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Rooted in critical literacy, critical multiculturalism, and social constructivist theories, this study examined how structured asynchronous online discussions (SAODs) fostered in-service reading teachers' understanding of multicultural literature and a teaching stance that embraces the transformative potential of multicultural literature in an online graduate literacy course. Data sources included whole class and small group SAODs throughout the eight-week course. Through a naturalistic data analysis method, findings indicate that SAOD as an evidence-based practice supported participants in developing deeper and expanded understanding of multicultural literature, themselves and others as cultural beings, and a teaching stance that acknowledges and values diversity in practice. This study suggests that literacy teacher educators and researchers use multicultural literature to address diversity and equity. It also recommends ways to deliver an online course in multicultural literature and how carefully structured discussion is a viable mode of delivery.

Based in anthropology (Cole & Knowles, 2001), life history inquiry into literature emphasizes deep understandings of literary characters that are expressed through dramatic performance. For teachers or teacher-educators, life histories offer a powerful teaching strategy. Life histories support locating readers in a particular pattern or "grammar" of events, situations, and goals while also revealing the subjective worlds of characters who are involved in such events. In an undergraduate Honors Literacies course, life histories performances in response to the young adult novel, "The Skin I'm In" (Flake, 1998), enabled examinations of the complex interaction of characters, their lives, and particular contexts.

This qualitative case study explores the literary/lived interpretations and experiences of middle school girls attending a book club located in an urban public school. We examine how the girls' responses to depictions of racism in the novels read reveal the ways in which they understand and/or experience racism in their own lives? We ground this research in critical race theory. Our inductive analytic process yielded the following three themes: (a) storying racism, (b) trusting the injustice and (c) enduring through trauma. We conclude with implications for preparing preservice and in-service classroom teachers to confront racism in their instruction.

In this paper, we examine the enactment of culturally relevant education in an urban early childhood setting in the US. This descriptive case study used a sociocultural framework that emphasizes the relationship between structure and agency. The research question that guided the study was: How does an urban, non-profit early childhood educational center focused on the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students and families enact culturally relevant education? The findings indicated that both tacit and tangible structures supported the agency of all school stakeholders. Tacit structures included multilingual and multimodal communication, continuous, responsive reflection, and a schema of valuing family engagement, which permeated the institution's culture. Tangible structures included the school's faculty, administrators, and staff, the students and families who were served by the school, and the financial resources that were creatively leveraged by the staff and administration. The article concludes with implications and recommendations for stakeholders in a variety of schooling contexts who strive to enact authentic, sustained culturally relevant education.

The poppies orange & naked pop out of the dirt next to the sidewalk under the overpass. We are more like them than not. The world is full no matter [...]

This essay reflects on ways to equip teacher candidates so they are not only prepared to answer tough questions, but are educated for the linguistic and literacy challenges of today's classrooms. We recognize that with an ever-growing majority minority population, it is time to change the teacher preparation system, and to support current teachers and the preparation of future teachers for the field; these changes need to be soon and are imperative.

Context: The Covid-19 pandemic and implementation of measures to limit the spread of the virus significantly affected access to healthcare. Routine care in the UK was transformed; remote consultation was introduced for some services while others were disbanded. Public health messaging encouraged the public to stay at home to protect the NHS. Our study investigating the healthcare experience of people living with multimorbidity (presence of >2 long term conditions) including Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and persistent musculoskeletal (MSK) pain, was suspended because of the pandemic. Objective: To investigate the experiences of people living with RA or MSK pain during the pandemic. Study design and analysis: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 47 people living with RA or persistent MSK pain, with and without multimorbidity. Data were analysed thematically, and findings mapped to the 'candidacy' theoretical framework. Setting and dataset: Participants were recruited from outpatient rheumatology clinics, pain clinics and primary care, in Scotland, UK. Participants were mostly female (31 female, 16 male) and aged between 24 and 92 years. Results: Our analysis identified themes related to: (1) Healthcare system impacts (remote consultations, delays and cancellations, difficulties accessing care, Covid information) and (2) Impacts on individuals (social and emotional wellbeing, pain and mobility, mental health, care seeking behaviour, employment/finance, understandings of Covid). Themes were mapped to the processes of candidacy. It was clear that the move towards remote consultations may have unintended consequences and should not be 'one-size fits all'. Conclusions: Our findings highlight experiences of people with RA/persistent MSK pain and multimorbidity during the Covid-19 pandemic. The health seeking behaviour of some patients has changed, and it is unclear if this will continue in the longer term. These findings support the need for discussion around the longer-term impact of the pandemic on individuals and changes within the healthcare system., Presenters Sara Macdonald, PhD, Susan Browne, PhD, MA, MPhil, Karen Wood, MA, Frances Mair, MD, FRCGP, Barbara Nicholl, PhD, [...]

This article describes and documents the teaching and learning in a new undergraduate course at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, USA. Students investigate the meaning of literacy in today's rapidly changing, technological world. They explore multiliteracies, ultimately weaving them into a multimedia statement--a mini documentary on a topic of choice. Students learn and use iMovie software to create their final projects. They experience success and satisfaction as well as a new found understanding of literacy today.

This article describes a theory of how culture enables literary interpretations of texts. We begin with a brief overview of the reader response field. From there, we introduce the theory and provide illustrative participant data examples. These data examples illustrate the four cultural positions middle grade students in our research assumed when responding to salient textual features embedded in African American children's novels. Our theory suggests that because a range of cultural positions factors into students' meaning making, we should mine texts more carefully for cultural milieu as well as find acceptance with a broader range of literary interpretations. We conclude by discussing implications for literary researchers and practitioners who study or use multicultural children's literature.

This article describes a study of both textual and reader response analyses of "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon Flake. Because gender and race constitute central themes in the narrative, Black feminist thought and feminism undergirded the textual critique. Critics' reviews, scholarly articles, and published author interviews also supported the textual analysis. Data were triangulated with excerpts from female student responses to the text and, specifically, their interpretations of the metanarrative of colorism. Reader interpretations occurred during an after-school book club with middle grade African American students. Findings revealed three ways in which readers identified with the story. These led to a discussion about whether and how the study's findings reflect current conversations in the literacy field about using stories pedagogically to examine and disrupt race- and gender-based inequities.