Drawing upon sociocultural ways of viewing language and language development, this Lehman Urban Transformative Education course asks teacher candidates to consider how race, class, and context influence students’ access to and demonstration of academic literacy. Readings and videos used as texts for learning in this course invite candidates to see literacy as a set of skills that shape and are shaped by the resources students have access to and the places where they learn language. Assignments for this course ask candidates to consider their own language backgrounds and to connect these with the diverse needs of the students in their classes.