This article (1) argues that literacy is being redefined as a result of the use of digital media, and (2) provides suggestions for policy makers, budget decision-makers, teachers, researchers, and interested others about literacy and language arts standards, assessment, and teaching related to "new literacies," including: (a) Maximize the…

This article presents a review of the author's long-term research in urban classrooms. The authors explore six illustrated information books created by children as culminating activities of integrated science-literacy units, Forest and Matter, that they developed, implemented, and studied in several 1st-3rd grade classrooms in Chicago Public…

This article examines the curricular possibilities within critical inquiry-based primary classrooms. The children in this first through third grade multi-age, multi-lingual classroom participated in a two-year critical and collaborative inquiry around issues of segregation and the Jim Crow laws. A touchstone text, Freedom Summer (Wiles, 2001) and…

"Reggio Emilia" is a remarkable, interdisciplinary inquiry-based approach typically found in preschools. What happens when elementary teachers confined by curricular mandates embrace key features of this learner-centered philosophy? This article provides compelling evidence that when multiple literacies are harnessed in support of inquiry, the…

Describes how a teacher explores the bullying behavior of a girl in her class to understand how kids negotiate for power within a learning community. Discusses activities she used to explore and examine the behaviors in her class. Focuses on understanding processes and practices, not on fixing or "normalizing" individuals. (SG)

Examines the ways teachers-to-be sought to position themselves and children within power-knowledge relationships in the context of the pen pal letters, and the difference such positionings made for the child writers and the preservice teachers. Explores the parallels between the ways preservice teachers took up particular modes of address and the…

Considers how children can use tableau (a still, silent performance that involves three-dimensional representations) to move beyond language in developing new understandings about life and literature. Documents primary students' planning and variations in their interpretations of tableau based on a picture book. Concludes that theatre helps people…

Observes the point when students begin to see the role that words play in their lives. Discusses how the author wants each student to begin acquiring the many different discourses that will make him or her successful in school, and in life. (SG)

Discusses how Wera, a recent immigrant from Poland, uses memoir as a tool to reflect on her life while shaping her identity between school and family. Presents three scenes to describe her work. Discusses how the three scenes focus on using life knowledge and experiences in building of self, writing as a tool for identity construction, and…

Focuses on interactive journals and literature study to illustrate four principles: connect students' background knowledge and personal experiences with literacy lessons; foster the use of students' primary language in literacy lessons; create opportunities for students to meaningfully and authentically apply their developing oral language and…

Describes a "dialogic" (Bakhtin, 1981) writing workshop that is responsive to the social priorities of children and that reconsiders dilemmas within an alternative framework. Notes that the experiences and tests of two writers in third grade highlight the way identity and sense of self can be developed and explored in a writing community that…

Presents a story of the collaboration of two educators who developed communities of learners in their own classroom contexts. Describes the experiences shared as they reflected, revised, and struggled to improve their own practice. Discusses their continual struggle with ways to fully engage all students in the community-building process. (SG)

Explores what children would talk about if adults encourage them to talk, avoid dictating the topic, and just listen. Concludes that children told mostly about events that had just happened, and they nearly always put themselves into their stories. (SG)

Describes how a teacher developed Reflective Fridays (a day with time set aside for reflective thinking, talking, and writing) as a way to support young children in using reflection as a learning tool. Considers ways to nudge students forward. Discusses different types of thinking. Concludes that the author's students have shown her that they…

Explores graphical, hypertextual, interactive elements of children's literature and compares them to the characteristics of writing taught in early elementary school. Finds mismatches between ways children are taught to write and the materials they are reading. Discusses finding places where early elementary writing instruction can be updated to…