The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write

by Dyson, Anne Haas

• ISBN13: 9780807742808
• ISBN10: 0807742805
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Anne Haas Dyson is a professor in the literacy program of the College of Education at Michigan State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Prologue	1	(3)
School Literacy: The View from Inside a Child Culture	4	(24)
Slipping into a Child Culture	7	(4)
Conceptual Tools for Tracing the Threads of Child Literacy	11	(6)
Methodological Tools for Constructing the Project Data Set	17	(8)
A Writing Development Remix: The Plan of the Book	25	(3)
Mapping the Cultural Landscape of a Contemporary Childhood	28	(24)
``Childtimes''	31	(12)
The Social Usefulness of Textual Toys	43	(7)
Venturing Out from a Childhood Landscape: Toward School Literacy Practices	50	(2)
The Brothers and Sisters in the Classroom Family: Entering School Literacy Practices	52	(26)
Organizing the Classroom Family: Introduction to Official Space	55	(11)
Child Journeys into Official Space	66	(6)
Textual Borders in Permeable Space: The Consequences of Star Wars and Space Jam	72	(4)
Toward Situating Childhoods in Composing Spaces	76	(2)
Sports Matters: Marcel and the Textual Mediation of Coach Bombay's and Ms. Rita's Worlds	78	(31)
The Textual Resources of Sports Media	82	(2)
Marcel and the Written Word	84	(22)
On Coach Bombay's Kids and Writing	106	(3)
Animated Adventures: Noah's Textual Ark	109	(28)
The Textual Resources of Animated Media	112	(2)
Noah and the Written Word	114	(20)
Young Children's Writing as Testing the (Social) Waters	134	(3)
Singing Stars: Denise's Musical Voices	137	(32)
The Cultural Resources of Music Media	140	(2)
Denise and the Written Word	142	(24)
``All God's Children Got [School] Shoes''	166	(3)
A Writing Development Remix	169	(23)
How the Present Builds on the Past: It's a Rap	171	(10)
Situating Clay's ``Kaleidoscopic Reshuffle'': A Coach Bombay Remix	181	(4)
Teachers' Work and the Dialogic Rhythms of Writing Development	185	(7)
The View from the Outside: ``You've Got to Grow with Your Children''	192	(25)
Parents: Our Children ``Are Exposed to So Much''	193	(3)
Popular Culture Professionals: You Have to ``Hook'' the Audience	196	(11)
The Teacher: ``Opening Up'' Children's Worlds	207	(4)
The Researcher: Making Space for Children in Childhood Literacy	211	(6)
Appendix A: Conventions Used in Transcripts	217	(2)
Appendix B: Demographic Tables	219	(2)
Notes	221	(2)
Glossary	223	(4)
References	227	(12)
Media Bibliography	239	(6)
Index	245	(11)
About the Author	256