Thomas W. Bean

Exploring Notions of Freedom In and Through Young Adult Literature

This article offers teachers a critical framework for use and adaptation in organizing class discussions focused on notions of freedom in young adult literature. The authors open by discussing the notion of freedom, including concepts related to negative and positive freedom and to arguments advocating critical discussion of common assumptions surrounding individual freedom and collective responsibility. Examples of classroom questions drawn from a critical literacy framework center on two award-winning young adult novels, The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis and The Other Side of Truth by Beverly Naidoo. Classrooms offer a community where notions of freedom depicted in young adult novels located in war zones can be considered through a critical literacy lens. In addition to the novels discussed in the article, the authors provide a list of other young adult literature for teachers to consider for use in their classrooms.

Sociocultural Influences in Content Area Teachers' Selection and Use of Multiple Texts.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore how three secondary content area teachers used and viewed multiple texts in their classrooms. A sociocultural perspective guided data collection, including: observation, interviews, and collection of text‐related school documents, such as assignments and evidence of texts used during instruction. The data were analyzed in order to answer the following question: How do secondary content area teachers use and view multiple texts in their classrooms? Findings suggest that while the three teachers used multiple texts in the classroom, they had different levels of use and purposes in their instruction that can be identified in terms of a continuum. Furthermore, use of multiple texts is complex. Each teacher hoped to enhance student interest and engagement, which is difficult while attending to standards and assessment.

An interpretive study of doctoral mentoring in literacy

This research focused on one mentor and her advisee and how they characterized the mentoring process and their roles in it. The mentor, a seasoned veteran, was independent, self‐motivated, and passionate about her work. The doctoral student, on the other hand, sought the expertise of a more knowledgeable person to help her deal with, and reduce, her stress. Clearly, both individuals saw reciprocity in their relationship. The faculty mentor perceived the doctoral student as someone who could lend another set of eyes to her work; the student viewed herself in the role of expanding the mentors research interests. The faculty member saw mentoring as a concrete, sequential process, ultimately leading to independence as a scholar. The doctoral student expressed a combination of anxiety and eventual comfort, viewing the range of research experiences as an opportunity to explore options.

Adolescent literacy: Charting a course for successful futures as lifelong learners

Abstract A brief history of the adolescent literacy movement is provided and the suggestion is made that the next step in the evolution of this conceptualization is the need to extend it into how we approach curriculum development. Two issues that will impact adolescent literacy curriculum development and help us chart our course toward making adolescents lifelong learners, globalization and adolescent identity, are then discussed. It is suggested that the articles in this special issue will begin to help us think about what exactly that course for success will be.

Choreographing Change One Step at a Time: Reflections on Integrating Technology into Teacher Education Courses

Abstract This article reports the findings of a collective case study conducted during the Spring 1996 semester to describe new technology use in teacher education courses and to investigate the progress made by College of Education faculty. When examining cases individually, changes in each course as a result of including new technology were minimal; yet when viewed across cases, the potential impact of small changes on the overall teacher education program became evident. In addition, the article incorporates the reflections and personal insights of the participants. These perspectives evolved from a group interview conducted to bring closure to the study, which instead became a springboard for sharing accomplishments and experiences. The elaborated stories presented in this article provide evidence of how thinking or teaching changed as a result of increased technology integration, and they demonstrate the potential for programmatic impact through collective faculty effort.

Missing the Savoir for the Connaissance Disciplinary and Content Area Literacy as Regimes of Truth

This conceptual review addresses the bifurcation of content area and disciplinary literacy by examining each as regimes of truth. We look specifically at the ways in which both approaches comprise, in Foucault’s terms, “regimes of truth” within their respective epistemological domains. Following a brief history of adolescent literacy, extant research is considered. By employing a theoretical framework based on Foucault’s notions of “connaissance” referring to a particular corpus of knowledge, and “savoir” or knowledge in general, research and discourse surrounding the current debate over content area literacy and disciplinary literacy are taken up to deconstruct stances within these domains with the aim of a reconstruction that captures the affordances of both. Suggestions for moving the field out of this binary through a collaborative focus on interdisciplinary approaches are discussed.

Preservice Teachers' Discussion of a Multicultural Young Adult Novel.

Abstract The present study explored preservice elementary teachers’ literature circle discussion of a multicultural young adult novel with a focus on two research questions: (a) How do preservice teachers discuss a multicultural young adult novel? and, (b) What views and theories informed their understanding of literature response discussion? The discussion stances that emerged from the data indicated participants adopted either a literary analysis stance in their discussions or a personal association stance. The more distant literary analysis stance may limit important cross‐cultural insights that might be gleaned from a young adult multicultural novel.

Constructing School Success in Literacy: The Pathway to College Entrance for Minority Students

Book reviewed in this article: Constructing School Success: The Consequences of Untracking Low-Achieving Students. By Hugh Mehan, Irene Villanueva, Lea Hubbard, and Angela Lintz. 1996.

Reconceptualizing adolescent identity

The authors review Act Your Age! A Cultural Construction of Adolescence by Nancy Lesko, Conversational Borderlands: Language and Identity in an Alternative Urban High School by Betsy Rymes, and School Kids/Street Kids: Identity Development in Latino Students by Nilda Flores-Gonzalez.