Education | Open Access Articles | Digital Commons Network™

The Literary Tarot, The Literary Classics Edition Guidebook, And Oracle's Atlas: A Companion To The Literary Tarot Classics Edition From The Brink Literacy Project, Emily E. Auger

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Review of The Literary Tarot, The Literary Tarot Classics Edition Guidebook, and Oracle's Atlas: A Companion to the Literary Tarot Classics Edition. © 2022 Brink Literacy Project. UPC 195893099603.

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Building Connections: The Power Of Embedding Literacy And Math Content Into Science And Social Studies Contexts, Rachel Hallett-Njuguna Edd

Constellations: Online STEM Teacher Education Journal

Nationally, the lack of improvement in literacy scores continues to baffle experts. Instructional leaders from math, science, and social studies in one district knew the value of leveraging their subject areas to support literacy achievement in secondary students. Starting with an engaging STEM-related novel, the group of curriculum experts developed meaningful literacy connected tasks for their teacher and teacher leader participants. Working through the activities as their students would, the group found a new appreciation for the importance of leveraging the relevance of science and social studies content and the usefulness of math content when creating literacy lessons. The group’s …

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“We Flourish”: The Role Of Bipoc Parents In Diversifying Children’S Literature, Kayla Neal

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

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Building A Beloved Community Of Literacy In Professional Spaces, Elizabeth Petroelje Stolle, Jennifer L. Vanderground

Michigan Reading Journal

This article shares the experiences of two literacy teacher educators who sought to create a beloved community for both themselves and the teachers with whom they work within their professional spaces. The authors emphasize the importance of fostering safe, collaborative environments that promote personal and professional growth. Drawing from the principles of the Beloved Community, popularized by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the authors discuss the value of embracing a growth mindset when building such communities. Specifically, the article delves into two different professional development models as effective frameworks for cultivating beloved communities: Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and Learning Labs …

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Curriculum As Theology: A Framework For Analyzing Curriculum As Theological Text, Russell Miller

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

This article seeks to establish a framework that contemplates curriculum as theological text by exploring the works of Neil Postman, W.F. Pinar, and C.S. Lewis in relation to past and present research and commentary. The paper investigates a range of concepts related to theology and curriculum including culture and religion, ethics, and morality. The author argues that curriculum is intrinsically a theological endeavor due to the nature of humanity and the interaction between learning and spiritual development.

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Toward A Theory Of An Integrated Theoretical Approach Of Literacy For Black Boys, Aaron M. Johnson

Michigan Reading Journal

In the education landscape the literacy of Black boys is viewed from deficit framing. Often, educators, politicians, and laypeople point to scores on standardized assessments such as the MSTEP, NAEP, ACT, SAT, and NWEA, these tests only tell a part of the story. The part of the story that those assessments do tell is the abject failure of schools’ ability to engage Black boys in school-based literacy and catapult them into proficient and advanced proficient reading levels. The part of the story that those assessments do not tell is the literate lives that Black boys lead. Furthermore, schools do a …

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Teacher Candidate Self-Efficacy And Ability To Teach Literacy: A Comparison Of Residency And Traditional Teacher Preparation Models, Doreen L. Mazzye, Michelle A. Duffy, Richard L. Lamb

Journal of Global Education and Research

This comparative study explored self-efficacy and ability for scientifically-based literacy instruction between a traditional and residency model of teacher preparation. Pre-/post-survey data was collected using the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy for Literacy Scale. Mentor teachers completed a modified version of the survey on candidates’ abilities. Data were analyzed using paired sample t-tests, independent sample t-tests, and a trend analysis. Results revealed that candidates in the Residency Model held higher levels of self-efficacy for literacy instruction than in the Traditional Model. Mentor teachers rated candidates in the Residency Model as more able to teach literacy than those in the …

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“In The Cards”: The Material Textuality Of Tarotological Reading, Jesse R. Erickson

Criticism

This article examines deep-seated relationships that inextricably bind the material makeup of divinatory card decks to their multifarious literacy functions. Unpacking the deceptive underlying complexities in these objects requires both an ontological analysis of their multicultural rootedness and a speculative exploration of their propensity for memetic adaptation. The concept of “reading” cards as textual objects has typically existed on the fringes of Western literacy paradigms. In reality, however, considering the rather commonplace use of pedagogical objects such as alphabet cards and flash cards, the practice of reading cards should be recognized for its considerable role in literacy instruction. In looking …

