1st Edition
Becoming Readers and Writers Literate Identities Across Childhood and Adolescence
Centered around the idea that literacy teaching is more than the transmission of strategies and skills, this volume serves as a foundation for approaching literacy from an identity perspective. Through incisive and accessible chapters from top scholars, it introduces readers to the concept of literate identities, examining them across ages and grade levels to present an overview of how scholars and educators can use this concept in their research and teaching.
Organized by developmental level with sections on early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and cross-age research, contributors reveal how literacy can be framed as an identity practice to engage students and support their development. Applying a range of theoretical perspectives and frameworks, each chapter identifies the identity theory used, explains the relevant methodology and research questions, covers implications for practice, and includes questions or prompts for discussion. The volume reveals how understanding literate identities is at the heart of effective and inclusive literacy instruction by addressing key topics, including culturally relevant pedagogy, intersectionality, and transnationalism, among others. Illuminating multiple pathways to understanding students as readers and writers, this book is essential for teachers, scholars, and researchers in literacy education, research methods, and multicultural education.
List of Illustrations
Editor Biographies
Contributor Biographies
Introduction: Approaching Literacy from an Identity Perspective
Christine M. Leighton, Christopher J. Wagner, and Katherine K. Frankel
Section I: Literate Identities in Early Childhood
Introduction to Literate Identities in Early Childhood
Christopher J. Wagner
Chapter 1
Exploring, Analyzing, Interpreting, and (Re)Presenting Positive Visions of Young Children’s Literate Identities
Lindsey Moses
Chapter 2
Assessment as a Tool to Enhance Students’ Identities as Readers and Writers Through Assessment
Bente Rigmor Walgermo and Per Henning Uppstad
Chapter 3
Language and Multilingualism in Young Children’s Literate Identities
Christopher J. Wagner
Section II: Literate Identities in Middle Childhood
Introduction to Literate Identities in Middle Childhood
Christine M. Leighton
Chapter 4
A Sociocultural Approach to School Literacy: Navigating Identity Through Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Chantal Francois
Chapter 5
Designing Literacy Instruction to Support Reading Identity Negotiations: The Case of One Fifth-Grade Classroom
Kierstin Giunco, Christine M. Leighton, and Lisa M. O’Brien
Chapter 6
"They Will Shut You Out If They Think You Can’t Read": Navigating Diverse Models of Identity in an Eighth-Grade Classroom
Leigh A. Hall
Section III: Literate Identities in Adolescence
Introduction to Literate Identities in Adolescence
Katherine K. Frankel
Chapter 7
How Youth Construct Literacy-Related Identities: The Role of Tracking and High-Stakes Testing
Julie E. Learned, Laura C. Dacus, and Kewsi Burgess
Chapter 8
Transnationalism, Writing, and Identity Within a Caribbean Classroom Context
Allison Skerrett
Chapter 9
"Learning to Code…with a Goal that I Get to Determine": A Latina Girl’s Literate Intersectional Identities at a STEAM Workshop
Tisha Lewis Ellison, Bradley Robinson, and Tairan Qiu
Section IV: Literate Identities Across Childhood and Adolescence
Introduction to Literate Identities Across Childhood and Adolescence
Christopher J. Wagner, Katherine K. Frankel, and Christine M. Leighton
Chapter 10
Longitudinal Identity Construction: Intersectionality, Figured Worlds, and Assemblage
Catherine Compton-Lilly
Chapter 11
Becoming (Un)Labeled: Challenging Socially Constructed Notions of Normalcy in Literate Identities
Bobbie Kabuto
Chapter 12
Literate Identities and/in the Body: Tracing Embodiments of Literacy Across Grade Levels
Grace Enriquez, Stavroula Kontovourki, and Elisabeth Johnson
Conclusion: Advancing Identity in the Literacy Field
Katherine K. Frankel, Christine M. Leighton, and Christopher J. Wagner
Biography
Christopher J. Wagner is an Associate Professor of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Queens College, City University of New York, USA.
Katherine K. Frankel is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at Boston University, Boston, USA.
Christine M. Leighton is an Associate Professor of Education at Emmanuel College, Boston, USA.
