Description: Writing teachers can help students prepare for language arts tests while continuing their commitment to pedagogy by having students write for different audiences and purposes. Techniques include students' understanding criteria, analyzing varied models, responding to others' writing, reflection on personal writing, and rehearsing test paradigms.

Description: The present study investigates the experiences of 17 children--all designated by school evaluators as "remedial" readers--as they interpreted and performed text through classroom theatre. Through participant observation, audio and video recording, artifacts, and interviews, the patterns of children's text interpretation were analyzed to show how these children learned to take on the roles of actor, character, and critic in planning, performing, and evaluating their performances. As actors, the children were provided with opportunities to shoulder the "mantle of expertise," experiencing the creative and critical features of a dramatic curriculum. As critics, the children learned to emphasize the roles of rules, resources, and the bases for common knowledge in their dramatic interpretations. As characters, they shifted perspective from self to other through voice, physical action, and connection to other characters. This year-long study details how these children moved from a perception of drama as uninhibited expression much influenced by media experiences to a perception of the bounded and negotiated nature of theatrical production influenced by careful text interpretation.

Description: Clearly organized and beautifully written, Interpreting Literature With Children is a remarkable book that stands on the edge of two textbook genres: the survey of literature text and the literary criticism text. Neither approach, however, says enough about how children respond to literature in everyday classroom situations. That is the mission of this book. It begins by providing a solid foundation in both approaches and then examines multiple ways of developing children's literary interpretation through talk, through culture, class, and gender, as well as through creative modes of expression, including writing, the visual arts, and drama. The result is a balanced resource for teachers who want to deepen their understanding of literature and literary engagement. Because of its modest length and price and its ongoing focus on how to increase student engagement with literature, either pre-service or practicing teachers can use this text in children's literature, language arts, or literacy and language courses. Contents: Prologue: Engagement Beyond the Edges of the Earth. Part I: Salutations! Learning About Literature. Critical Perspectives. Literary Elements in Prose & Poetry. Part II: Ways of Taking From Literature. Talking About Literature. Culture & Class in Children's Literature. Gender in Children's Literature. Part III: Ways of Doing Literature. Interpreting Literature Through Writing. Interpreting Literature Through the Visual Arts. Interpreting Literature Through Drama. Epilogue: How Like the Mind.

Description: There are six case-study teachers taking part in a Kentucky research project sponsored by the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. Mrs Olinski is one of those teachers and she aims to provide students with a rich environment. It is possible to underestimate the abilities of children in langauge and literacy, and this is evident from Mrs Olinski's writing conferences. The children learn through exposure to quality literature as a way of helping them learn to write.

Description: Readers Theatre is an alternative instruction technique in teaching reading skills to remedial-labeled children. This method provides the opportunity for language-deficient students to develop their own interpretation of material content through oral presentation. An innovative way of reading instruction, Readers Theatre deviates from traditional teaching in that it centers more on the development of students' literacy comprehension. A case study shows a favorable response toward this teaching method.

