Teaching for Promise

How can we create classrooms where children historically positioned as “struggling” or “deficient” are able to participate fully and successfully? Teaching for Promise reports on a professional development research project where teachers were invited to think differently about “dis/ability.” In detailed case studies, the author demonstrates how teachers integrated multimodal literacies and a sociocultural understanding of disability to inform their teaching and help students meet or exceed expected academic standards. These cases will disrupt deficit perspectives of children with diverse cognitive, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic resources. They will also help elementary and middle school teachers meet the challenges posed by the Common Core State Standards that emphasize content-area literacies.

Book Features:

• Portraits of teachers merging art and content-area literacy to create more just, equitable, and inclusive learning environments.
• Counter-stories depicting children identified as “struggling” or “disabled” reversing expectations of failure.
• Examination of the ways in which cultural stereotypes and linguistic diversity influence our analysis of students’ abilities.
• Discussion questions and examples of students’ artwork.

Kathleen M. Collins is an associate professor of language, culture, and society and co-director of the Center for Disability Studies in the College of Education at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.