When school buildings closed suddenly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educators relied on families more than ever to mediate their children's learning. This yearlong case study details the narratives of 14 Black and Latinx families as they negotiated literacy practices with their teenage sons during remote schooling. This study finds that families bolstered their sons’ literacies through dimensions of family literacy care, a notion developed by the author to describe the material, emotional, embodied, and digital mentoring exchanged between caregivers and boys around literacy practices at home. Entangled in these narratives are the complex ways that families enacted their roles as caregivers and teachers during the pandemic, and in turn, how boys acquiesced to and resisted their parents’ attempts at family literacy care. These findings texture and advance the field of family literacy scholarship to understand better the varied ways boys orient toward (and away from) texts in their family context.
AllenQ.White-SmithK. (2018). “That’s why I say stay in school”: Black mothers’ parental involvement, cultural wealth, and exclusion in their son’s schooling. Urban Education, 53(3), 409–435. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085917714516
2.
AnzaldúaG. E. (2012). Borderlands/la frontera: The new mestiza (4th ed.). Aunt Lute.
3.
BhamaniS.MakhdoomA. Z.BharuchiV.AliN.KaleemS.AhmedD. (2020). Home learning in times of COVID: Experiences of parents. Journal of Education and Educational Development, 7(1), 9–26. https://doi.org/10.22555/joeed.v7i1.3260
4.
BrandtD. (1998). Sponsors of literacy. College Composition and Communication, 49(2), 165–185. https://doi.org/10.2307/358929
CareyR. (2015). Desensationalizing Black males: Navigating and deconstructing extreme imageries of Black males and masculinities. In Fasching-VarnerK. J.HartlepN. D. (Eds.), The assault on communities of color: Exploring the realities of race-based violence (pp. 153–159). Rowman & Littlefield.
7.
CareyR. (2019). Imagining the comprehensive mattering of Black boys and young men in society and schools: Toward a new approach. Harvard Educational Review, 89(3), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-89.3.370
8.
Chazen-CohenR.RaikesH.Brooks-GunnJ.AyoubC.PanB. A.KiskerE. E.RoggmanL.FuligniA. S. (2009). Low-income children’s school readiness: Parent contributions over the first five years. Early Education and Development, 20(6), 958–977. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409280903362402
9.
CherngH.-Y. (2016). Is all classroom conduct equal? Teacher contact with parents of racial/ethnic minority and immigrant adolescents. Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 118(11), 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811611801104
10.
Compton-LillyC. (2012). Reading time: The literate lives of urban secondary students and their families. Teachers College Press.
11.
Compton-LillyC.DelbridgeA. (2019). What can parents tell us about poverty and literacy learning?: Listening to parents over time. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(5), 531–539. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.923
12.
Compton-LillyC.RogersR.LewisT. Y. (2012). Analyzing epistemological considerations related to diversity: An integrative critical literature review of family literacy scholarship. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(1), 33–60. https://doi.org/10.1002/RRQ.009
13.
Compton-LillyC.RogersR. L.Lewis EllisonT. (2020). A meta-ethnography of family literacy scholarship: Ways with metaphors and silence. Reading Research Quarterly, 55(2), 271–289. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.272
14.
CuevasS. (2019). “Con mucho sacrificio, we give them everything we can”: The strategic day-to-day sacrifices of undocumented Latina/o parents. Harvard Educational Review, 89(3), 473–496. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-89.3.473
15.
DumasM.NelsonJ. (2016). (Re)imagining Black boyhood: Toward a critical framework for educational research. Harvard Educational Review, 86(1), 27–47. https://doi.org/10.17763/0017-8055.86.1.27
16.
EdwardsP. (2016). New ways to engage parents: Strategies and tools for teachers and leaders, K–12. Teachers College Press.
17.
EmersonR.FretzR.ShawL. (2011). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
18.
FernaldA.MarchmanV. A.WeislederA. (2013). SES Differences in languaging processing skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months. Developmental Science, 16(2), 234–248. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12019
19.
FrankelK.BrooksM. (2018). Why the “struggling reader” label is harmful (and what educators can do about it). Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(1), 111–114. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.758
20.
GeeJ. (2010). A situated-sociocultural approach to literacy and technology. In BakerE. A. (Ed.), The new literacies: Multiple perspectives on research and practice (pp. 165–195). The Guilford Press.
21.
GottfriedA. W.SchlackmanJ.GottfriedA. E.Boutin-MartinezA. S. (2015). Parental provision of early literacy environment as related to reading and educational outcomes across the academic lifespan. Parenting, 15(1), 24–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2015.992736
22.
HuttenlocherJ.WaterfallH.VasilyevaM.VeveaJ.HedgesL. V. (2010). Sources of variability in children’s language growth. Cognitive Psychology, 61(4), 343–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2010.08.002
23.
HwangJ. K.ConnorC. M. (2020). Literacy instruction and individual differences in students’ cognitive development. In MojeE. B.AfflerbachP. P.EncisoP.LesauxN. K. (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 5, pp. 307–327). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315676302.
24.
JohnsonN.VeletsianosG.SeamanJ. (2020). U.S. faculty and administrators’ experiences and approaches in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Online Learning Journal, 24(2), 6–21. https://doi-org.proxy.bc.edu/10.24059/olj.v24i2.2285.
25.
KinlochV. (2017). “You ain’t making me write”: Culturally sustaining pedagogies and Black youths’ performances of resistance. In ParisD.AlimH. (Eds.), Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world (pp. 25–42). Teachers College Press.
