Editor’s Introduction
Challenging the Authoritative Discourse of High-Stakes Testing
Lindy L. Johnson
The University of Georgia
JoLLE Forum: High Stakes Testing and Teacher Evaluations
Rotten to the (Common) Core
James Arnold
The Testing Juggernaut
Marion Brady
My Struggle to Be Heard: A Principal’s Perspective on Education Reform
Harry Leonardatos
The Disconnect Between Standards and Assessment
Elizabeth A. Kahn
Research Articles
Three Avid Adolescent Male Writers’ Experiences at a Residential Summer Writing Workshop
Sean Ruday
Longwood University
This study explored three purposefully-sampled avid adolescent male writers’ experiences at a residential summer writing workshop program. It investigated how the social context of the program influenced the writing of the focal students, the ways that they identified themselves as writers, and the risks that they took in their works. It also examined if the participants’ experiences at the program were influenced by their gender. The study used a cross-case analysis to explore in-common and unique themes in the students’ experiences. The findings address three themes: community, risk-taking, and the perceived influence of gender, indicating the participants experienced these themes in ways that were common in some ways, but also distinct based on the participants’ individual characteristics and the aspects of the Workshop each identified as most significant. Read the full article
“Oh, Those Loud Black Girls!”: A Phenomenological Study of Black Girls Talking with an Attitude
Jacqueline B. Koonce
Michigan State University
Current research suggests that it is imperative for researchers and educators to pay more attention to the needs of African American adolescent girls and how their race and gender affect schooling (Fordham, 1993; Morris, 2007). The purpose of this study was to highlight the lived experiences of two African American adolescent girls when they used the African American women’s speech practice, “Talking with an Attitude” (TWA), with their teachers. Using phenomenology and Afrocentric feminist epistemology as methodological and theoretical approaches, interviews were used to collect and analyze data that revealed the nature of their lived experiences. Van Manen’s description of selective highlighting of statements that point to themes was used as a means of analysis. The findings indicate that the girls reappropriated the use of TWA to resist what they perceived to be hostility and disrespect on the part of their teachers. Read the full article
Voices from the Field
21st Century Literacies in the Classroom: Creating Windows of Interest and Webs of Learning
Robyn Seglem, Illinois State University
Shelbie Witte, Florida State University
Judy Beemer, Junction City High School
By adopting a multiliteracies stance, educators can reach struggling and disengaged students through popular culture texts. Using the comic book hero Spiderman as a vehicle to illustrate the importance of making connections as a strategy for learning and reading, the authors highlight approaches that teach students how to identify traditional literary elements such as characterization and allusion in the non-traditional texts of cartoons, video games and film. Through an understanding of how to successfully integrate these texts, teachers can bridge popular culture to traditional texts, showing students how to make their own connections and move beyond rote memorization and recall into deeper thinking and reasoning. Read the full article
Book Reviews
Assessing new literacies: Perspectives from the classroom.
Saxton, C. (2012). A Review of Assessing new literacies: Perspectives from the classroom. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 8(2), 66-71.
The Best of the Best: Becoming Elite at an American Boarding School.
Johnson, L. L. (2012). A Review of The Best of the Best: Becoming Elite at an American Boarding School. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 8(2), 72-77.
Invisible Girls: At Risk Adolescent Girls’ Writing Within and Beyond School.
Shelton, S.A. (2012). A Review of Invisible Girls: At Risk Adolescent Girls’ Writing Within and Beyond School. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 8(2), 78-83.
Producing success: The culture of personal advancement in an American high school.
Clayton, C. M. (2012). A Review of Producing success: The culture of personal advancement in an American high school. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 8(2), 84-87.
Urban literacies: Critical perspectives on language, learning, and community.
Wandermurem, L. S. (2012). A Review of Urban literacies: Critical perspectives on language, learning, and community. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 8(2), 88-92.
Editor
Lindy L. Johnson
Production Editor
Stephanie Anne Shelton
Board Members
Yury Almetev
Tobie Bass
Gabriela Del Villar
Deavours Hall
Shim Lew
Monique Newsome
Stephanie Anne Shelton
Faculty Advisor
Peter Smagorinsky