This ethnographic study documents how a space for critical literacy practices emerged as one teacher attempted to make literacy learning authentic. The school lunch program in an urban elementary district provided the theme for an authentic and focused literacy unit. Throughout this focus unit, the students not only met state standards but also…

The article focuses on the notion of tablet technologies as placed resources (Prinsloo, 2005; Prinsloo & Rowsell, 2012) by exploring how an international research project in Australia, Canada, and the United States forged community through online spaces. There is a tendency in media and in literature to romanticize technologies like iPads as a…

In recent years, scholars and other educators have encouraged language arts teachers to include LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) issues and texts in their classrooms. Despite these efforts, scholars have pointed out that LGBT perspectives are seldom included in language arts pedagogy. Studies of teacher attitudes toward addressing LGBT…

This teacher research study took place in a bilingual second-grade classroom in the southwestern United States. The study investigates the "cuentos" told during "platicas literarias"/literature discussions and explores how five young Latinas used their cuentos to communicate meaning through intertextual connections. These…

Jeniffer, a self-proclaimed "schoolgirl" who was a bilingual Mexican American fifth-grade student, lacked confidence in her abilities in reading and language arts. However, her dialogue journal correspondence with her teacher in her native language of Spanish describing her transnational experiences demonstrated vivid, descriptive writing with…

Considerable research indicates that high-stakes accountability policies have the capacity to influence language arts instruction, particularly in urban, high-needs schools where pressure to increase test scores tends to be most acute. This article utilizes Cultural Historical Activity Theory to critically examine the constraints and affordances…

In this research, two questions related to arts integration are studied: First, the extent to which sixth and seventh grade students' language arts and mathematics performance, as well as their engagement with school are positively impacted by classroom settings in which theater strategies are integrated into language arts instruction; and second,…

Literacy centers are widely used by teachers seen as being effective in promoting literacy (Pressley, Rankin, & Yokoi, 2000); yet little research has been completed on how or why they are effective. Based on the social cultural constructivist theory posited by Vygotsky (1978), and research theories of Dyson (1993), the peer dialogue at the…

Describes inviting fourth-graders to use their own language to describe mathematical ideas, postponing the use of technical vocabulary so students can explain the significant concepts and ideas in their own way first. Discusses how this use of metaphorical language to teach math concepts can enliven student interest and understanding, and infuse…

Reports research on providing communication skills through art activities in the primary grades. (RL)

Reports on a study of 10 primary grade teachers in four multi-age classrooms (formed in response to a Kentucky state mandate to implement non-graded, multi-age, primary programs for children ages 5-9). Examines what teachers did to make language arts instruction work, and their continuing efforts and struggles to meet the needs of a wide variety…

Presents highlights of four "learning biographies" resulting from observations of children's writing in response to literature. The observations indicated that the connections children made to texts in reading and writing and how these are used to develop writing strategies and competence were related to their motivations and…

Describes an informal classroom research project that explored how children perceive the changes they make in their writing and what they think about when they write. (HTH)

Presents a case study of a sixth grade teacher trying to increase her use of literature for language arts instruction. Shows the challenges and successes of attempting to get better at teaching. (PRA)

Outlines principles for assessments that are supportive of teaching and learning, and discusses qualities that such assessments must have in order to be useful for reporting information to the public. Introduces a language-arts assessment (the Elementary Literacy Profiles) designed to embody these principles and qualities so that it will be…