Language Arts
Vol. 95, No. 6, July 2018
Through a case study, this article features how three teachers working with emergent bilingual students adapted formative reading assessments by creating a space for translanguaging within these assessments. The findings demonstrate that through these shifts, called responsive adaptations, teachers were able to construct an accurate portrait of these students’ reading development. In addition, when students’ translanguaging was welcomed into the reading assessment process, it became apparent that their bilingual abilities were essential to their development as readers. This article aims to inspire and aid teachers in identifying the language resources students bring to classrooms, integrating responsive adaptations into their reading assessment practices, and reflecting upon how to support both students’ reading and language growth.
If These Walls Could Talk: The Communication of Literacy through Teacher-Created Charts
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Teacher-created charts are a local expression of the literacy practices and beliefs within a classroom. They communicate ideas about what literacy is and are reflective of larger discourses about literacy. In this article, the authors examine the teacher-created charts they found in one elementary school and what the charts might communicate about literacy. Specifically, three questions are considered: 1) How can charts communicate a multidimensional perspective of literacy? 2) How can charts be used to display complex ideas? 3) How can charts be used to invite and display collective thinking?
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Jeffrey Wilhelm and Chris Butts discuss how to move teachers and students toward expert and joyful reading through inquiry as cognitive apprenticeship.
This article focuses on unlearning stereotypical representations of Indigenous peoples and replacing harmful narratives with accurate information and understandings. Teachers are critical in categorizing, selecting, and (re)presenting Indigenous communities through children’s literature.
Children’s Literature Reviews: 2017 Notable Poetry Books for Children
In this column, we feature some of our favorite poetry titles for children, published in 2017.
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In this contribution, a literacy teacher educator describes how she used responses to an assignment about race and literacy test scores to redesign course curriculum.
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