"We the Afro Club": Investigating a Teacher and African American Boys' Co-Construction of Literacy Instruction

• In Event: 30.048 - In and Beyond the Classroom: Youth-Led Participatory Action Research

Abstract

This study challenges top-down measures, standardized testing, and investigates the notion of purposeful ways to talk about and with children and schools in our democratic society (Rose, 2009). My aim is to understand how the teachers constructed and reconstructed his personal and professional identities, the interplay of his identities with mandated official curriculum, and the ways he instructed his diverse students, in particular the focal teacher’s cadre of African American boys. The significance of this study is to tell the story of when teachers are given space and autonomy to negotiate the curricula they are able to utilize their professional background and knowledge to best meet the needs of their diverse populations.

Author

• Grace Yun Kang, Illinois State University