Description: This landmark volume is the first to bring together leading scholarship on children’s and young adult literature from three intersecting disciplines: Education, English, and Library and Information Science. Distinguished by its multidisciplinary approach, it describes and analyzes the different aspects of literary reading, texts, and contexts to illuminate how the book is transformed within and across different academic figurations of reading and interpreting children’s literature. Part one considers perspectives on readers and reading literature in home, school, library, and community settings. Part two introduces analytic frames for studying young adult novels, picturebooks, indigenous literature, graphic novels, and other genres. Chapters include commentary on literary experiences and creative production from renowned authors and illustrators. Part three focuses on the social contexts of literary study, with chapters on censorship, awards, marketing, and literary museums. The singular contribution of this Handbook is to lay the groundwork for colleagues across disciplines to redraw the map of their separately figured worlds, thus to enlarge the scope of scholarship and dialogue as well as push ahead into uncharted territory. "Overall, this is an indispensible collection for any educator, scholar, librarian, reader, or writer who is looking to expand her understanding of the varied perspectives of children’s and young adult literature." — Children's Literature in Education "The editors of this useful volume successfully bridge the disciplinary divisions that run through much of the scholarship on children’s literature. The volume includes essays by scholars in education, English, and library and information science; these diverse contributors stress the value of taking an interdisciplinary approach to the study of children’s literature." —Children’s Literature Association Quarterly "There is absolutely no valid reason not to own this book or have ready access to it at your institution." --The Learning Assistance Review "Wolf and her fellow editors present a great deal of excellent material that will prove helpful to those embarking on their own study of the subject. Highly recommended." -- Choice PART 1—THE READER Introduction to Part 1　 1. Children Reading at Home: An Historical Overview, Evelyn Arizpe & Morag Styles 2. Questioning the Value of Literacy: A Phenomenology of Speaking and Reading in Children, Eva-Maria Simms 3. The Book as Home? It All Depends. Shirley Brice Heath 4. Reading Literature in Elementary Classrooms, Kathy G. Short 5. Readers, Texts, and Contexts in the Middle: Re-imagining Literature Education for Young Adolescents, Thomas P. Crumpler & Linda Wedwick 6. Reading Literature in Secondary School: Disciplinary Discourses in Global Times, Cynthia Lewis & Jessica Dockter 7. Imagining a Writer’s Life: Extending the Connection Between Readers and Books, Elizabeth Dutro & Monette C. McIver 8. Theoretical and Pedagogical Possibilities in the Teaching of Latina/o Children’s Literature in Multicultural Contexts, María E. Fránquiz, Carmen Martínez-Roldán, & Carmen I. Mercado 9. School Libraries and the Transformation of Readers and Reading, Eliza T. Dresang & M. Bowie Kotrla 10. Public Libraries in the Lives of Young Readers: Past, Present, and Future, Kathleen Weibel, Virginia A. Walter, & Paulette M. Rothbauer 11. Becoming Readers of Literature with LGBT Themes In and Out of Classrooms, Mollie V. Blackburn & Caroline T. Clark 12. Immigrant Students as Cosmopolitan Intellectuals, Gerald Campano & Maria Paula Ghiso PART 2—THE BOOK Introduction to Part 2 13. History of Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Deborah Stevenson Point of Departure, Lois Lowry 14. Dime Novels and Series Books, Catherine Sheldrick Ross Point of Departure, Candice Ransom 15. Folklore in Children’s Literature: Contents and Discontents, Betsy Hearne Point of Departure, Julius Lester 16. African American Children’s Literature: Researching Its Development, Exploring Its Voices, Rudine Sims Bishop Point of Departure, Jacqueline Woodson 17.The Art of the Picturebook, Lawrence R. Sipe Point of Departure, Chris Raschka Point of Departure, David Wiesner 18. Comics and Graphic Novels, Robin Brenner Point of Departure, Gareth Hinds Point of Departure, Raina Telgemeier 19. A Burgeoning Field or a Sorry State: U.S. Poetry for Children, 1800-Present, Laura Apol & Janine L. Certo Point of Departure, Janet S. Wong 20. Nonfiction Literature for Children: Old Assumptions and New Directions, Barbara Kiefer & Melissa I. Wilson Point of Departure, Penny Colman 21. Genre as Nexus: The Novel for Children and Young Adults, Mike Cadden Point of Departure, Philip Pullman 22. Young Adult Literature: Growing Up, In Theory, Karen Coats Point of Departure, Markus Zusak 23. Reading Indigeneity: The Ethics of Interpretation and Representation, Clare Bradford Point of Departure, Joseph Bruchac 24. Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, Children’s Literature, and the Case of Jeff Smith, Roderick McGillis Point of Departure, David Filipi Point of Departure, David Filipi, Lucy Shelton Caswell, & Jeff Smith 25. Ideology and Children’s Books, Robyn McCallum & John Stephens Point of Departure, M.T. Anderson 26. The Author’s Perspective, Claudia Mills Point of Departure, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 27.Archives and Special Collections Devoted to Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Karen Nelson Hoyle Point of Departure, Leonard S. Marcus PART 3—THE WORLD AROUND Introduction to Part 3 28. Where Worlds Meet, Ana Maria Machado Point of Departure, Katherine Paterson 29. Translation and Crosscultural Reception, Maria Nikolajeva Point of Departure, Tara F. Chace 30. The Implied Reader of the Translation, Petros Panaou & Tasoula Tsilimeni Point of Departure, Kostia Kontoleon 31. International Communities Building Places for Youth Reading, Michael Daniel Ambatchew Point of Departure, Jane Kurtz Point of Departure, Yohannes Gebregeorgis 32. Censorship: Book Challenges, Challenging Books, and Young Readers, Christine Jenkins 33. Reviewing Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Michael Cart 34. Awards in Literature for Children and Adolescents, Junko Yokota 35. The Economics of Children’s Book Publishing in the 21 st Century, Joel Taxel 36. Spinning Off: Toys, Television, Tie-Ins, and Technology, Margaret Mackey 37. Listening for the Scratch of a Pen: Museums Devoted to Children’s and Young Adult Literature , Elizabeth Hammill Contributor List　 　 Author Index　 　 Subject Index

Description: This landmark volume is the first to bring together leading scholarship on children’s and young adult literature from three intersecting disciplines: Education, English, and Library and Information Science. Distinguished by its multidisciplinary approach, it describes and analyzes the different aspects of literary reading, texts, and contexts to illuminate how the book is transformed within and across different academic figurations of reading and interpreting children’s literature. Part one considers perspectives on readers and reading literature in home, school, library, and community settings. Part two introduces analytic frames for studying young adult novels, picturebooks, indigenous literature, graphic novels, and other genres. Chapters include commentary on literary experiences and creative production from renowned authors and illustrators. Part three focuses on the social contexts of literary study, with chapters on censorship, awards, marketing, and literary museums. The singular contribution of this Handbook is to lay the groundwork for colleagues across disciplines to redraw the map of their separately figured worlds, thus to enlarge the scope of scholarship and dialogue as well as push ahead into uncharted territory.

Description: Children are capable of creative and critical interpretations of text when given opportunities to act out, talk and think about stories. One child's responses to the story of "Hansel and Gretel" over a period of four years are presented as a case study.