scholarly journals Teachers as Moral Compasses: Exploring Critical Literacy through Digital Social Justice Book Talks

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette M. Hughes ◽  
Lorayne Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
New Media ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Equity Issues ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
Digital Book

A classroom-based study aimed to scaffold preservice teachers’ critical literacy through an exploration of trade picture books. The paper discusses preservice teachers’ shifting views of critical literacy and the place of critical literacy in the language arts classroom. It also assesses the usefulness of digital book talks for engaging preservice teachers with social justice issues. The book talks provided novice teachers with opportunities to question and challenge assumptions, evaluate their own actions and attitudes toward accepted moral standards, and to engage in positive social action. The preservice teachers’ responses to the assignment suggest a number of ways in which teachers can effectively use new media to explore social justice and equity issues with young students.

scholarly journals Surfacing the Assumptions: Pursuing Critical Literacy and Social Justice in Preservice Teacher Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorayne Robertson ◽  
Janette Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Transformative Pedagogy ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Teaching For Social Justice

This paper outlines a four-year study of a preservice education course based on a socioconstructivist research framework. The preservice English Language Arts course focuses on critical literacy and teaching for social justice while employing digital technologies.The research study examines two concepts across all aspects of the course: 1) new literacies and multiliteracies; and 2) technology-supported transformative pedagogy for social and educational change. While the authors originally undertook the study to evaluate separate assignments of the course, the lens of the two themes has provided an opportunity for a scholarly review of their teaching practices. Research data include three course assignments over a 2-year period; an open-ended survey; and focus group and individual interviews with pre-service teachers. The authors discuss some of the affordances, challenges, and learnings associated with preparing teachers to teach critical literacy in a digital age. They also consider the development of critical literacy skills which encourage preservice teachers to bring their literacy histories and assumptions to the surface, examine them critically, and consider social justice alternatives.

“I Want Them to Feel the Fear…”

Gamification ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 2196-2211
Author(s):  
Clifford H. Lee ◽  
Antero D. Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
New Media ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Video Game ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Multimodal Texts ◽  
Video Game Design

By utilizing digital tools that are nearly ubiquitous in the lives of youth, writing teachers can leverage these practices for developing traditional English language arts instruction and skills proposed by state and federal standards. In this chapter, the authors propose how the development of computational literacies through multimodal writing and video game design can help guide critical and academic development in an inner-city Los Angeles public school. In a research project where high school youth designed and created (programmed) a video game about an issue significant in their lives, students demonstrated their critical computational literacies, a concept that blends the critical consciousness of critical literacy and the skills and concepts behind computational thinking. Critical computational literacy offers the ability to integrate two seemingly divergent fields. By using these new media tools, students developed a more expansive and sophisticated way to communicate their ideas. This has significant possibilities for the English Language Arts, where most K-12 state standards still relegate students' literacies to over-indulgence of traditional means of reading and writing of text. In an ever-evolving culture that increasingly places more significance on visual, auditory, and textual stimuli through multimodal media on computers and mobile devices (Hull & Nelson, 2005; Jenkins, 2006; Kress, 2010), schools must educate students to critically “read” messages in the media, and in turn become effective producers of these tools of communication (Alvermann, et al., 1999; Margolis, 2008; Morrell, 2008). This research shows students engaged in deep, reflective processes in the production of their multimodal texts.

Using Activism to Cultivate Social and Emotional Learning in the English Language Arts Classroom

2021 ◽  
pp. 154-171
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Spinner
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Social Action ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social And Emotional Learning ◽  
Emotional Learning ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Learning Competencies ◽  
Action Projects

English teachers' use of reading and writing instruction in a social justice-focused curriculum can include social action projects that encourage students to get involved in activism and also promotes social and emotional learning. This chapter outlines the research behind and steps towards using reading and writing in ways that encourage students to get involved in activism. The assignments and lessons suggested also include social and emotional learning competencies. Two specific texts are used to provide readers with concrete examples of implementing the ideas presented in classrooms.

scholarly journals "He's on fire for justice!": Using critical conversations to explore sociopolitical topics in elementary classrooms

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Laura Darolia
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Elementary Classrooms ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Content Standards ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
The Status

Despite the dominant discourse that childhood is a time of innocence, elementary students (kindergarten through fifth grade) notice the world around them, witness and experience injustice and deserve to explore “controversial issues” in their classrooms. This article introduces readers to Olivia and her second grade students. Olivia wanted to create what she called a “social justice classroom” and made intentional curricular moves in order to bring this vision to life. Primarily, she implemented “social justice read aloud time” and read and discussed thoughtfully chosen trade books on “controversial issues” every Friday afternoon. Students were highly engaged in these read alouds and developed understandings and insights well beyond academic content standards. Olivia’s approach to teaching aligned with critical literacy, a pedagogical framework that values multiple perspectives, brings sociopolitical topics into the classroom, disrupts the status quo, and moves toward social action and  the Inquiry Design Model of social studies education. Using this interdisciplinary lens, empirical examples of the purposeful exploration of “controversial issues” in a second grade classroom are discussed. Through Olivia’s voice, along with the voices of her students, description of the learning that happened in this social justice classroom is offered as evidence that teaching controversial issues in elementary classrooms has repercussions far beyond school walls. Implications for both practicing teachers and teacher educators are discussed.

