Through an innovative approach of critical ethnography and literacy research via case-study methodologies, Enacting Adolescent Literacies across Communities: Latino/a Scribes and Their Rites analyzes Latino/a adolescents’ engagement with the elements of literacy for English language arts learning and understanding. How young people enact literacies in their bicultural lives and understand literary traditions today reveals their own interests in democracy, equity, and opportunity. Moreover, the rites they perform often recover buried histories, mirrors, and stories similar to the pre-Columbian scribes whose intellectual legacy is relevant in the twenty-first century. R. Joseph Rodríguez illustrates how adolescents experience scribal identities and language pluralism that sustains their cultural knowledge as they make meaning and enact literacies with diverse audiences in civic and schooling communities.

Showcasing cutting-edge findings on adolescent literacy teaching and learning, this unique handbook is grounded in the realities of students' daily lives. It highlights research methods and instructional approaches that capitalize on adolescents' interests, knowledge, and new literacies. Attention is given to how race, gender, language, and other dimensions of identity--along with curriculum and teaching methods--shape youths' literacy development and engagement. The volume explores innovative ways that educators are using a variety of multimodal texts, from textbooks to graphic novels and digital productions. It reviews a range of pedagogical approaches; key topics include collaborative inquiry, argumentation, close reading, and composition.ÿ

This edited collection supports queer educators and students, underscores the reasons society does not see LGBTQ representation in classroom spaces, and offers “queered” pedagogical approaches for teaching students from diverse backgrounds. This collection places value on every educator and student through prioritizing inclusivity, and the chapters carefully articulate what (queer) inclusivity is, why it matters for all educators, students, and administrators, and what can happen when inclusive environments are not created and/or sustained. When prompted to think about marginalized educators and students, most literature and research focuses on federal/state laws and instances of bullying. The chapters in this collection are farther reaching and provide (queered) solutions for these individuals’ needs and challenges. This volume addresses the ability of the LGBTQ community to see themselves represented in the curriculum of schools, discussed in the language of society, and valued in all discourse settings. In addition, this volume uses queerness as a lens through which to reimagine classroom spaces and institutions of higher learning.

Literature teaching remains central to the teaching of English around the world. This edited text brings together expert global figures under the banner of the International Federation for the Teaching of English (IFTE). The book captures a state-of-the-art snapshot of leading trends in current literature teaching, as well as detailing predicted trends for the future. The expert scholar and leading teacher contributors, coming from a wide range of countries with fascinatingly diverse approaches to literature teaching, cover a range of central and fundamental topics: literature and diversity; digital literatures; pedagogy and reader response; mother tongues; the business of reading; publishers, adolescent fiction and censorship; assessing responses to literature; the changing definitions of literature and multimodal texts. The collection reviews the consistently important place of literature in the education of young people and provides international evidence of its enduring value and contribution to education, resisting the functionalist and narrowly nationalist perspectives of misguided government authorities. International Perspectives on the Teaching of Literature in Schools will be of value to researchers, PhD students, literature scholars, practitioners, teacher educators, teachers and all those in the extensive academic community interested in English and literacy around the world.

Stories are everywhere around us, from the ads on TV or music video clips to the more sophisticated stories told by books or movies. Everything comes wrapped in a story, and the means employed to weave the narrative thread are just as important as the story itself. In this context, there is a need to understand the role storytelling plays in contemporary society, which has changed drastically in recent decades. Modern global society is no longer exclusively dominated by the time-tested narrative media such as literature or films because new media such as videogames or social platforms have changed the way we understand, create, and replicate stories. The Handbook of Research on Contemporary Storytelling Methods Across New Media and Disciplines is a comprehensive reference book that provides the relevant theoretical framework that concerns storytelling in modern society, as well as the newest and most varied analyses and case studies in the field. The chapters of this extensive volume follow the construction and interpretation of stories across a plethora of contemporary media and disciplines. By bringing together radical forms of storytelling in traditional disciplines and methods of telling stories across newer media, this book intersects themes that include interactive storytelling and narrative theory across advertisements, social media, and knowledge-sharing platforms, among others. It is targeted towards professionals, researchers, and students working or studying in the fields of narratology, literature, media studies, marketing and communication, anthropology, religion, or film studies. Moreover, for interested executives and entrepreneurs or prospective influencers, the chapters dedicated to marketing and social media may also provide insights into both the theoretical and the practical aspects of harnessing the power of storytelling in order to create a cohesive and impactful online image.

