Connecting Equity, Literacy, and Language

This book shows literacy professionals how to develop the dispositions and actions associated with advocacy-focused teaching. While portraits of culturally conscious literacy teachers are now readily available, becoming such a teacher continues to be a challenge. Drawing from 60+ years of experience working with teacher candidates and teachers in the city of Philadelphia, the authors argue that becoming an advocacy-focused literacy teacher requires making moral commitments to students and developing professional competencies that fuse literacy, language, and equity studies. Recognizing that educators can be overwhelmed trying to match the realities they face daily with the theory behind good practice, Connecting Equity, Literacy, and Language packs a lot of big ideas into one readable, concise book that is perfect for use in literacy methods courses. The text includes definitions and examples of equity concepts, relatable teacher vignettes, and “Pause and Reflect” boxes to encourage reflection and classroom conversation.

Book Features:

• Examines the central problems of students’ disconnection with school, spirit murdering, and the teacher education gap.
• Looks at inequities that have become normalized in classrooms and schools through standardized testing, literacy teaching routines and structures, and deficit-laced language about students and families.
• Discusses literacies and languages as cultural practices and the need to be vigilant about the linguistic violence that occurs when students’ languages are delegitimized.
• Describes critically and culturally centered teaching frameworks.
• Provides vivid examples of advocacy-focused teaching.

Althier M. Lazar is a professor of education at Saint Joseph’s University. Her books include Culturally Sustaining Literacy Pedagogies, Schools of Promise for Multilingual Students, Bridging Literacy and Equity, and Practicing What We Teach. Kaitlin K. Moran is an assistant professor of teacher education at Saint Joseph's University. Shoshanna Edwards-Alexander is a clinical assistant professor of social work for the School of Education and Human Development at Saint Joseph's University.

“Lazar, Moran, and Edwards-Alexander manage to convey a lot of information in a very short, very readable book that is full of enlightening details and examples. Connecting Equity, Literacy, and Language is a welcome addition to the growing treasure trove of books that will help teachers teach toward a more just, equitable society.”

—Illinois Reading Council Journal

“The authors call on us to engage in the difficult and vital work necessary to dismantle systems that fail Black and Brown children.”
—From the Foreword by Delicia Tiera Greene, assistant professor, University at Albany, SUNY

“The authors understand that becoming an advocacy-focused educator requires more than pedagogical knowledge. To create the schools our children deserve, we need the advocacy-focused educators that this book highlights—educators who are brave, thoughtful, curious, humble, bold, and always in a state of becoming. With examples pulled from the equity-oriented journeys of teachers and with numerous invitations to pause and reflect, this book will help you discover and grow your own ‘why’ as an advocacy-focused educator. This is essential reading for educators at all stages of their careers.”
—Kelly Wissman, associate professor, University at Albany, SUNY

“Connecting Equity, Literacy, and Language: Pathways Toward Advocacy-Focused Teaching is a book that I wish I had read as a novice teacher. While many texts argue for equity in schools, few provide clear paths forward. This book focuses on the journey, exploring not only how literacy and language are related to equity, but also how educators can prepare themselves for working with children and families. Across the text we meet a stunning group of educators who are moving forward in creating equitable classrooms and becoming advocates for all children. Teachers will learn much from their stories.”
—Catherine Compton-Lilly, John C. Hungerpiller Professor, University of South Carolina

Contents

Foreword Delicia Tiera Greene  ix

Acknowledgments  xi

Introduction  1
Our Purpose  1
Structure of the Book  3
Who We Are  4

1.  A Need for Advocacy-Focused Literacy Educators  7
A Reckoning  7
The Teacher Education Gap  11
Teacher Development: Building Commitments and Competencies  13
Connecting Equity, Literacy, and Language in a Landscape of Practice  17
Conclusion  20

2.  Understanding Ourselves and Others  21
Developing a Critical Awareness of Race  21
A Pathway to Understanding  25
Stumbling and Getting Back Up Again  27
Developing a Critical Awareness of Culture  29
Developing a Critical Awareness of Intersectionality  33
Conclusion  35

3.  Inequities in Schools and Classrooms  36
Pushing Kids Out of School  37
Limitations of Literacy Curricula and Assessment  40
Literacy Teaching Routines and Structures  44
Deficit Descriptions and Approaches  46
Conclusion  49

4.  Racism in Schools and Society  51
The Invention of Race: A Brief History  51
The Impact of Racial Categorizations  53
Misinterpreting Critical Race Theory and the Need to Address Racism in School  57
Literacy Educator Activism: Noticing, Questioning, Challenging  61
Conclusion  63

5.  Many Literacies and Languages  65
Rethinking Perspectives About Literacy and Language  65
Autonomous and Ideological Conceptions of Literacy Revisited  67
A Bit of History: The Heath Study  68
Critiquing the “Word Gap” Research  70
Englishes, Raciolinguistics, and Code-Meshing  71
Multilingualism, Dynamic Bilingualism, and Translanguaging  75
Conclusion  77

6.  Toward Culturally Centered Teaching  79
Meet Cecilia  80
Meet Andrea  84
Examining Teachers and Teaching Through Advocacy-Focused Frameworks  88
Seeing Teachers Within and Beyond Frameworks  93
Conclusion  94

7.  Toward Critical Teaching  95
Critical Literacy: Questioning Texts and the World  96
Meet Jennifer  99
Revisiting Andrea  101
Youth and Educator Activism  103
Revisiting Cecilia  103
Meet Burton  104
Connecting With Established Organizations  106
Conclusion  108

8.  Pathways Toward Advocacy-Focused Teaching  110
Noticing Inequities and Envisioning Change  110
Noticing Inequities and Forging Change  113
Meet Kristin  114
Next Steps  118
Your Path Begins With You  118
Envision and Forge Change  120
Putting It All Together  124

References  127

Index  139

About the Authors  145