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 features the acceptance speech given by the author at the NCTE Elementary Section Get-Together on November 15, 2007, where she received the 2007 Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts Award. In this speech, the author shares some of the observations she has made about the African American children's literature published in…

In "Reading "Salt and Pepper"" Anderson examines a story written by three third grade girls and their insights about that story as they re-read it during its production and retrospectively, eight years later. Using a frame for understanding children's writing as social practice, the children's interviews, showing their multiple and sometimes…

Most new English language learners spend their school days in monolingual teachers' classrooms. This study examines the writing practices taken on and negotiated by multilingual class members within two multiage elementary classrooms. This article details the writing practices enacted and constructed in the daily writing lives of elementary…

Using the "Boxed Voices" project as one way to connect traditional and non-traditional literacies, the author examines her work with preservice and inservice teachers (university students) as they develop and sustain collaborative, literate learning communities. In her multiliteracy process, the author takes the reader from theory to practice as…

Welcome to the Pine Cone Wars, as enacted by Mrs. Kay's children in her urban first grade. The children brought these wars from the playground to the classroom, reformulating them within the possibilities and constraints of the daily writing time. The Pine Cone Wars thus illustrate the inevitable interplay between the official world we shape as…

In an increasingly globalized world, in which demographics suggest that the U. S. population is becoming increasingly diverse, educational institutions are focusing almost exclusively on "learning outcomes" and generally ignoring "learning incomes"--i.e., what students bring with them when they come to school. To mitigate this trend, the author…

This qualitative work analyzes what parents, teachers, and children say about reading when Accelerated Reader and Reading Renaissance are used for reading instruction. Critical discourse analysis offered a glimpse at beliefs about reading and how power relations were embedded in what teachers, parents, and children said about AR and reading.…

The purpose of this study was to examine Firefly (Preschool) and Seesaw (K-1) Scholastic book club order forms for a period of one year--from September of 2004 through June of 2005--in order to determine which authors and illustrators of children's literature, particularly those of color, were routinely included and excluded. This study was…

Recently, transactional reader response theory has been criticized for providing an inadequate theoretical guide for the study of multicultural literature. Some scholars argue that Rosenblatt assumes the reader and her response to literature are ideologically innocent and the continuum of aesthetic and efferent stance does not encompass critical…

As important as accuracy may be to nonfiction writers, few have taken such risks as Sy Montgomery in gathering information for her articles, books, and films. In this profile article, Young recounts many of the risks and adventures Montgomery has taken for the sake of accurate and impassioned writing. Montgomery says, "I consider my books love…

Being a critical reader of data is an integral part of being fully literate in today's information age. In this article the authors underscore the interdisciplinary importance of this stance by drawing upon theoretical perspectives from both the fields of language and mathematics. They argue that all texts, including statistical ones, must be…

This paper explores the potential of photography for teaching, learning, and studying literacy in elementary school classrooms. We examine the ways shifting between communication systems (photography, oral language and writing) impacts students' ability to problem solve and create rich texts. Specifically, we explore the roles photography plays in…

In this paper, the authors raise concerns regarding the use of cognitive strategy instruction (CSI) in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) classrooms. The authors recognize the potential benefits afforded by CSI. At the same time, they argue that counter to the intentions of those who have developed CSI, it may be implemented in ways that…

This article presents a case study of a kindergarten girl from a Bangladeshi immigrant family who demonstrates her multiliteracies as she negotiates the multiple demands of the mandated literacy curriculum. The case is drawn from a year-long ethnographic inquiry of the literacy practices and cultural models in a balanced literacy curriculum where…