“I Didn’t Understand How Powerful This Could Be”: The Synergy of Arts-Enhanced Literacy Instruction and Multicultural Literature in a Rural Classroom

Abstract

Guided by culturally sustaining pedagogy, this study examined how an elementary language arts teacher engaged with a yearlong project that focused on enhancing literacy instruction through the synergetic power of using multicultural children’s literature combined with arts. The case study conducted in a context with strict policy guidelines on literacy instruction demonstrated the teacher’s growing understanding of how to integrate multicultural children’s literature and arts in her instruction and powerful shifts in her view of students’ potential for empathy and engagement with complex social issues. The discussions of the books and creative artwork made by her students reshaped the teacher’s view of her students and her professional self. This study confirms that teachers can and do pursue culturally sustaining pedagogy–informed practices despite the restrictions of scripted literacy curricula and policy constraints on the topics of equity and diversity