Pre-K Stories: Growing Literacies Through Redefining Authorship

• In Event: 31.065 - Early Childhood Language and Literacy

Abstract

Abstract
What is the shape of authentic literacy work in early childhood? How might we redefine literacies in early childhood to encompass curriculum, community, and practice? How might young children be empowered through a broader sense of authorship? This paper addresses a situated representation of child-led, child-negotiated literacy work in a pre-kindergarten (PreK) classroom. Through culture circles, a PreK community of learners (re)define literacies. Children (re)position themselves as authors of curriculum, classroom, and community. As children work to “author” their schooling experience, they make visible diverse, meaningful literacies in their lives. Through the critical perspectives of young children, it examines their processes of co-constructing authentic literacy work.

Authors

• Mariana Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Dana Frantz Bentley, Buckingham Browne and Nichols School