Language Arts, Vol. 85, No. 1, September 2007

Table of Contents

Issue Theme: Expanding Spaces of Learning

• Call for Manuscripts

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  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Thoughts from the Editors: Transforming Learning in Shared Spaces

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  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Constructing Reading: Building Conceptions of Literacy in a Volunteer Read-Aloud Program

  Erika Thulin Dawes

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  Abstract: This study describes the interactions of three adult-child reading partnerships in a program that matches corporate volunteers with “at risk” students for weekly hour-long story reading sessions. Using discourse analysis within a sociocultural framework, the researcher identified variation in the way these partners were constructing the act and purposes of reading.

  Keywords: Elementary

• The Ties That Bind: Emergent Literacy and Scientific Inquiry

  Phyllis Whitin

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  Abstract: This study describes one kindergarten classroom in which informational books and other nonfiction resources were used in the context of a long-term scientific study. Children became proficient in locating information and interpreting content-specific textual features in the process of making sense of their scientific observations and sharing them in a collaborative community. In turn, they expressed their growing knowledge through informational writing and visual representations. The evolving social dynamics of the classroom played a key role in the children’s learning.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Negotiating the Literacy Block: Constructing Spaces for Critical Literacy in a High Stakes Setting

  Patricia Paugh, Jane Carey, Valerie King-Jackson, Shelley Russell

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  Abstract: This article focuses on the evolution of the classroom literacy block as a learning space where teachers and students renegotiated activities for independent vocabulary and word work within a high-stakes reform environment. When a second grade classroom teacher and literacy support specialist decided to co-teach, they invited all students in the classroom community to design and manage independent activities.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Poetic Connections: Creating “Metaphorical Spaces” in a Language Arts Classroom

  Angela M. Wiseman

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  Abstract: This paper describes a collaborative relationship between a community member and an eighth grade English teacher that was documented through an ethnographic study during an entire school year. The community member taught a weekly poetry workshop where students are encouraged to take risks in their writing and also take a critical stance towards various topics with their writing. The supportive environment and critical engagement led to what I refer to as a “metaphorical space” where students could use creative language to envision possibilities and communicate their knowledge while developing their knowledge of language and literacy.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Focus on Policy: Re-Engineering Education in America

  Jay Lemke

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  Abstract: In this policy essay, Jay Lemke urges us to “re-engineer education” so that instead of offering an outdated and ineffectual technology of education called “formal schooling,” we might create multi-generational, multi-site environments where communities collaborate to develop knowledge, deep understanding and critical perspectives.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Research Directions: ‘The White-ification of the Hood’: Power, Politics, and Youth Performing Narratives of Community

  Valerie Kinloch

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  Abstract: This study describes how an African American teenager documents the gentrifying urban landscape of New York City’s Harlem, critiques the increasing presence of whiteness in the area, and makes connections between his urban community and the rural community of a 6th grader by performing narratives of place.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Profiles and Perspectives: Discussing Expanded Spaces for Learning

  Kris Gutiérrez and Joanne Larson with Patricia Enciso and Caitlin L. Ryan

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  Abstract: In anticipation of the “Expanding Spaces for Learning” themed issue of Language Arts, we wanted to create a context in which leading theorists and educators could be in dialogue about transforming spaces and ways of learning.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Professional Book Reviews: Professional Resources for Expanding Spaces of Learning

  Jessica C. Zacher

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  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Children’s Literature Reviews: Expanding Spaces in Children’s Literature: International Books for Children

  Barbara Lehman, Kathy Short, Eun Hye Son, and Barbara Z. Kiefer

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  Abstract: With the increasing number of books published for children each year in the US (according to Publisher’s Weekly sales figures for US trade books in 2004 were $22.8 billion) we sometimes neglect to look beyond our own borders to discover the many excellent authors and illustrators from around the world who are creating wonderful books for children. These talented people often bring important insights to stories of the human condition.

  Keywords: Elementary

• In Closing…American Friends Making Zimbabwean Sahwiras

  Tracey McCarthy with students from The Maulana School for Orphans

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  Abstract: Children and educators from two continents learn together through the sharing of art, poetry, music, native language, letters, e-mails, stories, literature, gifts, and resources. Through the celebration of sharing one another’s lives, the children have opened their eyes to awareness of culture first hand as they bond the global educational community through friendship and love.

  Keywords: Elementary

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