Identity-Affirming Literacies in Schools

In Identity-Affirming Literacies in Schools, Chantal Francois and Jen McLaughlin Cahill combine their teaching, leadership, and research at Pearl Street Collaborative School in New York City to provide an intimate portrayal of what it means to strive toward a humanizing literacy pedagogy.

This book weaves the thread from the school?s dreams about humanizing literacy to the everyday work that extended and nurtured those dreams. By elevating urban students? and teachers? unique, diverse, but often devalued voices, this book describes how the school?s collaborative and equity-oriented professional culture informed asset-based dispositions and instructional practices through a relationship-oriented independent reading program; robust engagement with diverse texts, including intersectional, young adult, LGBTQ+ literature; opportunities to foster empathy; rich, text-based discussions; and teacher-designed authentic literacy assessments. This book explores opportunities for students to fluidly engage with their identities, knowledge about the world, the school community, and texts.

Identity-Affirming Literacies in Schools will appeal to pre- and in-service educators, especially those considering secondary literacy education and social change, who may use this book for coursework or professional learning.

"Identity-Affirming Literacies in Schools presents an innovative vision for literacy education. Highlighting a school community's efforts to reimagine reading instruction and affirm diverse identities, this book offers a guide for creating inclusive, intellectual, joyful, and empowering literacy learning environments.?

Gholdy Muhammad, Ph.D., Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, University Illinois Chicago College of Education; Bestselling Author, Cultivating Genius & Unearthing Joy 

?This timely and important book is uniquely grounded in the authors' experiences engaging in practitioner inquiry. It documents the complexity and appeal of an innovative approach to educating youth. It both challenges traditional research paradigms and offers an unusually rich alternative framework for a collaborative culture that enables teachers and students to build curriculum together, around their deep engagement in texts that inform critical aspects of students' lives and identities.? 

Susan L. Lytle, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, University of Pennsylvania?s Graduate School of Education