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Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic changed everything almost overnight for students and their families. The purpose of this qualitative case study, thus, was to investigate the views of families about the sudden change in education for their middle school children, particularly literacy practices, during the pandemic. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s theoretical framework of cultural capital, coupled with socioeconomic status, funds of knowledge, and crisis management, we conducted interviews with 4 parents. Using the in vivo coding data analysis method, we identified some key preliminary findings: all-day-happy-hour, the strange disconnection between teachers and parents, and soft and hard approaches to school-home literacy. Participants revealed very distinctive dispositions to make this “school-home” education work on their own. These parental dispositions and new meaning-making from their children’s education developed into what we referred to as parentagogy, as they determined for themselves the skills they would need and use to help their children succeed in their new roles as parent and educator. This study confirms the importance of parental value in education.

Author Bio

Elizabeth Stewart

Elizabeth Stewart is a Ph.D. student of Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education at Texas Tech University. Elizabeth has been involved in community engaged scholarship for two years. Elizabeth is particularly interested in researching the areas of family and community connections, writing instruction, and the role of teacher leaders and literacy coaches.

Jeasik Cho, Ph.D.

Dr. Jeasik Cho is an Associate Professor of Department of Curriculum & Instruction in the College of Education at Texas Tech University. He received his doctorate degree from The Ohio State University in curriculum theory, qualitative research/evaluation, and teacher education. He has a new book, Evaluating Qualitative Research (Oxford University Press, 2018) and has published many research articles in areas of curriculum, teacher education/multicultural education, and qualitative research. His current research interests include compassion-based curriculum theory in the post-pandemic multicultural education, culturally relevant metacognition, inclusion/accessibility/success in higher education, and so on.

Mellinee Lesley, Ph.D.

Mellinee Lesley is a Professor in the Language, Diversity & Literacy Studies program in the College of Education at Texas Tech University. She has previously worked as a high school English teacher and served as the Director for Developmental Reading at Eastern New Mexico University. Dr. Lesley has earned several teaching awards at the secondary and university level and is a fellow of the Teaching Academy at Texas Tech University. She is also a fellow of the National Writing Project, past interim director for the New Mexico High Plains Writing Project, and co-director of the Llano Estacado Writers Alliance. She has numerous publications pertaining to adolescent literacy.

Julie Smit, Ph.D.

Dr. Julie Smit is an assistant professor of Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University. She has served in local schools for six years. Her research interests involve literacy and learning as a collaborative effort between students, teachers, and community members. For the last five years, Dr. Smit has been involved in creating learning opportunities for educators to become responsive teachers, coaches, and literacy leaders. She has conducted professional development in the topics of writing development and instruction, literacy engagement, teacher leadership, and cultural awareness.

DOI

10.20429/cimle.2022.260202

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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