Orchestrating success for African American readers: The case of an effective third‐grade teacher

Abstract Through building on and extending the metaphor of “orchestration,” forwarded by reading scholars, this case study research describes and examines how an effective third‐grade teacher organizes and facilitates high‐quality reading instruction for African American students. Findings suggested that the teacher used three pedagogical strategies to meet African American students’ social and literacy needs: (a) enacting a “border crossing curriculum” (b) making the strategies and skills of good readers “transparent” and (c) making cross‐cultural connections to students through literature. Implications for classroom reading instruction and reading research are discussed.