Embracing Diversity
Teachers' Everyday Practices in Secondary English Language Arts Classrooms

Sarah Bickens (Author), Frances Bittman (Author), David J. Connor (Author)

9780807768440

Paperback / softback, published 22 September 2023

256 pages
22.9 x 15.6 x 1.3 cm, 0.272 kg

"The authors offer valuable insights into providing a diverse high school English language arts curriculum, building relationships with students, working with colleagues, and other critical aspects that impact teaching. Their book also introduces the extensive literature on culturally responsive teaching strategies. They conclude with a chapter reflecting on what teaching has taught them. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and practitioners."—CHOICE

Embracing Diversity is about the craft of teaching, with a particular focus on celebrating the myriad of human identities through classic, contemporary, and unconventional texts. Experienced secondary English language arts educators narrate their own experiences and provide insights through reflecting upon aspects of everyday pedagogy. Featuring a rich array of texts designed to be both familiar and unfamiliar to the reader, the authors explore complex issues raised by a diverse body of writers, while simultaneously sharing methods that engage students to think critically. Topics include how students' learning is influenced by their identities; the importance of building relationships; creating a balanced curriculum; developing cultural responsivity and cultural sustainability; confronting (dis)comfort zonesadapting to different educational contexts; and considering how the COVID-19 pandemic changed teaching. This teacher-friendly resource illustrates how reflective practitioners are assisted in their goal of teaching literacy skills while encompassing issues of social justice.

• Foreword by Sonia Nieto
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
  Who Is This Book For?
  Why Did We Write This Book?
  Theoretical Grounding in Social Justice
  Why is it Important for Teachers to Critically Reflect?
  Critical Self-Reflection and Whiteness
  Structure and Content of Chapters
  A Note on How We Developed Text
• 1. Assessing How Students'
  Identities and Communities Influence Their Learning and Our Teaching
  Why Contemplating Student Communities and Identities Matter
  Selected Practices
  Giving Students the Opportunity to Explain Themselves
  Reflection and Risk-Taking
  Summary
  Questions for Further Reflection
• 2. Building Relationships
  Why Relationships Matter
  Selected Practices
  Summary
  Questions for Further Reflection
• 3. Creating a Balanced Curriculum
  Why a Balanced Curriculum Matters
  Coda
  Summary
  Questions for Further Reflection
• 4. Developing Cultural Responsivity and Cultural Sustainability
  Why Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Pedagogies Matters
  Selected Practices
  Summary
  Questions for Further Reflection
• 5. Confronting (Dis)comfort Zones
  Why Confronting (Dis)comfort Matters
  The Pedagogy of Discomfort and the Importance of (Dis)Comfort Zones
  Selected Practices
  Embracing Diversity
  Reflecting on Morality
  Summary
  Questions for Further Reflection
• 6. Adapting to Different Educational Contexts
  Why Adapting to Educational Contexts Matters
  Selected Practices
  Considerations and Implications for Centering Diversity in Your New Position
  Summary
  Questions for Further Reflection
• 7. Considering What the Pandemic Has Taught Us About Teaching
  Why Considering What the Pandemic has Taught us About Teaching Matters
  Some Benefits of Online Teaching
  Some Cautions About Online Teaching
  Selected Practices
  Things We Wonder About
  Summary
  Questions
• 8. Reflecting Upon What Teaching Has Taught Us
• Endnotes
• References
• Index
• About the Authors