Constructing Literacy Spaces in Low-Income Homes and Communities: A Study of Two Latino First Graders and Their Families

Abstract

This article describes a research study using an ethnographic approach and sociocultural theory with a spatial perspective to explore the ways that two Latino children, with the mediation of their families, constructed literacy spaces in their homes and communities. The families lived in low-income neighborhoods, and their school district was identified as urban emergent. Challenging the profiling of children, families, and neighborhoods, the article details how the children and families expressed their agency by building on the affordances of their homes, neighborhoods, and city. Implications for practice include foregrounding children’s expertise and creating collaborations between schools and community settings.

Keywords

reading identity elementary school urban social culturally relevant pedagogy ethnography Hispanic students urban education teacher education education literacy language

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