scholarly journals Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s historical representation within children’s and young adult literature

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Bickford ◽  
Megan Lindsay
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Trade Books ◽  
Historical Representation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Purpose Education initiatives require substantive changes for history, social studies, English, and language arts teachers of any grade level. History and social studies teachers are to integrate multiple texts from diverse perspectives, which increases teachers’ uses of trade books and primary sources; English and language arts teachers are to spend half their allotted time on non-fiction topics, which enhances the position of historical content. The compulsory changes are not accompanied with ready-made curricula. Trade books are a logical starting point for teachers inexperienced with the new expectations, yet, research indicates that historical inaccuracies and misrepresentations frequently emerge. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The authors’ inquiry explored trade books’ historical representation of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, America’s longest serving president. The data pool was organized by early grades (Kindergarten-4), middle grades (5-8), and high school (9-12) to contrast patterns of representation between and within grade ranges. Findings Findings included patterns of representation regarding Roosevelt’s noteworthiness and accomplishments, advantages and assistances, and moral and political mistakes. Social implications Classroom suggestions included guiding students to identify historical gaps and interrogate primary sources to fill these gaps. Originality/value Similar research has not been conducted on this historical figure.

Community responsive literacies: the development of the Ethnic Studies Praxis Story Plot

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward R. Curammeng ◽  
Daisy D. Lopez ◽  
Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Educational Partnerships ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
K 12

Purpose Momentum around the institutionalization of Ethnic Studies in US K-12 classrooms is increasing. Opponents have argued that Ethnic Studies does not challenge students academically and prepare them for high stakes testing (Planas, 2012; Sanchez, 2007). Conversely, research continues to show ways Ethnic Studies contribute to students’ academic achievement, especially for students from marginalized and vulnerable communities (Cabrera et al., 2014; Halagao, 2010; Tintiangco-Cubales et al., 2015). This study aims to demonstrate the possibilities and potential of Ethnic Studies-framed tools for English and Language arts teachers. This moment concerning Ethnic Studies in schools illuminates an important opportunity to demonstrate how Ethnic Studies-framed tools positively affect learning mainstream school content, namely, English and Language Arts. The authors consider the following point: To what extent can Ethnic Studies-framed tools affect approaches for learning English, writing and reading while simultaneously being responsive to a community’s needs? The authors maintain the importance of such tools that exist in how they support the development of community responsive literacies (CRLs). Design/methodology/approach This paper examines CRLs through the Ethnic Studies Praxis Story Plot (ESPSP). The authors begin by exploring the development of the ESPSP, first used in Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP), an innovative K-college Ethnic Studies teaching pipeline. Next, the authors examine each coordinate of the ESPSP, examining their purpose, theoretical underpinnings and ways the ESPSP offers nuanced approaches for learning literacies. Findings The authors then discuss how CRLs emerged to support PEP teachers and students’ reading and writing skills using the ESPSP. Originality/value Finally, the authors learn from students’ experiences with the ESPSP and offer implications for English and Language Arts teachers in the pursuit of teaching and serving students in more socially just and community responsive ways.

Sociopolitical testing discourses in elementary teachers’ talk about reading assessment

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renita Schmidt ◽  
Mary M. Jacobs ◽  
Heidi Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Reading Assessments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Literacy Experiences ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
Frequent Testing ◽  
Sociopolitical Climate

Purpose The purpose of this work is to describe the current sociopolitical context and complex consequences surrounding elementary literacy education in one Midwestern US state and consider how power works through language. Design/methodology/approach Using qualitative methods and critical discourse analysis as a theory and method, surveys and interview data from teachers, administrators and parents, policy documents and other artifacts were analyzed and described to explain the sociopolitical climate. Findings Using Fairclough (2015) and Gee’s (2015) tools, the authors identified the discourses of deficiency, efficiency and gatekeeping in the data. Foucault’s ideas about governmentality and regimes of truth are used to explain the ways teachers took up the policies and resisted them. Research limitations/implications The authors argue that a new testing regime is on the move, and more unity and critique by elementary and secondary teachers and administrators will be important for restoring and sustaining quality literacy instruction and decision-making in all classrooms. Practical implications Continued research is needed to understand how particular reading assessments exacerbate and perpetuate the ranking and sorting in schools and the loss and struggle children face when they are denied literacy experiences that validate their lives outside of school and give meaning and purpose to reading in school. Originality value As the reality for secondary education language arts teachers begins to shift to a more restrictive curriculum, a loss of academic freedom and frequent testing, the authors see an opportunity for new professional alliances to form in support of a complex theory of literacy.

