Reporting on the research collaborations of a group of teachers, graduate students, and a university professor, this book investigates how classrooms might be better for students of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, abilities and socio-economic circumstances, and better for teachers as well.

Corey Denos spent 25 years teaching 4-8 year olds in Vancouver and Surrey, BC public schools. She is now retired.

Kelleen Toohey is Professor of Education at Simon Fraser University. She wrote Learning English at School: Identity, Social Relations and Classroom Practices (2000) and co-edited with Bonny Norton Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning (2004).

Kathy Neilson is a Faculty Associate and PhD student in Education at Simon Fraser University, working in teacher in-service education. Her research interests include arts education and teacher inquiry.

Bonnie Waterstone is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Her 2003 PhD dissertation studied the first year of the group featured in this book.