"I Couldn't Say This in Regular Professional Development": Teacher Book Clubs as Liberatory Spaces

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Equity at the Heart of Professional Growth: Strategies for Sustainability, and Culturally Responsive Practices (Table 24)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how teachers engage in reading for justice as they participate in a young adult (YA) literature book club. This work brings together two often separate scholarly approaches to reading: reading lives and social justice literature to see how teachers inform or reimagine issues of racial injustice. Critical sociocultural theory undergirds this work as teachers read YA titles that center issues of justice. The book club existed in a liminal space between academic and social, suggesting it as an alternative space for teacher learning. This study has the potential to contribute to a greater emphasis on the value and importance of teacher-centered learning communities in addressing racial injustice and envisioning educationally possibilities.

Author

• Coley Lehman, Western Oregon University