Writing For Social Action in Our Digital Age

2014 ◽  
pp. 282-297
Author(s):  
Ted Kesler
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Progressive Education ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Multimodal Texts ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Multimodal Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
Composing Process

In this chapter, the author first describe the literacy pedagogy that he implements each year with a cohort of pre-service graduate students across two semesters to develop their social justice awareness, based in progressive education and critical literacy principles. The author then describes the social action writing unit of study that arises from this work, emphasizing multimodal forms of expression and especially the use of digital technologies. The author next focuses on two students who represent the digital composing process and products for social justice that students have created. Using multimodal systems of analysis, the author shows how designing multimodal texts informs pre-service students’ understandings of social justice issues. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the convergence of multimodality and social action writing and implications for pre-service writing instruction and action research with classroom teachers in school settings.

scholarly journals Pedagogical becoming : one teacher's journey toward social justice teaching in an early childhood classroom

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Laura Herring Darolia
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Early Childhood Classroom ◽  
Grade Teacher ◽  
The Status ◽  
Social Justice Teaching

This dissertation followed the journey of a second grade teacher as she strove to create what she called a "social justice atmosphere" in her classroom. The teacher's pedagogical approach is situated within the literature on critical literacy, as she worked to interrupt the status quo, value multiple perspectives, and promote social action through the class read alouds on sociopolitical issues. In order to thoroughly depict her teaching processes, decisions, and roadblocks, a Foucauldian lens is used to track the micropractices of power swirling around her. Insights include a glimpse into the challenges of teaching using a critical literacy framework in early childhood settings, implications for teacher education programs and in-service professional development, and the affordances of using a post-structural lens in studies of critical literacy.

“I Want Them to Feel the Fear…”

2014 ◽  
pp. 364-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford H. Lee ◽  
Antero D. Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
New Media ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Video Game ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Multimodal Texts ◽  
Video Game Design

By utilizing digital tools that are nearly ubiquitous in the lives of youth, writing teachers can leverage these practices for developing traditional English language arts instruction and skills proposed by state and federal standards. In this chapter, the authors propose how the development of computational literacies through multimodal writing and video game design can help guide critical and academic development in an inner-city Los Angeles public school. In a research project where high school youth designed and created (programmed) a video game about an issue significant in their lives, students demonstrated their critical computational literacies, a concept that blends the critical consciousness of critical literacy and the skills and concepts behind computational thinking. Critical computational literacy offers the ability to integrate two seemingly divergent fields. By using these new media tools, students developed a more expansive and sophisticated way to communicate their ideas. This has significant possibilities for the English Language Arts, where most K-12 state standards still relegate students’ literacies to over-indulgence of traditional means of reading and writing of text. In an ever-evolving culture that increasingly places more significance on visual, auditory, and textual stimuli through multimodal media on computers and mobile devices (Hull & Nelson, 2005; Jenkins, 2006; Kress, 2010), schools must educate students to critically “read” messages in the media, and in turn become effective producers of these tools of communication (Alvermann, et al., 1999; Margolis, 2008; Morrell, 2008). This research shows students engaged in deep, reflective processes in the production of their multimodal texts.

“Proclaiming Together”? Convergence and Divergence in Mainline and Evangelical Evangelism, 1945-1967

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-76
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Berg
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Relative Priority ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Mainline Denominations ◽  
Convergence And Divergence ◽  
Protestant Christians ◽  
Dividing Line

By now, it is a commonplace of the American religious scene that the majority of the nation's white Protestant Christians are split into “two parties.” The ideological dividing line runs between “mainline” denominations—Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians—and a bevy of conservative denominations and groups, but it also cuts through the mainline itself, which contains a substantial contingent of conservatives.Among the two parties' numerous disagreements, theological and political, few have run deeper and longer than their difference over the meaning and importance of evangelism, the activity of “proclaiming the gospel” to those outside the Christian community. Is the church's prime call in this regard to seek conversions to the Christian faith, or is it to show the love of Christ by working for charitable goals and social justice? A well-known 1973 study of Presbyterian clergy found that the greatest polarization between self-described “conservatives” and “liberals” came over the relative priority of evangelism and social action. Indeed, the fight over these goals was an important (though by no means the only) factor precipitating the “split” early in this century.

From salvation to inquiry: Preservice teachers’ conceptions of race

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-384
Author(s):  
Lucinda Grace Heimer
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Future Teacher ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
The Impact

Race is a marker hiding more complex narratives. Children identify the social cues that continue to segregate based on race, yet too often teachers fail to provide support for making sense of these worlds. Current critical scholarship highlights the importance of addressing issues of race, culture, and social justice with future teachers. The timing of this work is urgent as health, social and civil unrest due to systemic racism in the U.S. raise critiques and also open possibilities to reimagine early childhood education. Classroom teachers feel pressure to standardize pedagogy and outcomes yet meet myriad student needs and talents in complex settings. This study builds on the current literature as it uses one case study to explore institutional messages and student perceptions in a future teacher education program that centers race, culture, identity, and social justice. Teaching as a caring profession is explored to illuminate the impact authentic, aesthetic, and rhetorical care may have in classrooms. Using key tenets of Critical Race Theory as an analytical tool enhanced the case study process by focusing the inquiry on identity within a racist society. Four themes are highlighted related to institutional values, rigorous coursework, white privilege, and connecting individual racial and cultural understanding with classroom practice. With consideration of ethical relationality, teacher education programs begin to address the impact of racist histories. This work calls for individualized critical inquiry regarding future teacher understanding of “self” in new contexts as well as an investigation of how teacher education programs fit into larger institutional philosophies.

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