half to us and half to
someone else (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 345). Tinas
utterances are tightly linked to Eriks own knowledge in this area and he is, therefore, able to give a
clear response to Tinas statements in utterances
2932. Without addressees such as Eriks, Tina
would have no complete utterance (Bakhtin,
1981). Eriks utterance (32): Yes. I understand

601

now, tells us how words and activities interact,

allowing meaning-creating processes to occur.
The second sequence (3436) shows Tinas
positive response to some of the girls and her
choice of Thea as a model for the class. The class
has never drawn using a live model before, and the
task is interesting because of its novelty. There is a
good working atmosphere in the class (Pettersson
et al., 2000). All the students are working. Eriks
new drawing reveals the joy of drawing. He
manages to render Theas postures using good
proportions. The rhythm of heads going up and
downshifting between regarding the model and
putting impressions on paperis dominant in the
class. The model appears to enjoy the attention
she is receiving. She is smiling, but keeps the stance
she has adopted on a low desk. She is standing
with her weight on her left leg, with her hands on
her hips. Tina is moving slowly among the desks.
Many students want feedback on their products:
You think this will be OK, then, Tina? The
students cope well with drawing the upper body.
Legs are more difcult. Are they supposed to be
so long, really? Four eights is really half the body,
says Robert. The ruler is being used frequently by
a few students who are taking measures with a
straight arm. Tina has just taught them this
technique. Most students are working on proportions and rendering Theas position.

5. Discussion
The effort to create an inclusive milieu is the
most important and overarching aim of focus for
Tina. In the interview after this lesson, she
comments on the episode by comparing it to
previous experience from classroom combats
from other classes. I dont mind a few rounds
because I feel I have found some key approaches
that work for me in challenging classes such as this
one, she reects. She has used some of these in
the episode illustrated here. Tina recognizes and
sees through the social game played by the cool
gang, and she handles the game based on what she
witnesses (Goffman, 1959). Courage is required to
confront a class with behavioral problems and
negative initiatives such as shown by the examples

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or illustrations in Section 4. Tina is prepared to

take considered risks (Heathcote 1984, p. 176).
She does not step back from tension-lled discussions. Polyphony does not merely mean the
harmony of voices, however, but also multiplicity
through dissimilarity (Wertsch, 1991). It is therefore important that the teacher is aware of all the
nuanced voices of multiplicity (polyphony), and
which implications they may have when she takes
up the mantle of performer on the classrooms
multivoiced stage. Daring to confront a class with
challenging students about unacceptable behavior
may be one way to utilize the full range of the idea
of multivoicedness. The construction of knowledge
also implies tensions but, according to Bakhtin
(1981), the polyphony of conicting objections and
voices provides the potential for dynamic growth.
To the extent that Tina allows room for multivoicedness on the stage and grants it space, she
creates a positive environment for the creation of
knowledge and meaning.
The students boycott of the drawing exercise
may be interpreted in a number of ways. Perhaps it
was a prank to annoy the teacher or protest
against a teacher they felt was strict. It may also
have been a warning that the task was boring or
too hard, or it may have indicated poor motivation
as a result of a drawing crisis, or that Tinas
instruction in this area had not been thorough
enough. There are probably a number of factors
behind what happened. Rapid action is required to
halt negative activities when they are discovered
(Colvin et al., 1993). Tina reacts resolutely. A
breakdown in social and academic ambitions is
not allowed to develop; she intervenes.
However, we could ask whether Tina was not
taking a risk by acting the way she did. By
breaking off the students work and calling the
class for an extra session in the listening circle, she
is putting her foot down. Through her authoritative, unambiguous no, she confronts the class
combatants with their less-than-ambitious efforts.
The power of the authoritative word is one of the
types of text that educators as well as other
managers may use. We can nd this commanding,
dense, and indivisible manner in religious, political, and moral genres with a structure that is static,
dead, and fully complete (Bakhtin, 1981). Accord-

ing to Bakhtin (1981), the authoritative words

comprise a text type with no room for dialogue.
Solo performances may increase the tension
between the educator and the cool boys.
Perhaps this does not happen because Tina
activates aspects of her register other than her
powerful no so quickly. As soon as the students
are assembled and she has their attention, she
behaves differently because the situation has
changed (Goffman, 1959). So far, she has gained
external control of the situation.
Two trends are demonstrated in the sequences
we have seen so far. The rst concerns the
relationship between the works social and academic ambition levels. The second concerns the
use of Bakhtins authoritative word in contrast to
the inner convincing word. As for the message
about the expectations for academic efforts, Tina
mediates concepts of structure and order, and
ideas of doing what the assignment calls for as the
basis of her teaching. Her function may be
understood as a toola scaffolderthat supports
students with different needs for assistance while
the period of construction is ongoing (Wood et al.,
1976). Tina uses all of her register of roles to
stimulate the activities in the proximal zones of
development (Vygotsky, 1978). In her role on the
classroom stage, she demonstrates the ability good
teachers have to vary and combine different types
of support, a support that comprises an important
element of the inclusive education concept (Tharp
& Gallimore, 1988).
The illustrations indicate that Tinas focus is a
social one; not as persistent harping, but as rapid,
brief, and very clear reminders. Earlier during the
autumn, there had been a number of episodes
similar to the one examined in the illustration
above. As they progressed further into the school
year, the episodes grew both fewer and less
pronounced. There were one or two episodes later
in the autumn, but there was no repeat of the
assignment boycott. This only happened once.
Over the autumn months, there was a positive
development, including emphasis on the academic core. One could question the use of student
drawings which display a lack of ambition as a
technique for modifying efforts in a subject such as
Arts and Crafts. Mediating in this way, Tina

