This book provides first-person accounts from parents and educators in the United States who have negotiated for a prominent role in current conversations about school reform. Heron Hruby and Landon-Hays argue that it is important to both theorize and document grassroots efforts at a time when digital networking in the Untied States allows a range of people - not just those in conventional positions of corporate or political power - to garner widespread support for education policy. In particular, the book focuses on the shifts in power that take place when teachers and parents are able to carve out successful wide-spread campaigns against high-profile policy movements, specifically the present movement towards charter school proliferation and value-added measures of teacher quality advocated by a growing number of political leaders, political action committees, and privately funded ad hoc advocacy groups.

Students' backpacks bulge not just with oversize textbooks, but with paperbacks, graphic novels, street lit, and electronics such as iPods and handheld video games. This book is about unpacking those texts to explore previously unexamined assumptions regarding their usefulness to classroom learning. With a strong theoretical grounding and many practical examples, the authors speak to both skeptical instructors who favor traditional canonical literature and to technology enthusiasts who already use popular music or video in their classrooms. Each chapter includes teacher, administrator, media specialist, librarian, and student voices; classroom activities; adaptable lessons; and professional study-group questions. Bring It to Class features: A researched rationale for using pop culture in middle school and secondary classrooms as well as school libraries and media centers. Field-tested teaching approaches that will connect adolescents with school-based learning and motivate their literacy practices in and out of class. An easy-to-use format that includes classroom vignettes, sample lessons, and a glossary of key terms.