Literacy Today September/October 2019

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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

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literacyworldwide.org | September/October 2019 | LITERACY TODAY

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