Talking Points - Volume 27, Issue 1, 2015

Selena Van Horn uses inquiry in a second-grade book club to investigate the rich questions children have about differences among people and to help her students learn to challenge heteronormative texts. A selected list of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s literature is included. 

Cheu-jey Lee and his eight-year-old daughter Penn demonstrate through their written conversations how writing is a social practice that is both situated within and informed by multiple Discourses.

Authors May and Bingham advocate for interactive read-alouds of informational texts as an avenue for supporting literacy development while building on the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse children.

This issue’s Professional Resources column includes a short article on inquiry by NCTE president Kathy Short, who points out that for inquiry to be student-driven, students need to do more than solve a problem presented by a teacher: they must pose the problem themselves. Also included are brief reviews of four recent books about language, a list of “classic” books on inquiry, and a profile of an early-career teachers, study group in Columbia, South Carolina.

President’s Message and Board News.