[This] is a timely volume collecting examples of culturally responsive curricula that teachers can adapt for their own classrooms’ unique demographics. The authors urge that incorporating these strategies should be something ingrained within educators' teaching philosophy, not something that teachers should tack onto their regular lessons and to-do lists as just “one more thing.” With more than 50 years of combined teaching experience, Ticknor, Howard, and Overstreet bring their own narratives and lived experiences into their writing and share ideas that have worked for them. However, they remind readers to develop lesson plans that suit the needs of their students’ identities and experiences as they create their literacy curricula. A bonus for readers is the inclusion of suggested books and readings to use in the classroom as both “mirrors” and “windows.” The scenarios and examples of techniques included make this study a valuable read for all preservice education students as well as experienced practitioners. Recommended. Undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals.

Choice Reviews

Reading this book feels like talking with your smartest colleagues to get ideas for how to be the best, most inclusive educator you can be. In It’s Not ‘One More Thing', Ticknor, Howard, and Overstreet have written an important, accessible book that shows teachers how to put the theory of culturally responsive teaching into practice in concrete and practical ways. They lay out a strong case for the importance of culturally responsive instruction, but, perhaps more importantly, they also help readers translate those ideas into decisions about specific instructional practices teachers make every day. The authors draw on their identities, teaching experiences, and own moments of learning to carefully and generously lead readers through reflections on their current practices. As a result, readers have an opportunity to explore where students’ voices and cultures are being silenced and learn about a wide range of suggestions for more inclusive approaches. Teachers reading this book will feel energized, inspired, and ready to implement what they learn to better serve all their students.

Caitlin L. Ryan, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Department of Early, Elementary, Middle, Literacy and Special Education

In a "post-truth," "post-racial" era the need for developing culturally responsive literacy instructors has perhaps never been more urgent. But research shows that even the best prepared graduates of teacher education programs enter K-12 literacy classrooms ill-equipped to adequately validate--much less celebrate--the multi-dimensional capital of their culturally and linguistically diverse students. Enter Drs. Anne Swenson Ticknor, Christy M. Howard, and Mikkaka Hardaway Overstreet, who offer us It’s Not “One More Thing”: Culturally Responsive and Affirming Strategies in K-12 Literacy Classrooms. With over fifty years of experience as educators between them, the authors, who themselves hold an array of diverse identities, share stories of vulnerability, courage, and commitment. The authors draw on research-based best practices as they describe real classrooms and strategy applications. It’s Not “One More Thing” is not just one more book: it's a text that both guides and challenges teachers to work with purpose and agency to develop into the culturally responsive literacy practitioners our students deserve.

Jeanne Dyches, PhD, Assistant Professor of Secondary Literacy Education, Iowa State University