Playing Their Way Into Literacies

“This book provides a theoretical and empirical foundation for the development of new and exciting pedagogical approaches to the teaching and learning of digital literacies in the earliest years of schooling... researchers, educators, and policymakers alike ignore its key messages at their peril in the decades ahead.” —From the Foreword byJackie Marsh, the University of Sheffield, UK “Play, too often in the past, has been seen as a four-letter word by those who wish to raise academic standards. Wohlwend shows why this position is untenable and why play is a curricular necessity in kindergarten and beyond. This is a must read for anyone worried about what parents and administrators will say about the infusion of play in their curriculum.” —Jerome C. Harste, Indiana University, Bloomington Karen Wohlwend provides a new framework for rethinking the boundaries between literacy and play, so that play itself is viewed as a literacy practice along with reading, writing, and design. Through a variety of theoretical lenses, the author presents a portrait of literacy play that connects three play groups: the girls and, importantly, boys, who played with Disney Princess media; “Just Guys” who used design and sports media to make a boys-only space; and a group of children who played teacher with big books and other school texts. These young children "play by design"—using play as a literacy to transform the texts that they read, write, and draw—but also as a tactic to transform their relational identities in the social spaces of peer and school cultures. Emphasizing the importance of play despite current high-stakes testing demands, this book: Provides an argument for re-centering play in early childhood curricula where play functions as a literacy in its own right. Offers cutting-edge analyses and examples of new literacies, popular culture, and multimodal discourses. Illustrates how children’s play can both produce and challenge normative discourses regarding ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Examines the multimodal, multimedia textual practices of young children as they play across tensions among popular media, peer relationships, and school literacy. Features vivid descriptions, examples of young children in action, and photographs. Karen E. Wohlwendis an assistant professor in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education at Indiana University. The research in this book was awarded the 2008 International Reading Association Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Building on her award-winning research (featured in Playing Their Way into Literacies) which emphasizes that play is an early literacy, Wohlwend has developed a curricular framework for children ages 3 to 8. The Literacy Playshop curriculum engages children in creating their own multimedia productions, positioning them as media makers rather than passive recipients of media messages. The goal is to teach young children to critically interpret the daily messages they receive in popular entertainment that increasingly blur toys, stories, and advertising. The first half of this practical resource features case studies that show how six early childhood teachers working together in teacher study groups developed and implemented play-based literacy learning and media production. The second half of the book provides a Literacy Playshop framework with professional development and classroom activities, discussion questions, and technology try-it sections. This user-friendly book will inspire and support teachers in designing their own Literacy Playshops.

This thought-provoking, fascinating and highly informative text offers both a vivid account of a group of young readers coming to terms with texts and a radical perspective on the growth of a generation of young readers.

This book introduces three new subjects to the context of literacy research—play, the imaginary, and improvisation—and proposes how to incorporate these important concepts into the field as research methods in order to engage people, materials, spaces, and imaginaries that are inherent in every research encounter. Grounded in cutting-edge theory, chapters are structured around lived narratives of research experiences, demonstrating key practices for unsettling and expanding the ways people interact, behave, and construct knowledge. Through an exploration of difference, play, and the imaginary, authors Medina, Perry, and Wohlwend present an active set of practices that acknowledges and attends to the global, fragmented, politicized contexts in literacy research. This book provides researchers and literacy education scholars with rich and clear theoretical foundations and practical tools to engage in literacy research in ethical, creative, and responsive ways. The authors invite readers to play by exploring the ways in which pedagogical, research, artistic, and other creative contexts can be sites to examine identity, plurality, and difference. Chapters feature innovative elements such as author dialogues that make visible how the authors engage with the ideas they present; guiding questions to prompt reflection and conversation; playful invitations to share possibilities of play in real-world contexts; and stories and practices to ground the conceptual and playful inquiry.

