Anne Haas Dyson

Through analysis of case studies of young children (ages 3 to 8 years), situated in different geographic, cultural, linguistic, political, and socioeconomic sites on six continents, this book examines the interplay of childhoods, schooling, and, literacies. Written language is situated within particular childhoods as they unfold in school. A key focus is on children’s agency in the construction of their own childhoods. The book generates diverse perspectives on what written language may mean for childhoods. Looking at variations in the complex relationships between official (curricular) visions and unofficial (child-initiated) visions of relevant composing practices and appropriate cultural resources, it offers, first, insight into how those relationships may change over time and space as children move through early schooling, and, second, understanding of the dynamics of schools and the experience of childhoods through which the local meaning of school literacy is formulated. Each case—each child in a particular sociocultural site—does not represent an essentialized nation or a people but, rather, a rich, processual depiction of childhood being constructed in particular local contexts and the role, if any, for composing.

Global Perspectives on Composing Unique Lives

Child Cultures, Schooling, and Literacy

"This ethnographic study of a young African American boy's educational trajectory from Pre-K to second grade, examining how a district mandate to desegregate its schools altered the school-based experiences of Ta'Von and his fellow students. Taking a sociocultural perspective, the book examines the relationship between integration and social inclusion/exclusion, arguing that desegregation is not sufficient to create a truly inclusive schooling system. Citing instances of persistent inequality based on race, class, and gender, Dyson outlines how literacy, while complicit in both creating and magnifying these types of inequality/exclusion, can also be a powerful tool for remediating them and thereby creating truly inclusive spaces"--

Literacy, Equity, and Belonging in a Child's Early Schooling

Writing the School House Blues

Building on her groundbreaking work in Writing Superheroes, Anne Dyson traces the influence of a wide-ranging set of “textual toys” from children’s lives—church and hip–hop songs, rap music, movies, TV, traditional jump-rope rhymes, the words of professional sports announcers and radio deejays—upon school learning and writing. Wonderfully rich portraits of five African American first–graders demonstrate how children’s imaginative use of wider cultural symbols enriches their school learning. Featuring lively and engaging vignettes of children who are often left behind by our educational system, this book: Provides a detailed view of written language development from inside a particular childhood culture.Shows that children bring a rich folk culture to school and demonstrates how they “remix” their cultural references to accommodate school tasks such as writing.Turns the traditional educational view inside out by starting from inside a child’s culture and looking out toward the demands of school, rather than starting on the outside of the child and looking in.Provides concrete examples of how children’s cultural literacy practices translate into classroom practices and, in turn, into practices of academic success. “The most significant work that has ever been done in this area. It is superior in every respect and Anne Dyson writes like a dream.” —Tom Newkirk, University of New Hampshire “This book is unique in that it features students who draw on the cultural experiences of the Black church, sister and brother play–family games, rap, and Black popular music. It should be ideal in courses on literacy learning.” — Arnetha Ball, School of Education, Stanford University

Popular Literacies in Childhood and School Culture

The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write

Celia Genishi

Synopsis: In their new collaboration, Celia Genishi and Anne Haas Dyson celebrate the genius of young children as they learn language and literacy in the diverse contexts that surround them. Despite burgeoning sociocultural diversity, many early childhood classrooms (pre-K to grade 2) offer a "one-size-fits-all" curriculum, too often assessed by standardized tests. In contrast, the authors propose diversity as the new norm. They feature stories of children whose language learning is impossible to standardize, and they introduce teachers who do not follow scripts but observe, assess informally, respond to, and grow with their children. Among these children are rapid language learners and those who take their time to become speakers, readers, and writers at "child speed." All these learners, regardless of tempo, are often found within the language-rich contexts of play.

Diverse Learners in Diverse Times

Children, Language, and Literacy

Dyson supports efforts to make literacy curricula accessible to our schools’ socioculturally diverse population. This two-year ethnographic study of K–3 children focuses on six students who would normally be deemed “at-risk” and who do not tell stories in the written language format valued by most early literacy educators. Their literacy learning, particularly their writing development, is portrayed as a social process in a complex social world. Dyson’s key theme is the link between composing a text and composing a place in this social world. “Dyson reconceptualizes classrooms as places for dynamic combinations of critical thinking, humor, growth, and understanding for children and their teachers.” —Harvard Educational Review

Social Worlds of Children Learning to Write in an Urban Primary School

Grade level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, k, p, e, i, s, t.

Cultural Diversity in Classroom and Community

The Need for Story

Presents the results of a two-year ethnographic study of K-3 children who do not tell stories in the written language format valued by most early literacy educators.

Learning to Write in an Urban Primary School

Social Worlds of Children

Paul Lee Thomas

Steven Singer

Steve Nelson

Charlene Smith

Jonathan Foley

David Joseph Kolb

Jennifer C. Berkshire

Russ Walsh

Kate Lapham

Esther Sokolov Fine

Vanessa Barnett

Carolyn Walker

In United We Stand Divided We Fall Garn Press has gathered together essays by great scholars and renowned teachers who oppose the direction in which President Trump is leading the country. These are essays, to quote George Lakoff, which frame American values accurately and systemically day after day, telling truths by American majority moral values. These are essays of protest against and resistance to Trump's presidency, to his billionaire cabinet, to the privileging in the White House of white supremacists, the promulgation of "alternate facts," the denigration of media sources, the purges of State Department personnel, the gag orders at the EPA and scientists placed on "watch lists," the travel bans on people from wide swaths of U.S. society and on refugees ... the list is long. They are also essays that tackle the question of what we can do to stop Trump from becoming a fast moving catastrophe. When the hands of the Doomsday Clock were moved closer to midnight, President Trump was named specifically as an existential risk to humanity. There is no doubt that we must all act. The writers of conscience who have written this collection of essays are all actively engaged in opposing President Trump and their writings encourage us to participate in the resistance movement. Read with a pencil in hand. Make notes on what you can do to join aspects of the movement that reflects the needs and concerns of your community. Through social media you can go global while acting locally.

Anne Haas Dyson

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