Reimagining Family Engagement in Online Literacy Clinics During the Pandemic

During the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and continuing racial injustices, many literacy clinics pivoted to online instruction. Educators were now in students’ homes for virtual literacy lessons. To understand how literacy clinics responded, teacher educators analyzed a national survey of clinic directors’ perspectives. Analysis regarding family communication and participation led to six categories: parent involvement, communication, family presence, learning with families v. teaching families, diminished/enhanced experiences, and access/digital divide. Contrasting examples from these categories were chosen to create a research-based verbatim audio play. Teacher educators then used fieldnotes, artifacts, and transcripts from their clinical experiences to create vignettes of clinic instruction, which they then put into dialogue with survey findings to reconceptualize, animate, and (re)present these as navigating digital divides/access, challenging school-centric definitions of family literacy, and building community with families in online settings. Findings from this study highlight that as the technological landscape of literacy clinics changes, so must our understanding of engaging with families’ literacy practices.