Most children engage with a range of popular cultural forms outside of school. Their experiences with film, television, computer games and other cultural texts are very motivating, but often find no place within the official curriculum, where children are usually restricted to conventional forms of literacy. This book demonstrates how to use children′s interests in popular culture to develop literacy in the primary classroom. The authors provide a theoretical basis for such work through an exploration of related theory and research, drawing from the fields of education, sociology and cultural studies. Teachers are often concerned about issues of sexism, racism, violence and commercialism within the discourse of children′s media texts. The authors address each of these areas and show how such issues can be explored directly with children. They present classroom examples of the use of popular culture to develop literacy in schools and include interviews with children and teachers regarding this work. This book is relevant to all teachers and students who want to develop their understanding of the nature and potential role of popular culture within the curriculum. It will also be useful to language co-ordinators, advisers, teacher educators and anyone interested in media education in the 5-12 age-range.

Bringing together two key areas within early childhood— play and literacy — this book offers an innovative approach to examining literacies within the context of children’s play. This book: Introduces students to contemporary theory and research in the field Explores the debates surrounding young children’s play and how language and literacies are created through a range of play activity Helps students to reflect on how this knowledge can be applied in their future professional lives working to support young children Advocating for young children’s play and diverse literacies, this book supports students to develop a depth of knowledge about how play can extend children’s literacies, and encourages early childhood educators to reflect on and enhance their literacy practices with young children.

Pre-K Stories offers a lively exploration of how one classroom community played with and collaboratively engaged in authorship. Through everyday stories, readers are invited to witness and engage with classroom practices that honor young children’s brilliance and build on their questions, interests, and strengths. Weaving together literacy, language arts, social studies, science, mathematics, and more, the authors illustrate how curriculum can be authentically and meaningfully integrated. They also offer a unique perspective on the development of language and literacy practices by framing children’s play narratives as the foundation from which rich curricula can grow. Pre-K Stories allows readers to experience the rich cadence of a classroom, while also coming to understand important theories that undergird early childhood teaching and young children’s learning. Book Features: Rich descriptions and examples of 4-year-old children’s authoring and writing processes. Engaging narratives from the perspective of an early childhood teacher and students. A unique perspective on the development of language and literacy practices through children’s play. A view of young children as powerful and capable of co-constructing curriculum with teachers. A dynamic approach that has broad implications for literacy and integrative curriculum practices in early childhood.

Rethinking Early Literacies honors the identities of young children as they read, write, speak, and play across various spaces, in and out of pre/school. Despite narrow curricular mandates and policies, the book highlights the language resources and tools that children cultivate from families, communities, and peers. The chapters feature children’s linguistic flexibility with multiple languages, creative appropriation of popular culture, participation in community literacy practices, and social negotiation in the context of play. Throughout the book, the authors critically reframe what it means to be literate in contemporary society, specifically discussing the role of educators in theorizing and rethinking language ideologies for practice. Issues influencing early childhood education in trans/national contexts are forefronted (e.g. racism, immigration rights, readiness) throughout the book, with a call to support and sustain communities of color.

Expanding the definition and use of literacies beyond verbal and written communication, this book examines contemporary literacies through action-focused analysis of bodies, places, and media. Nexus analysis examines how people enact and mobilize meanings that are largely unspoken. Wohlwend demonstrates how nexus analysis can be used as a tool to critically analyze and understand action in everyday settings, to provide a deeper understanding of how meanings are produced from a mix of modes in daily social and cultural contexts. Organized in three sections—Engaging Nexus, Navigating Nexus, and Changing Nexus—this book provides a roadmap to applying nexus analysis to literacy research, and offers tools to enable readers to compare methods across contexts. Designed to help readers understand the theoretical and methodological assumptions and goals of nexus analysis in classroom and literacy research, this book provides a comprehensive understanding of the theory, framework, and foundations of nexus analysis, by using multimodal examples such as films and media, artifacts, live action performances, and more. Each chapter features consistent sections on key ideas and methods, and a description of procedures for replication and application.

This book explores “making” in the school curriculum in a period in which the ability to create and respond to digital artifacts is key and focuses on makerspaces in educational settings. Combining the arts with design to give a fuller picture of the engagement and wonder that unfolds with maker literacies, the book moves across such settings and themes as: Creativity and writing in classrooms Making and developing civic engagement Emotional experiences of making Race and gender in makerspace Game-based play and coding in schools and draws its case studies from the Netherlands, Finland, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Giving as broad a perspective on makerspaces, making, and design as possible, the book will help scholars expand their understandings and help educators appreciate the power and worth of making to inspire students. It is useful for anyone hoping to apply design, maker, and makerspace approaches to their teaching and learning.