April 24, 2009
Central Wisconsin students co-mingle with Milwaukee students at UWSP literature
circle
Barbara Dixson, professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP), believes
education can overcome stereotypes, especially stereotypes affixed to race. She has incorporated
her theory into practice with her English 381 class and two very distinct high schools and their
students and teachers.
Dixson’s award-winning Literature Circles Diversity Collaboration Project is now in its third year,
bringing together high school students from rural Adams-Friendship and urban Milwaukee Vincent. What
began as an online literature circle between the two high schools is now a model that could be applied
in many parts of Wisconsin and beyond.
“High school and college students alike learn that it is our common humanity that really matters,”
said Dixson. “This annual opportunity gives my English 381 students valuable teaching experience
while allowing everyone involved the opportunity to get to know and appreciate people of different
backgrounds and race.”
According to Dixson, each spring students choose from five novels that deal with issues of race
and personal identity, and the college students lead online discussions via Desire2Learn (D2L).
The college students visit their students at both high schools early on during the project so
everyone can put names to faces. The project culminates in a field trip in which students from
both high schools come to UW-Stevens Point to meet each other and their virtual teachers as well
as show off their final projects. The project began in February and culminates with Adams-Friendship
and Milwaukee Vincent students visiting UWSP faculty and students on campus May 1.
Dixson’s students are studying to become high school and middle school English teachers. They are
learning how to design discussion prompts, final projects, and rubrics with the help of Dixson and
the high school teachers, Erica Ringlespaugh and Mark Hoernke from Adams-Friendship and Tony Wacker
from Milwaukee Vincent.
Last year, the literature circles project won the Ann Lydecker Educational Diversity Award from
the Wisconsin State Council on Affirmative Action. This year it is being funded by a major grant
from the Wisconsin Humanities Council.
The May field trip will begin with a few icebreakers, followed by speeches made by faculty members,
including the chair of the English Department and Provost Mark Nook. Lunch follows at the DeBot
Residence Center. The students will then break up into their groups for campus tours and then
final project presentations before convening again as a large group for closing comments,
including a speech by Chancellor Linda Bunnell. After the field trip, there will be a bulletin
board on the fourth floor of the Collins Classroom Center displaying student work.
Dixson joined the UWSP faculty in 1985 and holds a doctorate from Auburn University.
Contact: Barbara Dixson, 715-346-3135.