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“I Want Them To See The Real Us Not Just What They What They Want Us To Be…”: Cultivating A ‘Literate Language Of The Soul’ For Radical Hope, Patriann Smith

Literacy Practice and Research

In this conceptual essay, I argue that radical hope can be fostered through literacies of timeless learning based on student-created literature in literacy and English language arts classrooms as an endeavor of soul education, allowing teachers and youth to cultivate a literate language of the soul. Drawing on tenets of soul education and its interconnections with affect theory and Ubuntu as an African spirituality, I describe how literacy and English language arts teachers working with predominantly Black middle-school youth connected their histories, backgrounds, stories, and understandings while engaging with literature created by their students. I argue that exploring literacies …

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“How Come There’S No Spelling?”: What Spontaneous Comments Teach Us About Student Thinking During Vocabulary Learning Tasks, Susan J. Chambrè

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Vocabulary development remains an active and robust research area, yet little is known about what students, particularly young students, think during vocabulary learning. A commonly held assumption is that young learners employ few, if any, cognitive and metacognitive strategies when engaged in literacy tasks. Conversely, decades of research confirms that older learners with active metacognitive tools are better equipped to make meaning from text, of which vocabulary is a crucial component. To better understand the strategies and metacognitive actions young students make when learning vocabulary, student comments (N = 35) spontaneously produced during two experimental vocabulary learning tasks were reviewed …

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Growing The Use Of Multicultural Literature Through Accretion, Robert Kelly Jr., Lunetta M. Williams

The Reading Professor

Children's books play a significant role in students' academic progress as well as in social and cultural learning. The opportunties afforded children through picture books should be a result of intentional choices. In this article, we provide guidance to preservice teachers on intentionally selecting multicultural literature. Current research suggests that authenticity and accuracy are two important elements of multicultural literature. We add to the body of research on multicultural literature by presenting accretion, the concept of expanding breadth of a cultural aspect. Included is a list of suggested picture books that demonstrate three expanded areas of accretion: content, illustrator studies, …

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Wakanda: Opening The High School Classroom To Afrofuturism, Carrie M. Mattern

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Afrofuturism has a solid place in high school classrooms thanks to the current work of Ryan Coogler, but also to those who have been in this work for decades including the Mother of Afrofuturism herself, Octavia Butler, adrienne maree brown, dream hampton, and a litany of Black poets and artists. This article leaps inside an Afrofuturistic unit curated for high school seniors with feedback and insight from their teachers and also the students who buckled up for a journey through time, space, and place.

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What Counts As Literacy In The Polytechnic Hispanic Serving Institution? Culturally Sustaining Frameworks For Writing Assignments, Assessment, And Language Use, Lisa Tremain, Jill Anderson, Beth Eschenbach, Nicolette Amann, Kerry Marsden

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This article theorizes and describes classroom pedagogies that support the development of students’ disciplinary literacies through culturally sustaining, socially just approaches. Drawing primarily from the framework of culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP) (Paris, 2012; Alim, Paris & Wong, 2020), the authors suggest strategies for writing assignment and assessment designs that support students’ multilingual and multiliterate ways of knowing. These strategies intentionally invite and integrate students’ multiple ways of knowing and being in and outside of the polytechnic HSI. They also ask instructors to decenter the ways that whiteness operates in their curricula and programs. The authors conclude the article by arguing …

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Critical Representation: Mattering & Belonging For Students Of The Global Majority, Rebecca E. Haslam

Middle Grades Review

Critical representation in literature and curricula requires an emancipatory agenda and examination of the ways in which people of diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, and other socially marginalized identities are portrayed, an assessment of how relevant, affirming, and accurate those representations are, and a consideration of the impact on a child’s sense of self and ‘other.’ This essay includes sample audit criteria for critical representation highlighting five sections: Storyline & Sense of Justice; Affirmation & Self-Worth; Relationships Among People; Author/Illustrator Background; and Language & Terminology, all with a focus on ‘mattering’ and holistic wellbeing of students of the global majority. Audit …

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Digital Curation And Complex Decision Making: A School District’S Literacy Initiative, Sue Ann Sharma, Mark Edward Deschaine

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Schools are in the process of incorporating professional development activities to prepare technology-proficient educators to utilize information and communication tools to meet the pedagogical needs of 21st-century students and learners. This research addresses the challenges of and preservation possibilities for the digital work of learning communities across instructional domains and levels. The digital curation efforts that support a school district’s literacy and curriculum initiatives are examined. We conclude with suggestions for future research, professional development, and practice.

