Learning from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms

Learning from
Culturally and
Linguistically
Diverse
Classrooms
Using Inquiry to Inform Practice
EDITED BY
Joan C. Fingon
Sharon H. Ulanoff
Foreword by Douglas Fisher
Teachers College, Columbia University
New York and London

Published by Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY
10027
Copyright © 2012 by Teachers College, Columbia University
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the
publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Learning from culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms : using inquiry to
inform practice / edited by Joan C. Fingon, Sharon H. Ulanoff ; foreword by
Douglas Fisher.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8077-5344-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-8077-5345-3
(hardcover : alk. paper)
1. English language—Study and teaching (Elementary)—Foreign speakers.
2. English language—Study and teaching (Elementary)—United States.
3. Language arts (Elementary)—Social aspects. 4. Literacy—Social aspects.
I. Fingon, Joan C. II. Ulanoff, Sharon H.
PE1128.A2L368 2012
372.65’0440973—dc23 2012014362
ISBN 978-0-8077-5344-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-8077-5345-3 (hardcover)
Printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents
Foreword
Douglas Fisher
ix
Introduction: Making Meaning of Classroom Research 1
Joan C. Fingon and Sharon H. Ulanoff
1. Honoring Teacher Voices:
Practices and Perceptions of Teachers Using a Core Reading
Program to Support School Improvement 13
Joan C. Fingon
2. Effective Bilingual Education Pedagogy for Developing Oral
Language and Preliteracy Skills in Hispanic Preschoolers 31
Virginia Gonzalez
3. “You Gotta Say What’s in the Book in Your Own Words”:
Creating Spaces for Second Language Literacy Development
in an Urban Multiage Classroom 47
Sharon H. Ulanoff, Ambika G. Raj, Diane Brantley, and Susan
Courtney, with Richard Rogers
4. The Young Writers Group:
Increasing Struggling Elementary Students’ Literacy
Achievement Through Dialogue and Technology 70
Jodene Kersten Morrell
5. Learning from Roberto:
Scaffolding Second Language Writing Development 87
Alice Quiocho and Sharon H. Ulanoff
vii

viii
contents
6. Cognate Strategy Instruction: Providing Powerful
Literacy Tools to Spanish-Speaking Students 105
Shira Lubliner and Dana L. Grisham
7. “What I Know About Spanish is That I Don’t Talk it Much”:
Bilingual Fifth-grade Students’ Perceptions of Bilingualism 124
Sandra A. Butvilofsky
8. Scaffolding Discussions to Develop Comprehension
and Students’ Voices 142
Josephine Arce and Elizabeth Padilla Detwiler
9. The Story of César Chávez High School:
One Small School’s Struggle for Biliteracy 161
Sandra Liliana Pucci and Gregory J. Cramer
Afterword: Reflecting on Classroom-Based Literacy Research 178
Joan C. Fingon and Sharon H. Ulanoff
About the Editors and the Contributors 183
Index 187