ABSTRACT

Kabuto’s work with families and the reading process is centered in the concept of revaluing, which she attributes to Ken Goodman and describes as follows:

Revaluing replaces deficit-oriented labels, such as learning disabled and below grade-level readers, with a perspective that addresses and acknowledges readers’ strengths and the social and cultural complexity within which families live their everyday lives.

(p. 244) Revaluing is also a core concept in our thinking about young children as writers. Last year, when Carla was a kindergarten teacher in a rural Kentucky school district, we learned that revaluing five- and six-year-olds as knowledgeable writers was also an opportunity for Carla to reclaim her professionalism as an early childhood teacher.