School-Age Mothers' Creation of Counterstories Through Literacy Learning

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Language, Literacies, and Relational Curriculum

Abstract

School-age mothers around the United States continue to pursue high school diplomas despite the limiting scripts society places upon them. This paper illuminates curricular choices at two programs that educate school-age mothers, Westside Alternative Center and Eastview School for Pregnant and Parenting Teens, two schools that challenge the dominant portrait of schooling for this population of students. In these settings, rather than a ‘distraction’ to education, this paper explores how parenthood becomes an experience to draw from in reading, writing, and classroom talk. Throughout the presentation of literacy practices at Westside and Eastview, counterstories stand as important sites from which to think about the possibilities for curriculum and instruction for school-age mothers.

Authors

• Abigail Kindelsperger, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Heidi L. Hallman, The University of Kansas