La Clase Mágica: Imagining Optimal Possibilities in a Bilingual Community of Learners vividly captures the social and intellectual developments and the promises of an ongoing after-school project called La Clase Mágica. It is a blow-by-blow description of the early transformations of a project that began as an educational activity and slowly but deliberately turned into a social action project whose aim was to serve those with low economic and political means and little access to educational resources. This multivocal account details research in action for effectively serving Spanish-English bilingual speakers from a Mexican origin community, as well as--on a broader level--the diverse populations that increasingly characterize American society today. The focus is on the early foundational work of the project between 1989-1996, though attention is also given to the national and international recognition the project has subsequently received, the college-going patterns of its long-term participants, and the transplantation of the project to other cultural communities. The book speaks out from the "zones of contact" between the university and a language minority community about new ways to extend and intersect theory and practice in many areas of the educational enterprise. Contact is defined not only in the physical sense of face-to-face interaction but also as symbolic interaction between languages, cultures, histories, and epistemologies. Thus, Vásquez speaks of optimal possibilities situated in the middle grounds, or more technically speaking, in the borders between Spanish and English, Mexican and mainstream culture, minority and majority designations, and between school and community contexts where contact is made and new arrangements are imagined. This account uses the reflections of participants at times to take readers from the scientific to the everyday, to make real and concrete the theoretical conceptualizations that box in human behavior. In this way, it defines the theories, methods, and philosophies for linking multiple disciplines, institutions, and participant groups into a concerted effort with potential to reframe the educational opportunities of under-served populations. A close look is provided into the intricacies and the fundamental principles for building and sustaining effective learning environments and institutional relations necessary for enhancing the potential of learners of all ages. In the process, the book also suggests ways in which community members and institutional agents can play an active and integral role in creating learning opportunities that serve both constituencies. Educators and policymakers will find the systems approach for pursuing parent and community involvement in the educational enterprise useful. In sum, the book offers researchers, practitioners, and policymakers much needed guidance, insight, and perhaps inspiration for rethinking educational goals and objectives.

This book explores issues related to the use of technologies to support young second-language learners and looks at promising areas for research, design, and development. Grounded in a sociocultural theoretical framework, it invites educators, researchers, and educational technology developers to consider a range of social and cultural factors in utilizing technology as a tool to help children from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds develop their English-language and reading skills. A major contribution is the authors’ consideration of ways that technology outside of school can benefit these students’ English-language development in school. The central chapters are counter pointed by invited reflections that bring to the discussion different, yet complementary, perspectives from notable scholars in the field of second-language literacy and learning. Technology-Mediated Learning Environments for Young English-Language Learners is targeted to researchers, educators, and policymakers in the areas of elementary education, after-school learning, second-language teaching and learning, English language and literacy development, and reading.

This critical exploration of the theories and purposes of literacy challenges current assumptions about the discourse of schooling. Authors Margaret Anne Gallego and Sandra Hollingsworth, along with eminent scholars, delve into the lives and literacies that have traditionally been excluded from public classrooms and focus on the disenfranchisement that results from such politics. They propose an alternative set of literacies, helping non-mainstream students to learn the dominant language of power while preserving their community and personal identities. Through socio-political analyses, the contributors argue persuasively for expanding what "counts" as literacy to include visual media and technological literacy, multiple sign systems for special education students, community-based literacy and personal literacies. This practical and fresh collection is an essential resource for educators, theorists, and researchers who wish to expand the existing definitions of literacy to include multiple perspectives.

This watershed volume brings together the foremost leading authorities and scholars lending their individual voices to a single, urgent issue: literacy for Latino students. In a departure from traditional paradigms, Latinos examine their own lived experiences in U.S. schools and offer sound theories born from positions of expertise and first-hand knowledge as researchers and educators. Their discussions and critical perspectives on literacy for Latino students in grades K–12 touch on the important topics of: Encouraging biliteracy in the classroomConstructing theories of possibilityPromoting critically literate youthOrganizing teaching and learning to students’ potentialLinking literacy to lived experiencesAs insiders in Spanish-speaking communities that are often maligned for their children’s alleged “failure” in schools, these authors offer hope for children’s academic potential as well as evidence showing that integration of native language and culture in supportive learning environments can lead to success in literacy in two languages. Contributors: Alma Flor Ada, Héctor H. Alvarez, María V. Balderrama, Patricia Baquedano-López, Lilia I. Bartolomé, María Echiburu Berzins, Esteban Díaz, Bárbara Flores, María E. Fránquiz, Kris D. Gutiérrez, Bobbi Ciriza Houtchens, Robert T. Jiménez, Eloise Andrade Laliberty, Alice E. López, Roberta Maldonado, Carmen I. Mercado, Luis C. Moll, Rosa Zubizarreta “In this illuminating volume, the authors courageously challenge the assumption of a skill-based English-only literacy for Latinos. By shifting the literacy debate to a sociocultural terrain, they urge readers to confront the prevailing issues of racism, classism, gender, and economic deprivation that characterize the literacy of Latino/Latina students in the U.S. public schools. Simply put, this volume provides readers with the necessary political clarity to understand and appreciate what it means to be literate in the changing multilingual and multicultural world of the 21st century.” —Donaldo Macedo, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education, University of Massachusetts, Boston