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.

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.

Chapter 10: Teaching to Empower: Social Justice Action Projects as Imperatives for Educational Justice

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Hancock ◽  
Ayana Allen-Handy ◽  
John A. Williams ◽  
Bettie Ray Butler ◽  
Alysha Meloche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Community Partners ◽  
The Status ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Action Projects

Background/Context Teaching to empower requires a critical focus on the unique challenges and opportunities of teaching in socially unjust educational environments. Effective teaching happens in an environment that engages students and teachers in critical investigation of content, knowledge, and activities. Critical learning environments simultaneously nurture the development of multiple perspectives and challenge the status quo. Establishing a critical learning environment is imperative in an educational system that is plagued with academic and social injustices. Therefore, teaching to empower necessitates that teachers, with the help of students, dismantle injustices through culturally responsive teaching, the development of agency and activism, the growth of multiple perspectives, and the capacity to challenge the status quo. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose of this chapter, a conceptual paper, is to lay the foundation for a framework of social justice action projects, which we differentiate from social action projects on the basis that social justice action projects are enveloped in critical race theory. Three educator vignettes are shared to illustrate how this framework functions in practice. We provide an example of a classroom teacher, a teacher educator, and a research perspective. Research Design This chapter, a conceptual paper, examines four components that we believe are essential for transforming social action projects into social justice action projects. Through personal narratives, we illuminate the challenges and successes of social justice action projects as they relate to learning, students, educators, and the community. Four of the authors, who are also researchers and educators, share autoethnographic experiences of their participation in social justice action projects in education. Data Collection and Analysis This chapter is a conceptual paper that seeks to illustrate the conceptual framework presented in the introduction of the chapter with three practical examples told from the point of view of the author teachers. Findings/Results When critical race theory acts as a framework for social action projects, these become social justice action projects, which, when properly applied, avoid many of the pitfalls that are common when social action projects do not serve the priorities of their community partners. For students, critical race-based pedagogies can serve to develop critical consciousness. Meanwhile, critical methods provide means by which students and community partners develop agency and activism. Conclusions/Recommendations Teaching through social justice action projects engages both students and teachers in critical dialogues that support empowered, action-oriented learning. While many effective teaching methods and strategies exist, the use of social justice action projects provides knowledge production, dialogue, and thinking beyond the whitewashed curriculum to create a world in which students, teachers, and community partners are empowered to make positive differences.

scholarly journals Teacher’s Narration of Teaching Critical Literacy: It’s a KEY for Raising Students’ Awareness in Iran

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Iman Tohidian ◽  
Ali Khorsandi Taskoh
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Research Students

To be literate, students need to able to think critically and read between the lines to find the implicit meanings and ideologies. To help Iranian English language learners learn writing as a social action and not independent of social (in)justices and (in)equalities, we included critical literacy in a writing course at the University of [for anonymity]. We intend to illuminate teacher’s narration about raising students’ awareness towards (mal)practices, (in)justices, and (in)equalities of the society in their writings.To do so, all 52 undergraduate 3rd-year-EFL learners of English Literature and Translation participated in our writing class. The teacher was also an associate professor (50 years old) with critical literacy as his main area of research. Students were required to write essays as mid-term and final exams. The teacher’s reflection on the course in general and on the EFL learners’ reflective essays highlighted that teaching writing through critical literacy helped students realize that writing is a process dependent on different social and political issues.Students’ growth in critical consciousness through their writing reminds teaching practitioners, policy-makers, and teacher educators to provide innovation in their classrooms to empower language learners with teaching methodologies contrary to what they are accustomed to during their learning.

Critically Literate Citizenship: Moments and Movements in Second Grade

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haeny S. Yoon
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Second Graders ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Civic Action ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
K 12

With renewed emphasis on civic education in K–12 schools, educators and politicians call for young people to engage in civic action. Worth considering are the kinds of ideas taken up, the performances deemed critical enough, and actions recognized in schools as civic engagement. Drawing from a case study of second graders in New York City (NYC), I move away from hypervisible expressions of civic participation to show how children take up critical literacy and civic action through everyday, ordinary moments. Beyond public displays of social action, how do we build up critically literate citizens who question, disrupt, and engage civically in their daily lives? Highlighted throughout this article are children’s questions, inquiries, and tensions around diverse identities and practices (e.g., religion, race, gender, politics). In centering children’s political agendas, I argue that the production of civic engagement is lived out in the curricular, conversational, and playful moments leading up to social movements.

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.

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.

“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.

Social Justice Leadership and Family Engagement

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 754-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. DeMatthews ◽  
D. Brent Edwards ◽  
Rodolfo Rincones
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Family Engagement ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Social Justice Leadership ◽  
Administrator Preparation ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
The Status ◽  
Administrator Preparation Programs

Research Approach: This in-depth qualitative case study explores one school leader’s enactment of social justice leadership in an elementary school in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Analysis of interviews and observations revealed how this leader adapted her leadership to prioritize the severe needs of families and students in one of the world’s most violent cities. Findings: The article describes how the leader made sense of the community and its needs. Then, it examines how the leader enacted social justice leadership by addressing the out-of-school challenges that affected student achievement and well-being. Consequently, the leader’s focus shifted toward meaningful family engagement through adult education, community advocacy, and critical questioning of the status quo. Implications: Implications for future research, theory, and administrator preparation programs are presented at the conclusion of the article.

LEARNING INCLUSIVELY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A PROBLEM-BASED APPROACH

2016 ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
Sunanta Klibthong ◽  
Joseph Agbenyega
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Problem Based Learning ◽  
Teacher Preparation Program ◽  
Chat Rooms ◽  
Reflective Journal ◽  
Group Activities ◽  
Inclusive Learning ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
The Status

This paper gives an account of a teacher preparation program in which a problem based learning approach was used to enact inclusive learning among student teachers. Taking a postmodernist perspective, the student teachers' experiences of participation in group activities on a problem-based scenario in an Australian university was documented through chat-rooms, online postings and reflective journal writings. Knowledge about peer interaction and communities of learning relationship, reflective practice and opportunity to manage difference and question the status quo are areas that were highlighted by the students. We concluded that problem-based learning is transformative and that whatever teacher educators expect their student teachers to do in their teaching contexts when they graduate, they need to give them the opportunity to practise these in their learning during training.

scholarly journals Narrating technonatures: discourses of biotechnology in a neoliberal era

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Myles Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Political ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The Status ◽  
Political Economic

This article considers the role played by discourses of nature in structuring the cultural politics of anti-GMO activism. It argues that such discourses have been successful rhetorical tools for activists because they mobilize widely resonant nature-culture dualisms that separate the natural and human worlds. However, these discourses hold dubious political implications. In valorizing the natural as a source of essential truth, natural purity discourses fail to challenge how naturalizations have been used to legitimize sexist, racist and colonial systems of injustice and oppression. Rather, they revitalize the discursive purchase of appeals to nature as a justification for the status quo, indirectly reinforcing existing power relations. Moreover, these discourses fail to challenge the critical though contingent reality of GMOs' location within the wider framework of neoliberal social relations. Fortunately, appeals to natural purity have not been the only effective strategy for opposing GMOs. Activist campaigns that directly target the political economic implications of GMOs within the context of neoliberalism have also had successes without resorting to appeals to the purity of nature. The successes of these campaigns suggest that while nature-culture dualisms remain politically effective normative groundings, concerns over equity, farmers' rights, and democracy retain potential as ideological terrains in the struggle for social justice.

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