Bringing a Culturally Sustaining Lens to Reading Intervention

This study explores the possibilities and tensions that emerged when a literacy specialist brought a culturally sustaining lens to her work in a reading intervention setting with five emergent bilinguals. Utilizing a case study methodology, the study draws on data from class transcripts, interviews, student writing and artwork, and fieldnotes collected over 2 years. During data analysis, three themes, “get proximate,” “get connected,” and “get moving,” were constructed. Findings illustrate the complex relationship between practices designed to bring students’ linguistic and cultural resources into the classroom (“get proximate” and “get connected”) within a context designed to facilitate measurable growth in students’ reading skills ("get moving"). Findings contain seeds for further exploration related to engaging students’ languages and lived experiences to build foundational skills. The study suggests that more cohesive incorporation of culturally sustaining practices would require a (re)consideration of monolingualism and narrow definitions of literacy within interventions and assessments.

“Ready-Ready” to Teach: The Telling Case of a Reflective Teacher-Practitioner

This qualitative telling case study was situated within a broader project, which explored how the research participants modified their teaching after having completed their master’s program. We investigated reflective stance of a teacher-practitioner who was a graduate of a Master’s Literacy Specialist program, which promoted reflective teaching practices using videos of students’ own teaching. The research questions were: (1) How does the participant demonstrate his use of a reflective stance with regard to teaching practices? (2) What are the modifications in teaching practices that were made by the participant after the reflective video pedagogy course used in his graduate practicum? (3) What other elements of his graduate program does the participant describe as being important in his development as a reflective practitioner? (4) Which of these elements does he choose to employ in his classroom? Primary data sources included: classroom observations, participant interviews, and student artifacts. We analysed the data using qualitative methods of open coding, thematic analysis, and triangulation. The research found that the focus-participant reported a series of modifications made by him to his teaching and demonstrated his use of reflective stance on the high mastery level.

Discussion Before the Discussion in Virtual Study Groups

The virtual study group project was designed to provide a framework for job-embedded, contextual professional development. Using an open annotation tool, Hypothes.is, provided opportunities for literacy specialist candidates to share marginal notes and written dialogue asynchronously during the process of reading online professional articles. Asynchronous engagement in the digital margins of online texts added another layer of social interaction to the synchronous virtual study groups. Findings indicate that this process supported content-knowledge building and also sparked and supported inquiry-based learning. Successes and missteps are included as well as project improvements.

Video as a Tool for Guided Reflection in Literacy Specialist Preparation

In this chapter, interactive video coding is explored as a tool to guide deep reflections and development of professional learning knowledge in a hybrid online class designed for candidates in a graduate program for specialized literacy professionals. This chapter focuses on reflective interactions between candidates as they learn to develop and deliver effective literacy professional learning as described in Standards 6 and 7. Findings demonstrate the effectiveness of video coding tools to facilitate realistic application of course material in authentic school contexts while maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment for candidates to gain experience and confidence.

Land, Literacy, and “Quichua-ization”

This chapter examines the way missionaries and the Waorani faced three issues arising from the relocations of the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as from ongoing contact between the Waorani and outsiders: adequate land, literacy skills, and the Wao desire to imitate their lowland Quichua neighbors. Jim Yost and various Waorani laid the groundwork for parts of Wao ancestral territory to be set aside for Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park and for another large tract to be designated a Waorani Ethnic Reserve. SIL literacy specialist Pat Kelley worked with the Waorani to encourage literacy and native-authored literature in Wao tededo, the Wao language. While seeking to preserve their traditional territory and their language, many Waorani also began to imitate the customs of the more populous Quichuas in an effort to move up the social ladder of Ecuadorian society.

The embedding challenge

There is a consensus nowadays that the best way to develop students’ academic literacy abilities is within the context of their studies in the disciplines, an approach known as ‘curriculum embedding’. But despite the demonstrable value of this approach, surveys of the field in Australia suggest there has been only limited success over the years in integrating embedding pedagogies into university courses. In the light of this halting progress, there is a need to constantly document initiatives in this area, both to affirm the principles upon which embedding is founded, as well as to show how these principles can be given practical effect on programs. This paper provides an account of one such initiative – a collaborative project between Sociology academics and an academic literacy specialist. The key motif on the project was how the notions of ‘theory’ and ‘critique’ could be made comprehensible to students in the particular disciplinary context they were working in. We also show that an essential element of such programs is developing a common language by which pertinent issues can be explored, both among academics and with students.