Teaching Black Boys in the Elementary Grades

“This important book provides us with the practical insights needed to refuse to allow Black boys to be underserved.” —William G. Brozo, George Mason University

This book will help educators rethink their expectations of and practices for developing the literacy skills of Black boys in the elementary school classroom.

Tatum shows educators how to bring students’ literacy development into greater focus by creating an early intellectual infrastructure of advanced literacy, knowledge, and personal development. He provides a strong conceptual frame, with associated instructional and curricular practices, designed to move Black boys from across the economic spectrum toward advanced literacy that aligns with the Black intellectual tradition. Readers will learn how to use texts from a broad range of potential professions, across academic disciplines, to nurture social and scientific consciousness. The text includes guidance for selecting texts, reading supports, prompts for analysis, and examples of student work.

Teaching Black Boys in the Elementary Grades counters the current obsession with basic and proficient reading and argues for adopting an exponential growth model of literacy development.

Book Features:

• A multidimensional model that supports reading and writing development.
• Student writing artifacts that can be used as a model for teachers.
• Sample lessons with texts for use across the academic disciplines.
• A strong conceptual and curricular frame to support educators in their text selection.

Alfred W. Tatum is provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Metropolitan State University of Denver and former dean (2013–2020) of the College of Education and professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he served as director of the UIC Reading Clinic for 14 years. He is known for his research, writing, and professional development in support of African American boys.

“We do not have a 'boy' crisis in education; we have instead unresponsive schooling that continues to fail to meet the urgent academic needs of particular boys. In this important book, Alfred Tatum has once again raised our consciousness about who these students are and has provided us practical insights needed, as he stresses, to refuse to allow Black boys to be underserved.”
—William G. Brozo, emeritus professor of literacy​, George Mason University

“Here is what we have always known: We cannot lead full lives if we are not literate. . . . The movement toward greater freedom must start in the classroom. Dr. Tatum has given us such a powerful book to catalyze that work.”
—From the Afterword by Cornelius Minor, author and educator

“Dr. Alfred Tatum has hit another home run. In Teaching Black Boys in the Elementary Grades, he shares his heart while making the world of Black boys transparent. The interplay between the words of his scholarly discussions and the lyrics of his poetry shows exceptional intellectual prowess. This is a must-read.”
—Gwendolyn Thompson McMillon, professor of literacy, Oakland University; president, Literacy Research Association

“Dr. Tatum once again takes us on a journey. A journey through mediocrity and into a space where advanced literacy instruction for African American males is where we start our conversations around equity.”
—From the Foreword by Josh Parker, instructional coach, educational blogger, and 2012 Maryland Teacher of the Year

“In this book, Tatum shows us why he is the leading expert in the research of the literacy of African American boys. The literate lives that African American boys lead are complex, and the examination of those lives is just as complex. Tatum's analysis of the lives of African American boys leads his readers through the historical and contemporary research perspectives, the social and political realms, and the connection of Black boys' lives to instructional practices in schools. He accompanies us on this analytic journey and emphasizes the importance of inspiring Black boys in the early grades to access all texts available to them.”
—Aaron M. Johnson, author; partner and equity leadership coach, The Equity Collaborative

Contents

Foreword Josh Parker vii

Acknowledgments ix

1.  An Advanced Literacy and Knowledge Perspective 1
Early Wounded Years 4
High Text Volume 4
The Black Intellectual Tradition 6
Seven Pathways to Advanced Literacy and Intellectual Development for Black Boys 9
Black Male Erasure Is Given Birth in the Elementary Grades 10
Reading, Race, and Advanced Disciplinary Reading and Writing 13
Refusal to Authorize Texts and Topics for Black Boys 16

2.  Iconography of Darkness 18
Black Boys and Knowledge of Self 19
The Poverty Penalty 20
The Need for a Threefold Embrace 21
Rewarded and Suffocating Darkness 21
Suffering Neophytes 22
Darkness: The Progenitor to Suffering 23
Partial Faulting: Never Rise From the Bottom 24
School-Related Darkness 25
Stolen Legacy and Literacy 27
Excusatory Powers of Darkness 28
Home-Related Darkness 28
In Search of the Light 30

3.  A Multidimensional Reading Model 33
Interrogating Literacy Authorization 35
A Research-Based Multidimensional Literacy Model 36
Meaningful Exchanges With Texts 38
Guidelines for Text Selection 41
The Anatomy of the MDRM Lessons 44
MDRM and the Black Intellectual Tradition 51
Measuring Impact 57
Black Boys Deserve All Kinds of Texts 59
Literacy Sins of This Nation 63

4.  Social and Scientific Literacy Authorizations 68
Building Relationships With the Disciplines 68
The MDRM Model Lesson 72
Focus on the Universe, Society, and the Body 77
Interdisciplinary Probing: Black Boys and Consciousness 82
Sample Texts and Lessons From the Interdisciplinary Probing 89
Fourth-Grade Boys’ Writing Artifacts 99
Exalting Advanced Reading Through Literacy Authorizations 103
Sample Literacy Improvement Plan 104

5.  Black Boys and Writing: The True Intellectual Exercise 109
Textual Literacy Frames 111
Sample Textual Literacy Frame 112
Writing Across Multiple Texts 113
Responsive Writing Instruction 116
Neither Innocent Nor Kind 125
The Souls of Black Boys 128

6.  Toward an Early Intellectual Infrastructure 129
Interdisciplinary Movement and Black Boys 132
Disciplinary Disconnect 136
Elementary-Aged Black Boys and Texts 138
Nurturing a Culture of Intellectual Collaboration 143
Harsh Schedule of Reading and Writing 144
Researching the Literacy Development of Black Boys in the Elementary Grades 147

Afterword 153 Cornelius Minor

References 155

Index 160

About the Author 166