Critical Literacy Initiatives for Civic Engagement

Critical Literacy Initiatives for Civic Engagement
Author: Cartwright, Angela M.
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2019-02-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1522580832

Civics and citizenship focus on providing students with the disposition and tools to effectively engage with their government. Critical literacy is necessary for responsible citizenship in a world where the quantity of information overwhelms quality information and misinformation is prevalent. Critical Literacy Initiatives for Civic Engagement is an essential reference source that discusses the intersection of critical literacy and citizenship and provides practical ways for educators to encourage responsible citizenship in their classrooms. Featuring research on topics such as language learning, school governance, and digital platforms, this book is ideally designed for professionals, teachers, administrators, academicians, and researchers.

Teaching Civic Literacy Projects

Teaching Civic Literacy Projects
Author: Shira Eve Epstein
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2014
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0807773328

This practical resource shows teachers how to enact robust forms of civic education in today’s schools. Both instructive and thought-provoking, it will inspire teachers to craft curricula addressing a wide range of genuine civic problems such as those related to racial discrimination, environmental damage, and community health. Dividing civic literacy projects into three key phases—problem identification, problem exploration, and action—the author provides concrete examples from upper-elementary, middle, and high school classrooms to illustrate and analyze how each phase can unfold. The projects ultimately provide opportunities for youth to participate in civic life while they develop essential literacy skills associated with reading, writing, and speaking. The final chapter outlines a curriculum design process that will result in coherent and meaningful civic literacy projects driven by clear goals. It includes practical tools, such as a sample unit timeline, an assessment chart, and student worksheets that can be modified for immediate use. “Shira’s work offers us a reflection of democratic practice in the classroom through the teaching of critical reading, persuasive writing, and deliberation. In Teaching Civic Literacy Projects,Shira invites us all to contemplate the depth of the democratic project and the possibility that schools can help uphold our democratic ideals.” —From the Foreword by Celia Oyler, professor, Teachers College, Columbia University. “This book is a gem! Shira Epstein has provided invaluable assistance for teachers interested in engaging their students in the political and civic spheres in ways that build crucial literacy skills. The combination of a powerful framework and rich and detailed case studies provides readers with a clear vision and helpful, specific guidance for creating robust civic learning experiences for young people.” —Diana Hess, senior vice-president, Spencer Foundation and professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison “Excellent civic education means encouraging young people to identify and define problems and take action. That is challenging in our era of political polarization and narrow definitions of education. Shira Eve Epstein provides the best practical guide for teachers who want their students to confront social problems.” —Peter Levine, Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Tufts University

Civic Engagement in Global Contexts

Civic Engagement in Global Contexts
Author: Jim Bowman
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2021-12-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 164642123X

This volume examines the role of writing, rhetoric, and literacy programs and approaches in the practice of civic engagement in global contexts. Writing programs have experience in civic engagement and service learning projects in their local communities, and their work is central to developing students’ literacy practices. Further, writing programs compel student writers to attend to audience needs and rhetorical exigencies as well as reflect on their own subject positions. Thus, they are particularly situated to partner with other units on college campuses engaged in global partnerships. Civic Engagement in Global Contexts provides examples and evidence of the critical self-reflection and iteration with community partners that make these projects important and valuable. Throughout its thirteen chapters, this collection provides practical pedagogical and administrative approaches for writing studies faculty engaging with global learning projects, as well as nuanced insight into how to navigate contact zones from the planning stages of projects to the hard work of self-reflection and change. Partnerships and projects across national borders compel the field of rhetoric and composition to think through the ethics of writing studies program design and teaching practices. Doing this difficult work can disrupt presumptive notions of ownership that faculty and administrators hold concerning the fields involved in these projects and can even lead to decentering rhetoric/composition and other assumptions held by US-based institutions of higher education. Civic Engagement in GlobalContexts will be useful to instructors, advisors, and project managers of students in faculty-led project learning in overseas settings, international service learning through foreign study programs, and foreign study itself and to faculty members introducing civic engagement and community-based learning projects with foreign students in overseas institutions. Contributors: Olga Aksakalova, James Austin, Maria de Lourdes Caudillo Zambrano, Rebecca Charry Roje, Patricia M. Dyer, Tara E. Friedman, Bruce Horner, Kathryn Johnson Gindlesparger, Adela C. Licona, Ian Mauer, Joyce Meier, Susan V. Meyers, Sadia Mir, Stephen T. Russell

Exploring Teacher Candidates' Civic Efficacy Through Civic Engagement and Critical Literacy in a Literacy Methods Course

