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THE TEXAS JOURNAL OF LITERACY EDUCATION A PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL PUBLISHED BY THE TEXAS ASSOCATION FOR LITERACY EDUCATION1 Volume 8, Issue 1 – Summer 2020 TEXAS JOURNAL OF LITERACY EDUCATION VOLUME 8, ISSUE 1 EDITORS Amy Burke is an associate professor in the Department of Literacy and Learning at Texas Woman's University. She holds a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Language and Literacy Studies. While at UT, she participated in the National Writing Project (Heart of Texas Writing Project). Dr. Burke regularly presents her scholarly work at conferences including the Literacy Research Association (LRA), AERA, and NCTE. Her work has been published in journals such as Language Arts and Literacy Research and Instruction. Connie Briggs is a professor in the Department of Literacy and Learning at Texas Woman’s University. She has 13 years of public school experience and has worked as a reading consultant and professor of reading in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. She has post-doctoral training in early literacy intervention and continues to teach at-risk children to keep current and inform her teaching of undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Briggs is past president of the Kansas Reading Association, Reading Recovery Council of North America, North American Trainers’ Group, and currently serves as the United States representative to the International Reading Recovery Trainers Organization Executive Board of Directors and president of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers organization. She holds a Ph.D. in Reading Education from the University of North Texas. Elizabeth L. (Betsy) Kaye is an associate professor in the Department of Literacy and Learning at Texas Woman’s University. She has 18 years of public school experience, serving as a special education teacher, classroom teacher, reading interventionist and district literacy staff developer. She holds a Ph.D. in Reading Education and is actively involved as a Reading Recovery trainer in addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Kaye regularly collaborates with teachers and district leaders to support literacy learners in elementary schools. Mary Amanda (Mandy) Stewart is an associate professor in the Department of Literacy and Learning at Texas Woman’s University. Through the National Writing Project and the federally-funded ELLevate! grant, she regularly learns with/from multilingual high school students while supporting their teachers. She has authored two books about teaching adolescents acquiring English and leveraging their strengths. Texas Journal of Literacy Education | Volume 8, Issue 1 | Summer 2020 | ISSN 2374-7404 2 EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD Juan J. Araujo, Texas A&M University-Commerce Kent Layton, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Sara Lisa Avrit, Quinlan ISD Katrena Leininger, University of Wisconisin-Oshkosh Alexandra Babino, Texas A&M University-Commerce Melanie Loewenstein, Texas A&M-Commerce Amy Bach, University of Texas at El Paso LaShera McElhany, Southwestern Assemblies of God University Betty Coneway, West Texas A&M University Tami Morton, Texas A&M University-Commerce Annamary Consalvo, The University of Texas at Tyler Mariannella Nuñez, Texas Woman’s University Ann D. David, University of the Incarnate Word John M. Ponder, University of West Georgia Maria E. Diaz, The University of Texas-Rio Grande April Sanders, Spring Hill College Valley Bethany Scullin, University of West Georgia Kathryn Dixon, Texas A&M University-Commerce Anne Simpson, Texas Woman’s University Jorge Figueroa, Texas Woman’s University Patsy Sosa-Sanchez, University of North Texas- Ricardo González-Carriedo, University of North Dallas Texas Laura Slay, Texas A&M-Commerce Robert Griffin, University of West Georgia Amanda Szwed, University of North Texas Stephanie Grote-Garcia, University of the Incarnate Word Annette Torres Elías, Texas Woman’s University Dan Heiman, University of North Texas Nancy K. Votteler, Sam Houston State University Fernando Hernandez, University of Texas at Rio Patricia Watson, Texas Woman’s University Grande Valley Melody Zoch, The University of North Carolina- Greensboro Texas Journal of Literacy Education | Volume 8, Issue 1 | Summer 2020 | ISSN 2374-7404 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Invited Columns Page 5 BILITERACY IN TEXAS LITERACY ASSESSMENT: WHERE DO I BEGIN? CYNTHIA RODRIGUEZ Page 12 THE SHIFTING LITERACY LANDSCAPE CHARTING A COURSE IN TIMES OF CHANGE ANN D. DAVID AND ANNAMARY CONSALVO Feature Articles Page 18 HIGH-STAKES, STANDARDIZED TESTING AND EMERGENT BILINGUAL STUDENTS IN TEXAS: AN OVERVIEW OF STUDY FINDINGS AND A CALL FOR ACTION AMY J. BACH Page 38 LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES: CHILDREN’S TEXTUAL PRACTICES BEFORE AND DURING A PLAY-BASED CLASSROOM INITIATIVE NICOLA FRIEDRICH AND CHRISTINE PORTIER Page 56 WHAT TEACHERS WANT: THE QUALITIES OF AN EFFECTIVE LITERACY COACH ACCORDING TO CLASSROOM TEACHERS ALIDA K. HUDSON AND BETHANIE PLETCHER Page 67 SPANISH LANGUAGE OF NORTH AMERICAN STUDENTS OF HISPANIC HERITAGE: A FIELD STUDY IN NORTH TEXAS