Buried Treasures in the Classroom: Using Hidden Influences to Enhance Literacy Teaching and Learning (Kids Insight Series)

"I think I influence my friends and help them learn more." (Sammy, third-grade student)

The lessons authors Amy Seely Flint and Mary Riordan-Karlsson learned when they observed a year of literacy events in one third- and one fourth-grade classroom altered their vision of teaching and learning forever. They uncovered numerous "buried treasures" that influence the construction of meaning in classroom settings-in particular, stance, social positioning, and interpretive authority. Because of their implicit nature, these influences are often overlooked when planning classroom instruction.

In Buried Treasures in the Classroom: Using Hidden Influences to Enhance Literacy Teaching and Learning, these authors share their observations of how students engage in literacy events and construct meaning within those events. They discuss the hidden influences in depth, illustrating how tensions can arise between teachers and students based on the relationships among stance, social positioning, and interpretive authority. The authors also provide strategies for using these three influences during classroom literacy events to maximize students' learning.

Each chapter of Buried Treasures in the Classroom combines theoretical perspectives with instructional strategies. Interspersed throughout this book and others in the Kids InSight series are Reflection Points, which ask you to reflect on your own practice and to consider personal philosophies and strategies for teaching literacy. This book also contains classroom vignettes and excerpts of student dialogue, as well as suggested readings, relevant Web sites, and children's book references.

This book offers teachers new insights into some of the less-obvious factors in classroom culture. Uncovering the buried treasures in your classroom will help you to provide more meaningful literacy experiences for your middle elementary students.

Amy Seely Flint is an assistant professor at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, USA.

Mary Riordan-Karlsson is the president of Karlsson Consulting in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.