Exploring Teacher Candidates' Civic Efficacy Through Civic Engagement and Critical Literacy in a Literacy Methods Course
Author: Dana M. Karraker
Publisher:
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2018
Genre:
ISBN: 9780438387492

Findings suggested that the teacher candidates in this study 1) developed understandings of the importance of teaching the literacy skills needed to participate in democratic ways, 2) acknowledged the importance of teaching for a public purpose and working collaboratively with a variety of people, and 3) were able to integrate a wide range of multimodal resources and strategies in their teaching, all while keeping students' needs and interests at the center of their decision-making. Teacher candidates viewed their roles as teaching students the skill needed to accomplish real-world tasks, which included speaking and listening in addition to reading and writing. They also recognized that elementary classrooms could be spaces for children to discuss and understand real-world issues. In addition to these views of their roles as teachers, the teacher candidates often implied that their roles as teachers was to fix communities which implied a deficit view of the families and communities they imagined they would someday be teaching. Implications for this study provide suggestions for promising practices in a literacy method course that have potential for developing teacher candidates' civic efficacy and understandings of critical literacy so that they see their role as developing citizens who can fully participate in a democratic society.

Civic Education in the Elementary Grades

Civic Education in the Elementary Grades
Author: Dana Mitra
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2015
Genre: Education
ISBN: 080777345X

As former elementary school teachers, the authors focus on what is possible in schools rather than a romantic vision of what schools could be. Based on a 5-year study of an elementary school, this book shows how civic engagement can be purposive and critical—a way to encourage young people to examine their environment, to notice and question injustices, and to take action to make a difference in their communities and school. Focusing on the intersection of student voice and critical inquiry, the book describes how to embed civic engagement into curriculum, school decision-making processes, and whole-school activities. Chapters provide an overview of what research has demonstrated about civic engagement at the classroom, school, and community levels, including detailed descriptions of activities and lessons for practice. Classroom teachers, school principals, community members, and teacher educators can use this resource to foster a deeper, richer understanding of what is entailed in civic life. Book Features: A vivid portrait of a “typical” public school that wants to do more than teach to the test.An examination of the conditions that enable young people to participate in democratic practices, including identifying and questioning injustices.Concrete examples of student voice and critical inquiry in classroom contexts.Practices and activities that encourage children to get along with others, exchange perspectives, and work across differences. “Offers a suggestive range of evidence that high-quality civic engagement initiatives can enhance students’ academic, social, and emotional engagement. . . . It reveals the nitty-gritty of how experienced teachers can enable children who are immersed in meaningful civic work also to engage more deeply with mathematical problem-solving, peer collaboration, literacy and social studies learning, and development of empathy and mutual trust.” —From the Foreword by Meira Levinson “Mitra and Serriere show us not only that elementary-aged children are capable of civic engagement, but how such engagement can be nurtured in the classroom. Children can be active civic participants; this book demonstrates both the power of this idea and how we might accomplish this essential task.” —Beth C. Rubin, Rutgers University

Service-Learning and Writing: Paving the Way for Literacy(ies) through Community Engagement

Service-Learning and Writing: Paving the Way for Literacy(ies) through Community Engagement
Author: Isabel Baca
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2012-11-20
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9004248471

Service-learning and Writing: Paving the Way for Literacy(ies) through Community Engagement discusses service-learning as a teaching and learning method and its integration with writing. The various authors, from different disciplines and institutions, present service-learning as a means of having students practice writing in real world settings, and they show how relationship-building and partnerships between higher education and diverse communities produce benefits for all involved - the students, faculty, administrators, and the communities themselves. This volume demonstrates how writing instruction and/or writing practice can complement community engagement and outreach at local, national, and international contexts. Through different cross-cultural contexts and academic disciplines, the various authors explore reflection, assessment, internalization, diversity, and multiple literacies and their importance when integrating service-learning in higher education and community literacy.

