Making justice our project : teachers working toward critical whole language practice / edited by Carole Edelsky.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Edelsky, Carole.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language experience approach in education.

Critical pedagogy.

Physical Description:

xii, 369 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Urbana, Ill. : National Council of Teachers of English, [1999]

Summary:

Making Justice Our Project: Teachers Working toward Critical Whole Language Practice brings together whole language and critical pedagogy, reading each in terms of the other and providing a new and politically valuable synthesis of the two. Whole language practices have come under critique from critical theorists for their perceived lack of explicit sociopolitical engagement. As Carole Edelsky comments, "Unless issues of justice and equity are highlighted curricularly, and unless what is taken for granted is poked at and questioned from many angles, whole language becomes merely a 'kinder, gentler' version of educating in support of the status quo." Conversely, though, critical pedagogy's practice has often been marked by comparatively teacher-centered classroom models and has often failed to develop truly democratic learning environments. Thus the need for the kind of interaction proposed in Making Justice Our Project. A related aim of this volume is to bring together two communities that remain unfortunately isolated from one another: on one hand, whole language educators, and, on the other hand, educators who identify themselves with racial, ethnic, or other groups historically positioned as "minorities." The impulse to connect these communities in a common dialogue is clearly both timely and vital in the current political climate.

Contents:

1 On Critical Whole Language Practice: Why, What, and a Bit of How / Carole Edelsky 7

2 Understanding and Transforming the Meaning of Our Lives through Poetry, Biographies, and Songs / Cecilia M. Espinosa, Karen J. Moore 37

3 Exchanging Ideas and Changing Positions: The Importance of Conversation to Holistic, Critical Endeavors / Marie Elaine Boozer, Lisa Burley Maras, Bill Brummett 55

4 Si Se Puede! Teaching for Transformation / Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez, Pilar Mejia, Winnie J. Porter 77

5 Critical Literacy in a Fourth-Grade Classroom / Maria Sweeney 96

6 Teaching without Charisma: Involving Third Graders as Co-investigators of Their Inner-City Neighborhood / Paul Skilton-Sylvester 115

7 A Conversation about Critical Literacy / James Albright, Susan M. Church, Sue Settle, Vivian Vasquez 144

8 The Quality of the Question: Probing Culture in Literature-Discussion Groups / Cynthia Lewis 163

9 Third Class Is More than a Cruise-Ship Ticket / Beverly Busching, Betty Slesinger 191

10 Critical Literacy: Teaching Reading, Writing, and Outrage / Linda M. Christensen 209

11 Schooling for Gangs: When School Oppression Contributes to Gang Formations / Ramon A. Serrano 226

12 Probing the Invisible Life of Schools / Bill Bigelow 242

13 Stories of a Liberatory Pedagogy / Rebecca Jarvis 258

14 Leadership as Critical Practice: A Work-in-Progress / Susan M. Church 286

15 Transformative Learning through a Study Group / Elizabeth R. Saavedra 303

16 Literacy Education as a Site for Social Justice: What Do Our Practices Do? / Barbara Comber, Helen Nixon 316.

Notes:

"NCTE stock number: 30445-3050"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0814130445

OCLC:

41977306