Dr. Jonda McNair

Wednesday, November 11th

11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Erickson Room: 252

What Happens When African American Children Are Exposed to an Abundance of African American

Children’s Literature? This presentation will examine how the social practices of African American families—with children in grades K-2—changed as a result of participating in a family literacy program utilizing African American children’s literature. The families were exposed, through a series of workshops, to an abundance of children’s literature written by and about African Americans. Data sources included pre and post interviews conducted with parents, parental reading logs, and a reflective journal kept by the researcher. This study was unique in that it involved collaboration between a major, public university, a local church, an African American sorority, and an innovative teacher recruitment initiative designed to increase the number of Black, male elementary school teachers.

Jonda McNair is a professor of literacy education at Clemson University in South Carolina. She received a Ph.D. in language, literacy, and culture from The Ohio State University where she studied with Rudine Sims Bishop. McNair specializes in literature intended for youth with an emphasis on books written by and about African Americans. She recently completed a three-year term as Chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee. Her work has appeared in journals such as Review of Educational Research, The Reading Teacher, Young Children, The Journal of Negro Education, and Children’s Literature in Education. McNair was recently appointed incoming coeditor of Language Arts, 2016-2021. She is a former elementary school teacher of students in grades K-2.

2015-2016 Literacy Colloquy Presentation