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adopts strong artefacts. In Illustration 4, A

communication chain takes form, she is right
on the border between ridiculing Erik and
protecting his integrity in a respectful way. In
interpreting this situation, we nd that Tina uses
social sensitivity. She reads the signals sent out by
Erik and the rest of the group in class, offering him
the opportunity to abstain from commenting
further on his drawing in the presence of the class.
Her response is based on a holistic assessment of
what will benet the student(s).
The same effort is required if the text type is to
be changed. Using words and actions, Tina
communicates in a powerful, orderly, and straightforward fashion. Speedy summons, never mincing
words, and behavior that will not be misunderstood are features that are typical of her repertoire.
When she gets involved in this classroom combat,
she launches into an episode authoritatively and
dynamically. The confrontation takes place on
center stage (Goffman, 1959). If the communication had been visible, her class would have seen
many hard arrows ying in the direction of the
boys and one or two attempts at retaliation from
the boys. The authoritative word is dense and
indivisible (Bakhtin, 1981).
On the other hand, we might imagine a setting
for creation of meaning through mediation between the teacher and the students that approaches
a desirable situation where the parties meet and
where the inner convincing word may work freely
and openly (Bakhtin, 1981). Getting from classroom combat to such a natural alive and cultural
state is a long process. Tina is nevertheless well on
the way, due to her efforts to change the stuttering
social and academic conditions in the learning
environment. Her register embraces more than
emphasizes the authoritative word. When we take
a closer look, we see that she demonstrates new
aspects of herself in both of these work areas. She
communicates with softer arrows. Her bow is not
too strongly drawn. She loosens her grip when the
students soft arrows start to interact with hers.
Tina picks up student arrows that are shaped as
laughter, or phrases such as silly drawings, and
legs are too long, using these in conjunction
with her own in the ongoing interplay. Some of
Tinas comments on this episode tell us how she

603

feels about using her repertoire of both strict and

softer approaches:
After Ive said or done something that seems
strict, its important to evaluate how the situation
was afterward. Was it acceptance or was it
rejection? I see that when a situation is over and
weve gotten past it, then afterward you engross
yourself in the more creative and productive
aspects of the eld.
Tina has no difculty engaging in this sort of
classroom combat. When she does so, she presents
herself authoritatively and many of her students
may well perceive her as strict. But once the
situationsuch as unrest in the classroom or
assignment boycottsis resolved, she moves forward. She chooses not to remain in her authoritative leadership role, but rather shifts into her
role as facilitator in the study of Arts and Crafts.

6. Concluding remarks
Both a teacher and a classroom researcher might
nd it appropriate to ask whether it is worth the
trouble to become so dynamically involved in cases
of new, demanding classes with behavior problems. The question could, of course, be turned
around. What will happen if a teacher does not
assume control, and does not bother to make the
students aware of their negative social and
academic behavior? What if the teacher does not
offer her voice, and fails to provide the lifts for her
students that the teacher deems the class needs,
based on her human and professional academic
judgement? As is the case for all teachers in a
teaching situation based on legislation and curricula, teachers of Arts and Crafts are obliged to give
each and every student an optimal holistic study
program in the subject. The teacher, as the most
mature member of the group, has not merely a
right but a responsibility to intervene (Heathcote,
1984, p. 12).
This article has reproduced fragments of the
daily, occasionally enervating effort of mediating
knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding social
and academic aspects of teaching. Teachers not
only live in a world of others words but their
entire lives are an orientation in this world, a

ARTICLE IN PRESS
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T. Pettersson et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 20 (2004) 589605

reaction to others words (Bakhtin, 1986, p. 143,

my paraphrase). A teacher appears as the other
for each of her students. The students have each
other but also the adult teacher as their others.
For both of these parties, the relationship to others
implies a willingness to care, to be concerned
about another being, to participate in mediation,
and to change aspects that do not function. The
study shows how important the living word or the
dialogue is in the classroom, and that the teacher
must be willing to bring forward tension-lled
discussions as part of her ongoing search to nd a
balance between the many roles she must perform
in an inclusive education.
In the long run, the important issue is on what
level teaching or school practice is operating when
it is interpreted as a text on three levels. What
happens on the classroom stage represents a
complicated text for acting teachers to interpret.
Whatever challenges that occur on rst levelthat
of the primary text of curricula and textbooksas
well as on the secondary level which includes the
social text created in the learning situation, have
consequences for the third level. There is an
ongoing interaction between the students who
are learning and the learning environment that
. 1999). On
surrounds them (Cole, 1996; Engestrom,
this third levelthat which comprises the experiences both teachers and students are left with after
being exposed to both the primary and secondary
texts (Gudmundsdottir 1998b, 2001)Vygotskys
(1978) and Bakhtins (1986) theories of the
importance of creating a dialectic relationship
with other, more experienced persons are brought
to the fore. Such a dialectic relationship or mutual
interaction is necessary in order to create understanding and meaning in the interplay between
people and the environment in which they perform
(Holquist, 1990). This is one of the implications
this study has raised for its authors: it points
toward a discussion of how students acquire
cultural knowledge, skills, and attitudesacademically as well as socially.
A classroom is a complex world; a stage of many
actors, voices, genres, and competing forces. Life
on this stage is never resting, but always in
movement. According to Bakhtin (1986), we are
all active participants in an endless and unnished

story. In such a context and in the long run, even

a start with brief interpersonal encounters with
weak utterance links and short communication
chains may be important for students who are
aspirants in a culture where the overarching aim is
mastering or internalizing their own actions
(Bruner, 1985).

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