Identity texts : the collaborative creation of power in multilingual schools
(ONLINE)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-172) and index.

This book shows how identity texts have engaged school students around the world. The term identity texts were first used in the Canada-wide Multiliteracies Project to describe a wide variety of creative work by students, led by classroom teachers: collaborative inquiry, literary narratives, dramatic and multimodal performances. The identity texts that were produced held up a mirror to the students which reflected their identities back to them in a positive light.

The book presents brief case studies of identity text construction by educators and students in schools in North, Central and South America, in Burkina Faso and Rwanda in Africa, and in Ireland. These models of effective and inspirational pedagogy can be readily replicated or adapted in multilingual classrooms anywhere.

Jim Cummins and Margaret Early describe the nature of identity texts and how they relate to broader orientations to pedagogy and discuss two pedagogical frameworks within which identity texts have been integrated. They elaborate on the central role of identity texts in bilingual instructional strategies and highlight future projects which were generated by brainstorming among the contributors to this volume.

Identity Texts is essential reading for everyone concerned with developing appropriate pedagogy for schools and for all who work with multilingual children.

Jim Cummins is Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning department at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Margaret Early is Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. --Book Jacket.

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