Language Arts
Vol. 96, No. 1, September 2018
In this article, we explore the Speech Bubbles, Graphic Stories, Flip Books, Storyboards research study that took place in a combined grade 3/4 classroom in Canada. Moving from story narratives to graphic texts to animated texts, children steadily worked from one text genre to the next, transforming media and similar storylines into multiple modes and media and getting inside of the logic and sensibilities of modes. Applying newer frameworks within literacy studies, such as the notions of elastic literacies (Wargo, 2017) and “sticky and messy practices” (Garcia, 2017b), we analyze how children worked determinedly on their graphic texts with the support and guidance of a graphic writer and animator along with their teacher and researchers.
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This qualitative, descriptive study, conducted in the southwestern United States analyzes first graders’ playful responses to literature. The ways children constructed meaning as they read and responded to wordless picturebooks specifically provided rich information about how children connect their experiences and knowledge to books without words. Children drew from popular culture and their myriad sociocultural resources as they used play to respond to wordless picturebooks. They created a site for learning and understanding that allowed them to share their personal experiences, intertextual knowledge, and youth culture as they became characters and retold stories through their imaginative play. The findings of this study urge researchers and practitioners to consider how responsive play and wordless picturebooks might be valued and utilized in the classroom as practical and integral components of an early literacy curriculum that supports the culture of childhood.
The author mines her research history for moments in three children’s lives that illustrate interconnections between participation in popular culture and in-school composing.
Language Arts Lessons: Using Augmented and Virtual Reality in the Language Arts Classroom
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This column outlines key principles that should underpin the use of augmented and virtual reality in the language arts classroom.
Invited Dialogue: A Critical Dialogue with Jabari Mahiri
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This article features a critical dialogue with Dr. Jabari Mahiri about his past and current scholarship on youth, race, and popular culture.
Children’s Literature Reviews:Complex Characters, Rich Storylines: Series Books with Sophistication
In this column, we feature quality series books for students in grades K–8.
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Using viewpoints of cultural and linguistic models of Deaf people and culture, this article focuses on educational media and teaching practices that foster children’s learning.