On the Bookshelf

Yasmin B. Kafai, Kylie A. Peppler, and Robbin N. Chapman (Eds.)

The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and Creativity in Youth Communities 

Teachers College Press, 2009

With over 100 sites worldwide, the Computer Clubhouse network provides out-of-school learning environments where young people from underserved communities work with adult mentors to develop and explore their skills in technology. This volume showcases research on the network and considers the implications of findings in the context of what it means to prepare youth to meet the goals of the 21st century. 

Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Susan L. Lytle

Inquiry as Stance: Practitioner Research for the Next Generation 

Teachers College Press, 2009

This sequel to Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge proposes the notion of inquiry-as-stance as a challenge to the current arrangements and outcomes of schools and other educational contexts. The authors call for practitioner researchers in local settings to ally their work with others as part of larger social and intellectual movements for social change and social justice.

 Betsy Rymes

Classroom Discourse Analysis: A Tool for Critical Reflection 

Hampton Press, 2009

For teachers, teacher educators, and anyone interested in the insights to be gained from the analysis of talk in classrooms, this book makes discourse analysis accessible and encoruages readers to investigate assumptions about what goes on in classrooms, what counts as knowledge, and how features of talk and interaction influence who gets to learn.  

Katherine Schultz

Rethinking Classroom Participation: Listening to Silent Voices

Teachers College Press, 2009

While many educators understand how to gauge learning by attending to student talk, few know how to interpret silence as a form of participation. Urging teachers to listen to student silence in new ways, Rethinking Classroom Participation offers real-life examples and proven strategies to include all students -- those eager to raise their hands to speak and those who may pause or answer in different ways. 

 Dixie Goswami, Ceci Lewis, Marty Rutherford, and Diane Waff

On Teacher Inquiry: Approaches to Language and Literacy Research 

Teachers College Press, 2009

An examiniation of the relationships among teacher research, teacher practice, and student learning, this book offers a framework, examples, and practical guidelines for teacher researchers on how to design and conduct individual and collaborative inquiries that build new knowledge and theories about teaching and learning. 

Robert Zemsky

Making Reform Work: The Case for Transforming American Higher Education 

Rutgers University Press, 2009

Making Reform Work presents a diagnosis and reform agenda for the sytem of American higher education. Suggesions include a series of dislodging events -- for example, making a three-year baccalaureate the standard undergraduate degree, Congressional rethinking of student aid in the wake of the loan scandal, and a change in the rules governing endowments -- that could break the gridlock that today holds higher education reform captive.