Decolonizing Middle Level Literacy Instruction: A Culturally Proactive Approach to Literacy Methods

This text offers pre-service and in-service teachers pragmatic strategies for teaching middle-grades literacy in culturally proactive and sustaining ways. By demystifying big ideas and complex concepts, Domínguez and Seglem provide clear pathways and lessons for illuminating and engaging with race, ethnicity, culture, and identity in the middle-grade English Language Arts classroom. While addressing social justice, equity, diversity, and liberation can seem intimidating or unrelated to classroom practice, the authors demonstrate how weaving such questions into instruction benefits students’ development. The guidance, strategies, and lessons in this book provide an answer to the question: What does decolonial literacy teaching look like? Concrete but not prescriptive, the authors encourage us to reconsider accepted logics of schooling, so that we can better support adolescents as they navigate complex identity landscapes. Bringing together disparate conversations around reading, writing, identity, and decolonial thinking, and specifically tailored to the middle grades, this book serves as a comprehensive toolkit for praxis and covers such topics as cultural change, community connections, and racial literacy. Each chapter features tips on reading and writing instruction, Teacher Spotlights, Planning Questions, and Additional Resources to make it easy for educators to apply the strategies to their own contexts. An accessible entry to addressing challenging questions around identity in the classroom, this book is essential reading in courses and professional development on ELA and literacy methods as well as teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students. For teachers looking to push toward equity and reshape literacy education so that it serves all middle-grade students, Domínguez and Seglem offer plenty of accessible and motivating places to start.

Table of Contents:
Preface Part I: In Dialogue / Desconocimientos Chapter 1: Why Decolonize Our Classrooms? Coloniality and Decoloniality: A Primer Colonization v. Coloniality Thinking Differently as Decoloniality Questions to Consider in Reflecting on Coloniality Resources to Explore References Chapter 2: What Is Racial Literacy? Introduction What Is Race? A Quick Primer for Decolonial Educators Race and Middle Grades Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Identity Development for BIPOC Youth Building Racial Literacies as Decolonial Praxis Making Decolonization Normal Questions to Consider While Planning for Racially Literate Praxis Resources to Explore References Part II: In Praxis / Travesias Chapter 3: Decolonized Classrooms...Nurture Introspection Introduction Complicated Racial Landscapes Reading Instruction to Trace Community Histories Writing Instruction to Practice Our Self-Narration Pushing Past Racial Discomfort Challenge in Practice Questions to Consider While Planning for Introspection Resources to Explore Assessment Alternatives Technology Spotlight References Chapter 4: Decolonized Classrooms...Connect Humans to One Another Introduction Abolishing Zero-Point Thinking Reading Instruction to Nurture Interconnection Writing Instruction to Foster Empathy Building a Holistic Ecology in the Classroom Challenge in Practice Questions to Consider While Planning for Human Connections Resources to Explore Assessment Alternatives Technology Spotlight References Chapter 5: Decolonized Classrooms...Position Everyone as Experts Instruction Disrupting Colonial Expertise Reading Instruction to Validate Youth Expertise Writing Instruction to Sustain Community Literacies Closing the Cultural Gaps Between Ourselves and Our Students Challenge in Practice Questions to Consider While Planning to Position Everyone as Experts Resources to Explore Assessment Alternatives Technology Spotlight References Chapter 6: Decolonized Classrooms...Ask Challenging Questions Introduction Challenging Reductive Knowledge Reading Instruction to Get at Big Ideas Writing Instruction to Engage with the World Making Classroom Literacy Consequential Challenge in Practice Questions to Consider While Planning for Challenging Questions Resources to Explore Assessment Alternatives Technology Spotlight References Chapter 7: Decolonized Classrooms...Disrupt Normal Introduction A New Way to Think of the Banking Method Reading and Speaking Instruction to Build Radical Consensus Disrupting the Activity System of Normalized Schooling Challenge in Practice Questions to Consider While Planning to Disrupt Normal Resources to Explore Assessment Alternatives Technology Spotlight References Chapter 8: Decolonized Classrooms…Leverage a Multilingual World Introduction Linguistic Hegemony and Coloniality Reading Instruction to Master Language Use Writing Instruction to Encourage Code-Meshing Language, Identity, and Decoloniality Challenge in Practice Questions to Consider While Planning for a Multilingual World Resources to Explore Assessment Alternatives Technology Spotlight References Chapter 9: Decolonized Classrooms...Nurture Cultural Change Introduction Reacting to Cultural Change Reading Instruction to Remix Futures Writing Instruction to Sustain Youth Creativity Honoring Middle-School Youth as the Creators of New Worlds Challenge in Practice Questions to Consider While Planning for Nurturing Cultural Change Resources to Explore Assessment Alternatives Technology Spotlight References Part III: Pragmatic Vision / Conocimientos Chapter 10: Decolonized Educators...Navigate Tight Spaces in a Changing Educational Landscape Introduction Teaching in a Neocolonial Climate of Fear Cultural Artifacts in Education Discourse in Education Identity in Education Challenge in Practice Questions to Consider While Navigating Tight Spaces Resources to Explore References Chapter 11: Decolonized Educators….Discover Ways to Sustain Their Practice Introduction Sustaining our Commitments to Decolonization through Interconnection Sustaining our Connections to Students and Community Learning about Student Practices: Community Ethnographies Learning about Community Dynamics: Power Analysis and Mapping Building Peer Networks to Sustain Decolonial Practice Challenge(s) in Practice Questions to Consider for Sustaining our Practice Resources to Explore References Chapter 12: A Few Last Thoughts on Our Decolonizing Efforts Introduction Make Maps, Not Tracings Epistemic Disobedience and Sustainability Pragmatic Vision and the Decolonial