Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Review Of The Book Negotiating Critical Literacies With Young Children, 10th Anniversary Edition, By Vivian Maria Vasquez, Lori Mckee

Education Publications

Review of Negotiating Critical Literacies with Young Children, 10^th anniversary edition, by Vivian Maria Vasquez.

Supporting Beginning Readers In Reading To Learn: A Comprehension Strategy, Lori Mckee, Gay Carr

Education Publications

This teaching tip outlines a comprehension strategy designed to support early primary students in reading to learn while learning to read. The strategy is borne of our classroom practices and is designed to support young children in reading and understanding informational texts by facilitating close interactions between text and reader. Through the steps, Read, Stop, Think, Ask, Connect, the strategy supports beginning readers in recognizing and responding to the challenges that informational texts hold for reading and comprehending. The strategy is designed to be used flexibly to account for the diversity of readers and of texts within early primary …

Adolescent Literacy And Collaborative Inquiry, Rob Simon, Amir Kalan

English Faculty Publications

In a teacher education classroom in Toronto, groups of middle school students, teacher candidates, and university researchers, members of our research collaborative, the Teaching to Learn Project (Simon et al., 2014; Simon & the Teaching to Learn Project, 2014), discuss projects developed from curricula they coauthored for Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (1986). Maus documents Spiegelman’s father’s recollections of the Holocaust and the author’s own struggles to come to terms with what it means to be the child of a Holocaust survivor.

Youth and teachers involved in the Teaching to Learn Project collectively worked through what historian …

Approaching A Listening And Speaking Skills Gap For Some Learners In The Adult Ell Classroom, Johanna K. Steinruieck

Theses and Graduate Projects

Some adult English language learners (AELLs) have weak English listening and speaking skills in relation to their reading and writing literacy skills. Little information about this discrepancy is available to teachers of AELLs. The purpose of this project was to learn what research exists on the topic and find hands-on strategies to address it in the AELL classroom. Methods included an extended literature review and a survey of AELL teachers in two upper-Midwest urban Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs. Studies of college and university students who are learners of English as a second language (ESL), show that listening and speaking …

Reciprocal Teaching In Secondary Classrooms: Preparing Students For College And Career Reading Demands, Kelly Romo

Theses and Graduate Projects

This paper investigates comprehension strategy instruction in secondary classrooms. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2015 report indicates many high school students are not prepared for the reading demands of college and career texts. Research suggests explicit teaching of comprehension strategies increases reading achievement, yet few high school teachers incorporate strategy instruction with current teaching practices due to perceived time constraints, quantity of standards to be covered, and lack of training. The author of this paper proposes Reciprocal Teaching (RT) created by Palincsar and Brown (1984) can be implemented in traditional high school English language arts classrooms as a way …

Parents' Perspectives On Early Childhood Literacy, Courtney S. Bagge

Theses and Graduate Projects

Learning from birth to the age of five is critical for the development of literacy in children, as well as influencing the ability of children to have later success in school. Enrollment in a preschool with a structured literacy program is a way to enhance literacy in young children. It has also been shown that parental involvement in child literacy programs improve the educational benefits to the child. This study uses qualitative research based on interviews with parents of children enrolled in the SEEDS program at the Community Child Development Center in order to better understand their perspectives of the …

English Language Learners And Using Technology In The Classroom For Language Arts And Reading Instruction, Lindsay Block

Theses and Graduate Projects

This paper focuses on using technology with English language learners (ELLs), specifically in grades 4-8. Research supports that there are many benefits to using technology with ELLs in the general education classroom. The technology resources that this paper focuses on blogs, WebQuests, handheld devices, and websites. One hundred and nine teachers participated in the study by completing a survey. The survey results indicate that teachers have technology available, but that many do not know how to use it with ELLs. The author provides resources, including a manual and a website, for those teachers to use with their ELLs. The author …

Using Literature To Combat Bullying And Suicide, Laura Giles

The Utah English Journal

Every day in Utah, two youth are treated for suicide attempts. On average, 37 youth die from suicide each year in the state. Additionally, 942 others are injured in suicide attempts each year. In 2013, suicide surpassed unintentional injuries to become the leading cause of death in Utah among youth ages 10 through 17 (Utah Department of Health, 2014).

Integration Of English And Social Studies, Craig Jeppson, Kasie Payne

The Utah English Journal

One day while eating lunch in the faculty lounge, Kasie commented on a lesson that her students had learned in Craig’s class. As we started to compare notes, it occurred to us that we shared a lot of students. Over the course of that year, we continued to share thoughts, lessons, war stories and even engaged in a little competitive banter. What became increasingly clear was that our classes complemented each other. Craig could guide students to answer content-related geography questions such as: “How can countries grow economically and sustainably?”, “Why do people fight?”, and “How does the physical environment …

Colorful Conversations, Denee D. Tyler

The Utah English Journal

When the Common Core was adopted, it quickly became evident that the ELA sections are pretty heavily packed. Many English teachers feel overwhelmed at the sheer volume of standards we are expected to cover. Teaching young readers and writers requires a significant investment of class time, and as a result, many of us end up using class discussions as the sole assessment for the Speaking and Listening standards.

