RM Winter 2017

References Al-Hazza, T. C., & Bucher, K. T. (2008). Building Arab Americans’cultural identity and acceptance with children’s literature. The Reading Teacher,62 (3), 210-219.

confident in their individual ideas. One specific way teachers can do this is to utilize literature Talking Circles (Hung, 2015). In a literature Talking Circle, all students sit in a circle and designate a talking stick or other object. When asking and responding to a question, the stick moves around the circle to give each student an opportunity to answer. The second time around, students share new insights or reactions to their peers’ ideas from the first round. This ensures that every child shares their ideas and practices developing their voice (Baker, 2011; Thacker & Christen, 2007). To promote a sense of citizenship and a desire to contribute to decisions affecting their world, instruction should offer students the opportunity to empathize with a variety of perspectives (Marshall & Klein, 2009; Ponder & Lewis-Ferrell, 2009). When students write responses to texts incorporating occasional role- play by having students write from the perspective of someone else or even write one piece from multiple perspectives can help students see multiple perspectives that exist. For research and journalism reports, students can do projects that are close to home such as using photojournalism to report news about their own classrooms, schools, or communities. Service learning provides a great opportunity for students to learn while doing that allows them to see themselves as having power to serve and make change (Jones & Hébert, 2012; Marshall & Klein, 2009). To promote the development of an equity lens, teacher can show children how to be critical analyzers and self-reflective. Teachers can help students critically analyze a picture book from a perspective of equity. When introducing texts that have a perspective that is new to students, KWL charts can help students examine their biases before reading and what they have learned after reading (Al-Hazza & Bucher, 2008). Additionally, teachers can encourage students to analyze power and difference in their reading. For example, when reading a story about a middle-class American family, teachers can ask questions which prompt students to analyze the lifestyle presented in the book and compare it to their experiences based on varying socio-economic status (Jones, 2012). Conclusion In a study of new teachers’ efforts to address social justice in their classrooms, it was found that the greatest difficulties for teachers were the lack of support and resources on this subject and the vagueness of the materials that are available (Philpott & Dagenais, 2011). It is our hope that the use of the equity framework and the resources above can provide assistance in combatting this teacher development obstacle to equity. While it can certainly be difficult and sometimes awkward to address issues of inequity, the literature suggests that teachers need to be intentional, brave, and reflective. Teachers have the power to plant seeds for new awareness and action that is needed desperately in our country and world.

Baker, S. (2011). Creating a space for critical talk, writing, and action in the elementary classroom. Radical Teacher, 91, 41-49.

Reading Matters Justice Matters

Bell, L. A. (2007). Theoretical foundations for social justice education. In M. Adams, L. A. Bell, & P. Griffin (Eds.) Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice (2nd ed), pp. 1-14.

Boser, U. (2015). Teacher diversity revisited: A new state-by-state analysis. Center for American Progress.

Brown, K. D., & Kraehe, A. M. (2010). The complexities of teaching the complex: Examining how future educators construct understandings of sociocultural knowledge and schooling. Educational Studies, 46 , 91-115.

Ciardiello, A.V. (2010).“Talking walls”: Presenting a case for social justice poetry in literacy education. The Reading Teacher, 63 (6), 464-473.

Cunningham, K. Enriquez, G. (2013). Bridging core readiness with social justice through social justice picture books. The NERA Journal, 48 (2), 28-37.

González, N., Moll, L.C., & Amanti, C. (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Gorski, P.C., & Pothini, S.G . (2014). Case studies on diversity and social justice education . New York, NY: Routledge.

Heitzmann, R. (2008). Case study instruction in teacher education: Opportunity to develop students’critical thinking, school smarts, and decision making. Education, 128 (4), 523-542.

Hung, M. (2015). Talking circles promote equitable discourse. The Mathematics Teacher, 109 (4), 256-260.

Jones, J. K., & Hébert, T. P. (2012). Engaging diverse gifted learners in US history classrooms. Gifted Child Today, 35 (4), 252-261.

Jones, S. (2012). Critical literacies in the making: Social class and identities in the early reading classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 13 (2), 197-224.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: A.k.a the remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84 (1), 74-84.

Leonard. E. C., & Cook, R. A. (2010). Teaching with cases. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 10, 95-101.

Lucey, T. A. & Laney, J. D. (2009). This land was made for you and me: Teaching economic justice in upper elementary and middle school grades. The Social Studies, (November/December), 260-272.

Marshall, J. & Klein, A. M. (2009). Lessons in social action: Equipping and inspiring students to improve their world. The Social Studies (September/October), 218-221.

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