Upcoming Themes
November 2010: From the Beginning . . .
When is a child first introduced to an oral story, a song, a dance, a religious text, a game, a photograph, a DVD, a CD, a family ritual, a picture book, a particular word/phrase, a fiction or nonfiction book? These events are rooted in the child’s family and community, who engage in many daily practices that support the child’s literacy learning—starting from the child’s earliest years and continuing throughout a lifetime. These texts exist in oral, graphic, and symbolic forms for different purposes and functions unique to the child’s cultural, racial and socioeconomic context(s). Through these experiences, the child comes to school having learned aspects of his home language and literacies, including meaningful words and phrases, nonverbal gestures, and narratives styles and structures.
Unfortunately, what counts as literacies and literacy learning in homes and communities is not always recognized or valued in schools, thus hindering the child’s sense of identity and development as a literate being. Often our social, economic, and educational systems don’t recognize or support families’ efforts to help their children become literate. However, when family and community practices are valued along with formalized schooling practices, children perceive themselves as readers and writers and the potential for growth is greater.
This issue seeks manuscripts about how schools can value children’s literacy experiences in early childhood, including infants and toddlers. What and how can schools learn from children’s families and communities to promote children’s literacy development and to broaden their understanding of what counts as literacy? What are teachers doing to learn about and incorporate children’s home literacy practices into their school practices? What types of partnerships have been developed between teachers and community members and related social structures? How are schools creatively making a place for this kind of work by rethinking the structures of their institutions? (Submission deadline: July 15, 2009)
January 2011: The Rights of Readers
Are school curricula turning reading into some onerous task? In 1972, French author and teacher Daniel Pennac wrote a passionate argument against French school curricula, which he claimed systematically stamped out the pleasure and joy children had once taken from stories and books. In his book, The Rights of the Reader (Comme un roman) (1972/2008), he entreated parents and teachers to make reading “a gift we give to children and ourselves,” and provided 10 rights of the reader. (To see this list, go to http://userpages.bright.net/~dlackey/2004/08/daniel-pennacs-readers-bill-of-rights.html.) This list included the right to read anything, anywhere, as well as the right to read nothing at all. How do families, schools, and communities today construct and shape the lives of readers? In what contexts do we find children taking pleasure and joy in books? What rights do young readers need, want, and deserve in the twenty-first century? We invite manuscripts that show how children, teachers, librarians, and researchers advocate for and extend readers’ rights. (Submission deadline: September 15, 2009)
March 2011: Movement of Languages and Literacies in the 21st Century
In the United States today, hegemonic views of language and literacy acquisition and practices are dominant. Global views have begun to create tensions and conflicts with some of the hegemonic perspectives, discourses, and ideologies that have shaped/informed literacy practices in the past. Given these heightened global perspectives, educators and educational researchers are examining social inequalities more closely in order to re-imagine a different and viable social justice agenda for language and literacies in the 21st century.
For this issue of Language Arts, we are seeking manuscripts that highlight how research, classrooms, and communities envision/take up/act on the impact of globalization on the language arts. How does global education influence how people talk and think about schooling? How do interactions with global discourse inform/influence our knowledge and valuing of language and literacy? How do tensions with global views impact our educational communities’ views of their students and their responsibilities to them? How do they affect how students see themselves and their life chances? We look forward to reading about what matters to you and what interpretations you bring to these questions. (Submissions deadline: November 15, 2009)
Feature Call
In each issue, we will feature a final page called “In Closing . . . .” This is a one-page format (750-word maximum) that could take the form of a poem, essay, conversation, journal entry, short story, or visual art with caption. The focus is on the voices of educators who have recognized a shift in perspective, perception, or practice—in their school, their district, or themselves. We hope that readers will look forward to this feature because it prompts them to remember and rethink. Deadline is ongoing.