The purpose of a "Critical and Creative" approach to literacy is not to place the burden of our responsibility on students, but rather to liberate them from the feeling of being trapped by unmalleable, self-defeating circumstances. Through actual demonstration and experience, teachers need to give students the confidence that they are…

In this paper, we discuss a creative role-play approach to the use of think-alouds focused on exploring multiple perspectives. The teaching idea presented here draws on transformative and critical theory in education and research-based practices. It encourages children to see the world through the eyes of diverse fictional characters or, in the…

The "elephant in the room" when we talk about preparing critical thinkers for the 21st century, Gallagher believes, is U.S. students' lack of reading proficiency and their general disinclination to read. Gallagher's provocative argument is that a significant factor behind the decline of reading in young people is a set of practices…