Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers

How do you set up supportive classrooms in which children can become real readers, writers, and inquirers? Can it be done every day, across the curriculum? In the first edition, Short, Harste, and Burke presented practical theory of literacy instruction based on their work with classroom teachers. Their aim was to show practicing and preservice elementary teachers how to create the best possible literacy-learning environment. In this second edition, the authors offer more ideas and rich descriptions of how their curriculum moved from writing and reading to include inquiry. Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirersrepresents their latest thinking, along with lingering questions and new concerns. The first half of the book focuses on the authoring cycle and the ways in which Short, Harste, Burke, and other teacher-researchers have used the cycle as a curricular framework. The authors share their work within the writing curriculum, then move to the reading curriculum, and finally to rethinking curriculum as inquiry. They also discuss issues related to maintaining a community of inquirers. The second half of the book contains more detailed descriptions of curricular engagements within the authoring cycle framework, such as authors folder, bookmaking, and readers theatre. These classroom strategies have already worked for hundreds of teachers, and Short, Harste, and Burke are at their practical best as they share them with you. Extensive samples of student work are included. The ideas and experiences expressed in this volume are the result of a group of people who have worked together, thought together, and built from the work of others over time. Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers is a resource you will refer to again and again.