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Cutting As A Literacy Practice: Exploring The Fractured Body, Desire And Rage Through Queer And Trans*+ Youth Embodiments, Bess Van Asselt

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

By attending to the ways in which cutting manifests in the life histories of three queer and trans*+ youth of color, I argue that cutting is a literacy practice. I focus on the life histories of three youth, Jay, Harper and Sam, who have different experiences, reasons for, and reactions to their cutting. With each story, we learn something new about the act and how it pushes us to the brink of literacy pedagogy. Jay’s narrative forces us to reckon with youth who refuse to or cannot maintain their bodily integrity. Harper’s story brings to the fore the violence of …

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Defining Critical Literacy: A Challenge To A Power Structure, Matt Albert

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Defining the concept of critical literacy is a difficult task because of its inherently murky boundaries. As time has progressed in the last four to five decades, attitudes and perceptions of literacy have shifted in ways which necessitate a redefining of the concept. This paper presents a retelling of an actual task presented to a graduate student by his committee. In that task, the committee asked for a concise (150 words or fewer) construction of a definition of critical literacy. This article begins with a very brief reflection on the task itself followed by the execution that attempted to circumvent …

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Reading Through The Pause: How Superintendents Viewed Literacy For Middle Grade Learners During The Pandemic, Dana Evans, Paige Paquette, Dionne Rosser-Mims, Terry Oatts, Brenda Coley

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

This paper highlights the voices of two superintendents' lived experiences guiding teachers, parents, and students in their districts during the pandemic shutdown. The emphasis of literacy education showcases the ways in which middle grades learners were able to continue discursive practices through online platforms to share and engage with texts. This reflective piece describes the process of perseverance in literacy education through the pandemic pause.

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Social Distancing: Closing The Gap Between Digital And Social Media Literacy Practices And Literacy Instruction, Rachel Besharat-Mann

New Jersey English Journal

As adolescents increasingly navigate texts through digital and social media, educators have the crucial task of understanding text production and consumption and bridging these literacy practices into classrooms. This article will discuss the different skill components for digital and social media literacy and application in the classroom.

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7 Hands-On Strategies For Struggling Readers, Elise Murray, Stacey Murray

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Struggling readers are found in almost every classroom across the world. With differing learning styles and abilities, teachers are encouraged now, more than ever, to be innovative when teaching foundational reading strategies. Within this article, readers are provided with a literature review of research and educational literature that discusses how multisensory, hands-on activities promote engagement and active learning for all students. The recommended seven hands-on learning strategies that can promote learning and support for struggling readers during literacy instruction include Build the Words, Feel the Words, Whole Body Letters, Five Finger Retell, Sight Word BINGO, …

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Free To Read: Growing Elementary Students' Literacy In The Summer, Allison M. Nieboer

Michigan Reading Journal

This article describes the implementation of “Free to Read”, a summer reading program with three key components: free student-selected books, Little Free Libraries and one-minute parent videos. The author explains how these three components come together to form a summer reading program that provides access and choice to a community of readers. Recommendations on creating such a program are shared at the end of the article.

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Relationships, Learning, And Motivation For One Virtual Literacy Camp During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Caitlin Spears, Heather D. Young

Educational Considerations

This article focuses on one university literacy camp for kindergarten through sixth grade students that shifted from traditional in-person instruction to a virtual setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The change from an in-person camp to a virtual camp setting created an opportunity for research in investigating students’ attitudes towards literacy, literacy learning, and participation within the newly formatted virtual literacy camp. Twenty-six kindergarten through sixth grade students were interviewed at the beginning and conclusion of a semester-long literacy camp regarding their attitudes toward learning and participation in the literacy camp. Throughout the data, researchers noted the theme of relationships as …

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Growing Literacy Skills With Visual Thinking Strategies On Virtual Art Museum Tours, Katie L. Nickel

Literacy Practice and Research

Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is an art curriculum and facilitation method developed by cognitive psychologist Abigail Housen and museum educator Philip Yenawine (Yenawine, 2013). Art museum educators employ VTS to support aesthetic appreciation through close looking and judgment-free discussions centered on works of art. In this article, I describe a virtual tour for K-5 students at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida that employs Visual Thinking Strategies and intentional language while paraphrasing student comments. Students on virtual tours build visual and reading literacy skills through facilitated engagement with art.

