Valerie Kinloch – författare

June Jordan was born on July 9, 1936, in Harlem, New York, to Mildred and Granville Jordan, Jamaican natives. During her life, she became one of the most prolific, important, and influential African American writers of her time. Before her death from breast cancer in 2002, Jordan published more than 27 books, including Some of Us Did Not Die, Solider: A Poet's Childhood, Poetry for the People: Finding a Voice through Verse, Haruko Love Poems, and Naming Our Destiny. Her work Civil Wars, a collection of letters and essays, addressed such topics as violence, homosexuality, race, and black feminism. Working in many genres and touching on many themes and issues, Jordan was a powerful force in American literature. This biography reveals the woman, the writer, the poet, the activist, the leader, and the educator in all her complexity.Working in many genres and touching on many themes and issues, June Jordan was a powerful force in American literature. This biography reveals the woman, the writer, the speaker, the poet, the activist, the leader, and the educator in all her complexity.June Jordan was born on July 9, 1936, in Harlem, New York, to Mildred and Granville Jordan, Jamaican natives. During her life, she became one of the most prolific, important, and influential African American writers of her time. Before her death from breast cancer in 2002, Jordan published more than 27 books, including Some of Us Did Not Die, Solider: A Poet's Childhood, Poetry for the People: Finding a Voice through Verse, Haruko Love Poems, and Naming Our Destiny. Her work Civil Wars, a collection of letters and essays, addressed such topics as violence, homosexuality, race, and black feminism.Kinloch offers a life and letters of this prolific writer, delving into both her biography and her contributions as a writer and activist. This approach unveils the power of language in Jordan's poems, essays, speeches, books—and ultimately in her own life—as she challenged political systems of injustice, racism, and sexism. Kinloch examines questions surrounding the pain of writing, the anger of oppression, and the struggle of African American women to assert their voices. Attention is paid to the ways in which Jordan's life informed her writings her perspectives, and her contributions to the global landscape of class, race, and gender issues. The writer's major works are explored in detail, as Kinloch weaves discussions of her life into critical considerations of her writings. Ultimately, this portrait illustrates the ways in which Jordan's career represented her dedication to making words work; her ability to rally and revolutionize the spirit of people invested in decolonization, love, and freedom; and her responsiveness to the world in which she lived.

From her activism to her passionate writings, June Jordan (1936 - 2002) is one of the most revered American poets of our time. Jordan's writing simultaneously provokes delight and energy while urging reflection on American society and its injustices. In Still Seeking an Attitude, the first reflection on her legacy, Jordan's life and works are explored in depth and detail, focusing on subjects ranging from her use of language and linguistics to her political activism and role in children's literature. These critical examinations elucidate the power and poetry of Jordan's words, serving as an exciting supplement for those already familiar with Jordan and an excellent guide for anyone discovering her works for the first time.

In her new book, Valerie Kinloch investigates how the lives and literacies of youth in New York City's historic Harlem are affected by public attempts to gentrify the community. Kinloch draws connections between race, place, and students' literate identities through interviews with youth, teachers, longtime Black residents, and their new White neighbors. ""Harlem on Our Minds"" is a participatory action narrative that brings emerging theories of social ecology to life for the high school English classroom. Vividly drawn lessons show how teachers can engage urban youth in school-based literacy by linking canonical text, particularly of the Harlem Renaissance, to current events. Centered on the literacy stories of two African American youth and their peers, this book: showcases the multimodal literacy practices of urban youth through photographs, writing samples, student-designed research projects, and more; weaves in multiple voices and perspectives through response pieces by project participants, local teachers, a graduate student, and a community activist; and, features summaries of teaching strategies.

Urban Literacies showcases cutting-edge perspectives on urban education and language and literacy by respected junior and senior scholars, researchers, and teacher educators. The authors explore―through various theoretical orientations and diverse methodologies―meanings of urban education in the lives of students and their families across three intersecting areas of research: 1) family and community literacies, 2) teaching and teacher education, and 3) popular culture, digital media, and forms of multimodality.This important volume:Extends the focus on “literacy” to include multiple settings and forms, as well as multiple voices and perspectives.Serves as a model of critical research and an extension of mentoring relationships and collaborative engagements.Includes a “Critical Perspective” section at the end of each chapter in which authors discuss implications, practices, strategies, and recommendations for improving literacy instruction.

In her new book, Valerie Kinloch, award-winning author of Harlem on Our Minds, sheds light on the ways urban youth engage in meaning-making experiences as a way to assert critical, creative, and highly sophisticated perspectives on teaching, learning, and survival. Kinloch rejects deficit models that have traditionally defined the literacy abilities of students of colour, especially African American and Latino/a youth. In contrast, she crosses boundaries to listen to the voices of students attending high school in New York City's Harlem community. In Crossing Boundaries, Kinloch uses a critical teacher-researcher lens to propose new directions for youth literacies and achievements. The text features examples of classroom engagements, student writings and presentations, discussions of texts and current events, and conversations on skills, process, achievement, and underachievement.

