A Story of Race and “Best Practice” in Literacy Instruction

• In Event: Situated Pedagogical Decision Making

Abstract

Drawn from a larger study of the experiences of white teachers working in urban schools, this paper examines how one white teacher learned to teach her black students from their black elders, only to have those lessons disrupted in graduate school when she learned, from white professors, the "scientifically-proven" way to teach reading. At stake, for this teacher, were questions of whose knowledge was of most value and how to understand different sources of knowledge in relation to her own experience.

Author

• Audrey Lensmire, Augsburg College