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Culturally Relevant Teaching For The 21st Century: The Success And Challenges Of Pre-Service Teachers When Using Technology In Critical Ways, Virginie Jackson, Stacy Delacruz, Dominique Harry

Georgia Journal of Literacy

This case study examined pre-service teachers' use of technology as they implemented culturally relevant literacy lessons while tutoring elementary students in their field placement sites. As we enter a new decade, we want our students to be future-ready with technology skills. Here, we present an examination of how pre-service teachers integrated culturally relevant teaching with technology along with a discussion of the tools and devices their students used. Findings provided evidence that as pre-service teachers experienced authentic and engaging learning experiences within a supportive space, they emerged equipped to teach in culturally responsive ways that supported student learning and deeper …

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Critical Awareness For Literacy Teachers And Educators In Troubling Times, Patriann Smith, S. Joel Warrican

Literacy Practice and Research

The field of literacy remains assailed by a persisting discrepancy between an increasing body of literacy research that honors the diversity in students’ practices juxtaposed against a persistent system of schooling and high-stakes assessment that has not been designed to draw from underrepresented students’ literate assets. This discrepancy has created a situation where teachers often receive well-intentioned instruction from literacy educators about how to address diverse literacy needs, but then, struggle to enact this instruction in the high-stakes testing environment of classrooms and schools where they have little autonomy. We argue in this essay that critical multilingual, critical multicultural and …

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Elementary School Library Collections: A Content Analysis Of Science Trade Books, Sandra W. Watson, Sheila F. Baker

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

In this study, science trade books from the libraries of 10 elementary schools across the United States were evaluated using the modified Hunsader rubric for their overall quality pertaining to science content, literacy, and critical literacy criteria. Findings indicate that 62% of the books met the overall science content criterion, 99% met the overall literacy criterion, and 41% met the overall critical literacy criterion. The majority of science trade books in each school were life science books, and the majority of books across all schools were 18–23 years old, with many being much older. Implications and recommendations are provided.

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Carrying The Stories Of Las Mariposas: Literacy As Collective And Transformative, Deborah Vriend Van Duinen

Michigan Reading Journal

Literacy is often understood as the acquisition of individual skills and knowledge. In this essay, I explore different approaches to understanding literacy that focus on social meaning-making and action. Drawing on historical examples of literacy learning and my recent experiences in a community-wide reading program focused on Julia Alvarez’s (1994) In the Time of the Butterflies, I use the concept of “carrying stories” to reflect on how literacy learning can be collective and transformative for self and society.

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Policies, Practices, Places, And People: How Elementary Preservice Teachers Learned Literacy Teaching, Chad H. Waldron

Michigan Reading Journal

This article features cases of how elementary education preservice teachers made sense of teaching literacy. Their contexts for teaching varied in policies, curricula, and demands for their literacy teaching, shaped their learning and understanding of literacy instruction and assessment as beginning teachers. The research featured in this article pushes upon conceptualizations of "good" literacy teaching and how mentor teachers serve a critical role in preparing the next generation of elementary literacy teachers. Recommendations are made on how to best support elementary preservice teachers in literacy instruction and assessment.

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Book Review Of A Young Writer's World: Creating Early Childhood Classrooms Where Authors Abound., Hannah D. Szatkowski

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

A Young Writer’s World: Creating Early Childhood Classrooms Where Authors Abound (Giles, 2020) provides early childhood educators with the knowledge and resources in order to create an immersive learning environment conducive for developing pre-school and kindergarten’s writing development. This book review evaluates the layout and key components of the text in order to identify the potential implications it could provide within an early childhood classroom.

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Changing Terms, Not Trends: A Critical Investigation Into Children’S & Young Adult Literature Publishing & Its Effect In Curriculum & Pedagogy, Keith Newvine, Sarah Fleming

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

The central argument proposed within this article is that while recent publishing trends in children’s and adolescent literature have changed for the better (Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2019) and research about the importance of diverse reading experiences for students has become concentrated, centered, and validated (Bishop, 1990; Adichie, 2009; Tschida, Ryan, & Ticknor, 2014; Thomas, 2016; Parker, 2020: Ebarvia, German, Parker, & Torres, 2020), many schools are still struggling with (or hesitant to) changing the texts centered in classrooms with youth. Therefore, this article provides practical steps that practicing teachers can take in order to center the voices and narratives …

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Full-Text Articles in Education

The Literary Tarot, The Literary Classics Edition Guidebook, And Oracle's Atlas: A Companion To The Literary Tarot Classics Edition From The Brink Literacy Project, Emily E. Auger

