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

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.