This paper details the visual responses created by a group of preservice teachers reading a series of contemporary graphic novels about adolescence. Visual response is here understood as an interpretive methodology of transmediation, informed by theorists of multimodal literacies as well as particular forms of psychoanalytic inquiry related to…

This article explores how a reading group of pre-service teachers responded to the endings of three contemporary young adult texts and what such responses may imply about the interpretive preferences of teacher education. Set in the context of a Faculty of Education at a Canadian university, and using the lens of psychoanalytic theory, this…

Tensions and contradictions in my personal practice and in the extant research prompted this study of preservice teachers' responses to trans-themed young adult literature. I adopted a self-study methodology to identify and address the shortcomings in my practice of including trans-themed literature in a Literature for Adolescents course. Through…

Misconceptions, stereotypes, and deficit views of Mexican immigrants are pervasive in the current U.S. media. Such views are inconsistent with culturally responsive pedagogy, and teachers who hold them will be impeded in their abilities to teach Mexican immigrant children effectively (Nathenson-Mejia & Escamilla, 2003). Research supports the…

The effective application of food science depends on social constraints, yet the training for food scientists does not adequately consider the contested social context under which food is processed, packaged, and prepared. We recently co-taught a new course ("Arguing about food") intended to introduce students to critical perspectives on…

Literacy and learning is a social process, one that is both transformative, empowering, and can often lead to social change. The following study is based on the idea that literacy can be used as a tool not only to teach the basic skills of reading, but the skills for individuals to learn to be compassionate towards others, understand their…

Writing to persuade is an important writing purpose that students and learners need to develop and use both in their academic lives and in the workplace. The Common Core State Standards set specific expectations for students' opinion writing starting from Kindergarten. This article explains the use of response to reading as a way to introduce…

The authors share findings from a recent study of teens who freely select to read texts typically marginalized by schools (dystopia, vampire, romance, horror, fantasy), revealing the distinct functional and psychological benefits of pleasure reading. The students who participated in the study that the authors report on were eighth graders who…

Chinese has intimidated heritage language learners as it is believed to be notoriously difficult (Liu, 2008). Traditional Chinese education, which focuses on linguistic skills and is mainly acquired by recitation and memorization, tends to drive students from maintaining and regaining their inherited language and culture (Curdt-Christiansen,…

The aim of this study was to identify and characterize children's perspectives on a picture book's themes and characters by examining their drawings. The study was conducted over a five-month period in a public kindergarten in southern Taiwan, with six children aged 5-6 years. Picture book appreciation activities focused on eight picture books.…

The purpose of this article is to investigate the struggles of teacher education students when confronted with establishing a social justice curriculum. The authors' work focuses on using multicultural literature as a starting point for the critical conversations that drive curricular changes. Introducing ideas of culturally responsive pedagogy…

E-book reading is generally considered suboptimal because people engaging in e-book reading tend to browse through digital texts. As a result, studies concerning students' e-book preference in academic contexts have shown that students less prefer using e-books than hardcopy books when engaging in academic reading which is considered intensive…

Authentication projects, particularly for historical fiction, provide a means for students to explore literature and history while practicing critical literacy skills. The authors 1) present benefits and cautions for historical fiction use in elementary classrooms, 2) introduce authentication projects as a means to mitigate risks and enhance…

As writing instructors, the authors spend hours "talking back" to their students through written comments on their drafts. But how do student writers receive their comments, and what do they "do" with this feedback? Teachers invest so much time and energy in their responses to papers. How do they know what gets through, what makes sense to their…

This article combines interview data from a group of boys of color at an urban single-sex school and content analysis of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" to demonstrate the complexities of readers' responses to literature. Textual relevance, or the ability to construct personal…