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Building Connections: The Power Of Embedding Literacy And Math Content Into Science And Social Studies Contexts, Rachel Hallett-Njuguna Edd

Constellations: Online STEM Teacher Education Journal

“We Flourish”: The Role Of Bipoc Parents In Diversifying Children’S Literature, Kayla Neal

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Building A Beloved Community Of Literacy In Professional Spaces, Elizabeth Petroelje Stolle, Jennifer L. Vanderground

Michigan Reading Journal

Curriculum As Theology: A Framework For Analyzing Curriculum As Theological Text, Russell Miller

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Toward A Theory Of An Integrated Theoretical Approach Of Literacy For Black Boys, Aaron M. Johnson

Michigan Reading Journal

Teacher Candidate Self-Efficacy And Ability To Teach Literacy: A Comparison Of Residency And Traditional Teacher Preparation Models, Doreen L. Mazzye, Michelle A. Duffy, Richard L. Lamb

Journal of Global Education and Research

“In The Cards”: The Material Textuality Of Tarotological Reading, Jesse R. Erickson

Criticism

“I Want Them To See The Real Us Not Just What They What They Want Us To Be…”: Cultivating A ‘Literate Language Of The Soul’ For Radical Hope, Patriann Smith

Literacy Practice and Research

“How Come There’S No Spelling?”: What Spontaneous Comments Teach Us About Student Thinking During Vocabulary Learning Tasks, Susan J. Chambrè

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Growing The Use Of Multicultural Literature Through Accretion, Robert Kelly Jr., Lunetta M. Williams

The Reading Professor

Wakanda: Opening The High School Classroom To Afrofuturism, Carrie M. Mattern

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

What Counts As Literacy In The Polytechnic Hispanic Serving Institution? Culturally Sustaining Frameworks For Writing Assignments, Assessment, And Language Use, Lisa Tremain, Jill Anderson, Beth Eschenbach, Nicolette Amann, Kerry Marsden

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Critical Representation: Mattering & Belonging For Students Of The Global Majority, Rebecca E. Haslam

Middle Grades Review

Digital Curation And Complex Decision Making: A School District’S Literacy Initiative, Sue Ann Sharma, Mark Edward Deschaine

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Cutting As A Literacy Practice: Exploring The Fractured Body, Desire And Rage Through Queer And Trans*+ Youth Embodiments, Bess Van Asselt

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Defining Critical Literacy: A Challenge To A Power Structure, Matt Albert

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Reading Through The Pause: How Superintendents Viewed Literacy For Middle Grade Learners During The Pandemic, Dana Evans, Paige Paquette, Dionne Rosser-Mims, Terry Oatts, Brenda Coley

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

Social Distancing: Closing The Gap Between Digital And Social Media Literacy Practices And Literacy Instruction, Rachel Besharat-Mann

New Jersey English Journal

7 Hands-On Strategies For Struggling Readers, Elise Murray, Stacey Murray

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Free To Read: Growing Elementary Students' Literacy In The Summer, Allison M. Nieboer

Michigan Reading Journal

Relationships, Learning, And Motivation For One Virtual Literacy Camp During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Caitlin Spears, Heather D. Young

Educational Considerations

Growing Literacy Skills With Visual Thinking Strategies On Virtual Art Museum Tours, Katie L. Nickel

Literacy Practice and Research

Culturally Relevant Teaching For The 21st Century: The Success And Challenges Of Pre-Service Teachers When Using Technology In Critical Ways, Virginie Jackson, Stacy Delacruz, Dominique Harry

Georgia Journal of Literacy

Critical Awareness For Literacy Teachers And Educators In Troubling Times, Patriann Smith, S. Joel Warrican

Literacy Practice and Research

Elementary School Library Collections: A Content Analysis Of Science Trade Books, Sandra W. Watson, Sheila F. Baker

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Carrying The Stories Of Las Mariposas: Literacy As Collective And Transformative, Deborah Vriend Van Duinen

Michigan Reading Journal

Policies, Practices, Places, And People: How Elementary Preservice Teachers Learned Literacy Teaching, Chad H. Waldron

Michigan Reading Journal

Book Review Of A Young Writer's World: Creating Early Childhood Classrooms Where Authors Abound., Hannah D. Szatkowski

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Changing Terms, Not Trends: A Critical Investigation Into Children’S & Young Adult Literature Publishing & Its Effect In Curriculum & Pedagogy, Keith Newvine, Sarah Fleming

The Language and Literacy Spectrum