Language: English
E-books are now distributed via VitalSource
VitalSource offer a more seamless way to access the ebook, and add some great new features including text-to-voice. You own your ebook for life, it is simply hosted on the vendor website, working much like Kindle and Nook. Click here to see more detailed information on this process.
Translating Words, Creating Worlds: Poetry Inside Out as Critical Literacy and Translanguaging Pedagogy in K-12 Classrooms is a timely and inspiring guide to bringing critical literacy, translanguaging, and student voice into today’s classrooms. Grounded in the innovative Poetry Inside Out (PIO) program developed at the Center for the Art of Translation, this volume demonstrates how poetry translation can transform language learning into a powerful act of collaboration, creativity, and cultural exploration.
Across diverse K–12 settings, students engage with poems from around the world—written in languages such as Vietnamese, Spanish, and Albanian—and work together to translate them into English. Specifically, they first work in pairs to create a “Phrase-by-Phrase” translation, akin to a rough draft. Then, in groups of four, students meld and refine their drafts, developing a “Make it Flow” translation that the entire group agrees to. Through discussion, interpretation, performance, and revision, students do far more than learn vocabulary or grammar: they analyze meaning, wrestle with complex social and political themes, and develop sophisticated literacy practices rooted in authentic communication.
Written by classroom teachers, school leaders, and literacy practitioners, Translating Words, Creating Worlds offers vivid, real-world examples of PIO in action across elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The book provides practical, accessible strategies for educators seeking to create culturally sustaining, language-rich learning environments that honor and leverage students’ linguistic and cultural assets.
At a moment when educators are searching for meaningful ways to support multilingual learners and foster inclusive classrooms, this volume delivers both inspiration and actionable pedagogy. Readers will discover how collaborative poetry translation can deepen students’ engagement with language, strengthen critical thinking, and cultivate empathy, dialogue, and intellectual curiosity.
An essential resource for teachers, teacher educators, and TESOL/ESL professionals, Translating Words, Creating Worlds is ideal for courses in second language acquisition, literacy, multilingual education, and culturally responsive teaching.
Perfect for courses such as: Literacy Education; Methods in ELA/Humanities; Educating Multilingual Children and Youth; Foundations of Bilingual Education; Bilingual Education Theory and Practices; Curriculum and Lesson Planning (Middle/Secondary and/or Elementary); Culture, Language, and Education
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Chapter One
Poetry Inside Out as Critical Literacy and Translanguaging Pedagogy
Jie Y. Park
Chapter Two
Pedagogical Considerations: Frequently Asked Questions about PIO
Jie Y. Park and Mark Hauber
Chapter Three
Mapping Creative Inquiry: Accordion Books and the PIO Teaching Fellowship
Todd Elkin
Chapter Four
The “People in the Room”: The Heart of PIO and Language Education
Lisa Wong
Chapter Five
Cultivating Metalinguistic Awareness and Creativity: Poetry Inside Out in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Elementary School
Janel Janiczek Smith and Robyn Ovrick
Chapter Six
Translation as Creative Resistance: Reframing Middle School English Language Arts through Multilingual Pedagogy
Yaxha Ruvein
Chapter Seven
Bringing Democratic Principles to Action: Cultivating Voice and Agency
Lori Simpson
Chapter Eight
“Cracking the Code”: Building Methods of Assessing Student Learning in PIO
Susan Minnicks
Chapter Nine
Learning from Productive Struggle: A New Teacher’s Reflections from “Translating” a Translanguaging Curriculum
Carmela Martinez
Chapter Ten
Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals: Teacher Praxis and the PIO Fellowship
Jie Y. Park
Afterword
About the Authors
Index
NOTE: Table of Contents subject to change up until publication date.
Related Products
Reviews & Endorsements
Catherine O’Connor, Professor Emerita of Education and Linguistics, Boston University"In Translating Words, Creating Worlds, Park’s superb introduction to Poetry Inside Out sets readers up to deeply engage with chapters by teacher researchers, each describing amazing and varied experiences–their own and those of their students. The editors and authors illuminate how Poetry Inside Out transforms the unavoidable complexities of teaching: simultaneously managing student interactions in diverse classrooms, while fostering deep engagement with content, and trying to provide opportunities for all students to grow. Written with honesty, hope, and a steadfast commitment to multilingualism, each chapter reveals invaluable teacher-researcher insights gained through Poetry Inside Out: insights about teaching, about translation, and importantly, insights about what students discover about their own capacities and multilingual voices."
More
Cindy Ballenger, Author of Teaching is Inquiry: Observation and Reflection as the Heart of Practice"At once layered and multi-faceted, this book – written by teacher researchers -- describes a genius curriculum, Poetry Inside Out. PIO is both a marvelous curriculum for students, but also “a provocation for teacher noticings” that enable educators to engage in detailed observations of students and of one’s own practice. Grounded in a deeply reflective stance -- compelling, inspiring, and actionable -- this book is sorely needed today where there is less and less time for learning with and from one’s students, interrogating one’s own practice, and learning through shared reflection with others."
More
Diana Thow, Assistant Professor of Italian and Translation, University of Iowa"What could be simpler or more profound than gathering students together to read a poem closely? As an instructor, I am unfailingly transformed by the activity and the conversation it generates. Poetry Inside Out provides the critical vocabulary to read and analyze poetry in languages other than English and brilliantly introduces the core challenges and rewards of translating poetry as a process of critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Translating Words, Creating Worlds offers essential background on the development of PIO’s groundbreaking curriculum and shares invaluable educator perspectives on some of its many potential applications in the classroom, including hands-on lesson plans, outcomes, and assessments. This book is essential for researchers and administrators seeking curricular innovations in supporting multilingual student populations, but it is also an indispensable tool for any language and literature instructor, whether they are looking for an introduction to PIO, a way to integrate literary translation in the classroom, or are simply looking for new ways to foster inclusive learning communities."
More
Aron Aji, PhD, Director of Center for Translation and Global Literacy, Director of Translation Programs, Associate Professor of Instruction, University of Iowa"Language is not about communication only. It’s about immersing ourselves in the words, phrases, lines, and the way they join to make beautiful music. Unlike utilitarian methods that teach how to get by, Poetry Inside Out uses translation to help students participate hands-on in meaning-making, and build lasting intimacy with the new language."
More