This volume brings together respected scholars to examine the intersections of race, justice, and activism in direct relation to the teaching and learning of critical literacy. The text includes examples of student activism from across the United States, questions to help guide discussions, and artifacts from students and educators.Contributors:Arlene AlvaradoBernNadette T. Best-GreenManeka D. BrooksTanja BurkhardTamara ButlerGerald CampanoLimarys CaraballoMatthew DerooMaría Paula GhisoFrianna GultomValerie KinlochBrenda KrishanwongsoLindsey LichtenbergerJamila LyiscottDanny C. MartinezJohnny MerryIjeoma E. OnonujuLeigh PatelCarlotta PennJenell Igeleke PennGrace PlayerDetra Price-DennisElaine RichardsonSina SaeediDonja ThomasVaughn Watson

This volume brings together respected scholars to examine the intersections of race, justice, and activism in direct relation to the teaching and learning of critical literacy. The text includes examples of student activism from across the United States, questions to help guide discussions, and artifacts from students and educators.Contributors:Arlene AlvaradoBernNadette T. Best-GreenManeka D. BrooksTanja BurkhardTamara ButlerGerald CampanoLimarys CaraballoMatthew DerooMaría Paula GhisoFrianna GultomValerie KinlochBrenda KrishanwongsoLindsey LichtenbergerJamila LyiscottDanny C. MartinezJohnny MerryIjeoma E. OnonujuLeigh PatelCarlotta PennJenell Igeleke PennGrace PlayerDetra Price-DennisElaine RichardsonSina SaeediDonja ThomasVaughn Watson

This inspirational book is about engaged pedagogies, an approach to teaching and learning that centers dialogue, listening, equity, and connection among stakeholders who understand the human and ecological cost of inequality. The authors share their story of working with students, teachers, teacher educators, families, community members, and union leaders to create transformative practices within and beyond public school classrooms. This collaborative work occurred within various spaces—inside school buildings, libraries, churches, community gardens, nonprofit organizations, etc.—and afforded opportunities to grapple with engaged pedagogies in times of political crisis. Featuring descriptions from a district-wide initiative, this book offers practical and theoretical resources for educators wanting to center justice in their work with students. Through question-posing, color images, empirical observations, and use of scholarly and practitioner-driven literature, readers will learn how to use these resources to reconfigure schools and classrooms as sites of engagement for equity, justice, and love.Book Features:Provides a sound approach to deeply taking up the work of justice and engaged pedagogies.Presents linguistic, cultural, theoretical, and practical ideas that can be used and implemented immediately. Includes reflective questions, found poetry, lesson ideas, storytelling as narrative, and examples of engaged pedagogies. Shares stories from a district-wide initiative that embedded engaged pedagogies within classrooms, counseling offices, and libraries.Showcases original artwork and images in full color by Grace D. Player, one of the coauthors.

This inspirational book is about engaged pedagogies, an approach to teaching and learning that centers dialogue, listening, equity, and connection among stakeholders who understand the human and ecological cost of inequality. The authors share their story of working with students, teachers, teacher educators, families, community members, and union leaders to create transformative practices within and beyond public school classrooms. This collaborative work occurred within various spaces—inside school buildings, libraries, churches, community gardens, nonprofit organizations, etc.—and afforded opportunities to grapple with engaged pedagogies in times of political crisis. Featuring descriptions from a district-wide initiative, this book offers practical and theoretical resources for educators wanting to center justice in their work with students. Through question-posing, color images, empirical observations, and use of scholarly and practitioner-driven literature, readers will learn how to use these resources to reconfigure schools and classrooms as sites of engagement for equity, justice, and love.Book Features:Provides a sound approach to deeply taking up the work of justice and engaged pedagogies.Presents linguistic, cultural, theoretical, and practical ideas that can be used and implemented immediately. Includes reflective questions, found poetry, lesson ideas, storytelling as narrative, and examples of engaged pedagogies. Shares stories from a district-wide initiative that embedded engaged pedagogies within classrooms, counseling offices, and libraries.Showcases original artwork and images in full color by Grace D. Player, one of the coauthors.

This edited collection will stand as the first volume that specifically describes service-learning programs and courses designed as part of teacher education programs in the fields of literacy education, secondary English education, elementary language arts education, and related fields. The contributing authors describe the programs they have developed at their universities and/or in their local communities, providing information about the rationale for their initiative, the design of the course, the outcomes of the experience, and other matters that will help literacy educators develop similar courses and experiences of their own.Additionally, this edited collection will fill a great gap in the field’s knowledge of alternative forms of teacher education. It will provide descriptions of service-learning initiatives that have been field-tested with demonstrable results. Thus far the field has produced widely scattered articles in journals covering a variety of disciplines, but no definitive collection of papers in which service-learning designed to promote literacy instruction is housed in a single volume edited for cross-referencing and thematic categorization.The two editors have developed courses and received grants to support service-learning initiatives at their universities and believe that others might develop similar programs if they had better understandings of their value and design. Their intention with this volume is to promote service-learning more broadly among literacy educators.