Not Either/Or but Both/And: How the Policies and Protocols of Preschool Support Culturally Sustaining Literacy Interactions

• In Event: 34.059 - Young Children's Multimodal Literacies

Abstract

Decades of research have informed our understanding of sociocultural approaches to learning and development, specifically advancing our understanding of high-quality preschool instruction. However, ‘high-quality’ preschool instruction must now also meet the needs of an increasingly heterogeneous population. This case study describes preschool literacy interactions that evidenced culturally sustaining practices to better understand (1) the instructional moves of classroom teachers meeting the diverse needs of young learners, and (2) the resources in place to facilitate and support these interactions. By illuminating the relationship between one microsystem and one broader macrosystem, I present evidence of both the local literacy practices of one preschool classroom, and the organizational and pedagogical infrastructures in place which influence and are influenced by these classroom practices.

Author

• Colleen Elizabeth Whittingham, University of Illinois at Chicago