In this paper, drawing on Bakhtin's carnival theory, I argue that teachers can play a transgressive role--similar to that of the carnival fool--by taking on a story role and by interacting with the children in the drama convention of Teacher-in-Role. The carnival notion of 'decrowning-crowning' allows me to understand how the teachers disguise and…

Teaching Love is a commentary and response to "Teaching the power of the word," an ethnodrama based on a series of narrative interviews conducted with an outstanding teacher of English in the Chicago Public Schools, Anise Arcova, written by Charles Vanover (and also submitted to "QSE" as an original work). Brown and Vanover…

The funds of knowledge framework promotes connecting community contexts with curriculum aimed to activate children's prior knowledge. Typically, teachers determine what knowledge sources harmonise best with their existing programming, potentially omitting particular resources that may not align. Young children, on the other hand, can act as agents…

In this article, we consider the aesthetic, political and pedagogical strengths of a verbatim theatre performance, "The Middle Place" by Project: Humanity, a play that explores the experiences of shelter youth in Toronto, Canada. This ethnographic study moved from drama classrooms into theatres and charted audience responses to the…

Drawing on the theory of dialogism and the literature on children's culture and cultural resistance, this article investigates the contextual and textual features of the cultural making of a group of children in sociodramatic play in a Hong Kong kindergarten. Different from other, similar studies, this study reports that under the gaze of the…

This paper presents data from a study examining the use of Theatre of the Oppressed as a critical pedagogy and research method for exploring notions of identity, belonging, and culture with francophone secondary students (Schroeter, 2009). It describes the process whereby Black African-Canadian students with refugee backgrounds identified their…

In this article, the author argues that storytelling is centrally important to education research. The proliferation of narrative methodologies, albeit significant and innovative in the evolution of qualitative studies in education, has, nonetheless, not been accompanied by a theoretical body that has captured the complexities--ethical and…

This article draws from three ethnographic studies of children playing sociodramatically in multilingual, multicultural contexts. Countering a deficit perspective that focuses on what children from nondominant cultures do not know, we use the concept of syncretism to illuminate children's expertise and intentionality as they blend knowledge from…

While some studies have examined second language (L2) learning in young children who have at least one peer who speaks the same first language (L1) in the same preschool classroom (Clarke, 1999; Damhuis, 1993; Fraser & Wakefield, 1986), little research has been done concerning a young child learning an L2 through play in a natural setting in…

Describes children's participating in dramatic play activities that are teacher or peer governed. Illustrates children's use of cultural symbols as material for story construction and social affiliation. Argues for a literacy curriculum in which cultural symbols are open to critical examination. (Author/SK)

Used both a noncontextual mode and a natural history mode of analyzing the emotionally charged dramas that form an important part of the socialization of Inuit children. Focused on a three year old's participation in such a drama. Analyzed themes and plots of the incident. (MM)

Examines the nature of children's creative drama in different cultures (English speaking, Chinese, and Amerindian) through a case study approach. Details other research items that modified and amplified this study. Describes some substantive outcomes and provides indicators for subsequent ethnographic research in the field. (MS)

Discusses the effect of culture on creative drama. Provides an overview of the following features of creative drama in cultures previously examined: identification, mediation, transformation, empathy, metaphor and symbol, structures and dynamics, roles, communication, and audience. Summarizes emergent issues and relates them to the nature and…

Based on an ethnographic study in an urban classroom of 7- to 9-year olds, this book examines how young school children use popular culture, especially superhero stories, in the unofficial peer social world and in the official school literary curriculum. In one sense, the book is about children "writing superheroes"--about children…

This book examines dramatic interactions between a 3-year-old Inuit girl and the adults in her world. In these playful yet emotionally charged dramas, Inuit adults enact with children the plots that drive Inuit social life; they test, act out problems, entertain themselves, and create children who think and feel like an Inuit. The child, Chubby…