Trade books’ evolving depictions of Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Bickford ◽  
Megan Lindsay ◽  
Ryan C. Hendrickson
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Thomas Jefferson ◽  
Middle Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Trade Books ◽  
Historical Representation ◽  
Content Type

Purpose History-based trade books are an essential classroom option for social studies and English teachers. Professional organizations in history, social studies, English, reading and literature promote these engaging, age-appropriate secondary sources. Research suggests that misrepresentations appear often within history-based curricula, yet the majority of empirical studies have been completed on textbooks. The purpose of this paper is to examine the historical representation of Thomas Jefferson within trade books. Design/methodology/approach The data sample included trade books targeting various ages to make comparisons within and between grade ranges; the authors selected books published in distinctly different years to examine how Jefferson’s historical representation changed over time. The mixed methods content analysis used both open coding and axial coding. Findings Findings included sanitized versions of slavery at Monticello and omissions of his relationship with Sally Hemings. Date of publication, particularly those published after 1999 as new scientific evidence emerged linking Hemings and Jefferson, and intended audience shaped patterns of representation about Jefferson’s privileged social position, authorship of the Declaration of Independence, political philosophy and involvement in the American Revolution, to mention a few. Heroification, a common historical misrepresentation, did not appear. Research limitations/implications Limitations included: uneven portions of the data pool as children’s and young adult trade books were not common in early and mid-twentieth century; organization of books by grade range is problematic due to inexact nature of ranking narratives’ complexity; and definitive conclusions cannot emerge from a single study. Future research should consider how trade books represent other historical figures, particularly slave-owning American presidents. Practical implications Practical suggestions, such as how to address misrepresentations using primary sources, are offered. Originality/value Thomas Jefferson, undoubtedly an impactful American, is frequently included in elementary, middle level and high school curriculum. The authors examined Jefferson’s historical representation within trade books.

scholarly journals State educational agencies in an uncertain environment: Understanding state provided networks of English Language Arts curricular resources

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Serena J. Salloum ◽  
Emily M. Hodge ◽  
Susanna L. Benko
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Quadratic Assignment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
Organizational Ties ◽  
State Educational

Rapid adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Race to the Top (RTTT) competition, and backlash around these policies created widespread uncertainty among state educational agencies (SEAs). SEAs may have not had a clear direction about how to support standards implementation in a new context, and therefore, may have looked to their professional networks, their geographic neighbors or other highly regarded SEAs, or other sources for information and resources to guide their decisions about where to send teachers for information about standards. Drawing on institutional theory (Meyer Rowan, 1977) and isomorphism specifically (DiMaggio Powell, 1983), we posit that coercive forces (primarily due to RTTT application and CCSS status) as compared to mimetic and normative forces influenced the organizations to which SEAs turn for curriculum materials. Using Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure and a data set of over 2,000 state-provided resources for secondary English Language Arts teachers from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., we indeed found that coercive forces had a relationship with shared organizational ties, demonstrating that RTTT application and CCSS adoption influenced resource provision.

Building Awareness of Language Structures with Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting

2013 ◽  
pp. 21-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngmin Park ◽  
Mark Warschauer ◽  
Penelope Collins ◽  
Jin Kyoung Hwang ◽  
Charles Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
State Standards ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
Authentic Writing ◽  
Writing Technology ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Grammatical Structures

The recently adopted Common Core State Standards emphasize the importance of language forms and structure in learning to write. Yet most language arts teachers have either downplayed the linguistic structure of writing in favor of process approaches or emphasized the teaching of grammatical structures outside of the context of authentic writing. Technology-supported writing activities tend to mimic these two approaches, with teachers using technology for either process-based writing or for grammar drills. Most teachers are not well prepared to teach linguistic structures in context or to deploy technology for that purpose. This chapter introduces a new tool called Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting (VSTF) that has powerful affordances for teaching linguistic and textual structures in the context of authentic written genres. Drawing on an empirical study and an action research project conducted by the authors, they share evidence for the value of using VSTF and point to ways that it can be used in the classroom to help students master language structures and employ them in their composition.

It’s All about Personal Connections

2012 ◽  
pp. 185-202
Author(s):  
Luke Rodesiler ◽  
Lauren Tripp
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
English Language ◽  
Networked Learning ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Secondary English Language Arts ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Arts Teachers

Given the potential of informal online learning via social networks for supporting the career-long professional growth of in-service teachers, research must be conducted to better understand the ways in which today’s future teachers are being prepared for and experiencing such practice. This chapter presents the authors’ efforts to move in that direction, a qualitative study describing six pre-service secondary English language arts teachers’ perceptions of self-directed networked learning during a teaching internship. Findings suggest that participants perceived networked learning as a viable and valuable approach to supplementing professional growth despite also perceiving challenges in the form of context, identity, and time.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document