Kindergarten Education: Theory, Research, and Practice Journal Articles: Volume 5, No.1 * Spring, 2000

Reflection, Dialogue, and Negotiation: Transforming Instructional Practices Through Classroom Research

LYNDA D. STONE
In this article, I discuss why an understanding of teacher beliefs is important to educational reform, why creating communities of inquiry promotes teacher devleopment, and why viewing classrooms as cultural contexts is valuable. Ethnographic research techniques are offered as a means of creating inquiry communities in which teachers take on the role of researchers. A basic description of ethnographic research techniques is provided along with a complementary conceptual tool, Activity Theory. Finally, a brief discussion of what forms of internal and external support might work to promote teachers’ ongoing development as teacher researchers is included.

LYNDA D. STONE
Professor of Child Development in the College of Education at California State University, Sacramento.
Rules are Made to be Golden: A Qualitative Study of American and Japanese Children’s Morals
SATOMI IZUMI TAYLOR, JEANNE T. WILSON, TOSHIKO KANEDA, and TETSUYA OGAWA
The purpose of this study was to examine the moral development of Japanese and American first-and second grade children. The data came from written essays of children from both nations. The data analysis revealed that when making moral decisions, the children of both nations were clearly influenced by the universal concepts of responsibility, social rules, hidden curriculum, empathy, and perspective taking. However, the children of both nations were also influenced by their own cultures. Specifically, Japanese children arrived at moral decisions through the cultural filters of sunao (coperation), hansei (reflection), apology, and feelings, whereas American children arrived at these same decisions through such cultural filters as honesty, feelings, and a sense of right and wrong.

SATOMI IZUMI TAYLOR is Associate Professor, Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, The University of Memphis. JEANNE T. WILSON is a Kindergarten Teacher at St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Memphis, TN. TOSHIKO KANEDA is Professor, Department of Education, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka-City, Japan. TETSUYA OGOWA is Associate Professor, Seitoku University, Kawasaki, Japan.
Reading, Writing, Talking, Thinking, and Caring in the Kindergarten Classroom
JOHN SHEFELBINE, CINDY LITMAN, and MARILYN WILSON
New state Kindergarten standards in California list reading content that used to be more commonly taught in first grade. This article examines some of the thinking behind this change and argues that beginning reading can be incorporated into the kindergarten curriculum but not at the expense of two other key components: socialization and language development. Ways in which these three goals can be strengthened and combined are described. Developing a caring community with an emphasis on intrinsic motivation and collaborative learning positively affects students’ sense of worth and is associated with higher academic achievement. Academic language development through challenging read alouds and through “talking and writing to learn” builds the comprehension base that is so critical in the upper grades. Finally, kindergarten students can begin to master beginning reading strategies when instruction is carefully scaffolded to meet their varying developmental levels and when “hybrid” text is used as a transition from predictable to decodable text.

JOHN SHEFELBINE is Professor of Teacher Education at California State University, Sacramento. CINDY LITMAN is a writer for the Developmental Studies Center’s After-School Literacy project. MARILYN WATSON is the Director of Programs at the Developmental Studies Center, Oakland, CA.

A Creative Tool for Strengthening Skills of Emergent Readers
MICHAEL JORDAN and ADRIENNE HERRELL
Readers theatre has long been recognized as an effective approach for providing authentic reading practice. Recent research has validated it as a powerful tool in teaching reading fluency (rate, accuracy, phrasing, pitch, stress, and expressiveness) as well as comprehension. This article provides step-by-step instructions in ways to adapt readers theatre for emergent readers. Using a language experience approach or shared writing, the students are engaged in an active retelling of the story being read in order to create a readers theatre script. The students are then involved in presenting the script through expresive oral readings, puppet presentations, or choral reading. These approaches provide multiple opportunities for rereading for authentic purposes, supporting the students’ acquisition of sight words, expressive reading, and comprehension.

MICHAEL JORDAN is Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Education Technology, California State University, Fresno. ADRIENNE HERRELL is Professor in the Department of Literacy and Early Education, California State University, Frensno.