Description

When educators place love at the center of their work, they change lives-and that is precisely what the authors of this remarkable book aim to do. Drawing from years as researchers and teachers, they share ways they’ve overcome challenges and demonstrate how to engage in ongoing self-reflection and examine common but harmful practices that narrow the curriculum for all children. They offer:

• Practices that affirm and celebrate all students’ identities, languages, and cultures-building a community of engaged and thoughtful learners.
• Hands-on tools for examining yourself, your systems, and your instruction.
• Effective ways to engage with students, families, and communities.
• Ideas for transforming reading and writing workshop to work for all children.
• Guidelines for selecting diverse children’s books and using them to help children become kinder and more empathetic, as they become more proficient readers and writers.

If you want to create a vibrant classroom community that honors the funds of knowledge that children of color bring, this book is for you.

About the Author

Kamania Wynter-Hoyte, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. Her teaching and scholarship center the brilliance, joy, and stories of diverse young learners.

Eliza G. Braden, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Elementary Education at the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include critical literacy and language practices of Black and Latinx children and their families, culturally relevant teaching, and critical multicultural children’s literature.

Michele Myers, Ph.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina (UofSC). As a holistic, social justice educator, Myers is committed to ensuring that all children receive a humanizing education that honors their histories, heritages, literacies, languages, cultures, family structures, and communities as assets for learning.

Sanjuana Carrillo Rodriguez, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Reading and Literacy Education at Kennesaw State University. Her work focuses on the early literacy development of emergent bilingual students, Latinx children’s literature, and social justice education in teacher education.

Natasha Thornton, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at Spelman College. Her research interests include culturally responsive literacy instruction, curriculum that affirms the histories and identities of Black children, and the intersection of teachers' beliefs and practices.