This book empowers teachers to rethink their traditional approach to literacy instruction. Rather than integrate cultural content into the curriculum, elementary teachers will learn how to integrate the curriculum into their students’ cultures.

This book builds on the concepts of culturally relevant and responsive teaching by uplifting the role of a school’s community in creating meaningful and empowering literacy learning opportunities for elementary students. Practicing teachers and graduate students will gain new insights into the application of culturally responsive pedagogy by focusing on their students’ families and communities. Through reflective writing exercises and a variety of practical applications, readers will learn about the importance of creating literacy lessons that center their students’ families, cultures, and local communities.

This book is comprehensive in its approach because it provides information on creating community literacy through the following ways: cultivating culturally inclusive children’s literature and community artifacts in classroom libraries, teaching skills in meaningful contexts, integrating the community’s arts across the curriculum, engaging students in civic and social justice learning opportunities, connecting with families and community leaders, providing ideas for inspiring teachers to become engaged in their school’s communities, and connecting the book’s concepts with literacy lesson plans.

As teachers become increasingly required to focus solely on skill development, this book offers important information on how to create meaningful reading lessons that go beyond skill development and immerse students in cultural knowledge and civic engagement. Teachers will be empowered to reimagine their reading curriculum so that they can teach content and skills while honoring and elevating their students’ cultural wealth and community experiences in ways that move students’ thinking into realms of critical and analytical action.

"Weaving together rich literary texts, community-based inquiry, and personal reflection, Jacqueline Witter-Easley offers a compelling invitation for teachers to rethink literacy instruction from the ground up. Through accessible guidance, classrooms are reimagined as spaces where culture, language, and community knowledge transform youth learning opportunities. Offering both inspiration and guidance, this book is nothing less than refreshing, affirming, necessary." - professor, Stanford University

"Community Literacy in Early Elementary Education is an essential book for teachers. Witter-Easley provides inspiration, invites reflection, and through engaging concrete examples of classrooms demonstrates how teachers can connect students’ academic lives to their beloved communities. Both clear and profound, this book shows that in spite of all the restrictions placed upon our schools, it is still possible for teachers to give all children the true education they deserve." - editor, Rethinking Schools