Reading, Writing, and Talk by Mariana Souto-Manning

Reading, Writing, and Talk by Mariana Souto-Manning

This new edition of the bestseller, Reading, Writing, and Talk, responds to the urgent need for creating language and literacy pathways that are inclusive, intentional, and center wholeness and belonging. The authors explain, show, and offer critical reflections on the development, teaching, and learning of reading, writing, and talk in early childhood and the early grades--across language practices, dis/abilities, and contexts. This second edition troubles whose reading, writing, and talk belongs in schools, offering insights into and examples of fostering belonging in the classroom. It elucidates the racialization of academic language and analyzes school-sponsored language and literacy curricula to demonstrate the power of expansive literacies and linguistic justice in practice. Readers will enter classrooms where teachers learn from and alongside children, families, and communities about identities, practices, values, funds of knowledge, and more. This update of the popular text offers a wealth of knowledge and examples to help educators truly and fully teach reading, writing, and talk for equity and justice.

Book Features:

• Offers a warm invitation to shift mindsets and consider possibilities for furthering language and literacy development with young children.
• Brings to light powerful concepts like linguistic justice and communicative belonging through powerful classroom scenarios. 
• Centers Black, Indigenous, and other children, teachers, families, and communities of color. 
• Explains how oral language, reading, and writing develop and can be taught in the early grades across languages (bilingual, multilingual), abilities, and contexts. 
• Focuses on constructing classrooms that foster belonging and on teaching for equity and justice.

Praise for the First Edition:

"This book is an important read for current and future primary grade teachers who want to help children achieve their full potential through culturally-relevant and inclusive instruction" - Teachers College Record

"In Reading, Writing, and Talk, Souto-Manning and Martell succeed in honoring their commitment to 'reading words, but also reading worlds--and rewriting them transformatively, in just and inclusive ways.'" - Journal of Education

Mariana Souto-Manning is president of the Erikson Institute.

Jessica Martell and Benelly Álvarez are educators in New York City's public schools.