Books like me: An investigation of urban elementary teachers’ journey towards more culturally relevant pedagogy

Abstract

ABSTRACT The single-site case study described herein is part of a two-year professional development (PD) initiative aimed at helping teachers from an urban elementary (K-8) school learn how to implement explicit, transactional comprehension strategy instruction across grades using culturally relevant books. This paper describes the urban elementary teachers’ successes and challenges in their first-year implementation of providing culturally relevant literacy instruction. Three types of qualitative data were collected: (a) researchers’ anecdotal notes during the professional learning sessions; (b) teacher focus groups; (c) teachers’ blog reflection entries. The findings revealed that the professional development for culturally relevant literacy instruction resulted in teachers’ heightened awareness of how identities and social subjectivities are negotiated in and through culturally relevant discourse, the implicit and explicit bias in the school curriculum. Finally, professional development served as a catalyst for facilitating students’ and teachers’ racial and cultural identity development.