In this book, Rodríguez uses theories of critical literacy and culturally responsive teaching to argue that our schools, and our culture, need sustaining and inclusive young adult (YA) literature/s to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse readers and all students. This book provides an outline for the study of literature through cultural and literary criticism, via essays that analyze selected YA literature (drama, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) in four areas: scribal identities and the self-affirmation of adolescents; gender and sexualities; schooling and education of young adult characters; and teachers’ roles and influences in characters’ coming of age. Applying critical literacy theories and a youth studies lens, this book shines a light on the need for culturally sustaining and inclusive pedagogies to read adolescent worlds. Complementing these essays are critical conversations with seven key contemporary YA literature writers, adding biographical perspectives to further expand the critical scholarship and merits of YA literature.

Learning and identity development are lifetime processes of becoming. The construction of self, of interest to scholars and practitioners in adult development and adult learning, is an ongoing process, with the self both forming and being formed by lived experience in privileged and oppressive contexts. Intersecting identities and the power dynamics within them shape how learners define themselves and others and how they make meaning of their experiences in the world. The series, I Am What I Become: Constructing Identities as Lifelong Learners, is an insightful and diverse collection of empirical research and narrative essays in identity development, adult development, and adult learning. The purpose of this series is to publish contributions that highlight the intimate and intricate connections between learning and identity. The series aims to assist our readers to understand and nurture adults who are always in the process of becoming. We hope to promote reflection and research at the intersection of identity and adult learning at any point across the adult lifespan. The rich array of qualitative research designs as well as autobiographic and narrative essays transform and expand our understanding of the lived experience of people both like us and unlike us, from the U.S. and beyond. Narratives on Becoming: Identity and Lifelong Learning, Volume Three of the series, explores a myriad of ways that authors’ personal and professional growth has influenced identity development. These chapters provide insights into the intersectional identities and learning of writers. Drawing from the multiple paths that comprise the journey of lifelong learning, these authors present powerful stories that identify the ways relationships, environments, culture, travel, and values shape their identities; use literacy, teaching, and learning as vehicles for experimenting with new identities, negotiate multiple identities, contexts, and transitions involved in becoming, and construct meaning. Through their narrative essays and ethnographic/autobiographical accounts, the authors in this volume illuminate the power of transformational learning during life-changing events and transitions. Praise for: Narratives on Becoming: Identity and Lifelong Learning "The third volume in the I Am What I Become series, Narratives on Becoming: Identity and Lifelong Learning invites readers into the lives of educators from around the world. This book includes important narratives from students, secondary educators, and post-secondary educators alike, highlighting how race, class, gender, and a wide range of other intersectional identities shape the diverse lived experiences of educators and their students. This volume also serves as an important reminder for all of us that the learning process continues across a lifetime and transcends the limits of the traditional classroom." Brian Bicknell, President Manchester Community College "We all pay lip service to the importance of lifelong learning, but what is it exactly and how does it come about? The connections between identity and learning are intriguing and complex, especially when it comes to adult learners. In this very thoughtfully organized collection, researchers present qualitative and narrative studies, along with personal narratives, to explore identity development in formal and informal learning environments. Contributions from varied cultural contexts, most with powerful and moving stories to tell, provide insight into how identity, meaning-making, and adult learning and development intersect and influence each other. Psychologists, scholars and educators interested in identity development and meaning-making will find inspiration and fresh understanding in this innovative and enlightening series." Ruthellen Josselson, Author Paths to Fulfillment: Women’s Search for Meaning and Identity "This innovative series on adult development is inspiring and substantive. We hear voices from the margins and stories of courage. We read identity-formation narratives by young adults and experienced professionals who share impressive capacities for transparency, vulnerability, and self-reflection. Many of the narratives are embedded in rigorous qualitative research that highlights diverse ways that identity is shaped through social positionality, lived experience, the quest for individuation, and willingness to encounter life as a dynamic learning process." Jared D. Kass, Lesley University, Author, A Person-Centered Approach to Psychospiritual Maturation: Mentoring Psychological Resilience and Inclusive Community in Higher Education