Connecting Equity, Literacy, and Language
Pathways Toward Advocacy-Focused Teaching

Althier M. Lazar (Author), Kaitlin K. Moran (Author), Shoshanna Edwards-Alexander (Author)

9780807768747

Paperback / softback, published 22 December 2023

160 pages
22.9 x 15.6 x 0.8 cm, 0.272 kg

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.

• 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