An Introduction To Teaching Transitions, Amy Banks

The Utah English Journal

Transitions can be a challenge for writers at any stage. For example, I once explained to an eighth grade class my observations on a sample piece of writing. I praised their strengths, and then explained a consistent problem throughout the classes: the use of “in conclusion” for their restatement of their main claim. I teased them with no shame, and they giggled and admitted to classmates that it was the only option that came into their minds. One brilliant student then shouted out, “What if we wrote the worst argument main claim ever, starting with ‘In conclusion?’” So, we wrote …

Book Review: Highly Illogical Behavior, Jaden Anderson

The Utah English Journal

Growing up and finding your place in the world can be difficult, but having family and friends to cheer you on helps. Building relationships and remaining loyal is a prevalent theme in John Corey Whaley’s Highly Illogical Behavior. Written in the perspective of teenagers Solomon Reed and Lisa Praytor, they help each other live in the “real world,” while their perception of reality is challenged.

Our Classroom Journey Of Changing Our 7th Grade View Of The World, Gaylynn Parker

The Utah English Journal

How do I feel when I am treated unfairly? This essential question in my 7th grade Honors Language Arts class is usually met with comments such as, “My parents won’t let me get a cell phone” or “I’m tired of babysitting my siblings for free every weekend.” This year it was different. Pairing informational text with current events and literature changed the way my students saw themselves and the world, creating an awareness that elevated their perspectives from superficiality to depth as they examined the world through new eyes.

Making The "Moves" More "Modal", Thomas Henry

The Utah English Journal

We live in a multimodal world. Almost every piece of information that we receive on computers and mobile devices is multimodal. For those new to this term, multimodality refers to multiple modes of communication: the textual, the visual, the written, the aural/oral, and the gestural (Kress, 2000). Although seemingly appearing in isolation, these modalities are often expressed in pairs simultaneously. For instance, pictures may include text, videos often include audio, and even speakers and actors use gestures in their performances. In everyday online communication via Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter, we convey and respond to both textual and visual information working …

Book Review: Dark Energy, Marina Gutierrez

The Utah English Journal

“This story isn’t about dark energy, except to say there is a ton of stuff in the universe that we don’t understand” (Wells, 2016, p. 2).

With a touch of blue racing through her hair as she drives her BMW 550i Gran Turismo, Alice Goodwin was doing just fine in Florida. That is until her dad whisks her 2,000 miles away to the Minnetonka School for the Gifted and Talented in Minnesota. After stocking up on sweaters, she settles in at her new school while her father, director of special projects at NASA, investigates the crash landing of an alien …

Book Review: All Better Now, Mindee S. Ricks

The Utah English Journal

A modern memoir following a misfit girl from kindergarten to college, All Better Now is equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful. The author and protagonist, Emily Wing Smith, struggles for years to fit in with other kids—she is everything except “normal.”

Book Review: The Hidden Oracle, Tessa Hauglid

The Utah English Journal

“Is anything sadder than the sound of a god hitting a pile of garbage bags?” So questions the (former) god, Apollo, after Zeus turns him into a pimply 16-year-old boy, jettisoning him into a New York City dumpster. Apollo quickly realizes he has lost the very attributes that make him a god: immortality, beauty, and strength. The only divine gifts he seems to have retained are his expansive ego and his wit.

Nsu Early Literacy And Reading Education Curriculum 2016, Nova Southeastern University

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice College Archive

No abstract provided.

Understanding Students' Chosen Literacy Practices During Non-Academic Times: An Ethnographic Teacher-Research Inquiry, Justin Robert Moyer

Educational Studies Dissertations

This dissertation aims to illuminate the literacy practices that a group of “struggling” students undertake during unstructured times of the school day. The study aims to extend prior theoretical work on literacy (Street, 1984; Weil, 1993; Luttrell & Parker, 2001; Kinloch, 2010; among others) to identify the ways these students engage in literacy practices for deeply personal reasons. Further, this dissertation intends to dispel some of the many myths that surround students in special education settings and, in the case of the focal students in this study, alternative schools. Students reveal: (1) the literacy practices in which they participate, (2) …

Teaching Online Research And Comprehension Skills Through Guided Reading, Jennifer H. Van Allen

Publications and Research

Many leaders in various fields are calling for increased integration of digital literacies into the school curriculum, including the ability to find and evaluate information on the Internet. However, there is minimal evidence to suggest that these skills are successfully taught to students due to many factors. The purpose of this case study was to examine the juxtaposition of online research and comprehension skills within the guided reading framework. In particular, this study explored how a fourth grade teacher implemented online research and comprehension skills in guided reading lessons along with the role changes and challenges for the student and …