Critical Literacy/critical Teaching: Tools for Preparing Responsive Teachers

by Dozier, Cheryl; Johnston, Peter; Rogers, Rebecca; Allen, Jobeth

• ISBN13: 9780807746455
• ISBN10: 0807746452
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-15
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

This book describes and documents an exciting new approach to educating literacy teachers. The authors show how to help teachers develop their own critical literacy, while also preparing them to accelerate the literacy learning of struggling readers. The text takes readers inside a literacy lab in a high-poverty urban elementary school, reveals the instructional approach in action, and provides many excellent examples of critically responsive teaching. Featuring a synthesis of several fields of theory and research, this book: Illustrates teacher preparation and development as personal and social transformation-demonstrating that this process requires changing the ways teachers think about students, language, culture, literacy, learning, and themselves as educators, Provides pedagogical tools-including the history of the innovative literacy lab, the context of the instructional interactions, and the transition from a university-based to a school-based project, Combines critical and accelerative literacy instruction-showing how teachers can accelerate the slowest developing readers in their classrooms and also build a sense of engagement for students with the social world. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Cheryl Dozier is an assistant professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York Peter Johnston is a professor at the University at Albany-SUNY Rebecca Rogers is an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
JoBeth Allen
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART I: THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR TEACHING AND INQUIRY
Researching and Teaching with Literacy Teachers	3	(6)
Calls for This Research	3	(1)
Research/Teaching Agenda	4	(1)
Aligning Our Research and Teaching	5	(1)
Insider-Outsider Research	5	(2)
Organization of the Book	7	(1)
Audience for This Book	7	(2)
Critical Literacy, Accelerating Literacy	9	(12)
The Hurdles of Histories	9	(2)
Changing Histories	11	(1)
Agency	12	(1)
Acceleration	13	(1)
Teaching for Agency and Acceleration	14	(3)
Critical Literacy	17	(1)
Teachers and Critical Literacy	18	(1)
Critical Literacy and Social Action	19	(1)
Critical Literacy and Acceleration	19	(2)
The Centrality of Language	21	(12)
Literacy Difficulties	23	(1)
Valuing Case Knowledge	24	(2)
Goals and Parallels	26	(1)
Our Learning	26	(2)
Our Agenda	28	(5)
PART II: TEACHING TOOLS AND PROCESSES
Disrupting and Extending Learning Histories	33	(13)
Tool 1. Teaching Contexts: Locating the Literacy Lab	36	(1)
Tool 2. Home Communication: Learning From Families	37	(4)
Tool 3. Matching Teachers and Students: Disrupting Automatic Practices	41	(1)
Tool 4. Critical Literacy Emphasis: Considering Textual and Social Analysis	41	(5)
Rethinking Power: Learners as Teachers and Teachers as Learners	46	(8)
Kimberly Prettyman
The Lab Experience	46	(1)
Transfer to the Classroom	47	(1)
Writing	48	(1)
Critical Literacy	48	(2)
Transfer of Power	50	(1)
Family Connection	51	(1)
Confidence and Professional Development	52	(2)
Teachers Teaching: Language and Power	54	(7)
Karen M. Amundsen
Power and Language	54	(2)
Language with Parents	56	(1)
Transferring the Tools	57	(2)
The Power of Debriefing	59	(1)
Talking with Colleagues	60	(1)
Assessing and Representing Learning	61	(9)
Tool 5. Roaming in the Known: Following the Learner's Lead	62	(2)
Tool 6. Documenting Learning: Observing Learning	64	(2)
Tool 7. Writing Reports and Updates: Informing Stakeholders	66	(4)
Beyond Print: Roaming in the Known	70	(8)
Lisa Strolin-Smith
Hello Tekwan!	70	(2)
Roaming in the Known	72	(1)
Integrating Family Stories in the Literacy Curriculum	73	(3)
Reflections	76	(2)
Teaching Children to Be Literate, Not Teaching Literacy	78	(8)
Cheri Collisson
Lessons Learned	79	(2)
Collaborating as a Reading Specialist	81	(1)
The Structure of My Reading Program	82	(1)
Home/School Connections	83	(1)
Future Goals	84	(2)
Building Learning Communities	86	(14)
Tool 8. Instructional Conversations: Developing a Community of Learners	86	(4)
Tool 9. Responding to Books and Articles: Connecting Theory and Practice	90	(5)
Tool 10. Celebrating Learning: Connecting Teachers, Students, and Families	95	(2)
Tool 11. Reflective Essay: Synthesizing Learning	97	(3)
Learning Is Continuous	100	(12)
Jennifer Grand Steil
The Lab Experience	100	(6)
Transferring Learning Beyond the Lab	106	(4)
My Self-Extending System	110	(2)
Following the Lead: Connecting with Families Through Journals	112	(8)
Susan Garnett
Connecting with Families---A Starting Point	112	(3)
Extending the Journals from the Literacy Lab to the Classroom	115	(2)
The Second Year---Journals Across Grade Levels	117	(1)
The Third Year---Complicating the Conversation	118	(1)
Continuing the Conversation	119	(1)
Developing Reflective Teaching	120	(19)
Tool 12. Documenting Teaching: Learning to Notice and Name	120	(9)
Tool 13. Reflective Journals: Writing to Understand Teaching	129	(2)
Tool 14. Observation Conferences: Extending Practice	131	(1)
Tool 15. Videotaped Lessons: Conferring with Colleagues	132	(4)
Tool 16. Analyzing Transcripts: Rethinking the Language of Interactions	136	(1)
Layers of Reflective Practice	137	(2)
``You Brought Easy Books to Read Today. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!''	139	(14)
Vanessa la Rae
Meeting LaShandra	139	(1)
Student Participation in the Book Selection Process	140	(2)
Easy Books and Leveling Texts	142	(1)
Reading Preferences and Genres	143	(3)
Representing Who We Are	146	(3)
A Few Final Words	149	(4)
PART III: TEACHER CHANGE AND PROGRAM CHANGE
Dimensions and Markers of Teacher Change	153	(12)
Evidence for Change	154	(1)
Thoughtful Conversations and Active Listening	154	(4)
Following the Student's Lead	158	(2)
Imagining the Student's Logic	160	(1)
Using Language as a Tool for Building Agency	161	(2)
Evidence of Deeper Change	163	(2)
Evolution and Direction: Surprises, Dilemmas, and Unanswered Questions	165	(10)
Generalizable Tools for Transformation	165	(1)
A Constantly Evolving Program	166	(1)
Finding Each Teacher's ZPD	167	(1)
Critical Literacy/Critical Teaching	168	(1)
Group Versus Individual Instruction	169	(1)
Institutional Nudges	170	(1)
Multimodal Literacies	170	(1)
Community Involvement	171	(1)
Leadership	171	(1)
Conclusion	172	(3)
Afterword: Two Perspectives	175	(4)
``It's a Win-Win''---Robert White, Principal	175	(1)
``Grandma, You Got Time? Papa, You Got Time? I Want to Read to You''---Retha Brown, Grandmother	176	(3)
Appendix: Evolutionary Context	179	(6)
Curricular Context	179	(1)
Structure of the Course	180	(1)
Teachers	180	(1)
Students	181	(1)
Ourselves	181	(1)
Relationships, Feedback, and Grades	181	(2)
Institutional Organization and Cooperation	183	(2)
References	185	(10)
Children's Literature Cited in the Text	195	(2)
About the Authors and Contributors	197	(4)
Index	201