Writing the School House Blues: Literacy, Equity, and Belonging in a Child's Early Schooling

Contents

Foreword ?William Trent ?ix

Preface?xi

Acknowledgments?xv

PART I: SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE DRAMA TO COME?1

1.??A Sense of Belonging: Inclusion and Equity in Ta?Von?s Journey Into School?3
A First Glance at Ta?Von?5
Historical and Ideological Forces?9
Transition Into Early Schooling and the Problematics of Race?13
About Those Blues?15
Queries and Visions?16

2.??Preparation: Gathering Data, Finding Theoretical Glasses, and Becoming ?My Friend From Preschool??19
Accompanying Ta?Von on the Journey?21
Constructing a Telling Case?30
The Secret Ingredient in Case Writing?33

PART II: THE SCHOOL HOUSE BLUES: TA?VON?S TRANSITION TO AND THROUGH SCHOOL?35

3.??Schooling Begins: ?I Really Really Loved Preschool??37
A Place for Everyone: ?We? Gather Together?40
Everyone Is Equal: We Are ALL Learners?44
We Make Worlds: Social Pleasures and Power of Multimodal Composing?47
?You? Join ?Me? in the Social Pleasure of Popular Song?51
On Turning to a New Chapter?53

4.??A Shift in Schools and in a Sense of Belonging: ?How Come ? He?s in Kindergarten???55
Ta?Von and the Refracted ?We?: Intersectionality and the Construction of ?Difference??57
Concluding: The Relational Dynamics of Classroom Belonging?80

5.??Smartness and Friendship in a Stratified World: ?I Know I?m Smart ?Cause I Don?t Copy??83
The Fate of the Collective ?We?: Stratification and Belonging?85
?Smartness? as a Source of Social Power: Gifts of Help and Assumptions of Leadership?90
Belonging and Learning?96
Coming Attractions: Belonging, Learning, and the Music of ?Not Real? Composing?98

6.??Shifts in the Terms of Engagement: ?I?m a Musician??101
Stretching the ?We?: Indexing Belonging in the Music of ?Not Real? Composing?103
Textual Resources and Compositional Feats: Official Skills in ?Not Real? Spaces?106
Music ?Smarts? as a Social Tool?: ?How ?bout We Form a Club???113
Unofficial Resources and Official Places: Knocking on the Curricular Door?118
Belonging, Competence, and Learning: Toward Textual Crossroads?120

7.??Educational Reverberations of the School House Blues: Toward Inclusive Classrooms?125
Preschool: ?We? All Belong?127
Kindergarten: The Social Stratification of ?We??131
2nd Grade: Rhythmic Beats on Curricular Walls?137
Final Notes of the School House Blues?143

Appendix: Reflections on the Drama of Research and the Discipline of Methods?147

References?151

Index?161

About the Author?171