26.
KirklandD. (2013). A search past silence: The literacy of Black males. Teachers College Press.
27.
KirklandD.JacksonA. (2009). “We real cool”: Toward a theory of Black masculine literacies. Reading Research Quarterly, 44(3), 278–297. https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.44.3.3
LammeL.Sabis-BurnsD.GouldJ. (2004). Project booktalk: Library books and lap reading in childcare homes. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32(1), 45–50. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ECEJ.0000039643.65413.08
30.
LamoteC.SpeybroeckS.Van Den NoortgateW.Van DammeJ. (2013). Different pathways towards dropout: The role of engagement in early school leaving. Oxford Review of Education, 39(6), 739–760. https://doi.org10.1080/03054985.2013.854202 https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2013.854202
31.
LawrenceA. (2015). Literacy narratives as sponsors of literacy: Past contributions and new directions for literacy-sponsorship research. Curriculum Inquiry, 45(3), 304–329. https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2015.1031058
32.
LewisT. (2011). Family digital literacies: A case of awareness, agency, and apprenticeship of one African American family. In DunstonP. J.GambrellL. B.HeadleyK.FullertonS. K.SteckerP. M.GillisV. R.BatesC. C. (Eds.), 60th yearbook of the literacy research association (pp. 432–446). Literacy Research Association.
33.
LewisT. (2013). “We txt 2 sty cnnectd”: An African American mother and son communicate: Digital literacies, meaning-making, and activity theory systems. Journal of Education, 193(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/002205741319300202
34.
Lewis EllisonT.WangH. (2018). Resisting and redirecting: Agentive practices within an African American parent–child dyad during digital storytelling. Journal of Literacy Research, 50(1), 52–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086296X17751172
35.
LiteratI. (2021). “Teachers act like we’re robots”: TikTok as a window into youth experiences of online learning during COVID-19. AERA Open, 7, 2332858421995537. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858421995537
36.
LópezN. (2002). Rewriting race and gender high school lessons: Second-generation Dominicans in New York city. Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 104(6), 1187–1203. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9620.00201
37.
Lopez-RobertsonJ. (2017). Diciendo cuentos/telling stories: Learning from and about the community cultural wealth of Latina mamas through Latino children’s literature. Language Arts, 95(1), 7–16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44810082
MarshL. T. S.NogueraP. (2018). Beyond stigma and stereotypes: An ethnographic study on the effects of school-imposed labeling on Black males in an urban charter school. The Urban Review, 50(3), 447–477. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-017-0441-x
40.
MaxwellJ. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
41.
MerriamS. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. Jossey-Bass.
42.
MilesM. B.HubermanA.SaldañaJ. (2014). Fundamentals of qualitative data analysis. In Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (pp. 69–104). Sage.
43.
MilnerH. R. (2007). Race, culture, and researcher positionality: Working through dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen. Educational Researcher, 36(7), 388–400. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X07309471
44.
MindellJ. A.WilliamsonA. A. (2018). Benefits of a bedtime routine in young children: Sleep, development, and beyond. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 40, 93–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2017.10.007
45.
MistryR. S.BennerA. D.BiesanzJ. C.ClarkS. L.HowesC. (2010). Family and social risk, and parental investments during the early childhood years as predictors of low-income children’s school readiness outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(4), 432–449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2010.01.002
46.
NogueraP.HurtadoA.FergusE. (Eds.). 2013. Invisible no more: Understanding the disenfranchisement of Latino men and boys. Routledge.
47.
OliveiraG.Lima BeckerM.SegelM. (2021). Constructing the (un)readiness of Brazilian immigrant children in one elementary school. Multicultural Perspectives, 23(4), 206–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2021.1986334
48.
PrendergastC. (2003). Literacy and racial justice. Southern Illinois University Press.
49.
PrimdahlN. L.BorschA. S.VerelstA.JervelundS. S.DerluynI.SkovdalM. (2021). “It’s difficult to help when I am not sitting next to them”: How COVID-19 school closures interrupted teachers’ care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners in Denmark. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 16(1), 75–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2020.1829228
50.
RaganC.AmorosoL. (2019). Constructing social research: The unity and diversity method (3rd ed.). Sage.
51.
RosaJ.FloresN. (2017). Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective. Language in Society, 46(5), 621–647. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404517000562
52.
SmithA.WestA.McCartheyS. (2020). Literacies across sponsorscapes: Mobilising notions of literacy sponsorship. United Kingdom Literacy Association, 54(2), 22–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12199
53.
StakeR. (2004). Qualitative case study. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 443–466). Sage.
54.
StornaiuoloA.SmithA.PhillipsN. (2017). Developing a transliteracies framework for a connected world. Journal of Literacy Research, 49(1), 68–91. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086296X16683419
55.
StreetB. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge University Press.
56.
SullivanA. L.BalA. (2013). Disproportionality in special education: Effects of individual and school variables on disability risk. Exceptional Children, 79(4), 475–494. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440291307900406
57.
SunsteinB. S.Chiseri-StraterE. (2002). Fieldworking: Reading and writing research.Macmillan.
58.
TatumA.MuhammadG. (2012). African American males and literacy development in contexts that are characteristically urban. Urban Education, 47(2), 434–463. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085911429471
59.
WargoJ.De CostaP. (2017). Tracing academic literacies across contemporary literacy sponsorscapes: Mobilities, ideologies, identities, and technologies. London Review of Education, 15(1), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.15.1.09
60.
YossoT. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
