An Analysis of Critical Literacy in Featured Manuscripts Appearing in Two Major Literacy Journals (2011-2020)

Literacy journals provide an important resource for teachers’ professional development. Although school districts offer in-service education for their faculty and teachers often attend conferences and workshops sponsored by professional teaching organizations, journal reading remains an important source of information for teachers’ ongoing learning. In this study we examined what elementary teachers would learn about teaching critical literacy from reading major journals in literacy education. Critical literacy served as our focus because of the increasing importance of readers knowing how to recognize political, social and cultural perspectives embedded in the texts that they read. Content analysis served as our research method in which all volumes of The Reading Teacher and Language Arts published between 2011 and 2020 were examined. Results yielded 20 manuscripts meeting our criteria, and these clustered into two categories: (1) manuscripts describing effective critical literacy projects in elementary classrooms; (2) manuscripts discussing the use of children’s literature for teaching critical literacy. Given recent national events relating to racial and ethnic injustice throughout the country, we recommend that literacy journals place greater emphasis in publishing manuscripts that help teachers include a critical literacy lens into the lessons they teach children.

Impact of Text Discussions on the Professional Identity of Higher Education Students

Comprehension of academic literature is a key element in the immersion of university students in the academic subcultures of each discipline (Chanock, 2001; Estienne & Carlino, 2004; Gottschalk & Hjortshoj, 2004). To do so, universities opt for the implementation of text discussion such as book clubs (Hartley, 2002; Long, 2003), dialogic literary gatherings (Flecha, 2000; Mirceva & Larena, 2010). or literary circles (Daniels, 2002; Duncan, 2012).This case study, essentially qualitative, seeks to know the impact of text discussions on the professional identity of the students of Teacher Education and Computer Science at the University of Andorra (UdA). Results are obtained by student focus groups, the Likert test Motivational Survey on Academic Reading, teacher interviews and taking notes in situ throughout the discussions.The main results indicate that the text discussions have a positive impact on students as (1) it increases the reflection, understanding and critique of the professional world, (2) they apply evidence-based content in professional contexts and (3) it improves the justification of informed professional decisions.

MADRASAH MANAGEMENT IN IMPROVING TEACHER PROFESSIONALITY (SURVEY AT MIN JAMBI CITY)

Madrasah management is an activity to empower and coordinate all resources through the planning process, organize, move or implement and supervise to achieve predetermined goals in an effective and efficient manner, including managing teacher professionalism, which can be carried out through education at a higher level according to academic qualifications, Teacher Certification program, Education and Training and training for teachers, Reading Teacher Movement (G2M), KKG organization (Teacher Working Group) and always productive in producing works in the field of education. Characteristics of professional teachers include obeying regulations, maintaining and improving professional organizations, maintaining relationships with peers, guiding students, creating a good atmosphere in the workplace, obeying leaders and love of work.

Reading in Research and Information Centres. Case Study of LBUS

The paper focuses of to open the minds of pupils and turn them to reading, teacher librarians must prepare pupils, bring them face to face with reading, situations, themes from each reading instance, so that they can analyze, describe, freely express themselves, using the right words to convey their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and compare the information they came across while reading with their own experiences, the situations they’ve lived through, thus anchoring them in daily reality.

READING NOVELS IN THE RENEWED MIDDLE GRADES ENGLISH CLASSROOM:

Young adult fiction; interpretative community; critical reading; teacher autonomy; ENG01-04

In-Service Reading Teacher Efficacy

The complex task of teaching students to read well is one that in-service elementary teachers may not feel fully prepared for, as the methods for teaching reading have changed significantly in the last decade. As the research on explicit literacy instruction continues to expand, today’s teachers require specific training on how to effectively teach reading and move beyond the traditional basal reading curriculum. Additionally, the research showed that a teacher’s self-efficacy was a contributing factor in the actual implementation of new literacy instruction knowledge. This mixed method study examined the varying levels of self-efficacy from 36 in-service elementary reading teachers who were enrolled in a literacy education graduate program. The data suggested that in-service elementary reading teachers’ self-efficacy fluctuated greatly due to additional professional development, administration support, and their years of teaching experience. Understanding how these components impacted an in-service reading teacher’s self-efficacy was important, as previous research has shown that the level of teacher efficacy may have an impact on the effectiveness of their reading instruction and their students’ literacy achievement in the elementary classroom.