Middle school students' ability to think critically and comprehend complex text is often challenging. Students often need additional academic support in this area. Close reading text is an instructional strategy that involves analyzing and looking at a text critically. The purpose of the qualitative phenomenological study is to examine English…

The aims of this qualitative study were (1) to understand the experiences of two middle school English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) teachers as they planned and implemented critical literacy into a unit in their existing curriculum and (2) to understand the experiences of students as they engaged in a curriculum embedded with critical…

In the 21st century, U.S. legislation continues to push for teacher censorship and seemingly depoliticized curriculums that ignore systemic issues regarding race, gender, sexuality, and other social justice topics. With the understanding that texts can never be politically neutral, English language arts (ELA) teachers must adopt critical…

Scholars have long recognized that reading in digital spaces requires unique skills, strategies, and competencies in comparison to those needed for reading printed text. In recent years, the ubiquity of social media and algorithmically targeted content has radically changed the nature of online reading and meaning making. Technological changes…

This article discusses four exemplary activities to highlight imaginative approaches that encourage critical literacy: building a jackdaw, responding to text through multimodal journaling, engaging in dramatic roleplay, and practicing multi-genre writing. Each activity connects imaginative approaches to critical literacy as learners view the world…

This article presents an English language arts teacher's critical reflection on how she worked with her middle and high school students to develop perspectives about the world in her classes. The article is grounded in the idea that teachers are researchers who constantly implement new ideas and reflect on their own teaching for their own…

This article explores the benefits and problems of teaching with challenged books in the English language arts classroom. Challenged books initiate important discussions and provide opportunities for students to explore diverse perspectives. Methods for helping teachers and schools prepare for potential challenges are also discussed. The authors…

While teachers and schools across the country actively work to impart curricula that is relevant and meaningful to their students, the written standards and reading lists too often represent a Eurocentric perspective and reinforce inequities perpetuated by the status quo. Too frequently, teachers are inadequately supported with or provided…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways assemblaging communities work to support, hinder or disrupt literacy pedagogy in one English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. Through an expanded understanding of community based on the concept of assemblage, this paper discusses the ways in which one teacher's critical literacies…

We know from previous research that teacher questions can influence reading comprehension development; however, we know less about the reading processes that are required of students through the use of questions. The present study examines teacher questions on texts reviewed during whole class reading comprehension instruction across 51 lessons in…

In this article, we examine one teacher's enactment of critical literacy pedagogy in a 7th-grade English language arts classroom in a New York City public school. By conceptualizing critical global literacies in relation to preservice and in-service teaching practices that reflect neoliberal interests, we attend to pedagogy inclusive of…

From newcomers and novices, to cautious censors and seasoned advocates, pre-service teachers and in-service teachers who use critical literacy approaches to advocate for justice walk an imagined precarious line between courageously engaging in difficult, critical conversations about risky texts, navigating obstacles, and getting burned by…

The author details how new literacies create spaces for student voices to be heard and how, by valuing video as a medium for expression, students are able to critically engage with their world and the world outside of the classroom.

To engage in critical praxis, teachers of literary response writing need concepts and methods for understanding the efficacy of teaching practices in helping students develop particular dispositions towards texts and the social issues they represent. In this article, the author uses concepts from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and Systemic…

The study explores how literacy sponsorship (Brandt, 2001) is constructed in a United States rural region by focusing on the discourse of rural teachers and students. Data included interviews with teachers and students, classroom observations, an environmental print literacy scan, and analysis of community and classroom-based texts. A multi-cycle…