Language and Literacy – serie

In ""The Languages of Learning"" Karen Gallas offers a new approach to understanding how young children in early and elementary grades communicate their knowledge of the world and the ways in which that kind of understanding can transform the educative process. In addition to expanding the traditional definition of narrative to include all forms of expression, the book also offers an original conceptualisation of what a classroom community is and how it is shaped. The book introduces new models for learning about science as well as an argument for, and description of, how the arts can transform the curriculum. Finally, Gallas describes, first hand, the process of doing teacher research, and what distinguishes that process from other kinds of educational research.

Karen Gallas provides us with a window into children's thinking about the world, enabling us to see how students build complex theories, identify important questions, and begin to enter the world of science, all within the naturalistic setting of the classroom.As the title suggests, this book treats classroom science as a particular type of discourse, with its own set of language and thinking practices. Gallas describes the content, structure, and practice of her child-centered approach, explains how the teacher's role in Science Talks develops and changes over time, and discusses how the use of Science Talks could transform science instruction as a whole. The full transcripts of two such talks included in the appendix, in addition to many smaller quoted interchanges throughout the text, will fascinate readers.

This valuable resource offers an alternative framework for middle and secondary school English instruction. The authors provide concrete strategies for engaging students in critical inquiry projects about the social worlds they inhabit or about those portrayed in literature and the media—their peer, school, family, romance, community, workplace, and virtual worlds. You will find numerous examples of middle and high school students using various literacy tools (language, genres, narratives, signs, multimedia, and drama) to study, represent, critique, and transform these worlds. Rather than simply studying about literacy practices, this new framework shows how students learn best through active participation driven by a need to critically examine and promote changes in their social worlds.

Featuring contributions from a stellar group of teachers and researchers, this volume opens new territory on a critical but rarely addressed topic—the intersection of race with literacy research and practice. Grounded in classroom experiences, this insightful volume:Shows how race is constructed through literacy instruction and how adopting a “colorblind” stance serves to maintain a system of racism that is pervasive in and out of schools.Develops authentic knowledge of teaching and learning practices to insure that student and teacher voices are heard.Considers the ethics of research agendas and the consequences of their findings, discussing the importance of research in addressing issues of racial inequality in school literacy achievement.Details the value of the research process itself, coming to terms with the researcher’s aims, audiences, and his or her responsibilities as a potential agent of change.

Formative and design experiments represent a methodology uniquely suited for educational research in general and literacy research in particular. Providing a practical overview of this emerging and promising approach, the authors address the following questions: What is the origin of formative and design experiments and how do they compare to other approaches to investigating interventions in classrooms? How do you conceptualize, plan, conduct, and report formative and design experiments? What practical, ethical, and methodological issues might be encountered when using this approach? What is the current status and future potential of this approach?

This provocative new title in the ""NCRLL Collection"" is a call to action for new and experienced scholars to examine their bias and adopt a more critically conscious stance in their work. Balancing an historical grounding with contemporary research, this book focuses on how critical theories are manifested in language and literacy research. The authors discuss critical consciousnesses in various places, at various times in the world, and at varying levels in language and literacy research. They examine some overlooked roots and routes to present-day critical thinking and predict how branches of theorizing may emerge, evolve, and transform research in a democratic society.

This comprehensive textbook introduces readers to the most influential theories and models of reading and literacy, ranging from behaviorism and early information processing theories to social constructionist and critical theories. Focusing on how these theories connect with different curricular approaches to literacy instruction from pre-K to grade 12, the author shows how these theories both shape and are shaped by everyday literacy practices in classrooms. Readers are invited to explore detailed vignettes that offer a practice-based view of theories as they are brought to life in classrooms. Unlike other books on literacy theories, Reading Theory devotes substantial attention to linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms and 21st-century technologies.

This book offers a solid research and theoretical foundation for combining social studies and literacy instruction. A collaboration between a literacy scholar, two classroom teachers, and a school librarian, this volume also shows teachers how to engage middle and high school students in historical inquiry that incorporates literacy skills like reading complex texts and writing elaborated arguments. The authors present extended simulation activities that immerse students in three eras of U.S. history: European incursions into North America, pre-Revolutionary War colonialism, and the Civil War and Reconstruction. These simulations allow learners to experience these major periods of U.S. history while they discuss, read, and write in ways that align closely with the Common Core State Standards. The final chapter guides teachers in constructing their own classroom simulations and identifies useful resources.

As an alternative to reductive views of emergent literacy, Lysaker explains how wordless books help young children to develop a range of comprehension abilities that are important for understanding narrative texts. Readers will find concrete methods to help them gauge, document, and respond to children as they make meaning of wordless books.

As an alternative to reductive views of emergent literacy, Lysaker explains how wordless books help young children to develop a range of comprehension abilities that are important for understanding narrative texts. Readers will find concrete methods to help them gauge, document, and respond to children as they make meaning of wordless books.

Emphasizing learning over evaluation, the think-aloud approach is especially well-suited to revealing students' strengths and helping them overcome common challenges to writing. This book describes how to implement the think-aloud method and shows how this method is flexible and adaptable to any writing assignment and classroom context.