This timely book focuses on different social justice pedagogies and how they can work within standards and district mandates in a variety of English language arts classrooms. With detailed analysis and authentic classroom vignettes, the author explores how teachers cultivate relationships for equity, utilize transformative language practices, demonstrate critical caring, and develop students’ critical literacies with traditional and critical content. Boyd offers a comprehensive model for taking social action with youth that also considers the obstacles teachers are likely to encounter. Presenting the case for more equity-oriented teaching, this rich resource examines the benefits of engaging students with critical pedagogies and provides concrete methods for doing so. Written for both pre- and inservice teachers, the text includes adaptable teaching models and tested ideas for preparing to teach for social justice. “This is an appealing vision for the future, for it bears much promise—for our classrooms, and also for the future our students will both shape and inhabit.” —From the Foreword by Deborah Appleman, Carleton College “Through the careful observation and analysis of three teachers with different approaches to teaching critical literacy, Ashley Boyd provides a repertoire of practices rich with detail.” —Hilary Janks, Wits University, South Africa “This important book counters the belief of so many teacher educators who think that social justice asks too much of teachers.” —George W. Noblit, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

English and Literacies introduces pre-service teachers to the many facets of literacies and English education for primary students.

In an age where the use of electronic media is expanding and the nature of traditional texts and text-based learning is changing, new literacies are becoming increasingly important in the school classroom. This volume examines how new literacies can be used in the English curriculum, and presents a series of research-based studies applied to every level of school-age education. The chapters examine: early literacy; picture books; the internet; secondary school English; and the problems of assessment in the new literacy age. This forward-thinking volume will be of interest to teachers and academics researching education, literacy, applied linguistics, and social semiotic theory.

With contributions from leading scholars, this compelling volume offers fresh insights into literacy teaching and learning—and the changing nature of literacy itself—in today's K–12 classrooms. The focus is on varied technologies and literacies such as social networking sites, text messaging, and online communities. Cutting-edge approaches to integrating technology into traditional, print-centered reading and writing instruction are described. Also discussed are ways to teach the new skills and strategies that students need to engage effectively with digital texts. The book is unique in examining new literacies through multiple theoretical lenses, including behavioral, semiotic, cognitive, sociocultural, critical, and feminist perspectives.

Thinking Through New Literacies for Primary and Early Years is an accessible text that encourages readers to consider deeply what is meant by ′literacy′ today. It explores the many different ways in which teachers and children develop their own literacy. Specifically written for education students in the later years of their course, the text draws on research and practice to explore the challenges and opportunities involved, while helping to develop the reader′s own critical thinking skills. The book begins by asking ′what′s new about new literacies?′ and goes on to explore some technological innovations designed to support the emergent reader and writer. It considers verbal literacy, speaking and listening, and visual literacy. Readers are encourages to think through the issues surrounding inclusion and the legal and ethical issues raised by this post-typographic age. Throughout, practical guidance runs alongside structured critical thinking exercises to help the reader reflect on both theory and practice. About the Thinking Through Education Series Thinking Through Education is a series of texts designed and written specifically for those education students entering the second or final phase of their degree course. Structured around sets of specific ′skills′, each chapter uses critical thinking and reflective exercises to develop greater subject knowledge and critical awareness. Each book contains links to the Teachers′ Standards providing students with a clear transition from study to practice. Jayne Metcalfe is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cumbria. Jayne is involved in e-safety training of student teachers. Debbie Simpson is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cumbria. She is currently the acting Programme Leader for the Primary PGCE course. Ian Todd is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cumbria, with a specialism in English and an interest in the teaching of ICT. Mike Toyn is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cumbria where he also coordinates the teaching of primary ICT.

A New Literacies Reader is an introduction to social and cultural studies of new literacies from the perspectives of educators, education researchers and learners. The diverse topics addressed range from multimodal pedagogies, remix, performance poetry, and digital storytelling to issues associated with wireless environments, assessment, identity, and teachers' ways of taking up new technologies.

Because spiritual life and religious participation are widespread human and cultural phenomena, these experiences unsurprisingly find their way into English language arts curriculum, learning, teaching, and teacher education work. Yet many public school literacy teachers and secondary teacher educators feel unsure how to engage religious and spiritual topics and responses in their classrooms. This volume responds to this challenge with an in-depth exploration of diverse experiences and perspectives on Christianity within American education. Authors not only examine how Christianity – the historically dominant religion in American society – shapes languaging and literacies in schooling and other educational spaces, but they also imagine how these relations might be reconfigured. From curricula to classroom practice, from narratives of teacher education to youth coming-to-faith, chapters vivify how spiritual lives, beliefs, practices, communities, and religious traditions interact with linguistic and literate practices and pedagogies. In relating legacies of Christian languaging and literacies to urgent issues including White supremacy, sexism and homophobia, and the politics of exclusion, the volume enacts and invites inclusive relational configurations within and across the myriad American Christian sub-cultures coming to bear on English language arts curriculum, teaching, and learning. This courageous collection contributes to an emerging scholarly literature at the intersection of language and literacy teaching and learning, religious literacy, curriculum studies, teacher education, and youth studies. It will speak to teacher educators, scholars, secondary school teachers, and graduate and postgraduate students, among others.