do not read books!” Kevin, a 7-year-old boy who is a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous,
Person of Color), proclaimed on the first day of last school year. He was adamant.
Although Aeriale would soon discover that Kevin could read quite well, he had
chosen aliteracy.
Digging into the research about BIPOC males
Current research about Native American, Latinx, and black boys indicates
they continue to lag behind their same-age white peers. Educators need to dig
into the data and ask questions about what it means to the children in front of
them. Aeriale recently had the opportunity to do so alongside her colleagues.
“We are going to focus on Latino males this school year,” Aeriale’s brilliant
administrator announced. Latina herself, she is a visionary leader who serves
her school community with dedication and passion. Her expectations are high,
exceeded only by the level of support she provides her faculty and staff. Aeriale
knows she is in a safe space where she can ask difficult questions and they will be
taken seriously, so she jotted them down to consider:
I am wondering if rather than focusing on Latino males due to their
performance on standardized assessments, we might consider focusing on
the systems we have in place that are failing to impact them the way that we
intend them to.
I wonder whether we have audited our curriculum and libraries, classroom
and school, to ensure that we are providing our students with the mirrors,
windows, and sliding glass doors about which Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop
wrote?
If we are going to focus on a particular demographic, should we talk
specifically about race and gender? What about intersectionality?
I guess what I’m really asking is, what about us, the faculty and staff? In
what ways can we sit in front of our own mirrors and analyze our reflections
as we make less biased, more informed instructional decisions regarding
this demographic? What systemic roadblocks do we have in place? How can
we dismantle these barriers and consider alternative perspectives of our
students, using lenses that focus on their assets?
These types of questions can lead to a better understanding of how particular
racial and ethnic groups are performing and what their assets are. In fact, starting
from a strengths-based perspective and valuing BIPOC males’ funds of knowledge
is the foundational step for us to begin the work that can positively impact their
literacy lives.
Improving literacy outcomes for male students of color
NURTURING
READING LIVES
By Aeriale N. Johnson & Kimberly N. Parker
Aeriale N. Johnson
(aerialenike@gmail.com)
teaches second graders
literacy for liberation at
Washington Elementary
School in San Jose, CA. She
tweets as @arcticisleteach.
Kimberly N. Parker
(kimpossible97@gmail
.com), an ILA member since
2019, prepares preservice
educators to teach for
liberation at the Shady Hill
School in Cambridge, MA. She
tweets as @TchKimPossible.
LITERACY
LEADERSHIP
”
8
literacyworldwide.org | September/October 2019 | LITERACY TODAY