Through stories from kindergarten to sixth grade classrooms where students and teachers have attempted to put a critical edge on their teaching, this book shows critical literacy in action across the curriculum. Readers see students and teachers together using critical literacy discourse to frame conversations in ways that engage students in examining the meaning of the texts they read and acting on local and global social issues that emerge.
Drawing on multiple perspectives such as cross-curricular explorations, multimedia, and child-centered inquiry pedagogies, the text features a theoretical toolkit; demonstrations from across the content areas including art, music, and media literacy; integration of technology; and attention to how critical literacy can inform decisions about standards and assessment. Annotated booklists, examples of students’ work, Reflection Questions, Try This (practical classroom strategies), and Resource Boxes can be used to encourage and support engaging in critical literacy work in different areas of the curriculum.
Brief Contents
About the Author
About the Cover Art
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Teaching and Learning from a Critical Literacy Perspective
Chapter 2: Reading Critically
Chapter 3: Writing to Disrupt Inequities
Chapter 4: Critical Literacy and Mathematics Investigations
Chapter 5: Negotiating Critical Literacies Using Science Observations
Chapter 6: Critical Literacy and the Social Studies Curriculum
Chapter 7: Acting Out: Using Process Drama to Read Critically
Chapter 8: Getting Critical with Music
Chapter 9: Critical Literacy, Art and Everyday Popular Culture Texts
Chapter 10: Critical Media Literacy
Chapter 11: Critical Literacy and New Technologies
Chapter 12: Negotiating Spaces for Critical Literacies in Health and Physical Education
Chapter 13: Doing "Important Work"
Further Reading
Children’s Literature Cited
References
Index
Biography
Vivian Maria Vasquez is Professor, American University, School of Education, Teaching and Health, USA.
