In Looking Closely and Listening Carefully: Learning Literacy through
Inquiry, teacher researcher Tim O'Keefe teams up with university
partners Heidi Mills and Louise B. Jennings to bring to life insights
and strategies from Tim's class at the Center for Inquiry, a small
elementary magnet program in Columbia, South Carolina. Mills and
O'Keefe's earlier book (with Diane Stephens), Looking Closely, focused
on phonics in Tim's holistic, transition-first-grade classroom; Looking
Closely and Listening Carefully expands and refines this earlier work by
painting a portrait of the ways in which Tim's second and third graders
learn literacy through inquiry. While Tim has been engaged in careful
kidwatching, Heidi and Louise have been teacherwatching. Their combined
perspectives illuminate the relationship between literacy and inquiry
and demonstrate the power of a balanced literacy curriculum in an
inquiry-based classroom. The authors take us through a typical day in
Tim's classroom, describing the curricular structures and instructional
strategies that make a difference as Tim supports his readers and
writers through exploration, morning meetings, reading and writing
workshops, read-alouds, math workshop, focused study, and end-of-day
activities. Because Tim teaches the same students for two full years,
the authors take the opportunity to track the paths of literacy learning
across the lives of two students. They also explore the role of state
standards in Tim's teaching and provide clear demonstrations of the
strategies he uses to promote democracy and community in his classroom.
Additionally, the authors use a letter written by Tim directly to his
fellow teachers to explicate the assessment, reporting, and parent
communication strategies Tim employs. Tim is never willing to settle for
what is typical in education, so this journey through his classroom,
rich with stories, vignettes, and classroom examples, illustrates "what
is possible when teachers, parents, university partners, and children
inquire together." Looking Closely and Listening Carefully is both a
theoretically sound and a practically relevant book.
