Research on middle level education indicates that student learning at the middle level has a deep and abiding influence on post-secondary opportunities and career paths. As research continues to highlight the urgency of engaging middle level students in academic learning, it is increasingly clear that these students’ multiple literacies must become a part of teaching and learning. Understanding how to infuse the literacies of middle level students across classroom activities is a critical part of improving student achievement.
This volume in The Handbook series shares literacy research from multiple contexts and deepens our understanding of the literacies that middle level students use in and out of school. This volume includes research that identifies how to best teach and learn with our increasingly diverse students. The perspectives that emerge from this volume help us examine the current state of new and evolving literacies and construct a cutting edge research agenda for middle level literacy education. Research reports focus on digital literacies including social networking media and games, English language learners, high stakes literacy tests and middle level learners, specifically boys, and literacy teaching and learning in middle level teacher education programs. A wide range of research methods and modes are used in these reports including case studies, teacher research, narrative inquiry, survey research, and action research.
CONTENTS: Foreword. Acknowledgements. Introduction: Young Adolescents and Literacies. Section I: Teaching and Learning With the Literacies of English Language Learners. A Case Study: One Novice Middle Level Teacher’s Beliefs, Challenges, and Practices for Young Adolescent English Language Learners, Bogum Yoon. Standardized Testing, Literacy, and English Language Learners: Lived Multicultural Stories Among Educational Stakeholders, Elaine Chan and Candace Schlein.A 4 × 4 Literacy Toolkit for Empowering English Language Learners for Academic Literacies, Sally Humphrey. Section II: Teaching and Learning with Digital Literacies. Digital Gameplay: Effects on Young Adolescents’ Science Content Learning,Hiller A. Spires, Meixun Zheng, and Melissa E. Bartlett. Becoming a Literate Being: Preservice Teachers Using Digital Storytelling to Reflect on Personal Narratives, Kathleen M. Brinegar and Cynthia Reyes. Digital Storytelling in a Middle Level Classroom: Traveling Down a Bumpy Road, Terry Campbell. Section III: Teaching and Learning with Literacies in Different Spaces. Craigslist, LEGO, and Wakeboarding: Examining the Out-of-School Sponsorship of Early Adolescent Boys’ Literacy Practices, Deborah Vriend Van Duinen. Engaging Collaborative Texts: Engaging Interdisciplinary Dialogue, Mark Vicars and Kim Senior. Life around Literature in an Urban Afterschool Program for Middle School Students, Gina Paese.Implementing Reading Clubs in an Urban After-School Setting, Roberta A. Linder. Boys’ Distribution of Literacies, Mary Rice. Section IV: Final Thoughts. New Research Directions for Teaching and Learning with Literacies of Young Adolescents,Mary Beth Schaefer and Kathleen F. Malu. Finding New Adolescent Literacies: Recommended Resources, Kathleen F. Malu and Mary Beth Schaefer. About the Editors. About the Contributors.