Drawing on the authors’ experiences as Black parents, researchers, teachers, and teacher educators, this timely book presents a multipronged approach to affirming Black lives and literacies. The authors believe change is needed—not within Black children—but in the way they are perceived and educated, particularly in reading, writing, and critical thinking across grade levels. To inform literacy teachers and school leaders, the authors provide a conceptual framework for reimagining literacy instruction based on Black philosophical and theoretical foundations, historical background, literacy research, and authentic experiences of Black students. This important book includes counternarratives about the lives of Black learners, research conducted by Black scholars among Black students, examples of approaches to literacy with Black children that are making a difference, conversations among literacy researchers that move beyond academia; and a model for engaging all students in literacy. Affirming Black Students’ Lives and Literacies advocates for adopting a standard of care that will improve and support literacy achievement among today’s Black students by rejecting deficit presumptions and embracing the fullness of these students’ strengths. Book Features: A counternarrative of Black literacy history, lives, and learners. Narrative examples of Black literacy scholarship, by Black scholars who embrace their faith-walk as an integral part of their holistic approach to literacy teaching and learning.Discussion questions to spur conversations among school administrators, parents/caregivers, politicians, reading researchers, teacher educators, and classroom teachers. An array of extant Black scholarship that should inform literacy praxis and research. A conceptual framework, CARE, that is applicable for all learners with a focus on Black literacy learners.

Extraordinary K–12 teachers show us what social equity literacy teaching looks like and how it advances children's achievement. Chapters identify six key dimensions of social equity teaching that can help teachers see their students' potential and create conditions that will support their literacy development. Serving students well depends on understanding relationships between race, class, culture, and literacy; the complexity and significance of culture; and the culturally situated nature of literacy. It also requires knowledge of culturally responsive practices, such as collaborating with and learning from caregivers, using cultural referents, enacting critical and transformative literacy practices, and seeing the capacities of English Language Learners and children who speak African American Language.

Fashioning Lives combines analysis of archival documents, literature, and film with the experiences of contemporary Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals to demonstrate the usefulness of literacy as a historical and sociological lens for examining black queer cultural production and consumption. In addition, Eric Darnell Pritchard provides a theoretical framework for future analysis of the intersections of race and queerness in literacy, composition, and rhetoric.

The first volume to focus on race, ethnicity, and accent as elements of language teacher identity, a valuable guide for in-service teachers and teachers-in-training Language Teacher Identity presents a groundbreaking critical examination of how ideologies of race, ethnicity, accent, and immigration status impact perceptions of plurilingual teachers. Bringing together contributions by an international panel of established and emerging scholars, this important work of scholarship addresses issues related to native-speakerism, monolingualism, racism, competence, authenticity, and legitimacy while examining their role in the construction of professional identity. With an intersectional and holistic approach, the authors draw upon case studies of practical teacher experiences from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Norway, Mongolia, Pakistan, and the United States to provide teachers with real-world insights on responding to the assumptions, biases, and prejudices that students, student teachers, and teachers may bring into the classroom. Topics include the impact of policies and ideologies on teacher identity development, the intersection between L2 teacher identity and teacher emotion research, awareness of ethnic accent bullying, and the use of transraciolinguistic approaches in the classroom. This unique new work: Provides a broad overview of the different types of challenges language teachers face in their careers Focuses on race, ethnicity, plurilingualism, and accent as fundamental elements of a language teacher’s identity Discusses the sensitive political and social factors that complicate the role of a language teacher in the classroom Covers the teaching of a wide range of languages, including English, Japanese, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and Norwegian Addresses key issues and significant gaps in contemporary research on language teacher education, including the experiences of teachers of two or more languages Employing a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches, Language Teacher Identity is a forward-looking look at an exciting area of research and theory in language teacher education and training. It is essential reading for students training to become language teachers, in-service teachers, and for students and scholars in applied linguistics with a focus on TESOL, teacher and language education.

This edited collection introduces English and literacy educators to the theoretical, research-based, and practical dimensions of using digital memetic texts—“memes”—in the classroom. Digital memetic texts come with new affordances, particularly as avenues for student creativity, voice, and advocacy. But these texts can also be put to manipulative, propagandistic, and nefarious purposes, posing critical challenges to an informed, democratic citizenry. Grounded in multimodality and critical literacy, this book investigates the fascinating digital dimension of texts, audiences, and meaning, and considers how English educators might take up these conversations in practical ways with students. With authentic examples from teachers and students, this volume provides a road map to researchers and educators—both preservice and in-service—interested in critical and productive uses of these modern phenomena.

The word "dignity" isn't typically used in education, yet it's at the core of strong pedagogy. This book names the concept and shows readers what education looks like when it is centered on students' dignity. By bringing together a collection of chapters written by authors with wide-ranging expertise, this volume presents a powerful approach to education that reminds people of their somebodiness--the premise that each person inherently possesses the intellectual acumen and creative resources to pursue development on their own terms. This timely book brings dignity into sharper focus, moving the field toward a language that captures what is required for oppressed communities to recognize their potential. It synthesizes research for educators, school leaders, and educational activists to help them make sense of what they are working for and against: dignity and the numerous affronts to it. Dignity-Affirming Education is important reading for anyone who works with students of any age, including nontraditional or adult learners, in formal and informal educational contexts. Book Features: Provides a clear picture of how educators can affirm students' dignity in their everyday practice. Outlines an approach to social-emotional learning (SEL) that takes social processes such as stigma, exclusion, and marginalization into account. Offers vivid portraits of what dignity-affirming education can be for a variety of settings. Contributes to a new vocabulary for seeing educational processes as students experience them. Presents rigorous research in a way that is digestible for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars alike. Provides a base for emerging study and sets the stage for additional inquiry and research.

Bringing together the voices of leading and emerging scholars, this volume highlights the many facets of Black girls’ literacies. As a comprehensive survey of the research, theories, and practices that highlight the literacies of Black girls and women in diverse spaces, the text addresses how sustaining and advancing their literacy achievement in and outside the classroom traverses the multiple dimensions of writing, comprehending literature, digital media, and community engagement. The Black Girls’ Literacies Framework lays a foundation for the understanding of Black girl epistemologies as multi-layered, nuanced, and complex. The authors in this volume draw on their collective yet individual experiences as Black women scholars and teacher educators to share ways to transform the identity development of Black girls within and beyond official school contexts. Addressing historical and contemporary issues within the broader context of inclusive education, chapters highlight empowering pedagogies and practices. In between chapters, the book features four "Kitchen Table Talk" conversations among contributors and leading Black women scholars, representing the rich history of spaces where Black women come together to share experiences and assert their voices. A crucial resource for educators, researchers, professors, and graduate students in language and literacy education, this book offers readers a fuller vision of the roles of literacy and English educators in the work to undo educational wrongs against Black girls and women and to create inclusive spaces that acknowledge the legitimacy and value of Black girls’ literacies.