Pandemic Possibilities and Pedagogies: Centering Race, Queerness, and Loss in Literacy Methods Courses

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: Centering Race and Identity in Writing and Literacies (Table 9)

Abstract

The global pandemic has underscored the urgency of grounding care and justice in literacy classrooms. This study examines how centering grief and intersectional queer narratives in a middle-grades literacy methods course impacted pre-service teachers’ development of critical consciousness and trauma-informed competencies for ELA instruction. How did the novel, King and the Dragonflies (Callendar, 2020), help pre-service teachers contend with intersecting concepts of racism, heteronormativity, and homophobia explored in the text? We analyzed classroom data using critical race methodology and queer of color analysis to determine how participants conceptualized loss, racism, heteronormativity, and homophobia. We argue that teacher preparation programs must develop pandemic pedagogies which center grief and humanizing pedagogies to address the evolving needs of K-12 students surviving multiple crises.

Authors

• Wideline Seraphin, University of Texas - Arlington
  Presenting Author

• Dallas J. Allen, University of Memphis
  Presenting Author