ANA MARÍA GONZÁLEZ MARTÍN, WILLIAM PULTE, AND VIVIANA HALL Page 82 “I CAN’T FIND NO BLACK BOOKS”: HELPING AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES FIND BOOKS THEY WANT TO READ BETHANY SCULLIN Page 112 THE BOYS ARE BACK AND THEY’RE LOOKING FOR DRAMA CHASE YOUNG, LISA POLK, PATRICIA DURHAM, AND MACIE KERBS Page 126 CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS Page 127 CALL FOR REVIEWERS Texas Journal of Literacy Education | Volume 8, Issue 1 | Summer 2020 | ISSN 2374-7404 4 COLUMN: BILITERACY IN TEXAS COLUMN EDITOR: MARY AMANDA STEWART COLUMN INTRODUCTION The number of bilingual students in our schools is growing which includes many different kinds of learners, each with their unique potential and literacy needs. These multilingual learners are in various educational programs including mainstream, ESL, sheltered, bilingual, language immersion, or world language classes. Though not mutually exclusive, we might refer to them by using these categories: emergent bilinguals (students who are acquiring English as an additional language), heritage language speakers (students who speak a language of their parents in addition to English), simultaneous bilinguals (students who have grown up with more than one language), sequential bilinguals (students who are acquiring an additional language after the beginning of formal education such as in a secondary world language classroom), or even dual-language learners (students are beginning their education by receiving instruction in two languages). This myriad of classifications of bilingual students only scratches the surface of understanding this growing and complex group of global citizens. Therefore, there is a need for all literacy educators (bilingual or not) to have working knowledge of biliteracy assessment, development, and instruction in order to help all students reach their full potential. This column will be devoted to discussing relevant trends of biliteracy in the state of Texas. If you would like to contribute to future columns, please contact the column editor Mandy Stewart at [email protected]. LITERACY ASSESSMENTS: WHERE DO I BEGIN? CYNTHIA RODRIGUEZ I recently had the opportunity to lead a professional development for a group of bilingual and EL teachers. The topic was “Planning and Implementing Guided Reading in Bilingual and Dual ILanguage Classrooms.” We began the session by discussing the first days of school. I posed questions that included, “What are our priorities the first week of school? What questions am I trying to answer about my students?” The responses below encapsulate what most all the teachers said, in some form or another: Texas Journal of Literacy Education | Volume 8, Issue 1 | Summer 2020 | ISSN 2374-7404 5 “My priorities are building relationships, getting to know my new group of kids in all ways. What is easy for them? What’s harder?” “First off, I want my class to feel comfortable with me and each other.” “Assessing comes first! From the first minutes, I’m taking notes-both physical and mental-learning as much about them as I can, as fast as I can.” “In my dual language classroom, one of my first priorities is learning language preferences. Sometimes, my students can read and write in English but prefer to speak in Spanish. I have to know these things to give me my starting points.” “Who are these humans that I am going to devote my life to for the next school year? What will we learn from each other? Who needs more challenge? Who needs more support?” “I think of my class like a little family. So, right off we are learning about each other and how to communicate in a way that makes us all feel safe and comfortable. Once I establish that, I can dig in and get to work reading and writing.” After this discussion, I posed more specific questions: “What about reading and writing? Where do we begin with literacy instruction? What are the priorities there? What information do you need?” Some responses were: “With my second graders, I need to learn about the major areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing. I have assessments for each one.” “I review their previous years testing outcomes. Then, I have my own assessments that help me know where they are compared to where they finished last school year.” “I have a language assessment, I take running records and get writing samples from everyone within the first couple of weeks of school. Then I make my small groups for reading instruction.” “I assess reading and writing in English and Spanish.” “What is their level of phonemic awareness and phonics in English and Spanish? This is what is most important for me to know about my pre-k students.” These teachers hit the nail on the head! There are so many things that might feel overwhelming on the first days of school, especially for novice teachers. It is important to have clear priorities. What are the MOST CRITICAL areas that will get the school year off to a running start? What do I need to Texas Journal of Literacy Education | Volume 8, Issue 1 | Summer 2020 | ISSN 2374-7404 6 know in order to move forward with literacy instruction that challenges and supports all my students? In this article, I will address those questions and share foundational details about literacy assessments.