Identity, childhood culture, and literacy learning: a case study created by Catherine Compton-Lilly

Recent conceptions of identity view people’s identities as multiple and situated. The ways we see ourselves are filtered through the relationships we share with others, the knowledges and experiences we bring, and the contexts within which we live and learn. McCarthey and Moje (2002) explain that the identities we construct shape our literacy practices while literacy practices become a means for acting out the identities we assume. This case study demonstrates how children’s identities and cultural resources intersect and converge during literacy learning. Fieldnotes, running records, and audiotaped interviews are used to construct a case study of a reluctant African American student that illustrates the ways students’ identities are constructed and revised in conjunction with literacy learning. This case study demonstrates how teachers can access children’s cultural resources to support literacy learning.