Storytelling can help youth, families, and communities make sense of their experiences, allowing them to process the past and plan their futures (Bruner; Flores; Jones). The authors argue that the practice of storytelling in biographical learning can be especially powerful when working with youth of color and Indigenous youth--children whose…

This design was intended to act as a template for technology integration for preservice teachers in an English language arts class. However, the unintended result was a celebration of cultural heritage and increased classroom community. Through the project, 23 preservice teachers used online tools to design digital scrapbook pages that reflected…

Secondary preservice teachers (N = 67) in a required content area literacy course and 30-hour field experience presented tradebooks, biographies, as well as pre, during, and after reading lessons based on topics in their content area to middle and high school students. At the end of the semester, they were asked to complete an anonymous survey.…

This article outlines the design of a new service-learning component central to a graduate course on teaching elementary and middle school writing. The service-learning involves course participants acting as mentors to middle school students as they write personal histories of local African American, Cape Verdean, and Puerto Rican senior citizens.…