Unsustainable

Unsustainable
Author: Jessica Restaino
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2013
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0739172565

Unsustainable: Re-imagining Community Literacy, Public Writing, Service-Learning, and the University, edited by Jessica Restaino and Laurie Cella, explores short-lived university/community writing projects in an effort to rethink the long-held "gold standard" of long-term sustainability in community writing work. Contributors examine their own efforts in order to provide alternate models for understanding, assessing, and enacting university/community writing projects that, for a range of reasons, fall outside of traditional practice. This collection considers what has become an increasingly unified call for praxis, where scholar-practitioners explore a specific project that fell short of theorized "best practice" sustainability in order to determine not only the nature of what remains--how and why we might find value in a community-based writing project that lacks long-term sustainability, for example--but also how or why we might rethink, redefine, and reevaluate best practice ideals in the first place. In so doing, the contributors are at once responding to what has been an increasing acknowledgment in the field that, for a variety of reasons, many community-based writing projects do not go as initially planned, and also applying--in praxis--a framework for thinking about and studying such projects. Unsustainable represents the kind of scholarly work that some of the most recognizable names in the field have been calling for over the past five years. This book affirms that unpredictability is an indispensable factor in the field, and argues that such unpredictability presents--in fact, demands--a theoretical approach that takes these practical experiences as its base.

Educating for Empathy

Educating for Empathy
Author: Nicole Mirra
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2018
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0807777285

Educating for Empathy presents a compelling framework for thinking about the purpose and practice of literacy education in a politically polarized world. Mirra proposes a model of critical civic empathy that encourages secondary ELA teachers to consider how issues of power and inequity play out in the literacy classroom and how to envision literacy practices as a means of civic engagement. The book reviews core elements of ELA instruction—response to literature, classroom discussion, research, and digital literacy—and demonstrates how these activities can be adapted to foster critical thinking and empathetic perspectives among students. Chapters depict teachers and students engaging in this transformative learning, offer concrete strategies for the classroom, and pose questions to guide school communities in collaborative reflection. “If educators were to follow Mirra’s model, we will have come a long way toward educating and motivating young people to become involved, engaged, and caring citizens.” —Sonia Nieto, professor emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst “Grounded in respectful research partnerships with youth and teachers, this is a book that will resonate with and inspire educators in these precarious times.” —Gerald Campano, University of Pennsylvania “If ever there were a time for a book on empathy in education, the moment is now.” —Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University

Doing Democracy

Doing Democracy
Author: Darren E. Lund
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2008
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780820497457

In this provocative collection of essays with a distinctly critical and nuanced approach to how democracy is taught, learned, understood, and lived, authors from four continents share their visions on how democracy needs to be cultivated, critiqued, demonstrated, and manifested throughout the educational experience. The collective concern is how we actually do democracy in education. The essays argue that democracy must be infused in everything that happens at school: curriculum, extra-curricular activities, interaction with parents and communities, and through formal organization and structures. One of the book's central questions is: Are educators merely teaching students skills and knowledge to prepare them for the world of work, or is education more about encouraging students to thrive within a pluralistic society? This book reveals that democracy is an ethos, an ideology, a set of values, a philosophy, and a complex and dynamic terrain that is a contested forum for debate. From seasoned veterans to emerging scholars, these writers challenge the idea that there is only one type of democracy, or that democracy is defined by elections. Using a range of theoretical, conceptual, and methodological approaches, each essay makes a compelling case for how education can advance a more critical engagement in democracy that promotes social justice and political literacy for all. Diverse examples illustrate the theme of doing democracy. With its numerous models for teaching and learning to encourage critical thinking and engagement, this book is certain to be an invaluable resource to educators, researchers, students, and anyone with a passion for democratic ideals.

Amplifying Youth Voices through Critical Literacy and Positive Youth Development

Amplifying Youth Voices through Critical Literacy and Positive Youth Development
Author: Crystal Chen Lee
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2024-07-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1040095216

This book explores the transformative power of critical literacy in fostering youth engagement through university-community partnerships. It is based on a six-year study by The Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI) at North Carolina State University. This book examines the potential, possibilities, and challenges of using critical literacy in university-community partnerships to amplify youth voices. Through the LCI program, youth in four community-based organizations completed a critical literacy curriculum, published their writings in a book, and participated in public readings to engage and lead their communities. The authors draw on data from semi-structured individual interviews, focus groups, youth narratives, and socio-emotional surveys across four unique youth populations. The youth populations involved collaborations with youth of color in urban communities, Latine immigrant and second-generation youth, girls in foster care and high-risk situations, and youth from immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Results of the study suggest that after engaging in the LCI critical literacy program, youth demonstrated improved literacy skills, enhanced social-emotional well-being, and increased community leadership and self-advocacy. Presenting a novel theoretical framework for the effective use of critical literacy to promote positive youth development in conjunction with first-hand insights into the successful development and sustainment of university-community research partnerships, this book ultimately provides a unique insight into how critical literacy and successful university-community partnerships can combine to result in powerful support for underserved culturally and linguistically diverse youth. This book will appeal to scholars, educators, and practitioners with interests in critical literacy, positive youth development studies, and adolescent research.