Annotation Semali (education, Penn State U.) provides an introduction to 11 contributions on various ways of understanding how transmediation-- the translation and manipulation of sign systems and symbols, moving from one type of "language" to another--can be a framework for teaching and learning in the language arts. Such ideas are a challenge to conventional language teaching methods and to current emphasis on testing. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Addresses topics in educational psychology from a semiotic or sign-based perspective rather than a behavioural one. This book presents an argument that teachers must rely on signs of all kinds to understand students and to survive as teachers. It discusses the nature of the sign and its basis in semiotics, and its use in classroom management.
This book offers a creative and practical guide for K-6 teachers on how to effectively integrate movement into the curriculum to increase student engagement, deepen learning, improve retention, and get kids moving during the school day. Chapters offer concrete ideas for integrating creative movement and theater into subjects such as math, science, literacy, and social studies. Drawing on two decades of experience, Dr. Becker outlines key skills, offers rich examples, and provides adaptable and flexible classroom tested lesson plans that align with Common Core Standards, the NGSS, C3 Social Studies Standards, and the National Core Arts Standards. Activities are grounded in arts integration, which is steadily gaining interest in school reform as an effective teaching strategy that increases student outcomes academically and socially—particularly effective for students who have traditionally been marginalized. This book will benefit practicing educators who want to invigorate their practice, preservice teachers who want to expand their toolkit, and school leaders looking to employ policies that support movement and arts during the school day. Jump in and get your kids Learning Through Movement and see how active and engaging learning can be!
The multiliteracies approach to literacy education has become established as an accessible and effective paradigm for classroom practice in the 21st century. The Multiliteracies Classroom enlivens this theory with its vivid description of events in a real classroom. Teachers will identify with the lively transcripts of classroom interactions, and be inspired to widen students’ access to new literacy practices in an increasingly digital and globalised world. The possibilities and constraints that can be encountered when implementing multiliteracies are explored in detail. Educators know from experience that students begin their classroom journey with entirely unequal opportunities for literacy success. The Multiliteracies Classroom does not ignore this reality, highlighting the influence of society’s patterns of power on literacy learning in the digital age. Its key themes provide a blueprint for the future of literacy research and practice.
Gunther Kress argues for a radical reappraisal of the phenomenon of literacy, and hence for a profound shift in educational practice. Through close attention to the variety of objects which children constantly produce (drawings, cuttings-out, 'writings' and collages), Kress suggests a set of principles which reveal the underlying coherence of children's actions; actions which allow us to connect them with attempts to make meaning before they acquire language and writing. This book provides fundamental challenges to commonly held assumptions about both language and literacy, thought and action. It places these challenges within the context of speculation about the abilities and dispositions essential for children as young adults, and calls for the radical decentring of language in educational theory and practice.
"Whereas most literacy assessments for children who do not yet read involve decoding and phonics skills, reading wordless picture books presents an opportunity to evaluate and encourage young children's comprehension and meaning-making skills and introduce them to narrative"--
This book provides groundbreaking evidence demonstrating how student-authored explanatory animations can embody and document learning as an exciting new development within digital pedagogy. Explanatory animations can be an excellent resource for teaching and learning but there has been an underlying assumption that students are predominately viewers rather than animation authors. The methodology detailed in this book reverses this scenario by putting students in the driver’s seat of their own learning. This signals not just a change in perspective, but a complete change in activity that, to continue the analogy, will forever change the conversation and make redundant phrases like “Are we there yet?” and “How much longer?” The digital nature of such practices provides compelling evidence for reconceptualising explanatory animation creation as a pedagogical activity that generates multimodal assessment data. Tying together related themes to advance approaches to evidence-based assessment using digital technologies, this book is intended for educators at any stage of their journey, including pre-service teachers.
