High-Leverage Practices and Equitable K–2 Literacy Instruction: An Expansive View Honoring Multiplicities of Being

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Social Justice and Equity in Classroom Practices

Abstract

As students represent increasingly diverse backgrounds, the need intensifies for pedagogical practices that embrace such multiplicities while concurrently advancing literacy learning. Recognizing a gap in the literature addressing the intersection of high leverage practices (HLPs), culturally sustaining pedagogies, and essential practices of literacy instruction, in this paper we present an exploratory, qualitative case study of three K-2 teachers working in a highly diverse, highly successful Title I school. Analyzing field notes, video data, and interview data, we describe preliminary findings around teachers’ instructional design that facilitates classroom participation and discourse patterns that support student learning, all the while honoring students’ diversity. In our discussion we problematize current conceptualizations of HLPs and advocate for a more expansive approach to literacy instruction.

Authors

• Laura Katherine Handler, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Colleen E. Whittingham, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Leslie Schmidt, University of North Carolina - Charlotte